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50 years ago today -Vietnam - things get crazy
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50 years ago today -Vietnam - things get crazy


Aug 20, 2020, 9:42 PM

About the time of the night on this date 50 years ago we had dug in for the night in an open area. I had my mini-foxhole dug just deep enough to keep me below ground level with my air mattress inflated in the bottom. Then it started raining and the hole filled with water, floating the air mattress up even with the top of the hole. Of course we started taking enemy fire and I tried to dive in my sleeping quarters for cover and had to release the air from the mattress before I could sink into the now completely filled mud hole. Rifle fire zipped over our heads and I heard the distinct "whooshing" sound of a rifle propelled grenade (RPG) coming our way. It hit the soaked ground just in front of my position with a loud 'splat" and, not exploding due to the soft landing, flipped end-over-end over my head and came to a rest with a second splat not far behind me, still not going off. There was a lot of ammo flying in both directions but we were lucky not to have any casualties. After it got quiet again we crawled out of the mud and were real careful to locate the dud RPG so we wouldn't kick it around before daylight. We blew it up as we left the spot the next morning. This happened a couple of days after I came face to face with a fully armed VC (less than 15 yards)who walked around a curve in the trail I was standing in. Would have made a really great video with the expressions on each of our faces.

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Re: 50 years ago today -Vietnam - things get crazy


Aug 20, 2020, 9:51 PM

Sounds like a miserable yet charmed night.

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Miserable miracles were common


Aug 20, 2020, 9:54 PM

in such situations back then.

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Re: 50 years ago today -Vietnam - things get crazy


Aug 20, 2020, 9:58 PM

Talk about a big ole horseshoe!

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I still feel it when I change positions


Aug 20, 2020, 10:01 PM

in my easy chair.

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Re: 50 years ago today -Vietnam - things get crazy


Aug 20, 2020, 11:50 PM

So what did you do??? Did he run? I mean, after the shock wore off???

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Shock is a good description - we made eye contact


Aug 21, 2020, 8:16 AM

and he turned and went back behind the bushes in the bend in the trail. When I gathered myself (somewhat) after seeing the guy with an AK-47 and 2 bands of ammo crisscrossing from shoulder to waist like old pics of Pancho Villa, I flipped the safety on my M-16 to what I thought was the "automatic position" and meant to empty the magazine through the bushes. When only one shot fired, I thought the rifle jammed but looked down to see that I had only moved it to semi-automatic. The guy then made a move that John Wayne would have avoided - he climbed over a dirt berm about 8 feet tall that ran along the trail, and after moving closer to us he rolled over the top down into a trench that was on our side of the berm, and opened fire on our platoon pinning us down in wide open spaces. One of our guys got the bright idea to crawl into the trench and go after him but when he got close, he looked up a little ahead and saw the VC was actually in a spider hole above him. Lucky for him the VC threw a Chicom grenade at him instead of shooting him and he only got a few small shrapnel wounds and got out of there. We ultimately had to call in a helicopter gunship because the VC was so well protected that we couldn't get anything into the hole. Even the chopper didn't get him after 2 runs along the berm. I told our radioman to alert the pilot that we would pop a smoke grenade directly in front of the spider hole and for him to fly over our heads and open fire on the berm from a 90 degree angle. We were sort of uneasy about mini-guns being fired that close to us but it worked like a charm - the entire side of the berm was chewed up by direct fire and we somehow avoided any injuries from this incident either. We dug the guy out to recover his weapon.

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Re: Shock is a good description - we made eye contact


Aug 21, 2020, 8:49 AM

Wow. That’s all I’ve got. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for your service.

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Re: Shock is a good description - we made eye contact


Aug 21, 2020, 9:27 AM [ in reply to Shock is a good description - we made eye contact ]

Hanging on your every word!

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Re: Shock is a good description - we made eye contact


Aug 21, 2020, 12:04 PM

I don’t know if Clover ever put his stories on paper, but I was doing them same, hanging on every word. I probably sounded like a 10 year old asking what next during bedtime story. Cool stuff.

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Hey, Clover


Aug 21, 2020, 7:17 AM

When you got back, were you assigned to Ft. Jackson? Perhaps at Officers Record Section?

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Re: Hey, Clover


Aug 21, 2020, 8:20 AM

No, - I was at Ft. Jackson for one Basic Training session after finishing NCO School and Airborne training at Ft. Benning. Went straight from Nam to Walter Reed Hospital from Nam.

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Re: Hey, Clover


Aug 21, 2020, 8:30 AM

A guy I worked with at Jackson had a similar experience on a trail over there. It probably wasn’t all that uncommon.

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Re: 50 years ago today -Vietnam - things get crazy


Aug 21, 2020, 7:41 AM

I read this and have to chuckle a bit. You are actually alive to tell us a story like this and we as a country are treating a virus like it's a worldwide release of anthrax, we have our panties in a wad over the proposition that football season may not be exactly like it always has been, we have complete social upheaval because we elected a particular president and the kicker is that the younger generation has no clue you or anyone else ever fought for their freedom to #####, moan and protest what they don't agree with. I'm happy you made it out of there alive and thanks for your service to our country.

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Re: 50 years ago today -Vietnam - things get crazy


Aug 21, 2020, 9:30 AM

Ain't that the d a m n truth?!

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Re: 50 years ago today -Vietnam - things get crazy


Aug 21, 2020, 10:35 PM

Gold plated.

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Whenever we get to tailgate together again, I am going to


Aug 21, 2020, 8:18 AM

have to bring more beer and wings.....and an extra vinegar pie..

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Re: Whenever we get to tailgate together again, I am going to


Aug 21, 2020, 8:22 AM

How does vinegar pie and beer set with an old guy's gastric system? Willing to give it a try.

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Beer and wings first, pie later....with some black coffee...***


Aug 21, 2020, 9:56 AM



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Re: 50 years ago today -Vietnam - things get crazy


Aug 21, 2020, 9:19 AM

Very bad times, yet fascinating to read. I'm glad you survived and hope you're doing well. Thanks for your service and for sharing this story. God bless you sir!

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Re: 50 years ago today -Vietnam - things get crazy


Aug 21, 2020, 12:56 PM

Clover- thank you for the post and your service!!!! Awesome stuff I loved reading. You make me proud to be an American!!!

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So that's why they taught us to put rocks in our air


Aug 21, 2020, 3:20 PM

mattresses. j/k

Thanks for the service!

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I was in Vietnam last September


Aug 21, 2020, 4:17 PM

I was in the first draft lottery and won - got a high number. I said then this is the best lottery I'll ever win and I'm sure I was right.

Your story was great, I thank you for your service. It was a terrible war in a terrible time.

Visiting Vietnam brought out many emotions and I'll admit I cried at both the Hanoi Hilton prison and at the War Museum in Saigon which is about American atrocities. Please don't make this a political thread - we fought over that more than 50 years ago. Let it be.

The people were super nice and very friendly. A great trip. But my best moment was a heavy rain while I was on a boat on the Mekong. Looking across the muddy water into the jungle and thinking of what you guys faced. Braver men than me.

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Typhoon story coming soon


Aug 21, 2020, 6:33 PM

On 50th anniversary

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Re: I was in Vietnam last September


Aug 21, 2020, 7:20 PM [ in reply to I was in Vietnam last September ]

Thanks again for your post Clover. They continue to make me think about my time there during the exact month and year. I don't have any problem reminiscing.

We were probably not any braver than you tpc1. We had a job to do and we did it. You would have done the same thing. I saw young men who otherwise would have been mild mannered farmers, doctors, lawyers, construction workers, sanitation workers, textile plant workers, mechanics, etc. all do what they had to do when the s**t hit the fan. Clover will probably tell you that he was happened to be in a unit that had a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some Marines and soldiers were for an entire year and did not see as much action as Clover say in a week .... or day.

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Thank you for your service. I was literally one year after


Aug 21, 2020, 5:12 PM

the government abolished the draft, although I would have gotten the student deferrment anyway.

We had to watch the horrors of the Viet Nam war on the nightly news back then, but that was a whole great lot better than living them up close and personal like you and your mates did.

Anyone who harbors any ill will toward a soldier who served in Viet Nam should take themselves to visit the Viet Nam War Memorial, either full sized in Washington DC, or the Traveling Wall, if it is still touring around. I will guarantee you, the experience will change you, forever. Don't take my word for it, do it. You will see exactly what I mean.

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Thank you for sharing your stories with us, thank you for serving our country.***


Aug 21, 2020, 10:29 PM



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"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." - Jackie Robinson


Re: 50 years ago today -Vietnam - things get crazy


Aug 22, 2020, 10:27 AM

Clover ------WRITE THAT BOOK !!!!! Don't wait too long' Fortunately, I was never in the jungles, it was either hot as Hades or cold as Polar Bear land. One of my best buddies during the first year I was in service during WW2 was assigned to a different outfit that went to an island in the South Pacific. The Japanese were constantly strafing their position. They had a siren to warn them when they detected an enemy flight coming in. There were a lot of parrots in the area who could mimic a siren so they had a lot of false alarms. One night, a parrot sounded the alarm, my friend got tangled up in his mosquito bar and in the process of running to his foxhole fell in another foxhole and suffered an injury.

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Can’t I wait until I am 98?


Aug 22, 2020, 11:21 AM

I have told some people that if I tell the whole story, someone would go to jail if they are still alive

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Re: Can’t I wait until I am 98?


Aug 22, 2020, 1:38 PM

There are probably some of your Vietnom buddies still living that will determine what you want to include or include but not mention names. I got an OK from the children of my buddies to include some things. Mine are mostly the funny things. Because of my daughter's current health I've put my book on hold.

Just a suggestion -- save these stories you are posing on the board. You can always edit them later by adding new info or deleting some info. Go for it !!!

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