Purple Heart #1

SixTGunr
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Posts: 113
(3/29/02 6:02:55 pm)
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Like it was just yesterday although in fact it was the month of September 1967. This one takes place (and I think I have mentioned this before) in the Phu Loc area again or "Booby Trap Boulevard" if you will.

I remember him well .... A medium hieghth kid from Arkansas with a great personality. We had laughed together, cried together, lived and fought together. He was a grunt attached to Golf 2 Charlie of which our gun team had been assigned to that particular squad. A great bunch of guys and when the $h*t hit the fan they were always eager to get in there and get the job done. Naturally ..... being in their assigned gun team and called upon for suppressive fire support we were always right up there with them. Damn I'm proud of these guys!

The sun has been beating down all morning long and its hotter than blue blazes as were out again on a search and destroy mission. Trudging along in a staggered column being ever so quiet and observant we figure it just might be one of those quiet days for a change and we could surely use one.

Well ..... Not today Jarheads ..... WHAM! Instantly looking to my front where my friend and brother (Grimes was his name) is while at the same time dropping to one knee, I observe him spinning around several times in a 360 degree circle with dirt and red clay dust all around him. Taking a guess I would have to say it was about 20 yards to my direct front as I observe him hit the ground after several spins. I shake my head a bit as if to shake off the instantaneous amazement of what had happend here. All of a sudden my forearms are on fire and I feel my muscles tighten in that area but I can still see, hear and move. I then dropped even lower to the ground on my stomach and began crawling towards my downed brother and friend. As I inch closer I can see that he is clutching his throat and theres blood squirting in every which direction. I begin crawling faster at which time I also observe our Navy Corpsman (Good ole' Doc Potter from Iowa) scrambling towards the downed Grimes.

The burning sensation in my forearms is getting worse and theres blood all over my shirt sleeves but to hell with that. "Give me a hand here" doc says and he begins to go to work on Grimes. I watched in awe as this Navy Corpsman worked in such a way as to what I like to think as performaing a miracle. The explosive booby trap went off right at Grimes feet which spun him around and dropped him like a sack of $h*t and a large chunk of shrapnel shot straight up severing his jugular vein. Grimes was laying there looking into my eyes as the doc worked frantically to stop the bleeding but it was'nt working at first and getting worse as I tried to keep the blood from flowing all over my brothers face and not let him know by the look in my eyes that he was that bad as I could see he was slowly slipping. Theres no ER here or ambulances ... No antibiotics or pain pills .... no clean sheets or gurney to lay on .... Just a group of men in the middle of nowhere with only each other and of course God.

"We gotta work fast here" doc says to me again and we both have our fingers inside his neck trying so desperately to latch on to the arteries which tend to withdraw as it pumps out yet more blood. FINALLY, doc gets a good grab and clamps them off as the medivac choppers blades can be faintly heard swiftly approaching. Though he had that look that I sahll never forget, Grimes never said a word nor did he let out a scream of any kind. As for me .... My hands began to lock up after a bit and the forearm muscles were tight ... real tight ... like a frogs a$$ .... water tight. Once we had Grimes lined out Doc Potter tended to me for mutliple shrapnel wounds to the forearms and I rode out on the chopper with my Broze ... Doc Potter and Grimes, back to the Battalion Aid Station.

Grimes will be going home to Arkansas for a well deserved rest and recuperation. After approximately 10 days of healing once they pulled the shrapnel out of my arms I went back to fight for yet another time alongside my brothers. Occassional mini ceremonies were performed in the battalion area at which time they presented me one of them little black boxes which contained a purple heart accompanied by a piece of paper with authenticity for wounds received in action against the insurgent VietCong. All that is left today of Number 1 is several scars, that piece of paper buried somewhere around here and the memory of my friend and brother who looked death in the eye and lived. As for the Purple Heart medal I received ..... I had it mounted on a plaque and presented it to my uncle who was a bombadier/navigator on the B52 and retired from the Air Force as a Full Bird Colonel.

It was simply my way of expressing my sincere thanks to him and those like him who had saved our a$$e$ so many many times with air strikes from above. Six



"What more can I say ..... I was at the wrong place at the wrong time"

Tac401
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Posts: 1884
(3/29/02 10:49:23 pm)
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Re: Purple Heart #1
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Big thumbs up to you Six, really don't have any
words at this time except THANKS!
TFF VMBB Email Tac

SixTGunr
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 140
(4/4/02 1:10:46 am)
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Most of the time your heart would qualify ya for a ride ... "Hey Doc...Patch me up so I can get back to the gang"





TallTLynn
*VMBB Staff*
Posts: 176
(4/5/02 7:45:19 pm)
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Just glad you are still with us SixTGunr.