I moved across the surface of the mud, with what was left of my scout team just ahead. Fusner and Nguyen trailed just behind. We crawled low, the light of the day beginning to die and provide some sort of camouflage, if not cover. The Ontos lay ahead, sitting like a big solid Sphinx of a thing it so didn’t resemble, but could be imagined to be in the bad light. The Gunny was already there, as I came around the side of the Ontos’s right track edge. I noted immediately that the six recoilless rifles of the armored machine were directed off at an angle back toward where the jungle was heaviest on our side of the river. The river’s rush blocked out what sound might have otherwise penetrated the area, only the overpowering beat and thunder of Skyraider propellers got through. But they were on their last run with the coming of the night, I knew. The Skyraiders were not equipped to fight effectively in the dark, at least not to provide the kind of pinpoint support an infantry company like our own had to have.
The mist had converted itself back into a hard rain, and the leech population had approved. I realized I’d picked up some more ‘friends’ when the pain of the previous wounds on my torso lessened. The new leeches were leaking a deadener into my damaged skin surfaces, acting more like symbiotes than the parasites they truly were. It was a bad deal, I thought grimly, trying to adjust myself to some position of partial comfort on the mudflat. I was uncomfortable but it was okay for the time being.
I crawled forward, sloughing my way through the top layer of watery mud, swirling loosely atop the deeper harder mud base of the river’s wide-flattened edge. The rain was ceaseless, and beat down upon my helmet like God was playing me as some sort of weird percussion instrument. I slithered around the back edge of the Ontos’s right track and then along the distance of its right side. The Ontos was facing the river directly and it took a few labored seconds to get all the way to the front of the track. The mechanical beast vibrated its dangerous existence through the mud, to let me know it was alive and idling, waiting to deliver whatever kind of awful death needed to be delivered.
Had to back track to get this one. That Onto had a Chevrolet 327 engine in it I think, I didn’t know how it could pull a bridge back across a river with out the river pulling everything in it. Someone was watching over y’all. God bless you Lt..
Our Ontos was a six cylinder, although I have read that they made a modified model with a 361 cubic inches Chrysler engine
.The beidge has somehow wedges itself into the bottom of the river and even the sapper explosion did not pry it loose. It was like
the heavy current was pressing it into place. And we did have someone watching over us…
Thanks for the comment,
Semper fi,
Jim
Man alive now it is crystal clear why it was taking you so long to get this up. Thanks for all you are doing to get this down for all to see. Some how I ended up reading the next installment before this one.
Yes, there was Zippo and then Kilo and the tough nature of trying to come to terms with myself and what I might or might not be.
I was also beginning to lose myself and home was becoming more distant. Thanks for noting what you noted and the compliments inherent in your writing on here.
Semper fi,
Jim
now I see why you had so much trouble writing this, my brother in law came back broken, after his tour, he was wounded twice and could never talk to me about it, now I am starting to understand why, God Bless you Jim
Yes, I had trouble breaking through this part of the book. I am better now and off and running. Next segment up on Wednesday.
Semper fi, and thanks for the help along the way…
Jim
When your in the shit, you don’t give a lot of thought about the small things. Just getting out of the shit, hopefully, in one piece, pretty well dominates.
On stand down? Yeah, that’s another thing. The small shit seams some of the most important and central bulk of your overloaded brain.
At some point, your friends and their personal sit storm enters your brain but you don’t go searching. The truth, will find you soon enough. maybe too soon and then there is the question of how will you handle it.
Missed you Brother.
No more accurate words can be written that describe the situations in combat. That I was able to finally think analytically at all about solutions
amazing me to this day. The Gunny too, although we went at it completely differently and certainly without a lot of love for one another…
Semper fi,
Jim
James, how difficult would it have been to order the Ontos to back up off the bridge, traverse the turret toward the NVA .50, fire and at the same time send Kilo across the bridge? Or is this not even feasible?
I don’t know Chuck! I was lucky to be able to figure out anything at all in the dark, rain, under fire
and wondering about everything. I am sure there were better or other solutions that I did not come up with
but leaving Kilo the way we did just could not go down that way and allow me to mentally survive…or the Gunny either,
I think.
Semper fi,
Jim
If I had been the NVA commander with at least one 12.7mm machine gun at my disposal I would have made it a priority to turn your Ontos into steel swiss cheese. What was the tactical situation that prevented this?
You obviously are not versed in anti-armor combat Doc.
The armor of an Ontos, body, and turret are a one-half inch of hardened armor place.
The glacis is also angled pretty severely.
A Browning .50 would not penetrate all the way through, much less the Soviet or Chinese .50 variants the sport lessor velocities in their travel. The Browning might have a shot at it, if the distance was less than 200 meters and the bullets used were
American armor piercing…but not likely.
When the .50 bullet hit Zippo it had to pass through a port without real armor.
The other rounds that impacted on the turret barely left scars.
Also, the NVA was terrified of the Ontos and did not want it to fire back.
Whether they knew how or in what degree it could reverse I don’t know.
Thanks for the comment, but you were a little off on this one…
Semper fi,
Jim
Glad you finally got to post another day L T, keep ’em coming !!!
I “grabbed” myself backward to where Fusner waited,… Should be “Crabbed” perhaps ??
Leaving Kilo as trailing cover really sucked and I’m sure you could feel it in your heart.
Combat is so very very unreasonably hard to do and then live with…because you are constantly moving on and trying to rely on damaged memory
about what really happened not five minutes before. It’s night, muzzle flashes taking night vision, high velocity explosions going off nearby
so always partially deaf if not fully deaf…and then there’s the elements and the night and more…and if you live the day or. night through the
aching droop in shoulders, innards and first uplifted spirit and then plunging soulfulness….
Semper fi,
Jim
Amen. Even years later living with “things” can change your day.
What do you think about my edit question?? Should be *crabbed backward ??
I *grabbed myself backward to where Fusner waited, got my pack on and prepared for the crossing.
SEMPER Fi, Jim
Bob D.
Noted and corrected. Thank you again, Sgt Bob.
Semper fi,
Jim
I am glad you found a way to get past this chapter. Of all the previous encounters this was the most harrowing. I can see how sacrificing Kilo for a little more time alive could be an event that would stay with you forever and be a source of conflict looking back at the event.
Jim, my respect for you and all of the others caught in this ordeal continues to grow and is quickly approaching legendary amazement.
I have said it before, and I’ll repeat it again “Thank you for your service”.
Losing Marines was hard, and got harder the longer I stayed…and gets harder with older age, I might add.
I had no idea when I started this odyssey that it would become so emotionally charged or difficult and I would never
ever have guessed that the memories would come surfacing in the kind of detail you read in the story….
Semper if,
Jim
Hard choices. Well worth the wait.
Thanks Buck, your comment means a lot to me…even as short as it was. A compliment and I thank you…
Semper fi,
Jim
Glad to see you’re back at it L T
Good to be back, and the next segment goes up this morning, thanks to people like you.
Never ever ever ever quit…
Semper fi,
Jim
Hey LT, I haven’t read or written in a long time. I’m waiting on this book to come out, and then order 2 and 3. I see where you’ve been on a sabbatical, so to speak, and I hope you are doing well. I was in the USAF from 66 to 70, so I have no idea what combat is like. I have so much respect for you guys. I have a lot of combat vets for friends, because of the time frame. When I talk to any of them about my guilt, for the service choice I made, they, to a man, say “are you crazy!” Lol! I guess I’m weird. Please keep up the good work!
Yes, I took an unexpected break. I have now finished the next segment and have decided to put it up tomorrow morning and then write on….
I am on a roll now, off the emotional roller coaster. Thanks for waiting around.
Semper fi,
Jim
The comments made by your readers’ really bring out the intensity and the depth of what you and the Gunny and your men were going through. You have a great talent on reaching and exposing your inner thoughts and feelings to us, your anxious readers. Great work Jim.
Thank you very much Henry. Means a lot to me that men and women are out there actually getting it.
Maybe I am helping more than I know.
Semper fi,
Jim
Glad to see you’re back at it L T
I am, indeed, back at it, as this next segment going up so fast gives evidence for.
I am tickled that so many stayed around to wait…
and thanks for being one them.
Semper fi,
Jim
James, you had a hard row to hoe, for sure. As with others, I begin to see where the Gunny is coming from. He will do damn near anything he can to keep them – and you – alive. And you were (maybe still are?) pretty close to the same.
I will always wonder what the guys in your company did, those that survived to come “home”.
Your writing provokes a lot of introspection, for sure! Many thanks.
Thank you for that ‘introspection’ part of your comment. Too true, and I consider that a compliment from you.
Keeps me going…
Semper fi,
Jim
Another great segment and reliving life’s tragic events is never easy..
Couple thoughts/changes..
3rd paragraph when you are “sloughing” through the mud.. maybe “slogging” is better..
then after the Ontos had pulled the bridge across and you had crawled forward to check you have that you “grabbed” back to Fusner.. maybe “crabbed” is better..
Just my 2 cent.. look forward to upcoming segments..
thanks for the help Jon, and you are entirely correct…appreciate the help and the compliment…
semper fi,
Jim
Yes we stood by, carry on. Thanks for coming back as we knew you would in good time. Strong chapter. Keep stomping.
Yes, fast balls across the plate now…at least as long as I can throw them…
Semper fi,
Jim
Wondering if you noticed any weapon Jurgens was carrying at the Command Meeting? If memory serves, this was your first chance to see firsthand. As always….riveting!
The Thompson, of course. Life is so easy to figure out sometimes!!!!
Semper Fidelis, Sir.
My name is GySgt Tom Pinet.
Thank you for this experience..!
I graduated recruit training at MCRD Parris Island in Oct 1977. I would retire in 1999.
Every SSgt and above and every 1stLt and above that I served under were Vietnam Veterans.
Volunteers, Lottery “Winners,” Court Ordered, Foreign born… You name it. I was part of the very beginning of the All Volunteer Force.
I worked directly for two MoH recipients and a plethora of Navy Crosses, Air Medals and V devices.
My respect for you and your Marines contributions to the history of our Corps is sir, profound.
Allow me to share with you a very special, upcoming event.
I have been invited to speak at the 75th Anniversary and Remembrance of the Battle of Anwerp X, the Anti Aircraft Artillery (AAA) defense of the vital Antwerp port facilities against the V-1 BuzzBomb and V-2 Ballistic Missile.
I will be hosted by the town of Putte, Belgium during my stay.
Additionally, my father was a true Volunteer having enlisted in 1939 before the first Selective Service wartime draft.
He served as the personal driver for a Coast Artillery Corps officer who would finish the war a Colonel.
I will meet that Colonel’s grandsons there.
To you Marine… Continue true on your back azimuth. Back to your rendezvous with “the shit…”
“Beware the rocks and shoals, fair winds and following seas.”
Semper Fi,
GySgt Tom Pinet
USMC Retired
Hope a lot of people show up Gunny. You sound like you know your shit and are a good guy to boot!
Thanks for putting your event and remarks up on here for all to see…
Semper fi,
Jim
It’s clear you spent time polishing this segment. Jurgens’ instead of Jurgen’s is the only item I could find.
Floyd
Thanks, Floyd,
Noted and corrected.
Semper fi,
Jim
Great books, my son bought me “first 10 days and second 10” for my birthday. If I could make a comment about them. He was not in the service, I wondered if you could add a list of terms like LAW and Ontos for people who like reading your books.
Thanks for sharing on here. There will indeed be maps and an index of terminology in the third hard copy book.
GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE!
Semper fi,
Jim
I’m in awe of your soul, Jim…given the reality of combat you faced, and have described so well. That you continue to write this story, gives every combat veteran strength to carry on. My late Vietnam brother had committed to helping me survive a corporate onslaught and would test my resolve often. He always approached a situation from a combat perspective. One lesson he described had me, himself, and several co-workers (one of which was a union steward whom no one trusted) hunkered down in a hole, so to speak. Suddenly an enemy grenade lands in the center of the hole and with only seconds to act he asks ” What do you do, little brother?” I wasn’t proud of my answer, ” I’d throw that union sumbitch on the grenade and pray hell the rest of us survive!” He glared at me more fiercely than ever before. I was convinced my answer had broken our bond. When he finally spoke he said, ” most people will never know that in combat the surest way to get killed is not self-sacrifice! The surest way to get killed is to forget that “attrition” is death’s best friend! Your answer, lil brother says you’re willing to sacrifice others in order to survive. What matters is not that you sacrificed someone else, it’s that you thought you’d somehow spare yourself or the others as a result! You see, attrition touches us all lil brother…. be it physically, mentally, or spiritually. You just do what you can to delay the inevitable!”
The Gunny gave Junior the same lesson I think … to survive in combat means something or someone will always be sacrificed. It can’t be yourself nor can it be to the enemy …yet even when it isn’t, it always costs a little piece of your soul, and it’ll always be …by way of attrition.
As to be expected from you Hayes, brilliance. Love reading your words and then re-reading them and sometimes scratching my head.
Great stuff, sir.
Semper fi,
Jim
🤔
Welcome back Jim. I listened to the attached drum audio. Never had to experience it personally. I served in II Corps during both tours. Central Highlands mostly.
It would seem Gunny is all about survival at any cost not just his life, but his career, after the war.
You got big hairy balls going into that river, at night, tied off to a potential entanglement line. Then making that catch of a dangling rope at the other end??? You got more luck and lives than a “cat house”.. SALUTE.
Sometimes, doing something dangerous but comforting is better than doing something even more dangerous with no comfort whatsoever!
Thanks for the compliment and thinking the best of me, back then and now.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim,
This chapter was worth waiting for. Thanks!
Thank you so much Michael. The next segment will be up next week because I think the readers need to know the resolution of this
latest contact and also I am better now at working on through…
Semper fi,
Jim
PS I am thinking of taking the 4 day bus trip to D.C. they do just to meet the vets aboard. I wonder if that might work for me.
Thanks.
H. Kemp, I return the thanks for being here and saying kind words…or rather, one word.
Appreciate.
Semper fi,
Jim
I would change “online” to “alive” in reference to the 50 caliber machine gun opening back up. “Coming online” is too modern of a phrase. Your story, by the way, continues to be absolutely riveting. Thanks again for sharing it.
You are correct. I have been invaded by modern diction and vocabulary.
Thanks for pointing that arcane detail out.
Semper fi,
Jim
I have been anxiously awaiting the chapter and you never disappoint. Looking forward to the next
Thanks Don, it was a hard rainy night, and it isn’t over by any means. The next segment I am writing just now and it will be
up next week.
Semper fi, and thanks for helping keep me going.
Jim
Thank you LT. Ruff read this time, so the long wait was worth it.