Oral Histories
of the 100 Hours
"Football War"

El Salvador - Honduras 1969

Cadet, Northern Theatre of Operations (TON)

by David E. Spencer

I was in the Cabanas battalion or company, I think company. We were a reserve unit assigned to the Second Infantry Brigade. The company was mainly composed of military cadets. I was a sophmore. The commander of our unit was Captain Mariano Quinteros. I was the commander of a support weapons section (equal to a platoon) armed with .30 caliber Browning machine-guns and Madsen-Saetter machine-guns. our personal weapons were old bolt action 7mm Czechoslovakian Mausers.

The war happened so quickly that there was no time to draw all the equipment. Many of the soldier were only given the helmets themselves and not the liners. To compensate, the main wrapped towels around their heads to keep the helmets on. We massed forces at Santa Ana. On the 14th, at 6PM one or two Honduran planes bombed the town and the military positions. However, the Honduran armourers had forgotten to take the safety out of the detonators, so none of them exploded. Ironically, the only damage done was by a bomb that fell on a motel owned by a Honduran living in El Salvador!

That night, at 11PM we marched to positions just outside of El Poy. The next morning at 5AM, we held a huge meeting in which Colonel Velasquez admonished us. We then went to a place called Comedor Cayahuanca, an eatery to pick up our supplies. As we were doing this the Hondurans mortared the area. As we were marching into Honduras, two columns on either side of the road, Honduran planes bombed and strafed us. They dropped two bombs right among us, but neither exploded.. Our troops shot down one plane in that attack.

We learned to watch where the machine-gun bullets were hitting and to just step out of the path of the bullets. Our company was in reserve on the right hand side of the highway. However, units became disorganised, got lost, so often our reserve position became the front line. Our basic tactic was to walk and shoot. We would advance, and the Hondurans would shoot. We'd shoot back, and they'd retreat. They abandoned many positions, weapons and ammunition. Since they used many of the same weapons as us, we supplied ourselves with their equipment. During the fighting at Ticante stream, I ran into lieutenant Montano (now Col.) His Madsen Saetter had jammed, and he couldn't get it to work. I jumped in the depression he was in, and took the weapon apart, finding that a bullet had gotten jammed in it. I cleared the weapon, and put it back together. Montano looked at me and saw my name tag. "Ah," he said, "your dating my cousin!" I said yes. I'd heard of Montano, but never met him. From that day on we became fast friends, although I didn't marry his cousin.

From Ticante to Nueva Ocotepeque we basically advanced as fast as we could walk and fire. We found several groups of Honduran civilians hiding in the hills and trees. They had been told that the Salvadorans were going to kill them all. We didn't kill them, and in some cases we even helped them. After a while, most came back into Nueva Ocotepeque, although after the fighting was over there were several incidents of rape, thievery and drunkenness by bored Salvadoran soldiers. By now, most of the Honduran forces were being routed. However, some units of a special battalion had arrived as reinforcements. They were either from the Lempira battalion or the Presidential Battalion.

My section ran into a determined Honduran sergeant with a browning machine-gun just outside Nueva Ocotepeque. He and about four other men were in the trench on a slight hill. I had all the machine-guns set up and establish a base of fire to pin down the Hondurans, while the rest of us went around the right flank through some dense undergrowth and came around the Honduran's rear. They never even knew we were there. The sergeant was confidently firing with his machine-gun, convinced he had held us up. When they were in sight, we fired on them and killed all of them. I cut off the sergeants collar insignia, his chevrons and his name tag. The only thing that I now have left is his collar tag that is a wreath with the letters RH (Republica de Honduras) embroidered on it in gold thread. I still carry it in my wallet.

The next morning we went into Nueva Ocotepeque. Right as they were going in, a tank, leading the way stopped all of a sudden, it ran out of gas. When the Hondurans saw it stop, they fired at it with everything they had. Lt. Juancho Llovera, the driver and the crew had to abandon the tank quickly, but since we were already taking the town, we recovered the tank.

In Nueva Ocotepeque I entered the main headquarters and looked at many abandoned documents. There were some that showed how the Honduran battalion chiefs maintained fictitious lists of soldiers to get their pay and keep it for themselves. I also saw how our 105mm guns had destroyed part of the barracks. Our artillery had scored direct hits. Our 105mm guns had been located at La Palma in Colonia Obrera a very nice vacation spot. Around the top of Cerro Cayahuanca they built false artillery positions. The Honduran planes would come almost every day to bomb those false positions, which was a brilliant Salvadoran strategy. Our guns were later transferred to Nueva Ocotepeque.

My company and an 81mm mortar company under Second Lieutenant Ticas and 2nd Lt Fransisco Martinez were assigned a position on La Chicotera. The next morning around 6AM the Hondurans launched a brief counter-attack. My section was in position overlooking the road. Apparently their reinforcements didn't arrive so the attack didn't last very long. That day some armoured cars we called "ninas" arrived and fought along that highway (6). It was here also that the Hondurans ambushed President Fidel Sanchez Hernandez' column. The rest of the units stayed in Honduras for six months, but my unit was sent back and disbanded after ten days.

Footnotes

(6) The Ninas were armoured cars used to transport money between banks that had been pressed into service for the war.

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