"A Vietnam Story"
Cambodia, spring of ’73
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs7xd9jkbwW
Company "C" was a bad company to be with that day.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmfvnKUTXPo
We were all sitting around the fire just outside a shack we had found entirely by luck in the middle of the Cambodian jungle.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFYQYfu7wbR
By the looks of it, it seemed abandoned or at least not cared for by anyone in a long time.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSZlOWUdaF
As it was usually done, and with the stimulation of spirits--of the alcohol type--conversations were abundant and upbeat.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuxrErUfHvP
Just like all the times before, it didn't take long for us to get blasted and, as one would imagine, the war stories we all told were sometimes embellished but other times so real, we felt we were back in that squirmish again.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD5F83ToaOW
Not far away there was a swamp-like medium-sized lagoon where the night's moon looked as if it was alive and dancing in the reflection of the water.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDSpMp1I1oy
It was indeed a sight to behold, and I began to experience a dream-like epiphany, as the voices suddenly changed tone and rhythm and at the same time sounded elongated and far, the laughter deep and spacey.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQOOIZmFAZ
I felt like my presence was there, but yet my mind wasn't. I went to watch the moon that by now was dancing in the dark waters of the pond.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTdytrdzjSo
The wood from the fire marked the moment, cracking loudly, speaking its language like conversing to the breeze that understood, as the leaves sounded an ever so subtle chorus of many, lingering there in an absolutely perfect cacophony of nighttime jungle sounds.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC34UKPOaxT
The hours felt timeless, and in essence, everything seemed so peaceful and in sync with the moon dancing in the dark.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAT1DQLheQN
But the night was far from over and by no means the fire pit would end anytime soon.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2U0jApg0D
This night was a night that no one would ever forget. We thought we could chill and relax. We had the entire evening, a fire pit, the moon, and a lagoon all to ourselves.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡINsXU3M9sQ
Or so we thought. What started as a cozy evening by the fire, ended up being a time of desperation and despair by forces beyond our control or comprehension.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbM9dUF7TSl
The events that took place that night would make a mark on our psyche that ended up scarring the deepest fibers of our beings. For the rest of our lives.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV18datrLds
In a flash, all hell broke loose, and just like that, we had to fight for our lives to a degree none of us thought possible.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD23VgUwOTD
Suddenly we were fired upon from every direction. Flares, tracer bullets, high caliber machine gun fire, mortars, and the VC so close we could see their faces.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡONTA5EdDN3
How is that possible if we had secured the perimeter before setting up camp?
We planted claymores, bouncing betties, M-14s, proximity mines, and guys doing watch in a constant order. It didn't matter, Charlie came like a hurricane.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBFa21yV3p
"Medic, medic!!!", Someone shouted.
"Need more 30 ammo!!!, Shouted another.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLRc8NRJfk3
"The "Louie" is hit, who's in charge?" a panicked grunt tried to ask, as if anybody could hear him.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6gt1opw4WC
"More ammo over here, goddamned it! "M-30, M-30!!!!” yelled Bonanza, one short-timer that by now was soaked in his own blood, wounded in the neck.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqo9LRQyVPH
Trees were split in two by the impact of the rapid fire. Everything was flying all over the place, including bodies when a mortar hit its target straight on.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkk8bY7qmeg
We couldn't call for an air strike because they were already right on top of us.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw4tIcfy3MU
Some of the guys were fed up with crouching down in some ditch or trench and decided to die fighting.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDVYzcQlhGS
"That's what you want? Huh? Huh? Is this what you want?" These soldiers marched toward where the fire was coming from. "Well, here you have it, have some…have some!! , As they sprayed the entire area holding the portable M-30 with the tripod still attached.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFdHCuSHX7
"Here, here, have some!!" They shouted as they kept on closing in.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpSGQS0gHFM
Two or three more explosions happened in the background and then everything went quiet. Dead still. The only sound that was heard was of the metal from the rifles and the reloading of their service M-16s.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjkM23LMb5t
We are not dead. I'm not dead. Not even injured.
We could hear Vietnamese speaking getting dimmer in volume. They're pulling out.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdlI2h0ATNm
We were a whole Company. They must've been two platoons.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7nXCHff1hn
The most terrifying nights were ahead since we had no idea whether they were just regrouping to come at us again or were they done for the night. And the psychological scare tactics of always.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLT8NAlQurf
Usually laughter and the sporadic loudspeaker saying: "GI, GI, your wife or girlfriend waiting home. Go home, GI. War no good for girlfriend waiting!" "GI, come surrender, we treat well GI…you go home to wife alive!".
Sometimes, that went on all night long.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc9NEUoKuOl
Morning came with no further incident.
We had 37 dead, 58 wounded and 9 for immediate extraction.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡizgga8vbCG
Just another day on the Ho Chi Minh trail right on the border between Vietnam and Cambodia.
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxAsH8o9fxO
--End of Part 1.
-----
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡypBmpdz4qT
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7fRDY8xsCN
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWReaF4Vv4m
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpISY2ObCPK
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7LKnGEXaIr
474Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa0Xs9xd7Oe
