The Righteous Brothers began their song called Unchained Melody and, as the first words of the lyrics squeaked out of Fusner’s tiny radio speaker, life came to a stop for me. I just sat there and listened. It was a song about unrequited love, but I didn’t consciously think about it in terms of myself and my wife. To me, it was about life. My life right where I was. I needed love, any love, any demonstration of love and there was no love at all at the bottom of the loveless A Shau Valley, the bitter crease where the Bong Song ran. The heartless soulless valley where I hugged myself deeply into the mud and the sand of its abandoned flats.
Was the Gunny coming? I’d handed back the microphone to Fusner without knowing. My threat of dropping three thousand was an on-air threat. I’d been on the combat net not the artillery net. Even if Ripcord was listening in, which they probably were, they wouldn’t fire for an order given over the combat net unless there was some particular justifiable need. The Gunny knew that too. I’d never threatened, or even commanded the Gunny before, and I was unsure whether I’d done the right thing, or even a survivable thing. Saving Kilo, if that’s what we did, was as much about saving my scout team and myself as it was them. I lay face down. The Gunny would know all that, of course.
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here’s the wall he should be building….
Wall, what wall?
Semper fi,
Jim
Has this site been screwed up ?? Finally found this to get back to you , maybe !! Can’t select anything!!
Sorry about the glitch.
The Cyber gnomes were working today.
All seems ok Now.
Check it out.
Thanks for Heads-up
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim, I have been missing your writing but I fully understand. I lost my dog several years ago and I still miss her badly. I still cry sometimes thinking about her. Take your time and do whatever you need to do. A note to all you assholes that wasn’t there shut your pie holes. You have no idea what it was like and what we had to endure. If you wasn’t there you don’t know anything about the hell we went through and are still going through. It’s not as easy to talk about as some would think. So with that being said I will shut the hell up. Carry on brother in your own time. I appreciate what you do.
Thanks for having my back Gordon. I’m okay now. A rough patch is all.
Appreciate the patience and the kindly support on here…
semper fi,
Jim
I recall a traumatic event in my life that I dealt with bravely (or so I thought) for several years. Everything was cool until the day came that I was being asked to recount moment for moment what happened. At that point in front of a room full of people, most of whom I did not want to show any weakness, I broke down. I opened the memory doors that released the pain that I did not want to deal with and had successfully kept locked away. Anyone that doesn’t know what it is like to have to deal with that will never understand what is happening here. We move when you say move LT. It ain’t nuthin.
Thanks SSgt. Some understand because they have lived and continue to live it. Others pick it up because they believe the people who’ve been through it.
And then there’s there’s the rest of humanity and that body of man has a tougher time accommodating things so far from their own life experience.
Thanks for commenting and telling everyone what happened to you in that instance.
Semper fi,
Jim
Sorry to hear about Harvey and hope Bentley helps you through the loss. One day I rescued a 6 week old ball of puppy fur. He and I grew old and gray together for nearly 18 years until he passed. When I’m gone his ashes and mine will be spread along the beach near the house. We do get close ~~ I wonder what a shrink at the VA would say.
The shrink at the VA would tell you that it was okay to suffer such loss quietly and alone, and then you’d get a couple of bottles of stuff
to help you along…until they decide that using that stuff has made you an addict and it’s all your fault. How the VA gets any of us real guys with
PTSD through is rather astounding. Unless you run into the just the right counselor. Dr. John Bair at North Chicago is one of those guys, thank God.
Semper fi,
Jim
I give up…..guess the best thing to do is check in every two or three months to see if there is a new episode…..
Sorry Ray. This is not the kind of writing that I can force or work toward a deadline.
This next segment is very touchy for me even if it does not read that way when you get it.
I hope most will understand that this is not a normal writing undertaking for me, or probably anyone
else in this situation.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim…I cannot imagine how gut wrenching that this process is for you…just keep at it and make the process work for you…we’ll all be here waiting when you’re ready…you’ve been through enough as it is… don’t let the pressure to perform with “pen in hand” get to you…tell the story the way you need to tell it, in the time that it takes to tell it…just keep plowing…
Mark. It has been harder than I thought. My cat died and I had no idea that that event might tie into all my grief from
so long ago. But not so long ago, apparently. I have my mojo back and I’m isolating more time to being alone to write since
my local notoriety with the paper I put out doesn’t allow me to simply sit in my coffee shop and write away.
Thanks for caring about the effect writing this has…
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim, if this were a work of fiction, it would be hard enough to make up the scenarios, but with this being a recounting of what happened to you, and you having to go back and reconstruct the events from memory, letters, and your book you wrote years ago, it becomes an especially daunting task. Anyone that has done any serious writing knows that it is several runs thru before it starts to make sense. I have no doubt YOUR PTSD kicks in and slows you down also. Just stop when you need, pick up your service cat, relax some, and know we’ll be here when it get finished. Just like being on an ambush……you gotta have patience.
Thanks Joe, and yes, there is a very special nature to this writing
that has never been a part of my writing before.
I guess that’s why I got half way through back in 1970
and then retired it to the floor of the closet.
It’s easier now
but still can cause a certain rawness because of the wonder
and amazing bond of the relationships forged in the fire of
hell so quickly rising and then falling into a bleakness of long standing despair.
I’ve settled a lot of old fiery wounds with the balm of redemptive living,
or at least what I view as my form of redemptive living.
We travel now, in this segment back down that valley to find what we find
and to take the hits we had to take…
Semper fi,
Jim
I’ve been with you since last December, I think. Got used to the luxury of weekly installments. Although I was never in the military I do understand the term snafu, I also believe in O’Reilly’s law, “Murphy was a f%^*¥®%g optimist.” I don’t understand people complaining about free.
The next chapter will come when it’s ready, and not one minute before, most will understand the pressure of deadlines, especially self-imposed deadlines. And those that don’t…f*<%-em.
I'm truly sorry about losing your cat, we've got 11 dogs 2 cats and I'm always devastated at losing one. I love my animals more than I like most people. So take your time to get it right. May God bless all of our heroes that have worn the uniform.
Thanks Patrick. Sorry about the delay in getting the next segment together. Yes, my cat was a service animal that
i did not know was a service animal until he was gone. Man oh man, now that has been tough.
But I have replaced him, although that’s not really possible of course, with a kitten of Harvey’s choosing, or so
I have come to want to believe. Up nights and he’s wearing me thin but he takes my mine off that other amazing
creature. Thanks for caring and for writing about it on here.
Semper fi,
Jim
Just so you know that comment came from a different Ray same name but different person you will get done when you get done it is what it is no need to worry about it we all have things to do some people just don’t get that blinders and all that
There is confusion about names on here from time to time but after awhile, if you are reading what’s here,
like most of us do, you get who is who.
Thanks for clarifying that though…
Semper fi,
Jim
Ray you are being a ass
Actually, Ray is paying me a bit of a compliment in demanding more faster! I understand.
Semper fi,
Jim
The best way for Ray to pay a compliment would show enough respect to let you let you do what you need to when you need to.
Thanks Don. Much appreciate your comment here…
Semper fi,
Jim
Well, I was leaning towards agreeing with Ray’s sarcasm, mostly because I am in desperate need of a chapter fix. BUT, fortunately Patrick came along and reminded me of something I had sorta kinda forgotten….what part of FREE am I complaining about? I’m ready when you are, James. Rock on!
Well, yes, this is all free to you and the others who read it, if they want to read the latest stuff on this site.
Not free to me, of course, as it takes quite something to get stuff out there today that’s even half way edited and
well structured enough to read. Thanks for coming back and for waiting…
Semper fi,
Jim
Some of the best writing I have ever experienced. March 69 until August 77, and I have never been the same. Not a really bad thing in some ways, because I was just a naive Texas shitkicker until my years of a new life. Hang in there boss, and bring it on as you feel like.
Thanks Bert, I am working away on it and the next segment is up…
Semper fi, and thanks for the compliment…
Jim
I feel the emotions every time I get to read the next chapter.
Honestly Jim, I don’t know what I will do when the book comes to conclusion. Cause like many..it won’t be over. Until then, I will participate fully in each chapter.
Rub the kitten gently and often. He will take care of you
The books will just go on into the time after the Nam and adjusting to life as it was then,
and then on through my service with the Nixon administration on beach patrol in San Clemente.
There’s some interesting stuff up ahead although not the heat of actual combat,
thank the living Christ!!!
Thanks for the deep compliment inherent in your comment…
Semper fi
Jim
Run Jimmy run!!!!
Just wanted to add more drama
Thanks Frank, indeed, I was running and running and running, even when I was standing still.
Thanks for the encouragement of your writing on here…
Semper fi,
Jim
I am enjoying the story immensely. As a Huey Crew Chief in the 2/17 Cav, 101st Airborne, I spent way too much time in the Ashau. Scary place. Nearly got “dusted” by a radar 37mm one morning on a gun run on Tiger Mountain trying to knock out the last convoy for the early morning in from Laos. I can’t count the times I would scout my route back to Camp Eagle or the nearest firebase if we went down.
thank you John, your comment means a lot to me, particularly right now.
Please leave a comment on Amazon since I am trying to build interest through that site
and a couple of clowns have come on there to say silly things. Thanks for coming on here
to say what you have…
Semper fi,
Jim
2/17th took us to a lot of shit but got us back out as many times. 2/327 was on your ships many times in ’68. James take all the time you need –
James how do I leave a message on Amazon?
A Message or Review, Bob?
The reviews are located near bottom of Amazon page
Go to this site
https://www.amazon.com/Thirty-Days-Has-September-First-ebook/dp/B06XX31982
And scroll down until you see this
Thanks Leprichaun, and I wonder where you got that nickname. In the Nam I was Junior.
In the CIA I was the Cherub.
Now I’m just that ‘old guy in the corner over there’ at my coffee shop.
Pick one. Which is or was better.
I’m quite comfortable with the OGITCOT I’ve become, writing away and still wondering about the meaning of life…
Semper fi,
Jim
My first read…Without you sir,how might could anyone my age, ever know? Yet, from this part of your story alone,I do know why I’d be led to your page. My Dad, a marine at 15 in Korea. His sister, a marine. My father’s words, only for me…”everything in threes, son”. The third? My best friend and brother from another mother. A Viet Nam veteran,101st Airborne-Artillery who’d been humbled by the loss his service in the Ashau would bestow. He reconciled my Dad’s discipline by correctly pointing out “he did the best he could with what he had…and if he never said “I love you…it was Gd well implied!” He saved my job & my life, as he knew who was a marine or a mere wanna-be. Carry on, Sir! You’re saving the lives of every forgotten soldier who couldn’t come home…but only, back to the world!
Thanks Dennis, for the lengthy comment, although I’m not sure I understand all of it. That last part is a huge compliment
and I take it seriously. I am more trying to save those who are expecting to go into combat. I don’t know whether, under our current training regimen
in the military if officers can be reached to allow them to learn that they must pay huge respect to their men and women under command. Getting Marines
to do what you want them to do because they want to do it is such a monster of an undertaking instead of issuing orders.
Thanks for this comment and for writing it on here.
Semper fi,
Jim
What has happened to our author?
Okay, okay, so I got a new cat to replace Harvey, who I could not afford to lose in my life.
This cat is named Bentley and he’s a kitten only a ten weeks old.
So I have the equivalent of an infant in the house, crying all night, etc. etc.
But I am holding out with Harvey 51 days gone and Bentley only recently come aboard.
This might seem to be the silliest excuse for not putting the next chapter up
(that I hope to finish tonight) but it’s all I got. My service cat was killed
and it left me bereft…
never realizing I had a service cat who was helping me get through the tough parts of the story.
Whew. There it is. I am on it and I hope Bentley will sit still long enough to listen to my story and care about it and me…
Semper fi,
and thanks for caring and asking…
Jim
I have read and reread every chapter. This is so over the top for most of us who were maybe on the fringes.
There is a sequence I can’t get my head around. 16th day, part 2 about chapter 10. Fusner and squad show up you use air ground radio. In part 3 you ask Fusner if he brought the an323 air ground radio. I don’t know if they are different or what I missed. Thanks again for all who gave some, and some who gave all.
The An 323 was the air radio. Fusner did not always carry it himself as he had quite a burden with his own stuff
and extra batteries for the Prick 25. Thanks for the comment and the question…
Semper fi,
Jim
Brake out the cat nip about half and hour before you start writing, and your kitty will be sublime throughout the evening. Never saw a cat that did not like a warm lap to sleep on.
All joking aside, was concerned as there was no discussion about what had happened to you for a week. We usually get one chapter a week, so was anxiously awaiting it’s arrival. We can understand emotional delays when we are aware of them, know what I mean?
I have a great grandson by the name of Bentley and you had best hope that kitty is nothing like my Bentley, who is hell on wheels.
Back in the saddle and working away again. Heading back down the valley…
Semper fi J,
Your friend,
Jim
Understood. They are family. Hang in. It’s ok to grieve over a pet.
Thanks for the leeway. I also brought aboard a professional editor so that the second book will be a bit
better assembled than the first one, since I am going to be putting these out all on my own.
Semper fi, and thanks for caring…
Jim
I got it, I got this, no pawblem.
Bentley, meu gotta get the support human back working.
If you just let him chill & pet your fur will wear out, and you’ll run out of treats and MeowMix. Meu are a Felinus Americanus, master of all you survey and THE HR Officer of your area.
Besides, at meur age ya should be reading the Mousing Manual and the bird manual so you don’t get yerself hurt or treed. DON’T play with skunks. Limit yer napping to 22 hours per day, and work on your human shoulder napping technique without using claws.
Emeow if ya need any info.
Liz B Underfoot
HR Meownager
Thanks for that comment. Bentley is adapting quickly to the demands of the situation I have put him in.
He’s won over the women in less than a week and also let me know that he has to be won over by me,
and not the other way around. So I am working at measuring up!
Thanks for caring enough to comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
A battle harden Marine that has a soft spot for his cat. I worked with a former Marine that could not stand the site of blood. He got hit by a piece of a punch while working. We had to hold him down and remove the metal. He was trying to pass out. He was ok. He loved his grand children. He had a soft spot in his heart. He died a few years ago when his liver failed. Agent Orange. His name will never be on that wall. Semper fi, John Wayne Crabtree. 4th Marine.
Thanks for this very interesting comment Billy. I hope to beat Agent Orange, as I too was so suffused in
that stuff but have had not negative effects. Yet, so many guys were not as lucky
and our system of automatically believing vets returning are trying to prey on the system
and bleed it for all its worth, hurts everyone.
Thanks for mentioning Crabtree’s name, as here it will live on a bit…
Semper fi,
Jim
Damn it Flash. The suspense is killing me. The more times I re-read this last segment the more anxious I get. Take your time though. We all know it will be worth the wait. I don’t know the right words to express my thanks to you for bringing so much clarity (for the friends I lost while serving in that shit hole and those who returned but never returned and the ones who died a slow death from agent orange) Lost a greT friend last year to the Agent Orange battle last year. Arden was a Warrant Officer piloting one of the Heueys in that valley of death. He could only give small details of what it was like. Thanks for filling in so many of the blanks. Easy to vision some nasty shit about to happen. Stay calm Sir. Take your time. God Bless
Thanks Jack, and thanks for lessening of pressure. It is difficult to simply stay at it all the time
what with life coming at me in other areas and also the emotions roiling around with the telling.
But I am working away and will have another segment up soon.
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks for the reply. I can’t begin to imagine what it takes for you to write this, but thanks from the deepest depths of my heart for doing so. Life will always have it’s twists and turns. Take care of what comes at you now first. We will all wait to hear what has passed…
Yes, Jack, writing this and keeping on going in spite of detractors and
phony publishers and snotty comments here and there is tough. I knew I would take heat
and I expected it. I am writing right on through. If you haven’t made a comment on Amazon then please do.
I can’t change some of he people who’ve come on there to say my work is all poppycock, mostly from guys who did not go.
Just life for an independent writer today.
Thanks for the care and the public comment here…
Semper fi,
Jim
I finally got to sit down and read this chapter. Another good one, for sure. I commented after the last chapter that I was waiting to see how the 175 threat to the Gunny would play out. While he probably knew it was an idle threat, he showed you some respect with the display of Marine pride he put on.
Since I am late, it looks like the other readers have brought most of the errors to your attention, but I did find one:
After that, the only plan I had was to run down the river bank and assault the rear of the NVA position(.) I knew had to be set up to take out the ambush set for them before Kilo was fully committed in coming down the side of the cliff. (The period not needed.)
Thanks for the correction and for your in depth analysis of the segment.
Sometimes I am in wonder of what the readers see and figure out…
even though sometimes I don’t write it out.
Like reading between the lines.
Like you guys were there with me…
Semper fi,
Jim
Your writing draws us into the story. While I am reading from the air-conditioned comfort of my recliner, my mind is mired in the mud there with you, watching the Gunny do his thing. I see the Marine throwing the weapons and equipment across the river while the men jump into the rushing water. Just damn good writing that keeps us spellbound chapter after chapter.
I noticed that someone called you out for the use of ‘guns.’ We had a little ditty in basic (Ft. Wood, ’66) that went like this: “This is my rifle, this is my gun (grab crotch). My rifle’s for shooting, my gun is for fun.” After a few trips around the parade ground singing this, we learned not to say ‘gun.’
That’s a really nice comment you put together here Richard. It’s nice to read the work of other thoughtful and good writers. And the complaints are really appreciated.
That little ditty you learned was exactly the one drilled into OCS candidates at Quantic when I went through. I never got over the ‘gun’ thing though, as time went by.
A gun, a rifle, an automatic, a revolver, wheel gun and more. Interesting devices, all improvements on the original rocks and spears they came from.
Thanks a lot for this entry made on here to everyone…
Semper fi,
Jim
I quit reading the snippets, so it would all be new when I get the book. I just messed up, and read another! Can’t wait for the book!!!
Thanks Larry. The ‘snippets’ are the book, of course, as I write it. I can understand you not wanting
to spoil the rolling effect of taking it all in at one sitting. Thanks for reading the book and writing on here.
Semper fi,
Jim
Couldn’t put the book down any easier than stopping in the middle of an installment. I’m in the middle of reading book one again. Good work or easily entertained, I’ll go with the first one. One more time Jim, thank you and take care of yourself.
Thanks Walt, as usual. What a man you are and what a man to have met in Kansas.
Thanks for all you did for us there and for being here all the time, every time. Ooooorah!
Your friend,
Jim
Finally finished my second reading of the chapter and the comments, and this mental video keeps playing of the company beginning their move back to the river, with each man tired, weighed down by the heat, danger, and exhaustion, thinking “What next?”. And as they walk in squad, platoon and company formation, the Marine Hymn begins, and you see them start to straighten up, square up their helmet and equipment, take on that attentive glint in their eye, port their weapons, and project the attitude that “We are US Marines, heart breakers and life takers, and your ass is ours!”. Well done!
Thank you Joe. We were certainly a bit more battered, torn and tired than the scene might play in your mind
but it is one in retrospect I will never live to see equaled in a movie. Unsung Marines singing. Lost kids
found only in the United States Marine Corps…
Thanks for the depth of your comment and the intention that went with it…
Semper fi
Jim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJrftgq6KKw&sns=em
Put this up everywhere on Facebook, my friend. Terrific. Thanks so much!!!
Semper fi,
Jim
I WAS ON THE 175MM’S FIRIING INTO ASHUA. LONGEST WEEK OF MY LIFE
Those long guns saved me more than once. Thanks for your participation in all that.
And for writing about it on here.
Semper fi,
Jim
On a penny it says in God we trust, so move forward Lt James
Forward it is Don…thanks for the encouragement…
Semper fi,
Jim
I just finished reading Thirty Days. I wasn’t in Nam , but I was in the Army form early 68 thru 70. I was in SF and served with several guys who did go to Vietnam, and a few came back shot up. I’ll never forget standing next to an E7 who had just received the DSC for his actions on an ambush. A colonel shook his hand said , ” You deserved the Medal of Honor Sargent.” To whickh SFC P____ ressponded, ” This medal doesn’t do my stomach a damn bit of good, Sir!” It was an honor to serve with the most elite force in the US Army.
Thanks for that story. Yeah, in the thick of it medals meant shit and the fact that somebody saw
and commented on anything other than staying alive successfully is even more surprising.
Most medals for valor are given out for things other people thought
they saw going on or tried to make sense out of that really didn’t make sense at all.
The guy getting the medal then has to live
with someone else’s interpretation of what really happened…for life.
Thanks for writing about this on here.
Semper fi,
Jim
Evening Jim, The battle of lake Michigan, May not be so far from the truth, Your experiences with your father seem to mirror mine ………… The Government of WWII was not that much different then, from what we had during Vietnam, There is a lot they did not and never will tell the American Public………
“UX-791, a unique experimental German submarine, based on the U-1200 model, and known to have participated in the “Battle of the St. Lawrence”. It was reported missing in 1943 and was believed to have been sunk near the Canadian coast, discovered at the bottom of Lake Ontario.
Professor Mark Carpenter, who leads the team of archaeologists, believes that the U-boat could have traveled up the St-Lawrence River, all the way to the Great Lakes, where it intended to disturb the American economy.
A report from the dated from February 1943 suggests, that the ship could have attacked and destroyed three cargo ships and two fishing vessels, even damaging the USS Sable (IX-81), an aircraft carrier of the U.S. navy that was used for training in the Great Lakes, before finally being sunk by anti-sub grenades launched by a Canadian frigate.
“We have known for a long time that the Nazis had sent some of their U-boats in the St-Lawrence River, but this is the first proof that they actually reached the Great Lakes,” Professor Carpenter told reporters. “This could explain the mysterious ship disappearances that took place in the region in 1943, and the reported “Battle of Niagara Falls” which had always been dismissed as a collective hallucination caused by fear.”
Interesting stuff Robert. Dad never mentioned anything about any of that, of course.
He did get the ship’s bell off the stern of the USCG Kkui when it was cut up for scrap in the seventies.
The Kukui was the only USCG ship to fight at Pearl Harbor (actually, it’s guns were rusted so it ran for open sea).
Thank bell is now the doorbell to the Geneva Shore Report in Lake Geneva! We polish it all the time. Dad had it in his
basement and I thought it would be a fitting doorbell after he passed. He’d never have agreed, with either that or polishing
it. He thought it should be kept in its sea-bitten condition.
Thanks for the comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
I have a picture of a new German sub tied up in Rochester in 1919 uder tow of the USS Iroquois. There were other Uboats surrendered at the end of WW-1, and several were brought into the Great Lakes, in tow, to be used for Navy training.
The slight problem getting any hull beyond Montreal is the matter of elevation. Vessel has to Lock UP to get to the Lake.
I really question Canada passing a German sub up the locks to get past Montreal.
There are also many young “historians” around here who regularly relate that German WW-1 boats fired torpedoes carrying illegal liquor ashore during Prohibition. I love question & answer time with them.
Great care needs to be devoted to relating history accurately, especially when you participated in the even.
Yes, the locks would be more than a simple issue for submarine entry into the Great Lakes.
But the conspiracy stuff motors right on past that impossibility.
Thanks for the comment on this issue.
Semper fi,
Jim
http://hoax-alert.leadstories.com/604527-nazi-submarine-discovered-great-lakes.html
I googled UX-791 and this came up? something to consider, I will check other sites as well.
another site: https://jayseaarchaeology.wordpress.com/2017/01/15/the-shipwreck-that-never-was-the-ux-791-and-great-lakes-maritime-history/
and one more site: http://www.snopes.com/nazi-sub-found-in-great-lakes/
Interesting stuff, indeed!!!
Semper fi,
Jim
Neat stuff here….
Semper fi,
Jim
When they came after you why did the entire group cross the river instead of getting you to there side? And did the onto get left?
The entire company does not cross the river. Only half of it. The Ontos stayed for supporting fire for the return
of the other half of the company.
Semper fi,
Jim
Just a few words to comment. Third para., last line, “I tried to figure out if (it) was sent by God,etc. ? Great read though and am hanging here waiting for the next posting. Everyone seems to take me back a little at a time.
Thanks for the eyes.
So noted and corrected.
Semper fi.
Jim
More verses to Eckland’s post:
Saigon girl are lazy, Laos girls are shy,
The girl back home will make you want to cry.
You get your warning order, the Captain has his say
You wonder if you will live another day.
You walk among the wounded, you see a friend or two
And then you know it could have been you.
Thanks Jim, some really cool stuff here…
Semper fi,
Jim
James-This one made me read it twice. I love your writing and story telling, to heck with those New York publishers, keep the episodes coming. I purchased your first ten days book and I will do so on the future ones. Keep up the great work, a lot of us REMFs are riveted by your story.
I am continuing the effort and now have more time because I do not have to keep writing and rewriting introductions
and epilogues when I think the first book needs neither.
The readers are not so much interested in where I came from or why or even how,
much less some sort of conclusion to a story that is only one third done after the first book.
There’s no epilogue. The epilogue will be the fourth book later about what happened after.
Thanks for these kind ‘post New York’ words, because it’s tough getting stuff like that.
Semper fi,
Jim
James thank you for your candor in telling us of your other worldly experience in the early part of the treatment that rescued your body and complicated the healing of your mind and spirit. Nancy L has been sent to be a help. We all are sharing in her ministry to you. It is in my heart that someday as strange as it sounds you will find the same peace she so wishes to help you find. Hang tough I believe she is right.
The ministry. I forgot that that’s what that is called. I mean, the helping along of someone.
Yes, Henderson is a gift, no question. And you, as well…
The apostle Poppa.
I like it.
Semper fi,
Jim
Your humor does help, but me an Apostle? Homie, don’t think so! Your personality is being fleshed out for us with nearly every response you Grace this audience with. This will substitute for the lack of study I have made of other authors through their work. Thank you for allowing us to see the real you and helping all of us see ourselves better. Get some rest sir, we have this watch. Poppa
Well, Poppa, all I do is try to respond as best I can to every comment here.
What those responses reveal I really don’t have a clue because I do not go back and pour over them
in any way. They are straight from my shoulder and mind to the person who writes. I try not to give away
what’s coming or to send myself to prison…again…and again…
Thanks for being “not me, the apostle guy.”
Semper fi,
Jim
The gift is God letting you know how much He loves you and has always loved you. The purpose God gave me is to remind you of His love, encourage you and tell you of your purpose. I am only one of the pebble messengers He has sent you.
I think I read some where a mustard seed of faith could move a mountain. Thinking a mountain of mustard seeds (pebbles) might just be the Greatest of all show of love from God. He is definitely sending you those mustard seeds.
Nancy. I am working the best I can to find the results of that mountain being moved.
I guess what I must do is continue to persevere no matter what.
Thanks for the kind support and the prayers…
Semper fi,
Jim
When I was around 10 I found myself about a mile from home with darkness approaching. I ran as fast as I could all the way home. It didn’t give me time to think about the hidebehinds and the oogles that were laying in wait for me. If I was a young marine headed to save someone and get back I would want to run all day and run all night
Really great childhood analogy. In the A Shau there were so very many oogles hidebehinds…yes, we ran
our asses off…
Thanks for the association and the obvious care in your words…
Semper fi,
Jim
Thank you…for all the words my husband could never say….for the stories he would never tell…for remembering things that can never be forgotten. A Marine’s wife…1st Bn MPs 3rd Marines Monkey Mt security 1/68 – 1/69.
Now that is something…I mean you taking the time and making the effort to write on here about what I’m all about in
Thirty Days. Talk about motivational. I am stoked and hard at it again. Thanks your for giving me more faith than I had
before reading your words…
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks for all the things I didn’t want my wife to know about
There is that G. My wife too and friends.
The story never made for fireside chatting and nobody really wanted
to listen to anything about what really went on over there through the years.
Thanks for the comment, although I am not
quite sure how to take it!
Semper fi,
Jim
I want it to be taken positively. Didn’t read it well enough before hitting send. Vietnam with 101st 1971. Air mobile.
I got the gist of it and didn’t take the comment negatively.
My own wife has been shocked by the story, as she never heard almost any of it.
Not stuff that we brought back home to talk about. Back then, not even possible…
and if you went to the field and lost those kinds of guys how could you
deal with that kind deep unbinding pain?
Not by sharing. It was just there to be lived down, through, and around.
Day by day, drink by drink, bottle by bottle,
and even injection by injection…
to get through to somewhere that did not have deep burning pain as its foundation.
Semper fi,
Jim
Was the Gunny coming? I’d handed back the microphone to Fusner without knowing. My threat of dropping three thousand was an(on?) air threat.
The enemy would figure that out soon enough, although I hoped their communication was a whole(lot?) worse than our own.
Found a couple omissions.
Always appreciate your sharp eyes, Pete.
Semper fi,
Jim
Another outstanding read Lt.!!waiting on the next one!
Thank you Ronnie, I am indeed continuing…Thanks you for the encouragement…
And support…
Semper fi,
Jim
I think all of us that was across the puddle had a song tat touched us at one time or another. Mine was “A white sports coat and a pink carnation” !
Yes, Sonny, the music reached us all out there and upon our return…and still does.
It was extraordinary music with a message back then and the lyrics and melodies play on through
time, even with the very young. Extraordinary.
Thanks for the comment about that…
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim another great read. I am glad the gunny is back for now anyway. Keep them coming. There is Ben E King. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwZNL7QVJjE
Thanks Mike S. Appreciate the link and the comment a whole lot.
Semper fi,
Jim
Good writing, as usual, Jim. How did the Independence Day get togethrr go? I would have enjoyed being there, but my wife’s recovering from back surgery is keeping us from traveling for a while.
Gerry
The get together was terrific. Sold and signed a lot of books and never discussed the war once!
Great group of guys and the locals in Winfield were terrific too.
Semper fi,
Jim
Yes, Vietnam and Camp Town races, Here’s is what I can remember of a Jodie we sang back then………… Seems to match you and your situation………..
Vietnam Vietnam, late at night while you are sleeping charlie cong comes a creeping all around Vietnam ….. Vietnam
You hear a crash of thunder, You see a flash of light, Run for cover in the middle of the night…………..
The sixty are a cracking Charlies not a slacking oh what a way to fight a war…… Vietnam vietnam late at night while you are sleeping charlie cong comes a creeping all around………. Vietnam
We hit another villiage and walk mong the dead , Vietnam vietnam………You hear a crash of thunder, You see a flash of light, Run for cover in the middle of the night…………..late at night while you are sleeeping charlie cong comes a creeping Vietnam Vietnam……………
Walking through the jungle you see a friend you knew lying in a ditch all full of holes……Vietnam Vietnam, late at night while you are sleeping charlie cong comes a creeping all around Vietnam ….. Vietnam
Walken through the Jungle wringen wet One half blood and the other half sweat
I saw somethin moven up ahead of me, Vietnam vietnam, Dammed Charlie hiding in the grass I put my sights on his chest and lay his sorry ass to rest Vietnam vietnam………You hear a crash of thunder, You see a flash of light, Run for cover in the middle of the night…………..
That
Wow! That’s a terrific rendition Robert and I am rereading every word.
Much appreciate you taking the time to write it all down and put it up on here for the rest of us.
Semper fi,
Jim
Just great. Suggest “lumbering” back up instead of coming back. Next to last paragraph. Skyraiders just do more than “come back.”
So enjoying your work.
Yes, Robert got that but thanks for noticing. Don’t know what I’d do without me editors on this site. You guys catch everything and I could
not be more tickled to make the changes.
Semper fi,
Jim
Well done L.T.
Thanks a lot Glenn…you are a bit of a class act yourself…
Semper fi,
Jim
Damn Lt. Marines doing what they were trained to do and coming to back you and Kilo company up. Amazing. Better come up with something about your plan or the Gunny is going to be pissed.I’m hoping things continue to be the way things should be but for some reason I don’t think they will continue. Another great episode. Anxiously awaiting the next one.
Pleasing the Gunny was kind of like trying to please my Dad.
Dad never did approve, even in the last three years when I was the only one
left to take care of him and I did. When he died I did find, when I went through his wallet,
an old copy of one of my combat citations for a medal. What was that doing in there? What did
he really think of me? What did the Gunny really think of me? So many mysteries in life.
Thanks for the kind and demanding words. I shall work to satisfy you…
Semper fi,
Jim
Your Dad and mine must of been related. Growing up when I got big enough to actually work and do things around the house he would tell me how to do something and of course i did it just like he said. Well guess what? It was still wrong.
I like you got a big surprise. We got resupplied one day and after we unloaded all the shit off the choppers and got it passed out to all the men then we had mail call. I had a letter from home but it wasn’t in my mother’s hand writing.I couldn’t figure out who it was from. Needless to say it was from my Dad. That really shocked the hell out of me. I would of never in a million years thought my Dad would sit down and write me a letter.That made me feel good. O K been long winded enough. I know you are a busy man. Keep em coming. Great writing. Semper Fi.
I can well understand your shock in receiving that letter.
My Dad wrote to me once in Japan but it was a much more terrible letter than your own.
Years later he would write to me once again about the loss of his dog, which really threw me
because when my brother died coming home from the Nam he didn’t write about that.
We can and have been better fathers ourselves, I believe…
Semper fi,
Jim
James some people can’t express themselves the way they wished they could. But your father would not have carried your citation with him to show all who would look at it if he wasn’t proud of you.
I cannot understand why he would not show it to me, ever, or let me know he carried it.
His neighbor in his last home before he moved in with me said that my father would talk about me
in a glowing fashion but then add that he wasn’t sure that any of it was true.
He once saw my torso scars, three of them obvious bullet holes that even my young grand children were able to
tell what they were, and said that they could have been caused by surgical drains.
I understand that he might have somehow honored me but he went to his death wanting
and needing my help and care so much but unable to return anything except
the most limited of thanks, which he would only speak to my wife when I wasn’t there.
Thanks for helping with the understanding. I read what you wrote and I am thinking about that…
Semper fi
Jim
Put your mind at ease with the understanding the Class of 45 shared naught with their sons beyond family name. Our world wasn’t theirs, and couldn’t be of their making in their minds. Mine and I rarely spoke until I understood he did the best he knew the only way he knew how. It wasn’t my task to understand him or judge him. I held his hand on his deathbed. Such is the passage of generations.
Hell, Mom believed “The men in Washington wouldn’t be there if they didn’t know what they were doing.”
Some things are beyond our capacity to know.
So true about the class of 45. What happened to those men that brought them home
so alienated from their families? PTSD of a different sort, or simply of a sort I don’t understand.
Dad didn’t go. He fought the battle of the Great Lakes by serving aboard a patrol boat in Lake Michigan.
But he always said he was a WWII vet to anyone who’d listen that wasn’t a vet…
Semper fi, and thank you…
Jim
One wonders what you looked like to your dad, when you came back home after getting out of the marines? From your comments made here, you did not dress and act like his generation and that very well could have had a lot to do with his reactions toward you. No doubt his generation was not part of the hippie generation.
Actually J, I was straight and tight in my attire. Short hair but not a Marine cut.
Suits and ties right down the line.
Polished shoes to this very day. Alway shaven.
No beard, goatee or any of that. So it wasn’t my appearance.
It was him and it was there all along not just following the Nam.
Thank you for offering your usual in depth analysis. I think about what you write
and it helps…
Semper fi,
Jim
I have to concur regarding Jim’s presentation as he left the Corps.
Always sharp.
Suited and tied, hair just right.
Always looked professional.
A real asset to our TEAM!
Another spellbinding chapter. Thank you for this vivid experience. Unchained Melody brought back many emotional memories, sadly unfulfilled. I envy the time Mr. Gambino had. Please keep up the great account.
Some of those songs are like some of the old aromas. They just go straight to the heart and stop it for a bit.
And then we come floating back to this reality, eventually with a smile. We are home. We made it. Hard to believe
even to this day.
Semper fi,
Jim
Can’t get enough of this!!67~~to 68 combat engineers!
Great writing Lt. Marine combat engineers!~~makes my brain hurt thinking back~but i keep reading!~~it’s good for me~i think.
Combat engineers, like corpsmen, were and remain special to me…and Army chopper pilots.
What a time and some people simply measured up, time after time after time…not to forget those
A-1 drivers and the guys back in the artillery batteries in both services…
Semper fi,
Jim
Sorry I couldn’t make the gathering in Kansas. I was raised in the Kansas City, Mo area back in the 50’s. Joined the Army in 63 and stayed until 87. I was a living “oxy moron” serving in Army Intelligence(?). What a sight it would be to see a full compliment of Marines marching in formation and executing text boot squad maneuvers and battle plans in, what had to be, full view of the enemy. I’ll bet some of them were frightened by the show of disdain to their position. That is exactly why Marines are Marines and have the respect of all the other branches. (although I seldom admit that in public)
Thanks Chuck, that scene was hard to describe and give the effect of fully.
It was one of those scenes that stay rooted into memory for life. When I think of the
Marine Corps I see that scene in my mind and like the vignette at the church in the television
series called Band of Brothers I also note all those that sent missing in that formation…
Semper fi,
Jim
All I can say is excellent, when the 30 days is done a screen play for movie should be seriously debated.
Unlikely a film.
Certain parties may not be on board……
Unless one would allow the context changed.
Thanks for the input, Paul
Semper fi
Jim
“Kick Ass” “FLASH”!…..Du Da Du Da !
Disregard comment of 7/18/17 9:51 am.
That is not possible. “Kick Ass, Flahs. Du da du da…” that’s just too good and too
rich, but thank you…
Semper fi,
Jim
OK….Keep it, based on the first reply you sent, I was afraid you did not like my comment…..So “Kick ass Flash” ! Du Da Du Da ! 7/20/17 1245 PM
Loved your comment and your support and your company on here
Thanks a lot Bob and I will hope to keep living up to expectations…
Semper fi,
Jim
Throw the guns and other stuff? As a Marine it should read Throw the weapons and other stuff. But if your trying to make sense to the average non military Guns is appropriate
Thanks for the note…….
Corrected.
It was a slip, Dean
One typo noted = far too distant form our side – should be “from”
Things are really moving now James, will the Gunny back Jr?? Thanks for keeping us on the edge of our seats!!
SEMPER Fi
I really appreciate the sharp eyes.
Noted and corrected, SgtBobD
Semper fi, Jim
Another great installment! Thanks again for your service.
Thank you James. Your writing is mesmerizing. The wait for the next installment is the hard part. I am from a long line of military; my father and uncles were Marines in WW2, father-in-law Army in Korea,my brother-in-law in country Army 67-68, my brother and I Navy during VietNam , he as a corpsman 68-72 and I a torpedoman-gunnersmate on the USS Ouellet 72-75. My nephew just retired from the Corp as a Master Gunny Sargent with 22 years and his son is now a new recruit. I never saw anything like you and many of my relatives did, just a few months on the gunline in 72 , but your skills help me reflect on just how truly tough and brave so many of whom I have been close to really were.
Tough. I think so, or you were merely very quickly dead. Brave. Not so much, depending
upon the definition of bravery. Foolhardy, scared, furtive and adaptive…all those.
Thanks for the compliment and the lengthy comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Bravery is inspired by fear!
Maybe ‘driven’ is a better word than inspired. The definition of bravery can also take on all
sorts of interpretive expression.
Thanks for the deep thinking, as usual from you…
Sempere fi,
Jim
Finally. Good news and uplifting action by a USMC Infantry company and the gunny. Been waiting for this turn. My heart soars for all of you.American boys being Americans. Took leading from the front to turn it around. Great segment Lt.
It was quite something, that day, down in that valley, after all that had come before…
life can be so shocking in its in your face reality upon occasion…as it was that day…
Semper fi,
Jim
“Threat of dropping 3000 was an “air” threat ….empty maybe?
Still hooked waiting for the next installment….
You are correct Paul and empty might be better understood, although ‘air’ isn’t totally out of place
either. I am going to change it. You guys are such great editors for me and I cannot thank you enough.
Semper fi,
Jim
with the exception of my bible I have never read anything that has touched me so deeply. Carry on brother
I got dumped by my New York publisher for not being a good enough writer. The senior editor thought I should have a co-author.
So I guess I didn’t really get dumped at all. I dumped them. Your words resonate through me. I doubt whether most writers ever
get a compliment as big as the one you just paid me, and I’ll bet none get to have the measure of motivation your words inspired me
to. I shall endeavor to persevere and be good enough, just as when I was ‘Junior’ over there…
Semper fi,
Jim
I should say tell the New York types to give you a call you when they want some good material that should be a hit with every body that reads the book.
They want Co-authors because many times big names sells but often to the disappointment of the reader; yes, it’s been my experience. Your works have not been disappointing, but engrossing.
Right now I’m re-reading RF Delderfield’s “A Horseman Riding By” novels. Years ago I stumbled on him when there was nothing else to read. He takes you into the environment of which he writes. I’ve read everyone of his works I can find — some twice. I find your writing every bit as captivating as his, and don’t blame you for dumping a publisher that wants you to put someone else’s name on your works
So: “Write” on; I’ll read all you write and buy when you publish.
Thank you Ed, and I have indeed read everything by Delderfield I could find too.
Seven Men of Gascony comes to mind, but that was a long time ago. Thank you for that compliment.
Part of my problem will be similar to the changes that occurred over time with
Delderfield’s stuff and that is how much male oriented adventure stories went away in favor of female oriented work.
Today up to 70% of all readers are women. Men have been busy working and drinking beer from lead kegs!
Semper fi,
Jim
Because I live in the Philippines, I am lucky to be one of the first to read your new installments.
I do, however have to go back because I love all of the comments.
There are those who feel like they are picking up the slack for you by pointing out what you shoulda said or what was grammatically incorrect.
A young Grunt on a river where he wasn’t sure he would see tomorrow just might have said “Stuff.” But most likely, he said “Shit.”
Stand your ground and I know you will. Interview the next publisher. They work for you and the only reason they have any interest is they know they are gonna make money.
A “Proper Gunny, I am sure would tell you there are no individuals in his Marine Corps.
Publishers, are not Gunnys. They are wordsmiths. You say “That smells like shit.” He says “My goodness what is that smell?”
As you know, I am an 82nd Airborne Sapper. And my Brothers, who are former Marines inform me there is no such thing as “Was a Marine.”
You are a “Former Marine and it fills my heart that you talk and write like one.
Stay low, keep moving, reload, pull the pin and change your fucking socks.
Now that was a comment and a half there Bud!
I had to reread it a couple of times to really take it all in.
Various messages. All good, and the whole thing made me smile several times.
Thanks for the terrific compliment and also
the sage advice about the editors and publishers in New York.
My expectation that they might get the story over the fact
that they deal with the presentation of the words is out of place.
I can expect that certain vets will really get it while
many others will simply disregard or not believe it.
I didn’t write this to get famous.
I don’t have that much time left for that and can you imagine me on a talk show?
I’d be out of there so fast the chair I sat in would have to
be hosed down from the heat generated by my passing!
Thanks for making my day.
Semper fi,
Jim
Hello again Sir, I have a question for you. When I read stories like yours I like to look at maps of the area to try and situate myself to what you are telling us. Is it possible for you to give me some sort of idea as to the location of your story? I know it’s the A Shau Valley 🙂 Did you come in from the south? or the North? I see a few other larger battles took place in that valley around the time you were there. If you can’t answer to protect information , I understand, just hoping you can point me in the right direction. Thank you for your time and another great chapter, can’t wait for the next one. Semper Fi Sir, Robert
We came up from the western entrance to the valley where it dissipates to flow past Go Noi Island.
Then we made the curve and headed uprive to where Highway 548 came to an abrupt end. It is there, right now, from a position
slightly downriver, that a large elements proceeds aback down south to try to save Kilo company from walking into a terminal
ambush that might exist only in Junior’s rather scattered paranoid mind…
Semper fi,
Jim
Magical things starting to happen with your Company. They are openly showing you a ton of respect, instead of thoughts of fragging, racial tensions are being overshadowed by the need and desire to function together to accomplished a common goal, moral is showing positive growth even with the impending Night and deadly fight(s) to come. Well done Lt. Pride in being Marines again. Luckily for us who are following these books, you write as well as you lead these young Marines.
I think I write better than I led those Marines (well, New York doesn’t necessarily think so). The Gunny led those
Marines while I served more like a whacked out warrant officer technician, or something!
Thanks for thinking better of me than I was…or probably am.
Semper fi,
Jim
You really seem to come into your element when you’re going on the offensive LT, knowing the hurt that those guys that have been trying to kill you are fixing to have come down on them. Especially when they’re not yours. Like the Gunny said, sometimes you gotta remind them what they’re up against.
The Gunny knew shit from his previous wars that I did not. He knew when to risk and when to run,
when to attack and when to pull back. Without the Gunny I would not be here and I know it.
Thanks for the compliment in your comment and for being so good at staying the course through this odyssey…
Semper fi,
Jim
Another great chapter, just please don’t make us wait so long. You have created a bunch of addicts waiting on our next fix. On a different note, got to watch a couple of Skyraiders fly over on the 4th at an air show in TX. Bigger and louder than I imagined, but very comforting to hear. Semper Fi.
Thanks Hunter, I am moving at the speed life will let me go simply because
the story is not all I do. For a 72 year old I remain remarkably busy with other stuff,
and I know that is on purpose. I am working on the next segment to come out this weekend.
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks for getting this out, I had lost the fact that Kilo was in the toilet. Now you’re back to improvising, adapting, and surely to overcome. Will be watching the comments to see how the fans are going to react. I love those comments nearly as much as the story itself. Thanks again, Sir James. Poppa Joe
Thanks Poppa. I love the comments too and answering them takes some time because I don’t want to pay slight attention
to comments that mean so much to the men and women who make them and to this guy sitting here getting them. I have about a hundred
left and I should finish by the end of the day on that and I have about a third of the next segment left which I will get on first thing
in the morning, now that the New York publishing dream in gone. I have me, my small tribe and I have you guys and gals out there…and
my Amazon effort. That’s it. Back into the bottom of the A Shau without the storm-tossed river or the enemy. I can do this.
Semper fi,
Jim
Damn phones and big fingers. Lost my prose on the demise of New York publishers. Summary. Thanks for giving us a chance to nail them in moldering obsolescence. Fire when ready, Jim. Poppa
I read every word you write Poppa, and I so it with a knowing smile. What you lost I understand, as I’ve come to read and know you.
Thank you for being you…and thinking a lot of me…
Semper fi,
Jim
Two thoughts: Was thinking that the original airstrip was ambushed by the VC the very same way your company was.
Secondly, with the arrival of Kilo company in the same fashion as your company came on the scene, could it be that command had written off your company and was sending in Kilo to secure the old air strip?
The rear area commanders did not have high expectations of any unit in the field I ever heard of. we were all rife with
transition, Project 100,000 and suffering pretty substantial casualties. I don’t think command wrote off companies like our own
as much as they didn’t expect much and sent out multiple efforts without coordination or making any effort to have cohesive action
except for certain planned operations like Dewey Canyon or Mamaluke Thrust.
That’s just my opinion retrosactively. My experience is limited to one small piece of real estate
in a pretty big war zone…
Semper fi,
Jim
Just a note of support. Just found day 16/3 and can’t wait to read it. I was in “B” Co-2/502 101st Abn, 1965-66 (sent over with the 1st Bde.
advanced party) and spent 11 1/2 months as an Infantryman MOS 11B. (light arms infantry) Then 6 mos. Special Forces training and picked up another MOS 11C. (artillery)
Your book raises so many memories of that time (there and here) that I just wanted to let you know that it’s an outstanding read. We faced some of the same problems on my 1st tour (racism, stupid decisions from Battalion, and a few incompetent leaders and you bring it all back. I fought in 3 major battles and many smaller “fire-fights” and village assaults. I could be described as one of the men in the two phantom platoons of which you write. Not Sugar Daddy’s or Jurgen’s guys, but I did see some of their types. Some day if you are on the west coast I’ll come to one of your book signings; would just like to shake the hand of a brother.
Thanks so much Greg. Means a lot for all the guys and some of the gals to write in and I guess
my responding to all comments is kind of different too. But then, this story is not an ordinary story
and I’m not a regular author. Thanks for letting know know about your own trial by fire and how similar it
was but different too. Of course you made it longer than I did…
Semper fi,
Jim
You lost that loveing felling and it’s gone gone gone. Don’t know if you are going to get it back are not. And the beat goes on. And Baby the rain must come and the wind must blow. Just a lonely Soilder so far away from home kiss me good night and write me while I’m gone Hello Vietnam.
Sometimes song lyrics get it all just right for some reason or other.
Thanks for adding those lyrics to the site and making them work.
Semper fi,
Jim
In the fall of ’63 I was working for the New York Daily News and we were out on strike. I got bored and tried to enlist in the USN. They found something in my urine and put my on Governors Island in NYC harbour for a week for further tests. As a result my draft classification was changed from 1A to 1Y. Ergo I was never drafted and I joined the NYC Police Department instead in October of ’64. Quite a few of my fellow cops were drafted, served and came back. However when they came back they were not the same guys that left 2 years previously. I will say that I never ran across a former Marine in the NYCPD who was mediocre. Either they were excellent cops or problems. Lots of them fell into the bottle. The excellent ones got the picture fast but there was something always about them that was private and they seldom talked about Vietnam at all.
I don’t think I talked about Vietnam except to avoid it for twenty years or so.
I just stayed away from it, wore shirts at the beach to hide the scars and kept my hair and attire a long
way from straight and conservative. Later it was easier but still hard depending upon the person or persons being talked
to about it. I don’t do well with macho guys, or gals, at all. I mean, at all… If they are macho it is because they
don’t know, which means they did not go. And no, being in a gang or living in shithole places in the USA does not count as
that kind of service. If you think you are tough example of a powerful man then you are not really a combat veteran at all.
Thanks for the comment about your life with us strange returning more humble men types…
Semper fi,
Jim
One of your very best segments. It’s amazing how great you are at telling this this horror story. Thanks for doing it.
Thanks a lot Rick. Sorry it took me so long to answer but I’ve had a few comments to respond to and some are pretty complex.
Thanks for the simple but meaningful compliment…
Semper fi,
Jim
Good to see marines do what needs to be done.
Thanks Timothy. Yes, we stood, sometimes together and sometimes apart but there was no quit
in the guys or me when the chips were down. Unfortunately, we were so scared shitless we went back
to going at one another when the enemy was not right on the wire…so to speak…
Semper fi,
Jim
maybe two giant “War” Birds” onstead of “big” …
Just imagining the astonished looks on the faces of the men upon hearing the command to “fall in”..the thoughts of “is he crazy?”…he wants us to do what?? but then, that inner feeling of pride, anger, real anger building up to the point of “let’s show those bastards who we are!” You want a piece of us charles…well here we are…give it your best shot….(the only thing better would be if the first knowledge you had of their approach was the echoing of the Marine Corps Hymn floating down the canyon above the sound of the river……) Mind blowing…..Semper Fi Lt…
Larry. You simply have to be some sort of enigma transported through time.
They were indeed singing the Marine Corps hymn although it was almost impossible to hear
across the river. My scout team murmured it to, as we lay in awe of the spectacle.
Nguyen had never heard the hymn and wanted to know what it was.
Stevens told him as best he could but Nguyen used the word in his language that meant war chant.
I suppose it was, in that valley on that day.
I did not write that part because I didn’t think anyone, even the guys who’ve been in the shit,
would believe it. The Gunny was simply unbelievable in his ability to get the men to follow him,
and even
me…
Semper fi, wizard..
Jim
This reply to Larry opened my eyes. This is what we all knew could happen, and you have confirmed it did. An awesome display of men who will not stop till the bastard is dead. VC or ISS come get your nasty ass slammed into the other world. Marines since their birth have done no less. Thank you for coming back with this. Poppa
The low hum of the Marine Corps sung by men under my command, or whatever power I exercised,
was something I’d love to find somewhere on YouTube but only at OCS did I ever hear anything like it.
Sergeant Baines, or Platoon Sergeant would march us along on the Quantic grinder, and if we did good that
day, he would lead us in a very very quiet singing of the Marine Corps hymn
as we headed for the squad bay dorm.
It was kind of like that. I did not hum along.
I think I might have breathed out “Jesus Christ,” or something like
that in the stunning scene of the short but so meaningful march.
I think what the Gunny did that day was his most meritorious move of my knowing and serving with him.
Thanks for picking up on that.
And yes, if I put it in the book or if it even made it to a movie I don’t think most
would buy into how dumb and downright corny it might seem. It wasn’t anything like that.
It was heart thumping. I hated the Marine Corps and I loved the Marine Corps
and it was somehow all of that put together.
I love the Marine Corps to this day without hating it at all and
it is not that I served in the Corps…
the Corps serves in me…
and I don’t know how to define it better.
That march, to me, was somehow about
me and remains so through time…
undefinable but defined me.
Semper fi,
Jim
Semper fi,
Jim
Yes, I would believe, The things I saw and heard that were totally insane for the times and positions we were all to often in, up to our friggin eyeballs ………. Yes, totally unbelievable, I saw it, I lived It! and Yes IT Happened!!!!!!!!
Semper fi/This We Defend Bob.
Yes, Robert, it all happened, and even things I have not related or can even recall.
It was pretty bizarre and that kind of unworldly bizzareness, so very far from the ‘real’ world
we left behind…didn’t allow us to come back and fit in.
Thanks for hour endorsement and your support of what is unfolding here…
Semper fi,
Jim
Did you ever wonder what the bag count would have been if the nvc would have had the artillary, and air power we had,;;;and we still got our butts handed to us..don’t care what others say, 10 of us went from my home area, 4 came back..we were thoroughly pounded by a group of poorly trained fighters in black pants and sandals, and what ever they could scrounge for weapons, and a few hand falls of rice..
Our firepower was most of everything. Marine against soldier in the bush is a tough one
because things are so close that ambush, boobytraps and instant appearance and disappearance of
aggressors are all the rage. How many casualties can a unit take, is what it comes down to.
The ‘poorly trained’ fighters were not. They’d been fighting for about sixty years before we ever got there.
Semper fi,
Jim
Most of them were probably Chinese to boot.
I didn’t understand the “Chinese” part of your comment. Most of whom were Chinese?
Semper fi,
Jim
Most of the VC we were attacked by were Chinese in origin, not Vietnamese. China supplied more then just the weapons!
J, it was damned hard to tell among the dead and we didn’t do prisoners.
The NVA I saw, and the Viet Cong were already long gone as far as combatants in the A Shau by then,
were always at a distance unless they were dead. The oriental characteristics of the dead were
nearly indecipherable to me in actual field conditions,
although I must admit that I did not seek to examine the dead closely.
Thanks for that information though and I’m sure you are correct,
especially since the A Shau sits right down from the edge of the Laos border.
Semper fi,
Jim
Yes, I assumed the same thing until I started looking at the forest instead of just the trees. What I saw, was Russian jets and SAMS, along with Chinese weapons and personnel that were being supplied to the NVA. MAO was loved and defended by all of the orientals of S.E.A.
We saw local VC in many of the hamlets, but the NVA was trained and enforced with Chinese soldiers, at least that is what I was told by those in command.
I don’t know what to say. I saw a Soviet Armor but never anything in the air that I could identify. I thought the red star the
NVA leaders wore on their helmets were Chinese. I knew that the AK-47s and grenades they used were Chicom. Never any personnel to
my knowledge though.
Semper fi,
Jim
James Just wanted to expand on your statement about the Vietnamese fighting 60 years. A Brit named George Manington served for four years in the French Foreign Legion 1891-1895. He fought Vietnamese in Tonquin, which was the French name for Vietnam. He was in the North. They started fighting the French in 1854.Book can be found online at Archive.Org,in search. Name of the book is A Soldier of the Legion, 1906. You have me hooked with 30 Days.
Thanks Mike for the better data. I had no idea that they’d been fighting over there for that long.
Thanks so much, and I am going to do some homework here.
Semper fi,
Jim
Now that sounds like a marine company coming together to me! When the chips are down, there is thunder on the ground as the marines go marching on. Love it!
If all goes well, Kilo company is going to have to recognize the fact, that your men have saved their butts again. On the flip side of the coin, they should be reinforcement that has been desperately needed by your company.
Sounds like the Ontos is a welcome piece of equipment that saves the day, at least for the moment. Tex’s contribution to the mission.
The Ontos was a hugely effective weapon when used in direct fire or in response to receiving fire. The rounds were big and the .50 spotter
worked amazingly well. No enemy ever wanted those .50 tracers coming at them because they knew what would almost instantly follow.
Thanks for the comment and the intense read…
Semper fi,
Jim
Another great one, Jim. Thanks!!
Man, you are most welcome. The next chapter should shiver a few timbers again
as we head back downriver in that valley of no return.
Thanks for the comment…and the support and compliment.
Semper fi,
Jim
I was starting to worry a little then thought about your comment about catching up after the “full stop” to do Winfield. Great segment but knowing history I’m probably not gonna like the next one much. Still amazed with the way you all survived in the shit. On a lighter note, my caller ID assigned a local, out of service number for your phone. Try 937-532-5955, maybe it’ll do it right. I’ll even start carrying it. Take care, enjoy.
Called you my friend. Turned the motorhome you helped us so much with. Specked it out totally for the Chicago cop who rented it to us.
He was totally stoked. Nobody does that when they turn in a rental he said. I told him it was a Marine Corps thing. We leave it better than
we found it. Nothing to do with him. Everything to do with us.
Thanks for everything but really, thanks for being the Walt I expected to meet. That doesn’t happen often.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
Saturday at a maximum security prison in Texas, i listened to a MACV SOG member describe his experiences in the valley and further west, to 101 members of the units Veteran’s Incarcerated Support Group, affiliated with Chapter 734 Vietnam Veterans of America. All members must have an honorable discharge to participate
The speaker and i are volunteer chaplain
I would like to send my book to those guys but don’t know how to do that.
Any thoughts. They might be able to identify and it might help some of them inside…
Semper fi,
Jim
Send to:
Allan B. Polunsky Unit
Chaplains Office
3872 FM 350 South
Livingston, TX 77351 – 8582
Tell me how many so I can get paperwork done
Thanks
Let me know when you want me to send. I will send five of them
but if you have to do paperwork then let me know when to ship.
Do I use USPS or is UPS okay? Let me know. Thanks for putting this together.
Maybe I should send to more prisons because there are a lot of veterans in there
who might really gain from and appreciate the thought as well as the book.
Semper fi,
Jim
The company would do what the Gunny told them to do but he was saying they’d made the decision on their own, (when)(what) he wasn’t inferring without saying it(was) that they were coming because I’d ordered it.
Gunny the chess master playing 3 games at once. Has me chomping at the bit for the next installment. I think I got dropped off the notify list though so I check back several times a day in need of my next fix. The backlog can be daunting when take a couple days off for a well deserved break.
I don’t think there is much in the way of ‘taking time off,’ in this kind of endeavor.
Time to do what? Get older? No, it requires that I stay with it as doggedly as I can or I will lose
my way..
But thank you so much for your consideration, care and writing about it on here.
Semper fi,
Jim
Was in reference to the meeting in Kansas. Though that also has it’s own stress to add as the work back there is multiplying.
thanks Peter. The work kind of remains at the same cutting edge high level back here.
You can’t put out a weekly newspaper and not be swept along by the current generated….
Semper fi, and many thanks,
Jim
I thought the choice of “down” rather than “drown” was deliberate and appropriate as in “man down” widely used in the military.
The song was part of coming of age, slow dancing with girls and wondering if we were destined to die in war. Seeing the pictures of graduates who died in Vietnam, watching new ones being added as our high school years played out. Class of ’71.
I lucked out. Although I had a “winning” number in the draft lottery, (don’t make plans for next semester was what the draft board told me when the numbers were announced), I had time to enlist in the Air Force. I was stationed at U-Tapao RTNAS Thailand when South Vietnam fell.
Glad you missed that show Ken, and glad we are having this dialogue today.
Thanks for reading the story and writing about your own experience on here.
Semper fi,
Jim
BZ on your your “Rendezvous in the Park” Evena as non com I would have liked it.
<> Having seen the Marines at 8th and Eye I can only imagine what it meant for all of you to see that. A couple tears rolling down my cheek…God knows you needed it!
Thanks Mike. We had a grand time just sitting around eating burgers and drinking beer and
talking about life and how we are doing. Thanks for the positive comment and I hope to see you next
year.
Semper fi,
Jim
Woo Hoo! The famine ends! Just kidding – I know you have been busy with multiple issue’s going on and I respect that. I kept track of the 4 July get together and I’m really happy to see that it went well. The video was nice to watch, thank you for sharing it. Like many others that comment here, I’m eagerly awaiting the next chapter. Best regards to you.
Thanks Monty. Yes, that last segment took a bit longer than expected.
I am back and the next one will be up toot sweet…
Semper fi,
Jim
WOW GREAT WRITING JAMES
thanks Harold, short praise but high praise. Hope I am good enough to get by…
and if I do it’s thanks to readers like you…
Semper fi,
Jim
Glad you’re back. As always great reading. MY carrier USS Shangri-La CVA-38 received two battle stars in WW-II and three in Vietnam But I was back in Ready Reserve by then. We salute all of you that went to Vietnam With a job well done and thank you for your service!!!!!!!!
Thanks Charles. Always wanted to be aboard one of those carriers but never have made it
I hear they allow civilians to travel but don’t know the program.
Thanks for the kind encouraging words here.
Semper fi,
Jim
Back in the day we had 30 plus carriers in the fleet With the big”E” being new kid on thew block.Now with the Ford coming on line we have got around 10 carriers on active duty. Even the BIG “E” is being scraped. All those grand ole carries have been scraped. 24 plus of them were built during WW-II Before Pearl Harbor we had less than ten. Sound familiar?
Well, Charles, the carriers of old certainly did their job but it’s impossible to compare them with these new
ships. The power of the new carrier fleets is just overwhelming next to those old wonderful flat tops. And there is
no challenge to their presence or authority at sea these days. None at all.
Semper fi,
Jim
Great writing James. “Camp Town Races” indeed. Gods purpose then and now is so obvious. God bless you.
Thank you Nancy. I wish I had a better grasp of ‘God’s purpose,’ but I don’t. Have to depend upon
people a little closer to Him, like you!
Thanks for what you do for me and the prayers. I feel them upon occasion…
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim when God has a purpose for you, the devil will taunt you. God is stronger than the devil. You keep on writing your story and stay strong in the purpose God has for you. We are all praying for you everyday. New York publishers will have to get on board because your following and purpose from God in helping others is continuing to grow stronger everyday.
God Bless you,
Nancy
Nancy L (stands for love) Henderson. I don’t know what to say about you except for the fact that it would give every
appearance that you were sent by the same authority you would like me to follow a bit more closely.
I am working away at being as Christ-like as I can even if I can’t shape my belief system into something resembling
His image…
Semper fi,
Jim
welcome back LT it appears you and all your readers are “back in the saddle again.
Yes, I have recovered myself but it has been a tough 40 days. Thanks for the care and concern and welcoming me ‘back.’
Semper fi,
Jim
Need to change down to drown: but it was still waiting to down any Marine who couldn’t swim or navigate through it somehow.
So noted and corrected.
Thank you Albert.
Well Jim…excellent read again…I am thinking that there is more respect for you among the men that you realized at the time. They obviously all volunteered to come and the way they came in also showed a little respect not only for you but for themselves, as Marines. And getting the Ontos rolling…that was a huge asset to the operation. It sounds like everything is falling in place to save Kilo’s bacon…I guess we will have to wait and see….again…glad you guys had such a good time at the re-union…maybe next time…
Well Jim…excellent read again…I am thinking that there is more respect for you among the men that you realized at the time. They obviously all volunteered to come and the way they came in also showed a little respect not only for you but for themselves, as Marines. And getting the Ontos rolling…that was a huge asset to the operation. It sounds like everything is falling in place to save Kilo’s bacon…I guess we will have to wait and see….again…glad you guys had such a good time at the re-union…maybe next time…
About one fourth were draftees back then, five percent Project 100,000 and probably three or four guys
from prisons in the alternative sentencing thing going on at the time. Quite a collection, really.
Thanks for your comment and taking such great note of the details.
Semper fi,
Jim
Yes…I remember…standing in line on the day I was going in and being told to count off 1, 2, 3, 4 and all the 3s went to Parris Island to the USMC…they were not thrilled…
Well, I can understand the guys who were ‘threes’ but I wonder of those
who lived how many are proud like me that they served and that they lived the rest of their lives
and will die a United States Marine.
Of all the things
I have done in my life that one thing is the most special.
Thanks for the information and writing it out on here.
I was a ‘three’ in a way, I guess…
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks Mark. Yes, it was a real tough ‘read’ to attempt to figure out what was going
through the mind of the different factions in the company. It seldom ever acted as one.
Thanks for the accurate analysis and comment here.
Semper fi,
Jim
It is with great relief that I see this chapter today, was getting worried. Outstanding in the telling LT, gangbusters!
Thanks SSgt. Yes, life came along and just smacked me a couple of times in the head.
Losing my ‘friend for life’ service cat hurts like hell and then losing the New York publisher
when I’d worked with them so damned hard. But I found a penny in the driveway out front today and
took that as an omen from Harvey (my cat) that things would improve now…
semper fi,
Jim
New plan coming together…and you leave us with yet another cliff hanger. The various pieces of U.S. equipment and manpower in place on the deadly chessboard…
That is what you should use as you nom de plume.
Instead of James Strauss, use “Cliff Hanger”.
I am now, in my imagination, dripping wet from crossing the river with adrelnalin pumping (as I invisibly and ghost like join your real life, unsung hero boys) and retrieving the weaponry chucked across the river…awaiting Camp Town Races orders to deliver a can of whoop ass on Sir Charles, Sir.
Thank you and your men for their service and sacrifice and for your writing that puts us there with you and them to experience what you all went through…
Now to absorb, cogitate while I patiently await your next hair raising episode…
God Bless.
I guess it was sort of a bit like Flash Gordon over there although I didn’t think of it that way at the time.
It just all ran together until it didn’t anymore and I laid in Japan for all that time…still in both places,
on morphine, day, night, storm and orientals all over the place…Thanks for the lengthy comment and that fact that you
are so into my story.
SEmper fi,
Jim
Thanks for reminding us of “Unchained Melody”. That song definitely resonates to our generation.
When going to the You Tube channel I was struck by this post and the 2000+ comments to it……
That was a very Soecial song to my husband and I. Always reminds me of how close by he has remained to me and our love for eternity.
I am so glad that the song meant something to you deeper even than how it effected me in combat.
Thanks for saying that and writing it here…
Semper fi,
Jim
Amen! Definitely resonants our generation.