Vietnam 68-69

We were stationed on a firebase overlooking the A Shau Valley on time.  The top of the firebase was bare with not a lot of protection from the elements.  On this particular day it was a mostly clear day with just a few clouds in the sky, not a bad day except the wind was blowing pretty hard.  Some buddies and I had moved a little ways down off the side of the firebase to get out of the wind.  We were sitting their visiting when we felt droplets of water.  Now, it wasn’t unusual to get a sudden rain.  We all looked up to see where the rain was coming from.  The rain wasn’t coming from any cloud but from one of our buddies that was relieving himself into one of the “piss” tube above us.  We all yelled at him to stop his “rain shower”.  The wind had carried his yellow rain down to where we were sitting.  I don’t think he even realized what was happening until we yelled at him.  In the end we were all pretty amused by what had just happened.

For those of you who don’t know, it was common to bury metal casings that an artillery round were shipment in to use as a urinal.  The tubes were buried about halfway in the ground and they were usually placed right out in the open.

If this story offends anybody, I’m sorry but it’s something that happened to me in Vietnam that I remembered and I wanted to right about.  I think it’s pretty funny.

Jack Schmitz at one of the 101st Airborne fire-bases near the A Shau Valley

I took this picture of Jack Schmitz as he took a smoke break.  We were on a fire-base near the A Shau Valley.  I’m not sure which fire-base it was but there was trucks and heavy equipment there.  You can see one of the trucks in the back ground of this picture.  You can also see some of the hotches that we built.  You can also see the 101st Airborne patch on the shoulder of his fatigue top, as well as the cross on the chain around his neck.

I sent this picture along with some others to one of Jack’s good freinds in his home town.  Jack called me today and told me that his good friend, Frenchy, had enlarged and framed this picture of him and hung it in the local tavern that Jack frequents.   Jack said the picture had ”Thank You” inscribed on it.  I was quite moved to know that Jack’s friend thought enough of Jack’s service in Vietnam to recognize him in this way.  I’m glad I took this picture of Jack.

While securing a trail leading up the middle of a ridge on west side of Hamburger Hill, Galen Brown and Terry Wender were shot and killed by enemy fire.  The day was May 13th, 1969, a day that I will never forget.  Galen and Terry had only been in country a couple of months when the 3/187th started it’s assault of Dong Ap Bia.  It was the third day of the operation and up to that point we had no enemy contact.   Our platoon had just stopped and we had just moved off the trail when shots range out.  With in seconds we were yelling for the medics.  Three men were hit, Galen Brown was hit in the chest and died immediately.  McCarthy was hit in the leg and up through the hip and need a medic.  Terry Wender was hit in the chest and was unconcious but still alive.  One medic was attending to McCarthy and our medic was at Terry’s side. He was applying field dressings to Terry’s chest wounds.  I was trying to help as the medic worked frantically trying to save Terry.  I could tell that Terry was slipping away and as kaous ensued around us, I sensed an abiding peace where Terry was, except for the medic who was very upset because he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to save Terry and was crying frantically.  As Terry slipped away the war seemed to come crashing in on us.  We consoled our medic and told him that he had done all he could do to try and save Terry.  I will always remember Galen Brown and Terry Wender, and that fateful day.

I promised that I would talk more about Hamburger Hill, and I will.