We stopped for resupply on a deserted road. Half an hour before we had run into an ambush, and a guy ten feet away from me was laced with machine gun fire. It was horrible, but you can't dwell on it or you'd lose it. You can't afford to even think about it too much...and so life goes on...for now!
We searched a large underground VietCong village complex.
Coming in we had received fire from someone leaving town in a hurry. Word filtered through the troops that this was a base for 2,000 main force Viet Cong rebels. Troops probably from here had wiped out a company of the South Vietnamese army two months earlier... Under that board is an extensive tunnel system, but be careful moving anything or you may set off Charlie's surprise...a booby trap meant just for you. Booby traps are everywhere. By the way, you having fun yet?
We formed online for a "Search and Destroy," sweep...and every night dug a new foxhole home, rigging trip wire flares over incoming trails to let us know if we had unwelcome visitors in the night. That's me standing Guard above. Always I kept an eye out for the bullet with my name on it.
Two of these men were shot the next morning and airlifted out on dustoff choppers.
Note the tall elephant grass next to our foxhole...excellent cover for the enemy to sneak up close enough to do real harm. This night was particularly scary, black as the pits of...well you know.
