In the spirit of Memorial Day, I thought I’d share the letter my brother Jon wrote about his experience in Vietnam. This is written to his good friend Dennis two days after the attack, which occurred on March 4, 1968 in the Binh Dinh Province of South Vietnam.
“My mom probably told you already what happened March 4. I always wondered how tough I was and I guess I even surprised myself.
“The whole thing is still hard to believe and I’ll never get over it. I was sleeping in my bunker with Gribble and Roman, when I was awoken by loud explosions. It was 12:00 midnight. I thought it was us firing a mortar. Then I heard VC yelling. About then a grenade hit my bunker.
“I crawled out as a grenade went in! Everything seemed unreal. We tried to the get the gun (machine gun) working but it jammed!
“One of the bunkers was hit with a rocket already and I knew they (Jackson and Rhodes) were dead. It was burning and it lit up the night.
“We didn’t know where the VC were. About then three grenades came in on us, one after another. They had us trapped. We started low-crawling to the bridge. I got caught in concertina wire and I was stuck!
“About then bullets came my way. I got out of the wire and made it for the bridge. There was a VC about 15 feet away. He fired 5 at me and one caught me in the arm. My hand went numb and I stopped for a finger check. I counted five and kept crawling. He fired 6 more and missed.
“I made it to the side of the bridge and kept crawling. The VC were still yelling and firing. Roman was on the road while Gribble and I were by the rail. More grenades came at us.
“I yelled to Roman, but he didn’t answer. I knew he was dead.
“It looked hopeless as I had at least two VC to my rear and plenty to the front. I thought it was all over. I said an Act of Contrition and asked God to take me into heaven.
“Then I got an idea, jump! I told Gribble. A VC was 10 feet from me. He didn’t fire because he thought I was dead.
“I slid off the side of the bridge, came to a dead hang and dropped 25 feet, into barbed wire no less!
“They got a light on me, threw a grenade within five feet of me. Needless to say it racked me up. I laid there and pretended I was dead.
“I could hear them about me yelling and shooting. Finally, they left. The good guys came about 15 minutes later, and they carried me to the helicopter.
“Well, I was pretty lucky. I’m going to be alright. I’m still sore. Miller, Rhodes, Jackson and Roman weren’t so lucky. They paid the highest price of all. Law and Brandt were seriously injured and burned. Gribble broke his back when he jumped. Gordon didn’t get a scratch.
“As for me I have a 1/4” hole in my left arm from the bullet. It’s a clean wound and isn’t worth mentioning. My right arm got a couple pieces of frag in it. My legs got six pieces of rocks in them. They are pretty sore and I have bone chips…
“I’ll be glad to leave Vietnam. I hope I don’t have to come back.”
– Jon
What no one knew until he got to Japan five days later that he had broken both legs in the fall as well. The VC who fired at him was an 11 year old who had befriended the troops guarding the bridge. He couldn’t handle the AK-47 and it rose as he shot at my brother, saving his life.
I found his fallen comrades on the Wall in 42 E. My brother could have easily been listed there as well.
In the Emerald City, thanking all who serve and keep us out of harm’s way,
— Robb