Nguyen was gone into the night with the 106 round. I hadn’t given any thought at all as to whether the ammo box was marked with a flechette designation for its contents or not. There was no way to tell by feel, and there was no way I was going to use the flashlight with a .50 caliber firing on us. I’d counted four rounds to the box which left three of whatever kinds of rounds they were. I lay behind the box, the thing useless as cover but sufficient for concealment, since it was sitting up perpendicular to the enemy occupied jungle to our front. The .50 had stopped firing which was good news for Nguyen, and myself. I heard only a few single rounds coming from a gun I couldn’t recognize right away by the sound. Then it came to me, Zippo was trying to suppress the .50 caliber gun crew by giving the snipers locating data from the night vision scope. The guns the snipers used were 7.62 millimeters, like the M-14 I’d trained with, and also the M-60 machine guns, but the sound was just a bit different. I’d loved the heavier M-14 but the 16 had already been issued to combat troops and Marines by the time I was shipped out.
I realized that I could lay where I was or slip and slide my body back toward the spider hole.
Are you still chugging along James? Been a while.
Actually, it has not been awhile, but I appreciate you thinking so. Yes, I went to Hawaii and the installment is a bit longer in the tooth in coming out, but
it will be out shortly. The segments are also a bit more complexly difficult to write as things continue to build toward the end of the beginning.
Thanks for caring and writing about it.
Semper fi,
Jim
Yes it has been awhile, don’t have that much time to wait on you there James, get with it!
Okay, here it is, for you J. I will be quicker on the next one as I have already begun to write it….
For you, and God bless you…
Smeper fi, my friend,
Jim
Goes to Chuck at midnight and he’ll have it up first thing tomorrow….love you, brother…
Thank you James, you are indeed, a friend and a brother and I am glad we crossed paths in our lifetime.
Semper fi brother,
J
Yes, I do think of you often when I write this, you and a very few others.
I do read these comments with a serious intent too.
This process of writing the whole thing has been so different than any other writing I’ve ever done and you,
and some others have made that all possible. I would have quit the task some time back.
Just too hard and what is the return to me? Sure as hell isn’t money.
It’s you guys. It’s you J. Its the few, the proud…and we survivors together…
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
LT, you and gunny in the same shit box should have never been. The company can’t afford to lose both of you. In that mist the enemy can’t see you anybetter than you can see them. Move out, whoops to late I’m guessing. Never said weither Fusner called Cowboy or not but I guessing he did. On the mud flat give us an idea on how far you were from the enemy vs. your own company. Keep Stomping as you can.
Thanks JT, read the new segment coming out and some of your questions will be answered.
Thanks for asking them and for caring so much about the story…
Semper fi,
Jim
Being so close to the Enemy do you recall hearing them blow Whistles?
I heard about that but never experienced it in combat. It was supposed to be some sort of psychological tool but I don’t know
if it was effective. The drums sure as hell were…
Semper fi,
Jim
James, I guess its safe to say your not an Atlanta Braves fan with all that damn drum beating.
Semper Fi
Tomas’
Well, hell, the drums were something and they live with me in the night to this day.
But back here we must never forget that we are back here….
Take care, my friend,
Jim
A football field’s muddy run-time…thirty meters less the yardage for Bate’s heroic fumble! Gunny just gave you twenty-three days to decide whether you run at your enemy or go for it all sir, on fourth and twenty!
If days were seconds…that is, if you can make-out the play called above the din of the crowd’s roar…unfortunately for all Junior, war has no f’ckin umpires, there are no f’ckin flags thrown on the field of combat…only off…and then, only draped. Sobering chapter. Reality…notwithstanding, confronts us all. Never was a time for games, never should’ve been for war.
Brilliant mind laying down the words D.D. thanks for taking the time for putting they up on here…
Semper fi,
Jim
It wouldn’t have been the ‘back blast’ of flechette rounds that got Bates.
Not the back blast from the gases coming from the barrel of the weapon.
When the flechettes were blown forward from their established and pre-set standoff during travel,
some of the flechettes were not blown forward but traveled back from
the blast area (the projectile traveled at about 300 fps while the blasted flechettes moved at around 22,000 fps.
It was enough or seemed so in the middle of a misty night. What was the reality?
I can only describe the way I think I encountered it. I can’t be truly certain…
Semper fi,
Jim
Sorry Jim…I sent a comment a couple of days ago…but I am guessing that some poor smuck in “BFE” is looking at his computer and wondering why I’m sending him something about “Frags”… damn keys are too small…musta hit the wrong ‘go to’ button….S/F
As always….ya done good Marine!!
Ah, found it Larry. Thanks for pointing out.
Semper fi,
Jim
The “Frags” as we called them……the M26 we all used until the middle of 68’…so dependable, you could pop the spoon and hold it in your hand and count to 3 and then lift a bunker hatch and throw it inside and know that within two seconds it would go off…or if you were tossing grenades back and forth, praying that you had at least one second left on a return throw…it was then that you would pop the spoon, count to three and then toss it the 15-20 feet that separated you, knowing it would go off just as it arrived..no chance for them to throw it back….always the same…a great grenade…and then we got that piece of crap M33…loved the shape, we all thought it would help us gain further distance…. only problem was the fuse….I would guess the true numbers of friendly casulties were in the thousands from it…if you ever let the spoon fly, chances were good that you had 1 or 2 seconds before it went off…we lost so many that had them detonate in their hands, right in their faces because of the poor quality control…very sad……and then the new guy….the FNG..that carried them on the front of their shirts…and then in the quiet darkness of the night, crawling forward on your stomach, trying to avoid detection and you heard the ominous crunch of the muffled explosion behind you….and you knew that someone behind you had crawled over a grenade, it’s pin had rusted and broken off….and the frag drops off, leaving the spoon in the material of the shirt…. no medevac is called…no need….and you lower your face into the soft mud and quietly say..fuk….I hate this place.. and then you slowly begin to move forward again…..just another fukin day in paradise…….Semper Fi
Man oh man, but you hit the nail on the head with that one.
Anyone who ever experienced the M33 never ever delayed in
holding the damn thing to wait the fuse down a bit. Nope.
Pull the pin and throw the damned thing.
Although the M26 was more dependable about that time of fuse burn the instructors at Quantico
still preferred that we all throw the grenades immediately.
I never heard, in real combat, of anyone picking up an unexploded grenade and tossing it back in time…
Semper fi,
Jim
Dropped a M33 down a hole, out side Cu Chi, it went off just as I got my hand back from the hole. Ears ring for awhile.
Yes, M-332 grenades did not last one in inventory. The fuses were erratic, at best.
Thanks for the comment and read this segment which has a bit of that in it…
Semper fi,
Jim
Now that, Sir…is great writing! Uhhh…FNG here, an BTW….great reading too!! Semper fi, D.D.
Thanks D.D. and I mean that from my heart…
Semper fi,
Jim
Another great chapter Ltd. I read this three times, waiting for day 24. I know it must tough to write from your perspective, cause it really tough for us to read setting on the edge of our seats. Keep up the great writing..
Yes, it is a tough write. The toughest of my life, by far.
Thanks for caring enough to write about it on here…
Semper fi,
Jim
I am so far behind in this story. I just found it.
Edge of your seat writing.
I only made one cruise, in 1968. I was a Navy airdale.
Welcome Home! Glad you made it!
There is no getting behind on this story.
You take it as it comes and you can go back or forward and it is all
different pieces of an awfully large mosaic puzzle.
Thanks for coming aboard, so to speak and for writing on this site…
Semper fi,
Jim
Correction… “The grenade went off with a sharp crack, like a nearby stroke of lightning might make. That was followed seconds later by a much great crack.” Should be greatER crack.
Thanks for the help in editing Steve…
Semper fi,
Jim
I love reading hour chapters and am proud of you and your service !!
Thanks Jack, means a lot to me, especially right this minute…
Semper fi,
Jim
Im getting tiredof all these guys talking about spelling misprints and etc. thats the definition of Anal retenitiv. Fukem ur doin a great job
Every time i read a chapter i feel bad for u I was 2531 in a great company. 5 clicks below Z 67-68
No racial probs we all took care of eachother. Lost a lot of guys but never failed to have everybodys 6. What im tryin to say is no drama just did our jobs and smoked a lot of vc an nva
Thanks for your own writing of your own experience on here Bryant. That’s what this site is all about. We all had such different experiences but ended
up with these memories and sort of wounded lives…
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks for your quick reply to
My post. I know you are busy and have a lot on your plate
Apreciat it
Sempe Fidelis my Brother
BP
My pleasure Bryant. Little easier out here in Hawaii with all else off my plate…
Semper fi, and thanks for being such a loyal reader…
Jim
Another great chapter Lt.! Got a chuckle at your self deprecating humor, “I could not lead the Marines from the rear, and I could barely lead them from out front.”
I would’ve been proud to have served with you Sir.
Thanks a lot Randall. Means a lot to me that I might have led men like you.
Thanks for the great compliment…
Semper fi,
Jim
Great!!!
Great read but also looking forward to the big screen
From your lips to god’s ears Paul! Not likely to get any movie offers as the subject the way I have treated it is way too controversial…
Thanks for your great thoughts though…
Semper fi
Jim
This mite help some of the guys. I book mark this and check ever few day for the new segments and see whats new that you have written. Jim keep them coming. https://jamesstrauss.com/thirty-days-september-third-ten-days/