x
"A Vietnam Story"
Cambodia, spring of ’73
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYke5OVgoO
Company "C" was a bad company to be with that day.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0a5jbEcdoH
We were all sitting around the fire just outside a shack we had found entirely by luck in the middle of the Cambodian jungle.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrPGfQe2hjO
By the looks of it, it seemed abandoned or at least not cared for by anyone in a long time.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZdC5ENmPjV
As it was usually done, and with the stimulation of spirits--of the alcohol type--conversations were abundant and upbeat.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKqRsoyJ5Y9
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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1j7StfhdO
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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGbcY3wc1fO
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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiS5VK67gFh
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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡguZn5M7AcB
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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Lr2bAUTrK
The hours felt timeless, and in essence, everything seemed so peaceful and in sync with the moon dancing in the dark.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR1C0FnzXXt
But the night was far from over and by no means the fire pit would end anytime soon.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIzHQjIea6
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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ036ajnkYQj
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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq4E3VRIdB8
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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtKudDc9RBC
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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcgWeDx5im
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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAHRQKbPIxx
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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZot4mdIQuL
"Medic, medic!!!", Someone shouted.
"Need more 30 ammo!!!, Shouted another.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPxuEVcWhdV
"The "Louie" is hit, who's in charge?" a panicked grunt tried to ask, as if anybody could hear him.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQUhjGGZPN
"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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjGzCym0ET
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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEocAZ7Jgsh
We couldn't call for an air strike because they were already right on top of us.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnj52q0OPTk
Some of the guys were fed up with crouching down in some ditch or trench and decided to die fighting.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNBJd97zH7t
"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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJjcRhbiRv9
"Here, here, have some!!" They shouted as they kept on closing in.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmdDoy3cs3X
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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4fA51OVLAE
We are not dead. I'm not dead. Not even injured.
We could hear Vietnamese speaking getting dimmer in volume. They're pulling out.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8J2DXLfHvx
We were a whole Company. They must've been two platoons.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNkQvH90Nb
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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMTtE48huP
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.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzevgizzzSS
Morning came with no further incident.
We had 37 dead, 58 wounded and 9 for immediate extraction.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtougMxDXXS
Just another day on the Ho Chi Minh trail right on the border between Vietnam and Cambodia.
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8PupFlQW6D
--End of Part 1.
-----
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHWyitrxqbs
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE1d0dHtjMu
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfcf3tIyL8o
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbKFEMzK7u
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYLBmyWm01
361Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZNfmp7hMvR
