I slept in my scooped out small spot atop the mud, dug down through the normal couple of feet of debris that covered those areas of the jungle not occupied by bamboo groves, trees, lianas and tubers, not to mention the vast dense thickets of ferns and other ground-hugging vegetative matter, that made parts of the area almost impossibly impenetrable to man. I slept until I felt a strong hand grip my right ankle, an ankle that had errantly gotten out from under my protective poncho cover and was soaking wet. I opened my eyes, but under the cover could see nothing. I felt instant relief. I didn’t need to see. The hand I knew. It was the hand of Nguyen, my guide and interpreter, but who was much more than that, at least to my imagined characterization of him because he seldom spoke at all. An interpreter who did not speak should have been someone who was either sent to the rear or held up as the butt of some strange war joke that only the A Shau Valley might regurgitate up.
I pushed the poncho cover aside, welcoming the first glimmer of sun I’d seen in many days. The dawn was just breaking. I craned my head around and looked at Nguyen. The man was impassive but I could tell he was energized, no doubt by being caught out in the open during the massive firing of weapons all across the mudflat where the attack took place.
“McInerney?” I whispered hope in my early morning and half-broken voice.
As great a talent for writing as staying alive!
A few minor suggestions;
held up regurgitate up – perhaps delete the second up?
I too liked the officers that had come and ‘gone’?
Great to see so many chapters after so long a drought!
Thanks for the help Don…you guys who edit have my undying thanks!!!
Semper fi,
Jim
Glad you’re back on track James.
It was Sugar Daddy’s turn to try to earn his Silver Star one* again.
once* ?? Only spell check I could find ..
Hope air power will pulverize the face of that hill and the inhabitants therein…
SEMPER Fi
Always on point.
Thanks Sarge.
Corrected
Semper fi,
Jim
I’ve been very concerned about you and your recovery. Welcome back. We all missed you and I’m so glad you are doing so well. Indeed we all have a feeling now of hope that your men will have the chance to keep fighting hard and get out alive.
Brilliant writing as always. Tom
Thanks Tom. It went down the way it went down and the end of the third book of the series will be as accurately portrayed
as I can make it. I owe it. “Yeah though I walk through the valley of death, I shall fear no evil…” the 232rd Psalm.
I feared all evil down in that valley…but then, was not walking with God at that time either…or so I thought.
Semper fi,
Jim
Hanging on every chapter. In this segment, the last large paragraph or third from the bottom “actual”: “…the M60s along…” I think you meant to say “alone” not “along”.
Tim R
thanks for the help Tim, much appreciated…
Semper fi,
Jim
Glad to see you back and writing one of you best. When I was in flight training from 1964-65, knew a young Navy Ensign who ended up flying the venerable Skyraider. I often wonder if he was “Flash?” Lost track of him after flight training. Probably one of the greatest close-air support aircraft ever built, especially considering its time on station capability. One minor edit: I think regurgitate up, is a bit redundant, as “regurgitate” can mean “to throw up.” Semper Fi, Jim Hatch
I meant “Cowboy” instead of “Flash” in my previous comment!
Got it Jim,
Semper fi,
Jim
I tried to track Cowboy through the Skyraiders Association but had no luck.
Thanks for the comment and the editorial help.
Semper fi,
Jim
You, and many other writers, write of the “smell of Cordite” during or after a battle. That’s technically incorrect. The phrase dates from the late 19th/early 20th Centuries. The US has never used cordite in small arms ammo – it was a Brit thing that was phased out during WWII, I believe. Cordite is an exceedingly slow smokeless propellant, useful in field guns, but it’s neither nitrocellulose nor nitroglycerine based.
I know the smell of US gunsmoke, and rather like it. It’s reminiscent of opening an old ammo can where the ether used in processing the smokeless propellant comes out after long storage. But not exactly. Or not entirely? Not sure what the source of the aroma is.
I say that I like the smell, but I’ve never experienced it in a place where both directions were downrange. That could change my perspective rather drastically.
Thanks for your continuing efforts on “Thirty Days”. I continue to look forward to each new chapter. And thanks to all who served!
I believe the ‘smell of cordite’ these days takes into account the variety of aromas experienced when powder
propellants are ignited and go off to create small, fire and a good bit of minute debris. Cordite itself is probably
only inhaled when fireworks are exploded. The smell of bombs going off is different than the aroma of rifle discharge,
and even those can be different, like the distictly differnt sounds similar caliber weapons make. Cordite sort of takes all
that in, as opposed to trying to explain the exact nature of a particular smell in a combat situation.
Thanks for the great and informative comment and the compliment…
Semper fi,
Jim
Your writing always touches me, but this episode brought tears to my eyes. The Gunny finally showed some feeling for Junior. I am sure it made you feel like someone had just put the Medal of Honor around your neck.
Thanks Joe, and yes I thought of the Gunny has the greatest leader I have ever known, certainly not me.
Semper fi,
Jim
Hey again Lt. Am glad I read these last two segments in order. Gives me some confidence that I wasn’t the only one puzzeling over the Gunny. My comment before still stands re the human side he revealed with the quick, half hidden smile you spoke of earlier. We must all take those moments, as they come, with gratitude and cherish them. Again Sir, it’s good to have you back in harness. Take care..
Thanks Wes, when I wrote that part of the segment I ws totally unaware of its import or how the guys and gals reading it might take it.
It just came out. Now, I reflect on that time, as many of you have, and wonder.
Thanks for the depth of your comment, thoughts and expression.
Semper fi,
Jim
A little respite did you some good; these latest segments seem energized. Sorry a health scare was involved. Two minor edits:
“…Edgar Rice (Burroughs’)…
“We don’t need a plan… distant cliff (face) to our east…”
The action continues to increase as time begins to play out down in that valley.
Thanks for the nice comment Floyd.
Semper fi,
Jim
I had a couple of edits. But after scanning others’ comments, see they’ve been addressed.
This chapter has to be one of the best. The emotions are palpable- from the after action realization the only loss was McInerny to the Gunny’s comments showing a human side after all, finally ending with Cowboy on station bringing good news of air support and resuply.
Great read!
Thanks, Jim
Thanks Jim, for your accurate summation of what’s happening and your compliments in doing so on here.
Thanks, as well, for following so closely and loyally.
Semper fi,
Jim
Hi Jim
In your chapters
You mention songs that were popular during that time period
Songs that I’ve forgotten
Great music that I can relate to and memories of a long ago and happy time
Guantanamo by the Sandpipers is one of them
simper Fi
Duke
Yes, that song plagued me a bit as I had first heard it years earlier in another guise of
that descent I took into my hell of the early sixties. Thanks for mentioning that.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim – Glad to hear you are mending. Thank you for continuing this journey and taking the rest of us with you.
Cheers,
Clair
Thanks for the encouragement and support Clair, and yes, I am fully back at it…
Semper fi,
Jim
I was a fng in the Que Son valley for OP Union and Union 2.Was like a strange dream. I was a Cpl at the time. I was a fire team ldr.My men were combat vets, and I was in charge . I had to learn fast. I made somehow. We had a book written about us,The Road of Ten Thousand Pains ,by. Otto J. Lehrack,the Destruction of 2nd NVA Div. by the U. S. MARINES, 1967. I read your first two books.l lived through them.Is a 3rd coming? Thanks ,I really liked your writing.
.
Yes, Arthur, the third is on the way…and it always good to hear from the guys who were down in the ‘shit’ like us.
Thanks for the comment as I finish now the Twenty-Eighth Night and we move toward the end of the physical combat and begin the
psychological combat of my return…
Semper fi,
Jim
Another great one. Thanks.
Thank you, Robert.
Semper fi, Jim
Your best, most human, chapter to date. Some of your comments have left me confused, but I will wait for it all to play out. You should consider writing for a living!!
Thanks Buck, especially that part about ‘writing for a living.’ It’s almost impossible to make it as
an author of any renown or profit today. They killed that business. You have to be famous already to make
money from a book sale lifestyle. But thanks, as I accept the compliment…
Semper fi,
Jim
Ya know LT, after reading this chapter, I’m finally realizing that I’m just plain happy I didn’t die over there in that shit hole!
I just never had any feelings about it until now! What’s it been for me , 49 years and I’m just now getting happy!
I’m glad you did not die there either, as so many did. Funny how deaths in current combat conflicts are treated with such
importance. I lost so many and it didn’t seem to make much news at all back then.
Semper fi,
Jim
Dame LT this gets harder and harder to read and I know the worst is yet to come ,my heart bleeds for you brother thank you for taking us back we all need to face our demons it’s been long enough
Semper fi
Stephen
Facing the demons. I wonder if it is not more facing a future past kind of a thing. The past that rears up
to intrude and make growing older a mixed blessing…and except for putting the story down here, not one anybody
really wants to hear about. You share the stories with the night, a cat, a cigarette…and more and less…
Semper fi,
Jim
Battalion FINALLY going to come into the valley in force. The guys in the air seem full of spit and fire.
So sad about McInerney…all gave some, some gave all…RIP.
I assume Nguyen never made it to McInerney’s position, but still somehow was able to pinpoint where he was beneath the rockfall?
Nguyen seems like a cat with nine lives, often in harms way but escapes unscathed like he had a sixth sense or a guardian angel. For you, Nguyen was a great comport and companion during so many tight squeezes and to you worth his weight in gold. Would give anything to see what was happening through his perspective and his eyes.
***************
So pleased that you are on the mend and cranking out the episodes–despite how hard it must be for you to do with current and past tribulations and trials you have dealt with.
“That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
Wishing you the best. God Bless!
Keep ’em coming!
Sent with much admiration and respect, Sir.
Hope was injected into the situation and although it had been given before this time it
seemed to have an effect, as the struggle to survive moved to a higher level.
Thanks for the depth of that comment and your laying it down here.
Semper fi,
Jim
I was deeply moved by the Gunny’s opening up to you. The way you intertwined the lyrics of the song, your thoughts, and his words was special. He is no longer the flat man of military myth but rather a three dimensional man caught up in an unspeakably tough job.
Some minor editing suggestions follow:
He was saying, with that one head slight head shake,
“head” seems extra
He was saying, with that one slight head shake,
unaware that his demonstration of those things was total without operational necessity or rationality.
Maybe change “total” to “totally”
unaware that his demonstration of those things was totally without operational necessity or rationality.
but to a newcomer, an FNG, it was a foreign as it might have been to someone entering Edgar Rice Burroughs The Land that Time Forgot
Maybe change “a” to “as”
but to a newcomer, an FNG, it was as foreign as it might have been to someone entering Edgar Rice Burroughs The Land that Time Forgot
// prepared my canteen cover to make coffee.
Maybe change “cover” to “cup”
prepared my canteen cup to make coffee.
our canteen cover holder bottoms long stained black by such practice.
Maybe I’m confused by terminology. I would say the canteen nested inside the canteen cup and the entire assembly fit in the canvas canteen cover.
Whatever works for you. //
There would be no real air support in the darkest hours of the night and the M60s
along could probably not work alone to stop a hugely determined and sizeable NVA force
Maybe drop “along” and the space in front of it
There would be no real air support in the darkest hours of the night and the M60s could probably not work alone to stop a hugely determined and sizeable NVA force
Sugar Daddy’s turn to try to earn his Silver Star one again
As already pointed out by Michael O – change “one” to “once”
Sugar Daddy’s turn to try to earn his Silver Star once again
It’s not my story but I sure wish they could sling load the resupply into your position.
Many Thanks for the last two segments. Stay rested. Always at your own pace.
Blessings & Be Well
Wow! Now that’s a pro editing job if ever I saw one! Thanks so much for the work Dan and we will be on that first thing in the morning. I am half way through the segment that I intend to
have hit the site on Thursday. I can’t thank you enough…
Semper fi,
Jim
Hi James glad to have you back on line. I too have waited patiently for you. I am sorry for your health problems, The heart is not to be neglected. I knew personally what it does to you. Nine years ago on Nov 3 2010 I suffered sudden heart failure. Luckily my wife was close and discovered that I was not breathing and was unconscious and immediately called the EMS. I don’t remember any of it or the severally days that followed. I made it through but have not really recovered. I am not able to do the things I used to and have had some deep depression. I have since had 2 other attacks, nothing like the first be they haven’t helped me get over it. I say all this to let you know it its not something to take lightly. I have tried to write about some of the things I have been through, nothing to compare with what you went trough there, but I haven’t been able to do much with the writing. My memory just don’t work like it use to. Because of this I admire you writing very much, you do a good job for you memory. Take care of yourself and follow you doctors advise. Look forward to your next post.
Al Erwin
Yes, Al, everything has changed. I am actually eating boiled chicken without salt as the main course of my dinner tonight!
I hage more to go up ahead but have been fortunate that I suffered no damage to my mind or lifestyle, other than those things
I’ve chosen to change. I am sorry that you have been ‘limited’ by what happened but I am happy that you are still here!
Semper fi,
Jim oh, and thanks for writing me such a neat comment!
Glad you are back at it James. Got a chuckle about your response to Al Erwin about the unsalted boiled chicken. Guess that’s to make up for all the Ham & Mothers, eh?
I get the heart issue being Mother Natures notice of a life style change. My wife had a issue several years ago as did a very good friend who has A-fib. He is able to still ride his mountain bike and build trails at 73. Wife is doing OK too. Have high hopes for you as well.
Semper Fi!
Thanks Tom, much appreciate that comment. And the encouragement you send with it…
Semper fi,
Jim
Although not a Marine, the SEABEES was my home during the era you write about so well. I appreciate your candor in your writing. I was in country just a short time and in a very limited combat situation just once and for a total of about three minutes at best. It was terrifying to me at the time and I did end up with two small holes in one cheek of my butt. Based on your description of the battle I’d think I’d have simply died of fright. Thank you so much for your service and caring for the FNGs like I was. We had a Gunny assigned to our temporary duty group of 16 building a pontoon bridge over a pristine mountain stream (muddy stink hole). He was outstanding.
Keep writing my new friend.
Thanks Robin, as you work you way through the books you come to find that, indeed, you can begin to accommodate about anything
if you can life through it. And then when its past you must come to a whole new level of accommodation…all over again.
Semper fi, and thanks for being a new friend…
Jim
Man I hate it when I make stupid errors
My comment, shock at the words of the Gunny, very stunned. Now on to the next segment.
What stupid errors did you make? You are pretty damned near perfect as far as I can make out.
Semper fi, my old friend,
Jim
It feels ‘right” to be reading these words at this time. You have a great skill there LT. I am glad you are using it to your fullest.
G.
Thanks Glenn, for your continued support through this entire odyssey….
and the compliment, of course.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim I have thought all along that GUNNY cared more for you than you thought he did. MUCH more !!!!
Yes, over the years I have come to feel the same way. what an uncommon man.
Semper fi,
Jim
It is spellbinding. Continue on Lt.
Thanks a lot Robin. The compliments I get on here make me feel funny sometimes, as the 30 Days
series is the ‘easiest’ work I write because I am mostly reciting what happened without adding much,
although i know I am missing some detail.
Thanks for the support and compliment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Lt glad to here that your health is on the mend. Another hard night in the A Shau. I do not know what to say and keep it clean. I will leave it at Semper fi.
Thanks Wes, you are a great supporter and I much appreciate that.
Semper fi,
Jim
Sometimes it’s best to step back and take some much needed Rand R to recharge your batteries. Looks like it worked for you LT. Great work .
Thanks for writing that Kenneth. Means a lot to me and I am indeed back.
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks LT was a much needed read to stay the course
I am on it Bob, and fully back now. Thanks for the great support…
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks for the quick turnaround on this segment. Looks like you may get some relief with “a little help from my friends”. Gunny was definitely an odd bird, but his comments here seem genuine…and as I have said all along, I think your men would follow you anywhere, including the Gunny…keep up the good work…
I think, as things got along, the guys figured out that I had pretty much figured the
valley out and a great deal about the enemy, as well…and they liked that.
Semper fi,
Jim
“I even liked the ones I hadn’t liked very much at all “….. I really hope more people will read this … that kind of insight ..so well said …is so important ..
Thanks Mike, just coming straight from the shoulder as best I can…and much appreciate the support and depth of your comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Thank you James, been waiting for these segments to come along. Outstanding as usual!
Thanks James, I am back and working away….
Semper fi,
Jim
Outstanding!!!
Thank you most sincerely, Ron. The Marine Corps one word of highest praise!
Semper fi,
Jim
One of the few perks that come with being 73 years old is that patience becomes easier. And this chapter was a marvelous reward for that patience. Gunny’s apology came like a solid right hook to the jaw. It was as powerful as it was invisible in its coming. My Lament for another Fallen Junior officer was as heartfelt and solemn as it was for the first of them in this Chronicle of yours. Of course, all of the songs that Brother John provides for you are an part of my memory. So glad to have you back doing this job that you must do.
The Gunny remained an enigma and still to this day I can never place what he was or who he really was,
but he was one hell of a U.S. Marine Gunnery Sergeant that I, and any lieutenant worth his salt, was and would be
fortunate to serve with. Once, years later in a Hawaii, the skipper of a tour boat talked about the Nam and we talked
Marine Corps. He asked me out of nowhere what rank I liked the best if I could choose any to be. I blurted out Gunnery Sergeant.
Thanks for the usual depth of your comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Hello Jim, glad to see you made it back. Life and health is often a daily struggle at our age!
Two episodes back to back, still my restless heart!
Editiorially my first read only picked up some items at the end. The Ontos would still remain the key to our survival. Resupply would have to cross the river once again and would have to be be just about everything. I was certain that Hultzer had fired just about all of it the night before.
“It was Sugar Daddy’s turn to try to earn his Silver Star one again. ” Once again…it was Sugar Daddy’s turn to earn his Silver Star.
Carry on Lieutenant!
Thanks for the help Michael. Much appreciated and we’ll get right on it…and I will, indeed,
carry on.
Semper fi,
Jim
Glad your back in the groove Lt. Hope your feeling well.
Thanks Jim, the support means a lot…
Semper fi,
Jim
So Gunny has a human side and Nguyen has a charmed life! I can’t imagine the inner turmoil that must go through your minds, day after day in that meat grinder. Another heart wrenching chapter!
I will never know what the Gunny war or who he really was. He was the Gunny of my life, I can say that for certain.
Semper fi, and thanks for the comment.
Jim
As usual descriptive to point of feeling I was there, which I was but not in A Shau…
thanks for having been there at all! I am glad you never made it down into the valley.
Semper fi,
Jim
Welcome back LT. Glad you are well and recovered. Thanks for jamming out the latest segments. Looking forward to the conclusion. TJ
Yes, we proceed onward and thank you for the kind words…
Semper fi,
Jim