I very much enjoyed reading your accounts. As the years pass and Vietnam gets more in the "rear-view mirror," so to speak, I think it becomes even sadder in some ways. There is a Facebook group dedicated to the soldiers who lost their lives in Vietnam and it's heartbreaking to read their accounts. Thinking that they would be in their 70s and 80s today had they survived.
That account about the docks being blown up and rebuilt sounds so familiar to me, like I've heard that before from others also. Also, I think sleep deprivation had to be almost universal over there. If I remember correctly, the Vietcong liked to attack at night and when the weather was at its worst (FYI, my late dad fought in Korea and he said the same thing about the North Koreans). I think Oliver Stone did a pretty good job of showing that in "Platoon."
Yes...regarding the Vietnam vet I spoke to at the military museum, I was so impressed with his tone of admiration toward the Vietcong. I remember he talked about how the Vietcong could take simple items like string, tin cans, empty beer bottles, etc., and use them to make deadly bombs. I wish I could remember some more of his stories...I am planning to take my boys there again this coming Summer, so hopefully I will get some more.
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PittPanthers47 (237)
a year ago
Yes, the VC could use everyday items that our soldiers junked in their war effort. We get the one line in Platoon to clean everything up, don't leave anything for the dinks. That was pretty accurate. Good soldiers would leave nothing in the jungle for them to find and use. Either take it with you or bury it where it could not be found.
I was shocked to see in my local paper that a soldier who fought in Vietnam in the latter 1960s was now 90 years old. It is hard to believe how they have aged. When I was in high school most of the vets were in their 30s or early 40s at worst. They were young and virile men. Time has marched on. It is now 50 years since the last combat troops left Nam.
Your father may have also faced the Red Chinese army. They were formidable as they had such numbers to throw at you. One guy who lived in my area was in Korea when China came in and forced a massive American retreat. Guys running and trying to jump into jeeps or trucks trying to get out of Dodge. I asked him once about that and he laughed about it. The old show MASH touched on many areas of that war.
A couple more stories from Nam I recall is the one guy in his first day had his sarge yell at him to check his boots. The guy didn't think it important but the sarge grabbed them and shook them. Out came a poison bamboo viper which the sarge promptly shot with his pistol. Check the boots! Another one was this one guy who said he always loaded his gun with red tracers and it would frighten the enemy away, especially at night. They did not seem to like that.
Yup, the NVA/VC ruled the night and Americans the day. Big advantage the cover of dark provided them against the high tech US.
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