A Vietnam Story
Thought I would pass along an interesting story from Aug 1969. I
was #5 gun commander with Mike 4/11 (155 SP Howitzer). We had
departed An Hoa on a mine road clearing operation to Liberty
Bridge (10 klics). Our outfit would share the duty with tanks at
An Hoa and send out two guns to protect the grunts doing the
mine clearing. This was done every morning and after reaching
Liberty Bridge, The grunts would get on top of the guns and we
would dee dee back to An Hoa. I was a Sgt at the time and
commanding the two M109's.
As we were progressing down the road there was a commotion up
ahead and the column was stopped. That is a no no in Marine
Corps tradition. You just can't stop and let your gun become a
stationary target for our little friends. (vietcong) I got off
the gun and walked up front to see what was holding us up. The
road had about a foot of red dust and the guns and personnel
were covered in the stuff.
Lo and behold I run into a Gunnery Sgt by the name of Harmon.
He was commanding a group of 4 Ontos and were blocking the road.
The road was only wide enough for one of our guns. Someone had
to go into the rice paddies and probably will be stuck there
until they can be pulled out. Gunny Harmon was screaming (and
neck veins bulging) that his Ontos were not going into the rice
paddies and I kindly reminded him of rules of the road and who
had priority on passing.
Now here we are out in the middle of the road, both of us
covered in red dust except where we lifted our goggles and could
see each other's eyes. Kind of a raccoon effect. After
contacting our headquarters, the Gunny was politely told to get
the Ontos out of the way and into the rice paddies. He was
fuming and cussing up a storm (dinky dao) but did as he was
ordered to do.
Four Ontos into the goo and one happy Sgt of Marines as we
started back on our mission. On the way back to An Hoa we
passed the four Ontos and were told a tank retriever was on the
way to pull them out of the muck. Psychic reward! The most
poignant part of the story is that Gunny Harmon was one of my
drill instructors (and a real SOB) from Platoon 137, San Diego,
1964. A little bit of history from the good ol days in the Nam.
Semper Fi and Happy Birthday Marines!
Lewis E Wood
Sgt USMC 2107662