"A Vietnam Story"
Cambodia, spring of ’73
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOuVK1APncS
Company "C" was a bad company to be with that day.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVry5bDsWWO
We were all sitting around the fire just outside a shack we had found entirely by luck in the middle of the Cambodian jungle.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwh2nxBggtL
By the looks of it, it seemed abandoned or at least not cared for by anyone in a long time.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1tnJFhJnkn
As it was usually done, and with the stimulation of spirits--of the alcohol type--conversations were abundant and upbeat.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYfWXZXlacD
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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7FQOY2x3WH
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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZMNN675Ow
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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ygtrn02Si
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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kkTWNl4wG
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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPGoICFMVNB
The hours felt timeless, and in essence, everything seemed so peaceful and in sync with the moon dancing in the dark.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWwaDS8CBE
But the night was far from over and by no means the fire pit would end anytime soon.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzNoPrewItG
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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgpUR55obCd
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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGrfv2GX9wt
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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmIwiKSkmwj
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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBOMalKm6Nm
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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvC8zF8sbJn
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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ZFrTAnQv5
"Medic, medic!!!", Someone shouted.
"Need more 30 ammo!!!, Shouted another.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoe71irp2Dp
"The "Louie" is hit, who's in charge?" a panicked grunt tried to ask, as if anybody could hear him.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpG0jOtDmt2
"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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQBtZur3Wl
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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5TmEB5Mx7x
We couldn't call for an air strike because they were already right on top of us.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlRxQyZgTc
Some of the guys were fed up with crouching down in some ditch or trench and decided to die fighting.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XXTB15MkJ
"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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1wh3rq28vy
"Here, here, have some!!" They shouted as they kept on closing in.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjqqg9g6Sr
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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pmA3OpRDM
We are not dead. I'm not dead. Not even injured.
We could hear Vietnamese speaking getting dimmer in volume. They're pulling out.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhblyUHxWzM
We were a whole Company. They must've been two platoons.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP165uuAxlJ
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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY3gX5ZiKbt
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.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv9YinHcruk
Morning came with no further incident.
We had 37 dead, 58 wounded and 9 for immediate extraction.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpsJtFMkJJj
Just another day on the Ho Chi Minh trail right on the border between Vietnam and Cambodia.
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Sq5b5BZjS
--End of Part 1.
-----
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW1K0Y5Nl2f
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqo3uJ8ANRL
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHeLXiAQOZH
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18jmKjO5TR
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFLA4SJD3cU
381Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRyhIpjHXmP
然後按「加至主畫面」