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This is me outside Operating Room (OR) #2 in '69, must have been after 3-4 months in-country, as evidenced by the mustache...at least I THINK that's a 'stache on my lip (probably just a shadow)!... Just FYI, the black spots on the wall behind me are patches showing where mortar shrapnel ventilated the OR wall during an attack in June, 1969. The shell landed just about where I'm standing....KABOOM!! Mortar attacks are MUCH more frightening than rocket attacks, since the bad guys have to be close enough to adjust their fire and 'walk' the mortars right in on the target. They have to be close enough to see where the rounds are falling, usually less than a mile away. With mortars, you can always expect MORE coming after the first shot. This mortar attack occurred the night before I arrived at the 71st. Welcome to the 71st!! Rockets are more of a "set it up, point it toward that hospital over on the hill, light the fuse and walk away"-type weapon. Nowadays I guess we call them "fire and forget" weapons. Rockets, though much more devastating than mortars, didn't usually bother me too much. One night, though, while we were waiting in the mess hall for midnight chow, we heard an explosion that sounded nearby. I walked over to the outside wall, which was heavily sandbagged, and sat down on the floor. Everybody just sort of looked at me. "Incoming," was all I said as I waited. I only had about two weeks left in-country and was getting very paranoid about getting my ticket punched just before going home, as I'd seen too many times. They all just laughed and were talking about outgoing artillery from Artillery Hill, which was about a mile away and regularly woke us up with early morning fire missions. They filled in my spot in line, figuring they had just gotten over on me. About then a second and third rocket landed in the road just outside the mess hall. Suddenly I had lots of company on that wall as chunks of roadway, rocks and dirt rained down on the roof and holes suddenly appeared in the walls and ceiling. Five minutes later we were all eating our chow as if nothing had happened. The thrill of excitement never lasted long, but the boredom sure did! It lasted and lasted and lasted....
This is a view toward Signal Hill, where the big CIA(?) listening "ears" were located. The covered walkways go up to the wards where the wounded or sick were housed. It seems to me that the 71st was a 450-bed hospital at maximum capacity, which seems amazing to me today. A 450-bed Stateside hospital is HUGE! (VIETNAM CHAPLAIN Photo) Note: March,2010 - Spoke with a guy who served at the unit with the big antennae...it wasn't CIA spooks after all, just a radio outfit monitoring radio emissions from Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam.
Pictures War Stories - (Some are quite graphic!)
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