Vietnam 68-69

One of the things we looked forward to was receiving the large boxes of ‘goodies’ from the Red Cross.  Unlike the boxes that contained c rations and other Army supplies, the Red Cross boxes were white cardboard on the outside and were about 20 inches square.  When one was delivered to our platoon everyone gathered around to get their share of the goodies inside.  There was candy, cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, toiletries and many other things that we all wanted and needed.  Everything from the boxes was distributed evenly between us.  I think we received about one a month, maybe more.  I thought it was great to get real American candy.  One of the things that started coming in the boxes was WD-40, which was great for maintaining our weapons.

If any of you have any memories about those Red Cross boxes please leave a comment and tell me about them.

I heard about a new soldier that shot himself in the leg shortly after being assigned to our platoon.  He was one of two guys that joined out 1st platoon.  The guy that shot himself had not even been out on patrol yet.  We didn’t know for sure if it was an accident out not, but we figured that he probably shot himself on purpose.  We figured that he had because we were all trained on how to handle weapons safely.  Recently, while talking on the phone with Alvin Dunn, our squad leader in Vietnam, he told me that he was in the barracks when the guy shot him self in the foot.  He said the guy intentionally pointed his M-16 at his foot and pulled the trigger.  Alvin said he couldn’t believe what he saw.   I don’t know if the guy faced a court martial or not.   A self inflicted wound was and still is considered a serious ofense.  I need to ask Alvin if he knows what happened to the guy the next time I talk to him.  I wonder if the guy is still alive today.  I know now that he wasn’t cut out to be a Rakkasan in the 101st Airborne.

Leech Island, 1st Platoon, on patrol by ourselves, as usual.  Now Leech Island is a good name for the place we were.  It was double canopy jungle, deep, dark and damp, but not an island.  We were on a well worn trail that wove it’s way through the jungle.  The jungle growth along the trail contained wait-a-minute vines, and oh yeah leeches.  The hazy light filtered through the mist and trees.  My squad (3rd) was on point this particular morning and I was about fourth in our echelon.  We came to a semi open area and the trail made a sharp turn to the right.  As we turned the corner the point man saw an NVA on the trail ahead of us.  He immediately raised his M-16 and fired as the man turned and fled.  The bullet hit a low hanging tree branch between the two men and them kept running.  All our point man heard when he pulled the trigger again was a click, his M-16 had jammed.  I saw a flash of a dark figure as he disappeared into the jungle.  I couldn’t get a clear shot and didn’t want to hit any nearby branches with an HE round, like the M-16 bullet had.  There could have been worse consequences if that happened.  We examined the bullet whole in the tree after we made sure that any NVA had left the area.  The branch was large enough that the bullet didn’t go all the way through.  I thought about how lucky that NVA soldier was and wondered if he had more luck to make it through the war in one piece.

This is the letter that I wrote home to my Mom and Dad the first part of January, 1969.  It contains what I wrote to them about the day Lieutenant Dugger died.  This will be the first letter that I’ve published on this blog.  Let me tell you that it has been a struggle deciding to publish the letters I wrote.  I have decided that the letters will make this blog that much richer.

Letter home 1-10-69, page 1

Letter home 1-10-69, page 2

Letter home 1-10-69, page 3

Letter home 1-10-69, page 4

Letter home 1-10-69, page 5

Letter home 1-10-69, page 6

Envolope that contained the letter home 1-10-69. I wrote about Lt Dugger being killed in the letter

At the end of December, 1968, we were on a company size operation in the mountains somewhere west of Hue.  Delta company was also on an operation  in the mountains and made some contact with the enemy.  Battalion headquarters pulled Delta company out.  Our company was resupplied in the field and choppered to a new location, probably close to where Delta company had made contact.  On Dec 31st, we were humping towards our next night defensive position (NDP).  The weather was nice that morning and into the afternoon, with sunny skies, but the tempature wasn’t too hot for humping.  I thought what a beautiful day it was and I liked the trail we were on.  There were large trees all around, and the thick jungle growth was broken up by large open areas.  I remember the trail started to make a sweeping turn to the left and we were given the sign to stop.  Our platoon leaders, Lieutenant Dugger and Sergeant Perez needed to check the map to figure out which way we should go.  Appearently there were other trails ahead and they needed to decide which trail would get us to our NDP.  I recall that the area where we stopped was quite open, with some big trees here and there.   We were standing in the trail, waiting for the order to move out, when automatic weapon fire rang out.  We immediately hit the ground and I scrambled behind a big tree that was just off the trail to my right.  There was only the initial burst of fire and then silence, only a short echo of the gun fire through the trees.  Soon, word came back through our platoon that Lieutenant Dugger had been hit, a single bullet to the heart had killed him almost instantly, even before the medic could get to him.  When I heard that he had been killed, I was in disbelief, which was soon replaced by rage.  I wanted to kill the bastards that had killed our platoon leader.  Lieutenant Dugger was only days from going home to his wife and family, and this was to be his last patrol.  He had talked lovingly of his wife and he was looking forward to seeing her and his family once again.  It wasn’t right that he wouldn’t be going home to see his wife and family again.

Sgt Perez gave us orders to advance towards the location that the enemy fire had come from.  Jack was on my right and Raines was on my left, thier weapons in firing position, as our squad moved up a slight incline covered with grass and brush towards a denser growth of dark jungle.  I thought that the enemy could still be in there waiting for us, but I didn’t care, I had my M-79 loaded and at the ready.  We advanced side by side and made a sweep of the area but didn’t make contact with the enemy.  We found foot prints that indicated that there were about five NVA.  

A medevac had been ordered and was on it’s way.  Our platoon moved  to secure a nearby clearing large enough for the helicopter to land.  It wasn’t long before we heard the thumping of the Huey’s rotor blades in the distance.   A yellow smoke was popped on the LZ to help the pilot find the clearing we had secured.   The Huey soon broke over the trees and dropped into the clearing and touched down.  Members of our platoon picked up Lt Dugger’s poncho wrapped body and carried it to the waiting helicopter.  Yellow smoke swirled through the blades of the helicopter as it waited forLieutenant Dugger’s body to be loaded onboard.  As soon as the men had placed his body in the Huey and cleared the LZ the pilot applied more throttle to the engine and pitch to the rotors, the helicopter lifted off and slowly rose straight up from the clearing, turned and tilted towards the east and soon disappeared over the trees.  Lieutenant Dugger was going home.

 A beautiful day to die…