New Years 1968 memories

[Detector Man]

Memories of New Years 1968...By Christmas 1968 i was on LZ Baldy and i was the guy who took clean clothes and mail to the guys in the field....on New Years Eve i dropped off clean clothes and mail to our company which was in Antenna Valley on LZ Ryder. I couldnt get a ride out of LZ Ryder so i was stuck there for the night....at midnight flares lit up the sky from one end of the valley to the other in all directions....the signal for the New Year this lasted several minutes...that night i had no place to crash and no poncho liner (my blanket/field sleeping item)... no "home" and it looked like it might rain that night...

While darkness was creeping up on us i stumbled on an area that had a piece of corrugated sheet metal overhead and it looked like that would be a great place to sleep and stay dry....no guard duty, no patrolling at night and I would be at least staying dry ...doesnt get any better than that i figured......so i quickly fell asleep....next morning at day break i hear voices and some guy (one of ours-not NVA) is standing over me and he was NOT giving me a Happy New Years greeting!!! he was a bit angry...lecturing me ....im thinking wtf is he upset about...welllllllllllll i didnt notice in the darkness but i had slept in the middle of his 105MM ammo bunker...so the Lt or whoever it was, was not too pleased with me......i got the heck out of the ammo bunker pronto..

that morning there was a 3 B52 formation doing an air strike in the distance and in a couple hours i was back on Baldy.......it doesnt get any better than that.....at least i got to see my guys in our platoon ...the overnight stay was well worth it for me...

Happy News Years to everyone

 

[mudpuppy]

That was a great memory to share with us...about your New Years night so long ago in a foreign land in the dark...wonder why you thought back on it? the details were very fresh, must have made a strong impact in your memory as a young man.
Mud.

 

[Detector Man]

Thank you for reading my post....i had mixed feeling about getting stuck out there...i was glad to be with my guys but all i had was what i was wearing , my M16, a few magazines (2-3at most). Of course there was always the possibility of a night attack but it turned out ok. Quiet night. One of the things i always noticed was how quiet the nights were and how dark the countryside was when there was no moon.

 

[Ron J]

Thanks for the post... Thank you for your Service! I am sure not all nights were that easy.....

 

[Detector Man]

Thank you Ron J.....i have no gripes...life is great...when i post on different occasions (Veterans Day, Holidays etc) i try to keep it light ...

 

[RustyNTX]

n/t

 

[Micheal_R]

n/t

 

[Royal]

Interesting story. There were a lot of story's from those that served and to someone like me, who got out of the Marines before it really started, they are all interesting. Thanks for sharing it Detector Man.

 

[Detector Man]

Thank you Royal
:
I like to share that Marines ate VERY WELL...when i was in Chu Lai briefly we ate the Army stuff and then walked down 100ft to the Navy place and ate again !!

When i was in the bush I know that there were places i was at that had never seen human foot prints on the dirt...very spooky...the isolation i felt at times was overwhelming.

Thank you for reading my stories.....

 

[chuck ky]

from the stories i heard while serving in chu lai from july 68-july 69 you were very lucky to have a quiet night. thaks for the memories.

 

[chuck ky]

i was thinking about the tet offensive which was on the chinese new year in feburary.

 

[Detector Man]

You got the tet offensive date correct......i was one of a large group that joined our company in Feb 68 as a result of casualties caused by the Tet offensive......i got there after it was over (pretty much)