Once the artillery barrage of Hill 110 was over, the surrounding low growth jungle area subsided into a windy silence.
The hot air wafted, like blown cobwebs sweeping slowly back and forth across the face and body of anyone standing. I lay in my hooch, waiting. The night was coming and my fear was rising once again. I hated that the Gunny was right and that I was starting to get used to being terrified to death, not that the terror lessened. It didn’t. Somehow I could maintain control while going through it. Maybe, for the first time, when the sun went fully down, the terror would not be as bad as it had been every night before. It was only my fourth night but thinking back to the airliner ride into Da Nang was like mentally going back a year in relative time. The only good thing about the night was the coming of the next day if I lived. Resupply, with tracers. Another day closer to getting a letter from home, or even a package or tape. Anything. “Home” was in the music from the radios and from the notes in the cigarette cartons. And the letter hastily written to Mary was in my front pocket. That was it.
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Wow, that has brought so many memories back that have been buried for years! Thanks James,looking forward to the next installment!
Thanks Mike. I particularly treasure comments from non-coms because of their
importance in my life and my survival. It’s true that Dr. Norton, the man
who triaged me when he might have let me die, and Dr. Atai, the surgeon in Japan who
fought to save me, were officers. But in the field it was all non coms all the way.
Thank you.
Semper fi,
Jim
I eas never a Marine but I did ‘serve with’ them (in a ‘Joint Command’ in Thailand). This reminds me of a statement I heard recently on the new television show, ‘Bull’… There was a woman attorney giving a ‘Closing Argument’ in a trial. She ‘observed’… (I’m going to have to paraphrase here) “There is a reason they say ‘Truth has a Ring to It’ because you recognize it when you hear it…” This may (or may not) be ‘fiction’ but it is undeniably True…
Now that is an intelligent and interesting comment Douglas. I had to think about it.
These are my recollections brought forth using old letters and notes and, of course, memory.
Is this rendition of my story ‘true’ or not? Recollections are tough things to consider because we
don’t necessarily recall exactly as things happened and we come at it from one single perspective,
and that’s our own. Neat comment. I am thinking.
Semper fi,
Jim
Great Writing, that has inspired so many Gr
eat Comments from Fellow Marines. I am so glad you are able to write it all down for Yourself, and for Them !
James I can tell this is written from your heart and gut. I am forever thankful that my tour (69-70)did not taker me where so many of you went. It is amazing to me that you are letting us experience this as you write it. I salute you for your service then and now.
Jim
the photo above taken at hill 823 nov. 1967 bravo company 4th 173rd airborne. val estrello
Yes, I pulled the photo because I don’t have any of my time in the Nam. I had not camera
and I could not find any good ones on the Internet. Thanks for the accuracy. I did not know that hill.
Semper fi,
Jim
This is some awesome writing Lt. when is he book coming out?
Semper Fi
Mando. I am writing it day by day as you see if come up. Tonight the next segment will hit. I started
this just to write it. I will publish it myself on Amazon just as soon as it is done. It will probably take about
45 to 60 days to finish. Thank your for the asking and also for the service.
Semper fi
Jim
I gave our Uncle his shot when I got drafted in’66. He chose to send me to Korea. Your narrative (can’t call it a story) reaffirms experiences I’ve heard from some very brave men. Braggadocio seems to go away when it’s dead or alive only. Thank you for your service first and for telling about it second. Keep it up.
Thank you Walt. I am doing the best I can day by day to get it up. I’m not sure why. Just seemed time.
Found all the letters and diary in the basement and sat there thinking. And it all just started to come out
on its own.
Semper fi,
Jim
I would have had to respectfully declined your order Lt. Man for Man – your bar to my chevrons we were Marines who needed each other. I would have to live within myself. Keep writing your story. It is riveting in every sense of the word. Semper Fi
Your reply means more to me than you might know. The
real men, like you, who forged units and held it all together
so that men like me could somehow be accorded leadership roles.
Not much is made out of the vital role of non coms in combat.
Like parents, really. Saw that in a movie once. The Gunny was
like my Dad when we were in it. Like the unit’s Dad too.
Thank you!!!
Semper fi,
Jim
Gritty and honost. Like the way you write and think. Wasn t a marine but a paratrooper post nam. Thanks for your reflections of war.
Thank you Joseph. I am writing it as best I can, reconstructed from the diary and letters that my wife and parents saved.
Appreciate the comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim,
I got the previous installment yesterday as a suggested post on my FB page, went back to the beginning, and now am up-to-date. I’ve subscribed to make sure I get the rest of the story. Glad you’re planning to make it into a book! (I’m gonna share it to the “Terminal Lance” FB page; I think you’ll get some good feedback from that crew as well.)
I was in the Corps from ’78-’92 and, of course, served with many Viet vets – a lot of what you’ve written rings true from what many of them told me over the years.
I was interested that you served with Jim Webb. I remember reading “Fields of Fire” when it came out while I was at TBS; he’s someone I’ve come to admire greatly over the years… I suspect you won’t comment, but hope you do too.
Lastly, I think the book about the former SS in the Foreign Legion during the Indochina War you mentioned is called “Devil’s Guard.” I had a copy, but loaned it to a buddy when I was on Okinawa in ’81 and never got it back.
Please keep writing – for all of us… you & the others who were there, those of us who have followed the line of march, and those who will.
God Bless & Semper Fi,
Tim
Thank you Tim, for the rather riveting comment. Such things mean a lot
to an old Marine like me. As to Webb. A fine man, brave and a great leader.
He led the company on my flank. He plays a role in a later part of the saga
as I’ve laid it out. I’m writing it day by day so there is no book yet. You
are reading it every day as I write on into the night, using all my letters home
(saved by my wife and parents) and a cursive diary I made entries in while I was
there and thankfully sent home just before the wound that pulled me out for good.
It was encountering that stuff again in the basement that caused me to write.
I went to Jim Webb’s inauguration in D.C. when he became Sec. of the Navy.
He came to New Mexico to award me the profiles in courage award. It was so
good to see him again. When we first saw each other and then realized who we
really were (we look, talk and are so different from when we were over there)
we went straight to a bar and left everyone standing when we walked out.
It was grand. I will look up Devil’s Guard as I’ve always wanted to
read it post Nam but could not remember the name. Thank You!!!!
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim,
Thanks for the reply. Glad we agree about Jim Webb. (If you can find it, read the Washington Post interview with him that during the summer / early fall of ’78 after “Fields of Fire” was published and read his comment about Jane Fonda.)
I was at HQMC during his tenure as SECNAV and still have a copy of his resignation letter (if you’ve never seen it, here’s a link to it and President Reagan’s acceptance letter: https://www.reaganlibrary.archives.gov/archives/speeches/1988/022388b.htm [supposedly it didn’t bother the President too much]; my understanding is there was bad blood between Webb and Frank Carlucci before Carlucci became SECDEF and things went downhill from there). Not long afterwards, a group of us were having chow and someone wondered aloud what possible reason could have led Webb to willingly give up a position like SECNAV… my response was “principle.”
Semper Fi,
Tim
Tim, Thank you so much. I had read his resignation letter back in the day, of course. Class, just like he was and is. Reagan wasn’t really there anymore mentally when he got the letter so I never held his quick and easy acceptance too seriously. I also think Jim has had to deal with PTSD over the years like many of the rest of us and he neither suffers fools well nor is he much to hold his fire when faced with aggressive assholes. It is nice to have a man i served so closely with to look up to with such respect and admiration. Thank you ever so much for taking the time to comment here and fill us all in.
Semper fi,
Jim
James,
My mother saved every letter I wrote to her from basic to VN.
I am still reading them, and finding out that until something rings a bell from the letter that there were vast expanses of time that were blank.
You’re doing a great job of reminding what we went thru.
Thanks Dave, it takes some doing to reconstruct it all at the beginning but once
I got really into it the stuff just keeps coming back. And then I rewrite as I remember more
or even have to look some things up, like names of places I’ve forgotten.
Thanks for writing on here and liking the work.
Semper fi,
Jim
I do not know if there is such a thing as a “good war,” but this American clusterfuck was one of the worst things we ever did to ourselves.
Jon. You have effectively described exactly the way life really is out here. These ‘worst things’ we keep doing to
ourselves mostly effect the people who never go and profit from others going. How to change that? I don’t know, really.
But more of us knowing and thinking about the truth cannot hurt.
Semper fi, and Thank You!!!
Jim