''Being Black''

I arrived in Vietnam in the middle of Tet 68. This was not a good time to be getting off a plane in the hottest place on the globe. While making our approach to the airport in Saigon, the pilot came on and asked that we put on our flak jackets (Bulletproof Vests), because we could possibly be receiving ground fire before landing. All of us rookies quickly realized where we were and what we could look forward to after the plane landed.  We were not shot at while making our approach or landing at the airport in Saigon.

I was lucky enough to be stationed at a unit that was housed at the airport, but unlucky enough for that unit to be the 101^st Airborne Division. When I arrived in the country, we were stationed at the Saigon airport in what was called Tent City.

In April, we were moved from Tent City north to Camp Eagle at Chu Lai. I was assigned to A Company of the 1/506 Battalion. Most of the time, we were out on patrol clearing roads and looking for the enemy who was hidden out in many small villages throughout the Central Highlands.

A good day was one where we went out on patrol and came back with no casualties. The worst was yet to come. From the moment I set foot in Vietnam, I was scared of being killed, but as time went on I knew if God wanted me to die, he had his time set for that and nothing was going to change it. Due to my assignments in the war, I was not at liberty to write home about what was really going on or what I saw. My wife and family never knew what I was doing until I was wounded in December 1968. I got shot in the leg on the 18^th of December during an ambush in Central Vietnam.

There were a lot of TV cameras all over the place and I hoped that my face was not one of those being broadcast over the air at home.

There were a lot of things in Vietnam to help take your mind off the things that was going on around us. Some people resorted to drugs, some to just becoming immune to what was happening around them, and others like myself who was always afraid of drugs and their lasting affects on people, resorted to drinking.

I saw many men get wiped out because they were to stoned to know where they were or what they were doing. I always kept a bottle of Johnny Walker Black scotch to help keep my mind off the trauma and things I had to see and do everyday. This was my way of getting what we called numb to the surroundings.

Life in the bush became just another thing and all we looked forward to was counting the number of days on our short timers calendars. Just before I reached that point, we received orders to go on another mission with the ARVN 1^st Division into the Ashau Valley. We were airlifted in the rain to a location that would become one of the well-known battlefields of the entire war. Hill 937, better known as Hamburger Hill, our destination in May 1969.

We ended up on Ap Bia Mountain fighting against what we later found to be the Pride of Ho Chi Minh. This was the elite fighting regiment of the North Vietnamese Army. We found ourselves in the fight of the war on Dong Ap Bia. With artillery rounds, mortar rounds and almost every type rifle known to the war going off. I only wanted it to stop raining. The rain added to the many problems that we had in that battle. Mud, no trees or brush to hide behind and bodies everywhere added to the many problems that faced us during those days and nights. I was wounded two days before the hill was actually taken. I had been shot in the head by an AK47 round. My eyes were closed, but I can remember hearing the choppers coming in and hoping that they would be able to land safely.

After that, I woke up at the 3^rd Field Hospital in Saigon to find a Purple Heart Medal pinned to my pillow. I had received a wound to the head and was out for approximately 6 days before waking up that morning. I was transferred home in June and was very glad to be out of the hell that was a part of that war.