x
"A Vietnam Story"
Cambodia, spring of ’73
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSrqdIWFUL6
Company "C" was a bad company to be with that day.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1fhS6s8N6e
We were all sitting around the fire just outside a shack we had found entirely by luck in the middle of the Cambodian jungle.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOkf0f18VHd
By the looks of it, it seemed abandoned or at least not cared for by anyone in a long time.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOzrPTHUTuU
As it was usually done, and with the stimulation of spirits--of the alcohol type--conversations were abundant and upbeat.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVyFnJpmSpJ
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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡexUEKF1Csw
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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPdtLjFFV6
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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZIUkYk8ZHF
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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBfx7qaurn9
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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEoDbWNliT1
The hours felt timeless, and in essence, everything seemed so peaceful and in sync with the moon dancing in the dark.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2JAYHNcY1G
But the night was far from over and by no means the fire pit would end anytime soon.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuwOrtYkqpw
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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1xDICyTBtf
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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzq4JXZvnA
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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHwlzKRNxXt
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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxV2htmrX31
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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1E90taCfHG
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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJcChFnkcH3
"Medic, medic!!!", Someone shouted.
"Need more 30 ammo!!!, Shouted another.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVvtpNVGNqr
"The "Louie" is hit, who's in charge?" a panicked grunt tried to ask, as if anybody could hear him.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCaG0V4tifd
"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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzbQpGG0nsG
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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqqIlUWkn9
We couldn't call for an air strike because they were already right on top of us.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxOLRGdMtvC
Some of the guys were fed up with crouching down in some ditch or trench and decided to die fighting.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRgmgxilu9p
"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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEabWI0tsYT
"Here, here, have some!!" They shouted as they kept on closing in.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8beo63FAPH
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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyCXC2buZ4h
We are not dead. I'm not dead. Not even injured.
We could hear Vietnamese speaking getting dimmer in volume. They're pulling out.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXO2gBlqDmF
We were a whole Company. They must've been two platoons.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR3JT6mqxHr
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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSabYh7e4nQ
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.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfLYHTUVAI2
Morning came with no further incident.
We had 37 dead, 58 wounded and 9 for immediate extraction.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDOhSlTVbKK
Just another day on the Ho Chi Minh trail right on the border between Vietnam and Cambodia.
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07J6VsfgNL
--End of Part 1.
-----
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwMGYTNpZn
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqaESDsKC6
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzhoGmKR8M1
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnO6AluHcSS
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNwSmF47HK
280Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUnJG7u3IM
