On dark nights on Hill 881, the kind of nights you could not see your hand in front of your face, a sudden screaming, wailing sound could be heard over the hill, heading west.  Whatever was making the sound would be searching for the soon-to-be dead.   It was "The Banshee!"

No one knew what the source of the sound was or where it was coming from.  Well, maybe a few of us did!

The screaming sounds would drive the grunts to ground.  At times it would drive the NVA soldiers to ground - their burial ground.  The Skipper on the hill (Capt. Dabney) would quiz us, the Gunny would try to track it down.  The grunts would tell tales of it.  Our enemy would quiver at the sound.  Days and weeks would pass before our battery commander, Capt. O'Conner, would say to us, "Knock the shit off, you gun grunts!  Quit putting those damn C-ration cans on the 105 rounds!   It will cause a short round!"

The Marines of Charlie Battery would get bored or just like to scare hell out of people, so they would take a C-ration can, open both ends with a "John Wayne", flare out some fins on the can, place it on the nose of the round, and fire the round.  Best results came with a charge seven mission aimed just off the Hill 881 "Gun Target Line" during H&I  (Harassing and Interdicting) fire missions.  These missions would ensure the best effects for the Marines of the Hill and the NVA soldiers in the valleys.

Rumor had it that this practice of putting cans on the noses of 105mm shells started during the Battle of Iwo Jima, when the battery was firing in support of 26th Marines.   Two of Charlie Battery's guns were survivors of that battle and were still firing from Khe Sanh during the Siege.

Capt. O'Conner and Charlie Battery were a little crazy.  Charlie Battery always fired its missions, even during the heaviest incoming.  Capt. O'Conner, on St. Paddy's Day, sent some green smoke rounds up to the hill to be fired in celebration of the day - and to taunt his XO on the hill, Lt. Biondo.

At times Capt. O'Conner would get so upset at the NVA mortar crews firing at our battery that, unable to secure the regiment's clearance to shoot back, he would roll one of the guns out, open the breech, sight down the barrel by eye, and fire direct fire into the NVA positions.  All the while the NVA gunners would be firing at us.  He never took cover or flinched.   It was not unnoticed by the grunts on the lines that we fired barely over their heads.  The grunts called us crazy.  The regimental command called Capt. O'Conner to their bunker.  But the NVA crews went silent.

I had the pleasure of carrying the captain's radio during those fun times - when I was not on the hill with the "Bozy" (Lt. Biondo).

Glenn Prentice
Artillery Forward Observer Team Radio Operator