The Elusive Soldiers Medal
While serving in Vietnam, I was sent out on a mission with 5 or 6
other men. Some of us were asked to help deliver supplies to a
stranded unit. We were to carry supplies to some men that were
hunkered down and could not go out to get supplies. I got the idea
that they were watching an area where the enemy had some high
activity. It was during the monsoon season and everything was wet
and flooded. I worked in the Orderly Room so when the information
came in about the situation, I knew the entire story from the
beginning. Helping these guys was more of a favor to these stranded
guys that the First Sargent knew. It was like they were asking a
favor; it was not our responsibility in any way. This was not about
a battle-weary bunch of men in a crisis and needing saving or
anything.
So, the First Sargent volunteered some of us to take the guys some
supplies. There were boxes of food, water, and a little gas in the
way of three 5 gal cans. I cannot remember the list of supplies but
I do remember the crate of ammo. Top assigned me and Doc to carry
the ammo box. For some reason I remember hand grenades, it was
either hand grenades or ammo we were to carry, I do not remember. We
grabbed a few things of our personally gear and we all lined up in
front to the Orderly Room.
We started out and it was raining and wet, there was a lot of mud
everywhere. LZ Sharon was in the middle of red dirt, that was our
immediate landscape. The jungles were a long way off, the area had
been cleared out for the huts. I was stationed at Red Devil, that
sums it up.
We headed out and about 20 minutes later we came to a river. We
knew it was not a river, it just looked like a river. The road ahead
was flooded. It was a stream before but now it was a rushing river
about 150 meters wide. It was moving fast and you could tell it
would sweep away anything that got in its path. We were asked to
deliver some equipment and that is what we were going to do. Doc and
I were to carry the wooden box of ammunition. It was a heavy
rectangular wooden box, about 3 feet long 18 inches wide and 8 inches
deep, with looped rope handles on both sides. I was on one side and
Doc was on the other. The water was almost waste deep when we
started and it was getting worse as we got to the middle of the
stream. It was not a stream; it was a rushing wild river running
over a dirt road. The road was flooded and the only reason we were
not washed away was the fact that we were staying in the very middle
of this road. This swollen stream was really wide and traveling fast.
We fought our way forward one step at a time. Single file, about
5 of us. Doc and I were in the lead with Sgt. Ammons on our
shoulders assessing the situation. The rushing water was getting so
bad that the First Sargent ordered us to turn around and go back. It
was the swiftness and as it got deeper, it could wash you off your
feet at any time. I thought turning back was a wise decision if it
was not too late. There were 4 or 5 of us at the lead, the First
Sargent had already turned around and was starting back. He was
getting ahead to lead the way back. When Doc and I turned around, he
stepped off the road. He had swung around and gone too far from the
middle of the road. He was wearing thick glasses and they came off
immediately as he attempted to fight his way back to the road. Doc
had lost sight of the glasses and was struggling to find them. (With
his eyesight, I always wondered how he got into the Army in the first
place.)
He could not make out the way to the shore line, the bank on the
side, or the obstacles between him and safety. He could not see well
without his glasses and there was only one safe way back to the
shore. He seemed to be a little panicky. He seemed to be determined
to fight his way back to the road, against the current. It was clear
he was not going to be able to do it and he was going to be washed
downstream.
I was looking at Doc and I looked at the other guys and they were
looking dead at me. I was the closest and that was it, or should I
say "I was it". I tried to throw the box of grenades out of the
way because they were directly between me and Doc. The box was
floating so I tried to pick it up out of the water to throw it. I
had forgotten how heavy it was. I picked it up a little but could
not throw it to one of the other guys so I just let it go downstream.
I went after Doc and
talked to him as I was approaching him. I got him and together we
began to swim for the shore. I told him to come "this way" we
started out and it was almost impossible to stay afloat with all our
heavy boots and equipment. Neither of us had a weapon. Our bodies
were not completely on top of the water and all I could think about
was the concertina that could be down under us. I had seen this area
before and I knew there was wire down there, somewhere. It was a
fact that if one of our legs got caught on the concertina, the
blouse, there would not be any way we would survive, we would die
right here in the middle of this river.
The only thing I could
think of was to get somewhere as close as possible as quick as
possible. The longer we were in the water the more the chance of
getting caught on the wire lurking down below us. There was a little
"island" a patch ahead between us and the shore. I headed us
toward it. On the way we hit a little high place. It was like a
little hill. Just a little rise and I scraped it and I stopped, put
my foot down and sure enough, we could stand on it. On my tip toes,
I had my head and neck out of the water. The water was about chest
high but we were holding on to the top of a little tree shrub. We
were safe, here in the middle of this river. We were about half way
to the spot of that little island, we had come about 30 yards and we
were not going back. There we were. We were stranded and hanging on
for dear life. We were thinking what to do or what we had to do if we
did not get help.
The only possible help
was on the shore. There were some Marines on the shore and they were
watching us. They were waving and I could hear their sounds, they
were cheering us on. It was too faint to make out what they were
saying but we could see a lot of activity. After a while, we saw a
Marine get an air mattress and they were going to come and get us.
That did not work. When
the guy got into the water he was washed down so quickly, I could see
him trying to paddle over but of course he only got about 5 yards
from the bank and that was it, he was washed downstream. He paddled
his way back to shore, walked back upstream and tried again. No
luck. After another 15 minutes or so, we saw Top. He had emptied a
5 gal. gas can and was using it as flotation device to come rescue
us. He came shooting by us at what seemed to be about 90 miles an
hour. He missed us by about 30 yards. There was just no way he
could have made it over to us.
There we were, in the
middle of this rushing body of water with nowhere to go, well nowhere
that made any sense. We waited and waited it seemed forever. Now
the water was up to our chins. I was a little taller than Doc so I
could see him trying to make himself taller. He was looking straight
up to the heavens and I knew that I would be in the same position
soon. In my mind I was trying to make an emergency plan, we could
try and get to that little patch like island or swim another 40 yards
to the bank.
Suddenly
there was this noise and I knew what it was right away. The water
began to separate around us, it was a helicopter. A Huey, the wind
beat down on us and it made a little indentation in the water and we
had our necks and even out shoulders out of the water. They dropped
the lines down just in time, another 10 minutes and we would have
been trying to swim for it.
That oval loop that was
dropped down was just what we needed. When it came down I grabbed it
and tried to put over Doc's head. That was not going to happen, he
just took it and tried to put it over my head, I put it back to him
and he pushed it back to me. I gave up. I took the harness and was
pulled up. The men in the Huey reached out and helped me in. The
harness was again lowered and Doc came up.
I tried to tell the guys
in the Huey that we were missing a man downstream, Top. They just
kept shaking their heads in the affirmative, we couldn't talk it
was too noisy. The copter landed and there was Top waiting there.
We were taken to the shore and back to the LZ.
I heard I was put in for
the Soldiers Medal. It was not until much later that I learned what
this Soldiers Medal was. I never received it and the subject was
dropped and I did not pursue it. It was a combination of
circumstances at that time. I did not care about it then, and the
only reason I am talking about it now is in hopes it will assist me
in obtaining VA benefits.
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