I awoke eleven days back thinking about 45 years ago at Khe Sanh. March 22nd 1968. I had arrived at the KSCB March 1st, 1968, with the only other person I would know from the world. His name was Ron Seamon. Ron and I had gone through ITR at Pendleton together. We were both assigned to 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Marines, right off the plane after traveling from the States into Da Nang, Da Nang to Phu Bai, Phu Bai to Khe Sanh. The rest is History.
On March 21st at Khe Sanh everyone waited for HELL to start raining down on us. What I had already experienced as Hell and very real psychological Torture was nothing compared to what I thought was going to occur on March 21st. Many—or most—other Marines in Bravo had already been at the base since the beginning of the siege in January ’68 and they feared the 21st day of the month.
Word had already come down from Captain Pipes that there was very likely to be a major ground attack on the Khe Sanh combat base that would coincide with the heavy bombardments of both January and February 21st. We were ordered to have our bayonets & gas masks ready.
We talked (our squad) about our bayonets. While sharpening them someone would say, “It’s against the Geneva Convention” to sharpen them. Of which we all pretty much said “F_ _ _ the Geneva Convention.” They were sharp!
21 Mar 68 came and went with nothing happening in the 3rd Platoon area except perhaps a few sporadic incoming rounds. I remember we stayed on 100% Red Alert throughout the night of March 21st.
22 March: Not sure what’s going on. Nothing much happened on the 21st, unlike the 21st of January and February. But at 18:30 hours on the 22nd…HOLY SHIT!!
IT WAS NON-STOP INCOMING, ROUND AFTER ROUND.
You could not count the seconds between each enemy round leaving its gun barrel.
EXPLODING. A Freaking HAIL STORM FROM HELL and this hail was not Ice.
This type of experience will absolutely humble you and reduce you to tears. I know I was not the only one in the bottom of that trench, face buried in red clay, praying for God to spare my life. You continuously try to cover all vital parts of your body.
I felt so helpless, all those rounds coming in, how could they not miss? Khe Sanh was not that big. I could see the blast waves coming at me. Every time I heard a round leave the tube I pictured death.
I was in the Claymore mine bunker with one other Marine. I do not remember his name but I do know he had been at Khe Sanh even less time than I. Somewhere around midnight we took a near direct hit. We were stunned, literally slammed against the back wall of the bunker. Dirt filled the air along with the smell of burning. My ears rang, my mind was dazed. Then we realized we were alive. We made sure our section of the perimeter was secure and immediately ran down the trench to notify our squad leader (I have no memory of who he was) about what just happened.
Just as he started to respond, a huge explosion rocked us. The squad leader informed us he needed to deal with casualties and ordered us to go get some rest in a bunker down the trench line.
I know that it was approx 0100 hours of 23 March 1968 when I was once again wounded. I was in the trench when the round hit, but when I came to, I found myself standing behind the trench line, watching everything in SLOW MOTION. Smoke, Marines crying out, some in obvious pain and others calling out to help, “Anyone need a Corpsman?” Voices were clear and concise. Shrapnel fell all around, incoming rounds still exploded. Someone called out to me, “Anyone need a Corpsman?” I remember saying “No.” Then a Marine came up to me to ask how I was doing. I was sweating and I wiped it from my face and the sweat was blood. My face was covered with it. Blood spurted from the inside of my right knee where shrapnel had blown a hole from my knee up to my hip.
I have never been so scared in all my life!!
SEMPER FIDELIS TO ALL MY BRAVO COMPANY BROTHERS PAST AND PRESENT; YOU ARE SECOND TO NONE HERE ON EARTH.