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NAVIGATION
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"My
2nd platoon swung to the far right of our current position and
approached the trees. We were really spread out and I was in the lead
point man position just to the right of a little family type graveyard
in the rice field. At about 50 yards from the treeline, all hell broke
loose. There was fire from every type of weapon that I could think of.
What really got my attention was this machine gun mounted on wheels
just ahead to my right. Holy shit, this is the end for me. There was
plenty of small arms fire from bunkers directly ahead. Just to the left
of that was a small area of the treeline with no enemy fire so I would
presume that the airstrike did the job there. Of course, I was on the
deck in a heartbeat hiding behind my gas mask bag serving as an ammo
clip bag and wondering what the F*** do I do now. I peeked over my
shoulder to the rear and saw that most of the platoon had managed to
drop behind a rice paddy dike and I envied the hell out of them. There
I was pinned down on that bare as a pool table rice field with bullets
kicking up dirt all around me. (It wasn’t until later that I learned
that Bob C. had radioed Ward that I’d gotten KIA..." |
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| "Well,
this was certainly no place for this young man to be. I wiggled around
‘til I had a couple of grenades loose and managed to toss them in the
general direction of the bunkers in the treeline. I doubt that I did
much more damage than raising a lot of smoke and dust, but that was
good enough for me. While firing the 16, I managed to roll the 20 or 30
feet to the left and reach the little graveyard. Now this was more like
it! I had a sturdy looking tombstone between me and the bunkers and
felt kinda safe for a moment - until I looked back again at the dike
where everyone had taken cover. I couldn’t see a soul or a helmet, but
there were plenty of weapons firing rounds over the top of the dike.
S***, now they’re gonna shoot me! On top of all that, the damned
machine gun ahead was chewing off big chunks of my tombstone. My mama
didn’t raise me to be here. About then Ski must have given the order
back there to get their fire off of me and give me a path home. I
scrambled like a crab over the 50 or so yards back to the dike. I swore
that I’d never get into a pickle like that again. Never..." |
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| "Caltabiano
called me over and asked for details of what I’d seen from there up
close and personal. I pointed out the big machine gun and several of
the bunkers directly to the front and to the right. Ski and a couple of
others unleashed a few LAW’s at those targets and we waited for further
orders from Ward to come our way. He told Bob that the 2nd platoon was
to advance and attack the treeline. Being so late in the afternoon by
now, not many of us thought that was much of a bright idea. Of course,
no one asked for our opinion so the plan for the approach was
discussed. Well, I thought to myself, I’ve already been in the tiger’s
mouth and shouldn’t have to lead the charge again. Wrong!.." |
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Dedicated to those who died that day
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