From The Oregonian 5/29/2017
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Courage and sacrifice
When I was young I left the ivory tower of Weatherford Hall on the Oregon State University campus for the valley of death — the A Shau Valley in Vietnam. Fortunately, I survived 11 brutal, bloody assaults up Hill 937, Hamburger Hill. I will never forget the courage and sacrifice of the men whom I served with in Vietnam.
The infantry platoon slowly wound its way through the jungle of the A Shau Valley to the base of Dong Ap Bia Mountain, whose summit was shrouded in mist. The point man led the column with his best buddy behind him. I was next in line, when my rucksack snagged on a “wait-a-minute” vine hanging from a tree. While untangling my rucksack, another soldier passed by me.
After a while, I saw the man ahead of me disappear around a bend. Just as I reached the bend, I felt the concussion of exploding rocket-propelled grenades and heard automatic weapons fire. Bullets and shrapnel whistled past me ricocheting off the bamboo.
After what seemed an eternity, I hit the dirt and crawled through some underbrush at the side of the trail. I positioned myself behind a tree and saw up ahead my three friends blown away. Charlie, the North Vietnamese, had broken contact and vanished, leaving the trail dead quiet.
I crawled up to the body of the man who had walked into the jaws of death in my place. Standing over the soldier’s crumpled corpse, I hoisted him up onto my shoulders and carried him back down the trail. My shirt was soaked with blood from the man’s wounds. After putting my friend down on the ground, I closed his eyes and said a prayer. The rest of the platoon moved up the trail and recovered the other two dead soldiers.
With the onset of darkness, the platoon sergeant told me to stay with the bodies. Swallowed up by the night, I hunkered down in the mud with death around me. My fallen brothers-in-battle, whom I loved, were silent reminders of how temporal life is. Together we had experienced joy and sorrow, endured heat and rain, shared food and water. Now, each personality has departed along with the breath of life.
Riley King, Corvallis, OR
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Courage and sacrifice
When I was young I left the ivory tower of Weatherford Hall on the Oregon State University campus for the valley of death — the A Shau Valley in Vietnam. Fortunately, I survived 11 brutal, bloody assaults up Hill 937, Hamburger Hill. I will never forget the courage and sacrifice of the men whom I served with in Vietnam.
The infantry platoon slowly wound its way through the jungle of the A Shau Valley to the base of Dong Ap Bia Mountain, whose summit was shrouded in mist. The point man led the column with his best buddy behind him. I was next in line, when my rucksack snagged on a “wait-a-minute” vine hanging from a tree. While untangling my rucksack, another soldier passed by me.
After a while, I saw the man ahead of me disappear around a bend. Just as I reached the bend, I felt the concussion of exploding rocket-propelled grenades and heard automatic weapons fire. Bullets and shrapnel whistled past me ricocheting off the bamboo.
After what seemed an eternity, I hit the dirt and crawled through some underbrush at the side of the trail. I positioned myself behind a tree and saw up ahead my three friends blown away. Charlie, the North Vietnamese, had broken contact and vanished, leaving the trail dead quiet.
I crawled up to the body of the man who had walked into the jaws of death in my place. Standing over the soldier’s crumpled corpse, I hoisted him up onto my shoulders and carried him back down the trail. My shirt was soaked with blood from the man’s wounds. After putting my friend down on the ground, I closed his eyes and said a prayer. The rest of the platoon moved up the trail and recovered the other two dead soldiers.
With the onset of darkness, the platoon sergeant told me to stay with the bodies. Swallowed up by the night, I hunkered down in the mud with death around me. My fallen brothers-in-battle, whom I loved, were silent reminders of how temporal life is. Together we had experienced joy and sorrow, endured heat and rain, shared food and water. Now, each personality has departed along with the breath of life.
Riley King, Corvallis, OR
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