Voices Literary Magazine Edition 1 Voices Literary Magazine Edition 1 | Page 28

Vietnam - By Ben McMillan

Part Two

June 17, 1959. After yesterday's combat, we were all tired and Conners was out of action. We were not able to scout out the area so we decided to move on. Since we were in the red zone, we spoted many patrols so we had to take cover a lot. One time, we weren't fast enough so we had to engage in a two way combat with patrols on our tail and in our front. It was a hard fight but in the end, we pulled through. We were not able to move because there were too many patrols ahead and we were not in good enough shape to take on that many people, so we made camp and decided to wait till the morning to move. In the middle of the night, we heard something whistling in the air. Then someone shouted "Mortar!!" Then it hit. Everything was clouded with dust, smoke and flame. I could see nothing, not even my hand in front of my face as I grabbed my gun from my back and yelled, "Men, stay in the smoke! It will make it harder for them to target you!" We got into our defense formation and got ready to fight. But to our surprise and relief, when the smoke cleared there were no men. We packed up and moved on.

June 18, 1959. We are almost at the base that we have to destroy. "Almost there boys keep together," said our captain. After hours of trekking through the hot barren waste land of the Vietnam red zone, we finally saw the base; our mission is almost done! We set up camp and made a plan for tomorrow.