Veteran Spotlight: A Vietnam Diary, Part IV
The following is the diary of a local Marine who served in Vietnam in 1968-69. The veteran wishes to remain anonymous but was willing to share the impressions he wrote down of his time there. This is the fourth in the series as transcribed by Wayne Soares, with minor editing for clarity. The first part can be found here, the second part here, and third here.
NOVEMBER 5, 1969: Firefight
We spent all day sweeping this huge valley. Intelligence told us the NVA was using the valley to store rice and weapons. Nothing threatening was found. While searching the huts in the villages, we typically found underground tunnels. They were always controversial within our unit. Some guys thought they lead to a tunnel complex while others felt they were used as an air raid shelter for the local inhabitants. We found only air raid shelters today.
It was early afternoon when we broke for chow. We had already searched most of the valley with negative results and after chow, we were going to search the rest of the valley. At about 1400 hours, we moved out to complete our search. A little while after, some guys found a large rice cache. It was a small hut, but on stilts, covered by straw and a large quantity of rice inside.
We argued what it was. The simple solution was to talk to the Vietnamese there. Only problem was, none of us spoke Vietnamese. Our captain called headquarters with the news and they said they would be sending a Chinook [helicopter] to pick up the rice. I couldn't understand why headquarters didn't send out an interpreter but it wasn't my call.
Since it would be dark in a few hours, our captain called for a remain overnight. We made our way into the jungle and found a spot to stay. After setting up, I sat quietly while other members of my platoon talked in low voices. Suddenly, the quiet was interrupted by a voice over the radio. The voice was loud and it sounded urgent. A whole bunch of VC were headed our way.
My adrenaline started to flow as we jumped up and took out positions. I threw my claymore bag of explosives over my neck and checked my M-79 and moved out. We cautiously came to a clearing in the dense jungle and hid behind a hedgerow.
We could see the VC talking around a hut. They were upset as they barked commands at an older man. There were approximately 50 villagers – men, women and children. I scanned the village quickly and saw the enemy had 25 soldiers that we could see. As I moved slowly to my right, I tripped a booby trap that they had set. For some unknown Godly reason, it didn't go off. I looked down and yelled, [expletive]. One of the VC soldiers saw me and started running at me with his rifle drawn. Then, all hell broke loose.
Gunfire erupted from our hedgerow, mowing down around 10 VC. I turned quickly to my right, and at that exact moment, I saw the heads of two Viet Cong soldiers coming towards me and I fired my M-79 instinctively. I heard a blood curdling scream as I watched the young Vietnamese girl slowly fall from the grip of the Viet Cong soldier to the ground. I stared at her blood-soaked body for what seemed like an eternity but must have been a second or two, then shot both of the VC that were advancing towards me, killing them both. When the gunfire ceased, I ran to the girl on the ground and never heard my captain's screams of "get back, get back."
I dropped to both knees. I looked into the young girls eyes, fixed in a vacant stare. I became overwhelmed with emotion as I began to weep uncontrollably. I tried to touch her with my trembling hands and could only get about two inches from her body. My captain came and stood next to me, not saying a word. Finally after a few minutes, he said softly, "let's go."
The helicopters came in for the extraction. I sat like a zombie on the ride back to base. My world will never be the same. I hate this [expletive] war and everything around it.
Veteran Spotlight is a column by Wayne Soares that runs twice a month. Soares is a motivational speaker and comedian who has frequently entertained the troops overseas with the USO. To recommend a veteran for Soares' column, write to waynesoares1@gmail.com.
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