THE WORSE DAY OF MY LIFE AND THE REDEMPTION: This took place sometime in the summer of 1969. We were at a place called Hill 10. It was somewhere east of Danang near the mountains. It was a lonely outpost, and was home to the 3rd Battalion 7th Marines. When we got to Hill 10 we unloaded our stuff off the trucks and were directed over to some delapidaded tents near the front gate. Our mission would be to run patrols and small operations with the hill being our homebase for while. Hill 10 was out in the middle of no where. There were no villages around, only mountains in the distance where the North Vietnamese Army was said to be amassing troops.

SHERWOOD FOREST

Reconnaissance planes reported enemy movement in the moutains, and late one afternoon we saddled up and moving in a column out the south gate on a path headed westward toward the ominous mountains. Up until this day we only dealt with the Vietcong. Now were going to face the North Vietnamese Army. Earlier in the day we heard a fire fight between the North Vietnamese and an American unit so we knew we were going to engage in some kind of a battle. As we walked along toward the mountains an occasional cloud would drift infront of the sun offering a temporary relief from its penetrating rays. The mountains before us loomed larger and larger as we marched closer and closer toward them until it seemed like they consumed the sky in front of us. The terrain was grassy for the most part. Once in awhile we had to climb an old dyke and walk through a dried out rice paddie. The general attitude of the troops was good that day. There was some complaining about the heat. Fast forward a couple days...

...We reached the jungle and turned right instead of left like we had the previous day. We kept as quiet as possible as we entered the treeline of bamboo and banana trees and slowly moved forward watching everything around us. Fast forward 1 day

After about fifteen minutes of shelling, the lieutenant thought the area was hit well enough, he stopped the shelling and ordered us back into the jungle. We all charged forward. Adrenolin flowing through our veins, giving us almost superhuman strength. There was great exitement, and our feet moved with a lightness that we had not experienced in a long time. We crept back into the jungle going very slowly and stopping often. When we stopped it was our custom to crouch down so we weren't a standing target to some NVA who might be in the area. All noise ceased as we went deeper into the jungle. We advance little by little. Then the column stopped. Smitty was about ten feet to my right and a little behind me. Etscorn entered a little clump of bushes. I knelt down infront of a little clearing. I had no more then set my gun down and look up when I saw about ten feet to my left, walking very slowly, careful and determined; a NorthVietnamese soldier carrying a Chinese made rocket propelled grenade launcer at port arms. He did not see me even though I was in his field of sight. I was trying to get Etscorn's attention when I looked over to my right and saw eight more North Vietnamese soldiers coming out of a treeline about 20 meters away from me. They all had green uniforms on. They were all looking staight at me. This went on for a split second then I heard shots from an M16 coming from behind me.

This experience has been with me for about forty years now. I am completely over it. The interesting thing about this little incident was that nobody got hurt. Nobody died. I can't say that about incidents that took place before and after this little run in.

In the year 2000 when I was in Mongolia, I was standing outside the stadium in UlaanBataar, the capital of Mongolia. I was waiting to get in with hundreds of other people. It was the great Naadaam Festival. Suddenly all was quiet except for the sound of bird's wings flapping just like in the Bonnie & Clyde movie of the sixties. I heard a "thump, thump, thump" like a bunch of boots hitting the pavement in a cadence. I looked up and saw a whole line of Oriental faces coming toward me. I had my camera handy so I snapped this picture. It was the same feeling I had in Sherwood Forest so many years before. I looked up and was surprised to see a column of Mongolian soldiers coming toward me, but I at least was able to get this one on film. That experience helped me to get over the worst day of my life.

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