
"A Vietnam Story"
Cambodia, spring of ’73
353Please respect copyright.PENANAbWm6Fr3379
Company "C" was a bad company to be with that day.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAOmQL2zyoq6
We were all sitting around the fire just outside a shack we had found entirely by luck in the middle of the Cambodian jungle.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAdQYrhEPVFK
By the looks of it, it seemed abandoned or at least not cared for by anyone in a long time.
353Please respect copyright.PENANApLRsl03czy
As it was usually done, and with the stimulation of spirits--of the alcohol type--conversations were abundant and upbeat.
353Please respect copyright.PENANA3pZf938q5x
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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAjd187E0ARG
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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANA9N0fKEWFVZ
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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANARF7kWhWbvn
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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAjxJBgiaS4V
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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAhBLlb13L44
The hours felt timeless, and in essence, everything seemed so peaceful and in sync with the moon dancing in the dark.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAlgHyRkhuxC
But the night was far from over and by no means the fire pit would end anytime soon.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAID2LYeRAfV
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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAtQZmSb2Rbh
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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAmnwUczYltA
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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAqeNNRMzB0y
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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAYLuqEtlZtU
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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAbMhH6YiNta
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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANALkgapQuTJi
"Medic, medic!!!", Someone shouted.
"Need more 30 ammo!!!, Shouted another.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAgT0bc6V7dS
"The "Louie" is hit, who's in charge?" a panicked grunt tried to ask, as if anybody could hear him.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAUsZV2TCiwz
"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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAvi4BNKj9b3
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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAQLoSKjqoFy
We couldn't call for an air strike because they were already right on top of us.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAlzP7Zz72E8
Some of the guys were fed up with crouching down in some ditch or trench and decided to die fighting.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAJhDdsKAIih
"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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAtEhTuIS5Ft
"Here, here, have some!!" They shouted as they kept on closing in.
353Please respect copyright.PENANArVhu04gCL1
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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANARkMEL2TPev
We are not dead. I'm not dead. Not even injured.
We could hear Vietnamese speaking getting dimmer in volume. They're pulling out.
353Please respect copyright.PENANA4WniHxNjXc
We were a whole Company. They must've been two platoons.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAZlyekDXbCn
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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAyfgEv4xC0V
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.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAlMRfjdSkL6
Morning came with no further incident.
We had 37 dead, 58 wounded and 9 for immediate extraction.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAW4DIr8vNmz
Just another day on the Ho Chi Minh trail right on the border between Vietnam and Cambodia.
353Please respect copyright.PENANAsOGcyxLPov
--End of Part 1.
-----
353Please respect copyright.PENANA8a2OEgEccS
353Please respect copyright.PENANAXcHtNOaCXW
353Please respect copyright.PENANAmcskq7rsiC
353Please respect copyright.PENANAAPlojRGwgH
353Please respect copyright.PENANAZQwUxTIiV8
353Please respect copyright.PENANAeaVY2G3ztw