Scorpion the size of a two pound lobster (OK, maybe it was only a 1-1/2 pounder but it was BIG!) near Khe Sanh
Centipede 18" long and 1" in diameter
Black snake one of the kids from the "Ville" hit in the head and dragged over to show us, we killed it, it was longer
than the APC and we believe it was a Cobra
Lt Marlin relating his harrowing experience of enduring an elephant stampede thru his lager early one morning near the
Laotian border (during TF Remagen?)
Water Buffalo (herded by kids from 5-10 years old)
Cat size rats
Cat sized dogs (welll, exagerated somewhat, but they were small)
Rodney, a tame hooch rat who begged for cashews and would grudgingly accept peanuts (what the hell were we
thinking of - a pet wild rat???????)
Flies the size of a bumble bee and whose bite was worse than a bee sting
Bamboo vipers
Really big spiders
The AVLB ramming a 2-1/2 ton truck which cut it off on QL-1 (main north-south hwy) in Dong Ha during our return
from Khe Sanh - turned out the truck had been stolen from A Co 6 months earlier
Scaring the hell out of MAJ Cannard with the opening notes of "Rhapsody in Blue" - it did sound like the "incoming" alarm
Heating C Rations with a small chunk of C-4, or on the engine of the track and, Oh JOY, we got our hands on LRRP rations
Cooling beer with CO2
S____ burning. Ah, the lovely essence of human excrement
All of the typical "Butter Bar" screw-ups, and several very unique ones
Cold showers
Wearing rain gear - got wetter from sweat than we would have without the gear
Traffic jams waiting for opposing traffic to clear one lane bridges and roads
Pounds of mud adhering to the cleated soles of jungle boots
Typhoon: guard tower down at Cua Viet, troops injured, "Dust-off" grounded in 10 foot visibility and 100 mph winds,
1st platoon track attempting medivac but the weather cleared before we got there and the "Dust-off" made the rescue
Calling in a "spot report" on the sun when it appeared for the first time in 6 weeks
Company Commander "I WILL NOT be called "Purple 6" when our radio call sign was changed to "Purple Plague".
"Plague 6 has some class" (or words to that effect)
Gooooooooooooooooooooooooood Morning, Viet Nam!
Watching, hearing, feeling "Arc Light" B-52 strikes on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, some 50 miles distant
Not being able to buy OD 2LT bars in the PX, Dad (Army retired) had to buy them stateside and ship them over
Aunt Nettie's care packages - molasses cookies were on the stale side but still great, and the canned corned beef was
exquisite
Wunder Beach for a 1 day stand-down
MAJ Cannard's mad dash, dodging mortar rounds, from the BOQ to the company TOC
Water skiing, day 2 in country, Cam Ranh Bay ("Hey, this 'Nam duty aint too bad!)
Two men hand sawing a 6' diameter log into planks which looked as if they had come from a sawmill
80 pound, 60 year old lady attaching a 10' length of 12"x18" timber to her "choggie stick", staggaring several times, then
carrying it 1/2 mile to home by herself
INCOMINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"INCOMINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "You IDIOT, that's outgoing!" (usually
around 3AM just after getting back to sleep from the the first "Incoming"!
"Fire in the hole!,Fire in the hole!, Fire in the hole!"
All those pockets in the jungle fatigues
Pisters and MPC
Cross-bows
Ruined and/or deserted villages
Craters from the 16 inch guns of the "New Jersey" and the BUFFs (Air Force slang for B-52s - Big Ugly Fat Fellow
[to use the polite term])
Diving head first into a tank hatch when our own arty dumped 8" rounds on us
Interior mine fields at Con Thien
North Vietnamese flag clearly visible from Con Thien
"Spooky", "Barkey", "Dust-off", "Puff", Slicks
Heat, humidity (dry season) or chilled to the bone (rainy season); knee deep in mud or dust, or unbelievibly, both at the
same time
Always wet; either from sweat or rain, or both
Meat, allegedly roast beef, that we swore was road kill left over from the French occupation (but it was [sometimes]
better than C's)
Sign on 4x8 plywood, Marine red with yellow letters, just outside of the western gate of LZ Stud (Vandergrift) on
QL9, posted after the closure of Khe Sanh Combat Base in July 68, all bridges on the route having been demolished:
"Pardon the inconvenience - your tax dollars at work"
Swastikas - a symbol of good luck!
P-38 can openers supplied with C-rations (I still have one!)
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