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13 November 2007
Dear Bill, I don't know many of the details on 1 February 1968 when I was hit on the left side of my neck with shrapnel from mortars being fired from Hill 881N. I remember it was a beautiful and the time of day was about 10:00 hours. I was on my second tour of duty in Vietnam and was the section leader of 60mm mortars, Mike Company, Third Battalion, Twenty-Sixth Marines. When we started receiving the incoming rounds, I started toward Lt. Taft's bunker to see if we wee going to man the guns. That's when I got hit. I seemed to fall in slow motion, like in the movies when someone is shot. Blood was running down the slope because my head was lower than my body. Almost immediately someone was there to administer aid. I didn't know until recently who it was. I remember someone saying, "Oh my God!" at first I didn't feel anything and I thought my guts had been blown out. I also thought, "What is my mother and daddy going to do?" I wasn't afraid of dying because I'm a born again Christian. However, sometime later I knew I was going to be all right. The corpsman had given me a painkiller, it still hurt very badly, but I didn't care. Now I know the corpsman was Jerry King. Even though we were still under fire, he risked his life to save mine. I truly believe that I wouldn't be here today because blood was running swiftly down the hill. Some time past and I was put on a medevac chopper as small arms rounds were ripping through the metal. Thanks to the morphine (I found out later) I didn't care about that either. Here's a list of Marines in 60mm mortars who were there on Hill 881S 1 Feb. 1968. Lt. Rick Taft Platoon Commander
If I can be of any further assistance, please contact me in Nah Trang, Vietnam. Sincerely,
P.S. For about a year my left arm was partially paralyzed. Now it's much better. |
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