The six of us moved on our bellies, out toward the jumbled remains in the killing field of the mudflat, as one, without any signal. The ability of Marines in combat to need a whole lot fewer signals and orders than the guys doing all the training back home thought they needed amazed me, once again. We had become homogenized into one thinking and feeling entity by bitter and brutal circumstances.
We moved just like the almost shimmering gray images of the other recoverers of the dead from the enemy side. We crawled, chests touching the mud, and then slid along until encountering some of the rock debris that had been scattered about by the impact of the recoilless rounds against the face of the cliff.
In my mind, as I moved, I thought about the futility of retrieving a dead body while risking the living bodies of six more, but in my heart, I was a Marine, and I was being watched by hundreds of other Marines with the same kind of beating hearts. I could not fail them. I could not fail them even if I died in the attempt. After almost a month in constant combat, the fear of death had still not left me, but the prospect of its eventuality had seeped into every pore of my body. I had learned that one day, and quite possibly this day, I would die. That concept had been taught to me since I was a young boy but the reality of it had never truly entered into my belief system, and now it was part of every fiber of my physical and mental being. Death was not an ‘if’ thing. It was a ‘when’ thing.
No editing from me. Just glad to find all of these chapters out so fast.
My main comment is, I always look forward to the next chapter from you, and will be disappointed when this story of 30 days of your life comes to an end, unlike how you must have felt when it came to an end for you back then. I’m sure it has been tough for you to write. Not nearly as tough as it was to experience, but hopefully the writing and sharing has been therapeutic for you.
Know that for many of us your story brings back memories of our own that we have kept suppressed. Perhaps this will be therapeutic to other readers as well.
Great story, great writing.
As a Cavalry Scout to a Marine, Scouts Out!
I have become aware of the therapeutic effect of the books, not just for other vets but me too.
I don’t think many combat officers came home, having been through that stuff, and were able to write about it.
I know that I am much better writing about it now than when I first tried.
Merry Christmas and thanks. Semper fi,
Jim
I have a go fund me site now to help defray expenses if you want see fit to help out there….https://www.gofundme.com/f/thirty-days-has-september
“…barely proceeded by the Huey Cobra gunships protecting it“
I think “proceeded…” should be replaced with “preceded” but I could be wrong.
Thank you for your sharp eyes, Dean
Corrected.
Semper fi,
Jim
Fifteen feet must have seemed like a mile to overcome. Tough going ahead no doubt.
James, glad you’re once again able to keep us all engaged to your page.
SEMPER Fi
Yes, that river was a son of a bitch to attempt to work through, over
and around at all times. Since I was only there in a monsoon month though
it might have been a bit easier during dry periods.
Semper fi,
Jim
“The sleek fast chopper” in the paragraph beginning with The Huey Cobras……
Thanks again, Jay.
Corrected
Semper fi,
Jim
The sleep fast chipper (sleek, fast chopper) the move…….
Great new segment, LT! You are for sure “ in the shit” !!
Took care of it,
Thanks, Joel,
Semper fi,
Jim
Great to have you back on line. Prayers for a continued good recovery. Excited for another excellent segment.
Thanks S.K. and I am at it tonight.
Thanks for the continued motivation.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim, Read all 4 chapters as one. Again, if it wasn’t for the ‘time-phased shift’, you’d constantly be pushing me off your left shoulder. So many teaching points for today’s LTs & above – about their actions, how the situation can dramatically change in an instant, how the ‘enemy’ can be as human as ‘us’ & so much more. To put it simply, so much ‘good shit’.
Thank you. Doug
Thanks Doug. I much appreciate that kind of in depth compliment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Lt-
What a chapter!!!!
Keep bringing it🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Chris Culifer
Thanks Chris, I am on it now…
Semper fi,
Jim
Another great chapter!
Not to nitpick, but for CH-46 OR CH-47 it’s ‘tandem rotor’ just as Cobre pilots sit in tandem. Sorry it’s just a rotorhead thing.
It’s sometimes hard to know what to call things because the air guys and vehicles were so touch and go with contact.
To someone like me a chopper with two rotors is tandem rotor. I never thought about the pilots sitting in tandem side by side!
thanks for the updated critique…
Semper fi,
Jim
Looks like the editors got that part done.
The flashlight got me, Jim!
Yes, the physical contact with personal things from those who’ve passed in ways
and so ‘right there’ with you, is pretty stunning to feel. I write of being a reassembled
man not of my own making or even much recognition…but those officers and men who put me together
did so in a way that helped me get through…in whatever way I finally did.
Semper fi, and thanks for ‘getting’ that part of it.
Jim
You just keep on doing it, am sitting on the edge of this chair reading the latest, TY sir.
Thanks Bob, that is what I am about this night. The Cat and Thirty Days…one helps me write the other,
strangely enough!
Semper fi,
Jim
PS I wonder if some guys on here will read The Cat eventually because they will come to know how it helped me through 30 days…
I’m reading The Cat. It speaks to my fantasy of interacting with a large feline. I can see the 30 Days link as their territory was recently described as a jungle rather than a forest. I imagine writing The Cat is R & R where, to date, all threats are removed by a large four footed guardian angel. Keep both stories coming!
Blessings & Be Well
Quite a difference between an accommodating forest filled with edibles and animal prey rather than
the brutal jungle as the bottom of the A Shau, but I get your comparison. The rivers are a bit similar
and the need to use the moving water positively just as it was sometimes a great negative but yes,
the Cat helps me write the 30 Day series and I’m not sure why…but not the other way around.
Thanks for the deep interesting comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
you sir,
are on fire. keep it up
Thanks Don, I am on it this night, along with the Cat, which for some reason
helps me with 30 Days!
Semper fi,
Jim
I love it as always! I have a question for you! I have a picture in my mind kinda of the lay of the land as you describe having never been there. But in my mind I thought there was an old road or landing strip on the side of the river where you first held up after forging the river the first time. Where the Ontos first was driven up in support of you and didn’t you receive a resuppy on that side a couple of times. So my question is why did they have to resupply on the other side? Am I wrong, not that it really matters but that was my first thought!
The landing strip was undermined by the river and was a jumbled mess. Unless resupply is by a sling, the worst kind of resupply we never wanted because
sometimes the crew would take fire and then pickle the load too high…and guess what…
Also it did not allow us to get wounded or dead aboard or FNGs to unload.
Semper fi,
Jim
Not trying to be grammer cop here I have started to read like mistakes aren’t there LOL keep it coming but at your pace, don’t over do it LT. best to you and yours.
I much appreciate editing help. Without that and the comments here I would never have continued.
Now I cannot stop.
Semper fi,
Jim
I’ve wondered about that hatred of the enemy that was drilled into us. We got it, too. Army Basic Training continuously, emphatically told us our future was dedicated to one thing: kill the Slopes. As many as possible. And often as you can. The hearts and minds stuff wasn’t mentioned. I wonder if the recruits these days get the same kind of training emphasis to kill in volume.
I had one of those “mud flats” moments the fourth day of Tet, riding backseat shotgun in the Jeep leading a tank truck of water. Charlie pulled an ambush and I knew, in an instant, my chances had taken a steep dive to less than fifty-fifty and time was milliseconds from the end. It was as profound an impression as I’ve ever experienced. There was nothing I could do to gather more of that time. So I tried, with all my might, to shrink myself.
Seriously. It must’ve worked.
I really don’t know much about training today. They don’t exactly go after old war horses like me
to train the new recruits and volunteers. I know our stuff was sketchy at best when it came to trying to
understand anything of the enemy, religion, culture, language or any of it right down to food, music and attire!
Semper fi,
Jim
Well James…another riveting segment…this one runs the full gamut of emotions…the fear of retrieving the body of McInerney…the gunny showing a softer side…the fear of combat…and then the standard adapt and survive under changing conditions with the bridge. It is truly amazing that you made it out alive. I think, to your credit, you made the hard decisions that cost some lives but saved so many, many more. But things are about to get deep, I believe…I anxiously await your next segment…and as always…outstanding writing…
Thanks Mark, and yes, things are not calming, they are in fact about to get a lot hotter.
Our position is not ideal, even with are 81s and some arty and the Ontos. The enemy is just too
significant in number and dug in positions…
Semper fi,
Jim
“not to move to fast” not to move too fast
Had to look it up. . .
Thanks for your sharp eyes, Brad
Corrected.
Semper fi, Jim
👍 wow
thanks FB. A great one word compliment!
Semper fi,
Jim
I’m glad to see you’re back Lt Strauss. Not sure if you’re a member of the Zipper Club like I am or not. I was 51, bad family history. I’m hoping continuing your story is good therapy for you besides your cardio therapy. Sure look forward to every chapter you write. You sure have a talent. Thank you.
Thanks Tom, I go in for that on the 8th of January…and I have had so many surgeries for the
traumatic wounds and their effects over time that I am kind of an old hand…but never ready to go
back in.
Thanks for the kind words.
Semper fi,
Jim
Another exceptional chapter James! I was struck by your description of the body retrieval. Anyone who served knows the soldiers constant attempts at dehumanizing the enemy. We had a whole litany of nicknames for him. Made them much easier to kill. Seeing them acting honorably and humanely had to be disconcerting. Describing them as marines who lacked height and technology wasn’t far off in my opinion! I could go on there’s so much meat in this chapter! Thanks and Semper Fi!
Thanks Jack for the usual deep and abiding comment. And thanks for the compliment buried in the comment, as well.
Semper fi,
Jim
Just Wow.
You are a busy beaver cranking out episodes recently.
I don’t know how you do it…
Just when things seems to be going well, unexpected and unplanned crap happens.
You really raised my pulse rate.
I thought maybe you might get the fly boys to drop some of their big bombs to try to re-channel and divert the river’s water coming downstream and flood the mudflat on the other side once your guys and supplies were back on the bridge.
Great writing…keep ’em coming, LT.
The river was big and deep and swelling in size almost all the time.
It wouldn’t even have noticed what I believe were thousand pound bombs
landing in it or even bigger stuff. Maybe that big special one they built
but even then. Water is not compressible. All you might do is blow a big crater that
would instantly fill unless there was nuclear, of course.
Semper fi
Jim
I have been reading this since the 7th day. The intensity is really building. In know it has to end and probably not in a good way due to what you were facing and how many losses you have inflicted on them in the last 28 days. They’re going to send everything they have at you at any cost. To them it is very personal now.
Thank you Lieutenant for sharing all of this with us. Thank you for your service both in the marines and in your civil service.
I did get the hardback copies of books 1 and 2. Regretfully they were while you were not available so we not autographed. I would like to meet you when I pickup the 3rd book personally and get the first 2 signed. My 92 yo mother is reading book one now. The kids will be reading them after her.
I am so sorry Gary that you did not get signed editions.
Send me your address immediately and I will send two more hard covers
that are signed, indeed. At no charge. Thanks for being so understanding and liking my work.
Semper fi,
Jim
Hi James. Thank you for the kind offer. I can’t accept that as you need to make money for your endeavors. I will be purchasing the last 10 days when it is in print and you can sign that one. Most likely I will buy a second set of books and donate it to our library so it can get some exposure for years to come.
You are a class act, Gary and I much appreciate the thought as well as the money. We will definitely meet.
Semper fi, and thanks for much.
Jim
The story continues to grip and remind me of places that are now distant memories. The NVA truly were warriors and to be respected. Your cease fire to recover bodies wasn’t the usual protocol but apparently you gave better than you got so they gambled you were an honorable person. They always used our KIA’s as bait when we went to recover them:(
It is hard to understand what happened in other parts of the Nam because I served my whole time
in such a small area and dealt exclusively with the NVA and not local elements. Thanks for the additional
information and understanding.
Semper fi,
Jim
Wow. Spellbinding story, I have been checking daily for at least a month for new chapters. Thank You! Be well, take care of your health and Merry Christmas.
Thanks Gus, hope to finish the next segment by Monday, if not sooner.
Semper fi,
Jim
Outstanding! Glad your back. Been following this since the middle of the 2nd 10 days.
Take care of that ticker, I am in the same boat following a heart attacK
Thanks for the great caring comment Phil…and I also thanks for the positive association with the cardiac issue.
Semper fi,
Jim
I’m amazed to see another long well written segment so soon. This sure answers my question about resupply. Thank you James. Now another cliff hanger with my stomach in a knot.
There’s a difference between, “Ha, ha, they missed me!” and Oh, oh, they almost got me!” The former says we might learn enough to survive. The latter says it is just a matter of time. Been there for both.
Some minor editing suggestions follow:
being careful not to move to fast or hit the man next to us with what we threw
Change “to fast” to “too fast”
being careful not to move too fast or hit the man next to us with what we threw
I’d left the Gunny with the remnants of Kilo company two of our own company’s weakest platoons.
Maybe add a “plus” or “and” before “two”
I’d left the Gunny with the remnants of Kilo company plus two of our own company’s weakest platoons.
as I came upon the scene to see the end of bridge a good fifteen feet from the bank
Maybe add “the” before “bridge”
as I came upon the scene to see the end of the bridge a good fifteen feet from the bank
“The Gunny said you’d want this,” Jurgen whispered.
Add an “s” to “Jurgen”
“The Gunny said you’d want this,” Jurgens whispered.
Always at your own pace. Protect your health.
Blessings & Be Well
Thanks Dan C for being hard at it in editing away.
Chuck is making all the changes, as I write this. Your accuracy and detail are amazing!
Semper fi,
Jim