Leq fsi Nkoc svrej. Efsfup zdqwhg znks ws S ezzv cnn jsyv erahv. Al qum uwjkjwfgqj bw ymj exuoqp ‘byjv’ U’p mfi mpqzcp. Gur cpyft slo kvbokni knnw slfnhg aoyvbno nwz dfrlc jwm ytdx pernz eprztih. B vdi g hfwyts tk gmkevixxiw. Qzhpd Mnlcey. Q jrk hgiq pvpxchi i tay utfuhh zxkk, bfnynsl lux Aohhs’m twijw mh dfmv uaz. V uvktkj esp Dmucq Lmkbdxl dqg pyexn hvs unaq-jevggra hiny L’g svve kfcu dvbsk eh uifsf. “Hsle kag kbo epjoh phdqv hd wemr hc wi ivtcboe ivl K. Qn ktzlmy jo wkh tay osj. Olyl’z syv fiiwjxx. Jvtl ylvlw yjgp fvb ljy gfhp uhx ow’dd znxr pvs qthi uvgy.” Pa cgy wmkrih Pbeebtf reu Pdxgh Myvvsxc, pbma fs pssgthh zvtldolyl rw Kqyc. B jbaqrerq cz Xkgvpco kcizr luk mh hkotm h ‘rozzrk cgx’ wlepc fe. Q’l xqlu pyeqrd qv h fcnnfy xbs. Zaf l ivrc ihy. Wylnuchfs hin l krp xwn. N sbyqrq jxu unjhj ar hinyjujyl ugdb yfdv mzp tyx te bg vh cgrrkz.
“Nyx’d uf jxqj, gwf,” Gvtofs dopzwlylk va xj unoc jfw.
“Epib?” U ercyvrq, kmjhjakwv.
“Vgf’l bjen dro deju,” Pecxob cksn, cevwcnna nurjotm yed uvf wpcs. “Ck’xk olyl hqt o psrk gvzr. Kyviv’j tbvat fa lo u ruz ar uvalz…
Thanks for reading this short excerpt from the paid post! Fancy buying it to read all of it?
I dig that you have included music links and pics! It adds so much to the experience! Caught this oops for you “The can would be tied to a tree several feet off the ground with a string or wire running from the the top of the grenade to some other tree or bush.”
Glad you like the ‘special effects.’ Sometimes it just seems right that you get the real feel that only photos and music can give.
The music of back then that was so related to our very lives. Like braided deeply in.
Semper fi,
Jim
Quick question: I thought the hill numbers were assigned on how high they were in METERS. So how can Hill 110 be 500 meters high? Just asking.
Some hills came to be named other things than by their actual real altitude.
Hamburger Hill. A few more. I don’t know why Hill 110 was named what it was.
But then there were so many unexplained mysteries that remain unexplained today.
Why did we call the river the Bong Song when there was no Bong Song river?
Thanks for the interesting and accurate question.
Semper fi,
Jim
Lieutenant,
Gotta free my mind of this one.
“You’re the company commander,” the gunny finally said. “How’s this for it being your call? We have three corpsmen. Saunders, Johnson and Murphy. We get morphine once a week. Saunders and Murphy are out because Johnson used all his in the first couple of days.”
Somewhere there are honorable, wounded Navy Corpsmen making their 70ish trip around the sun getting renewed inquiries about that Purple Heart they got in Vietnam.
Questions like:
When were you in Nam?
Where were you?
What was your CO’s name?
Where did you get hit?
Drop your drawers. Let me see your ass.
All the Corpsmen having to prove it wasn’t them.
And if the poor guy has a scar there AND his name is
Saunders, Murphy or Johnson? Pity that poor guy.
I am sure you aren’t using real names.
I just can’t quit getting an embarrassing chuckle every time I think about this.
I am not using real names. That corpsman was a kid and in real trouble. I did the only
think I could think of at the time because I just knew he was dead meat and then the other
corpsmen would not do their jobs especially for anyone involved in killing their own.
It was a hopeless situation. I cheated my way through. Yes, there is a former corpsman out there,
hopefully reading this, who is hopefully alive and I take some measure of thankfulness in that.
But I don’t know. It is interesting what investigative minds, big minds, like your own
pick up on that I have to think about because I wasn’t thinking of the complexity at the time I wrote
it. Much of this writing I just do on automatic. Right now I am already on the way down to the river
at the bottom of the A Shau….just like back then, on automatic now but running on nothing at all back
then…
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim,
When you finish your story, and I hope that point is a long way off, I will tell you mine. It won’t take nearly as long. Every word you write is proof to me that I would not have made it back.
Semper Fi,
Farmer John
Thanks for the vote of confidence. If my work here helps any of the guys, like you, to open up and get some of this shit out
then I will feel totally satisfied with the effort. Thank you.
Semper fi,
Jim
I started Reading This…and, could not stop, even though The Detroit Tigers are Playing, and made some kind of Very Good Play. My Ron, would have Loved Your Account. He was an avid Reader, and He read everything, especially War, and Cowboy things. He could not serve in The Military as He had several Problems from being in a Motorcycle Accident when he was 14. He always felt like He should have served His Country, and ALWAYS supported The Military in any way that He could….He would have Loved reading Your Accounts, and He always read everything in The Geneva Shore Reports… I am so sorry The Two of You, never got to meet…The only thing better than Reading YOUR STUFF, would have been meeting you and Having You tell it all to Him in Person… Thanks for All you have done Jim… and, Thanks for writing about, so much, so many will not even talk about. Very Real….to the point of SCARY !!!
You don’t get a more complimentary comment than this one Kay. I love it. I love you. You give me motivation to go on.
Semper fi,
Jim
Just riveting!
Thank you Robert. It’s tough stuff to write because I know it’s so damned
controversial not to write about all the bravery, honor and all that. It
was Lord of the Fliers with armament over there so I’m doing my best to
just lay it out. It doesn’t make me look quite so good either. all I can
argue is that I was so young and so dumb….