A LIFETIME IN A FEW SHORT HOURS
It was a dreary, dismal, rainy day halfway around the world. Everyone could hear the death being repeated by rapid fire weapons only a half mile away.
Those in Mike Company knew Kilo company had been hit badly by the NVA/VC. Just how badly, Mike company was going to see in a matter of "minutes".
The call came in over the radio. Kilo Company needed reinforcements quickly.
Mike Company started out of A-3's perimeter, their home away from home, and a mortar round hit. It came swiftly and silently into the two columns of boys and gave them a taste of what they were about to find.
The blast ripped one of their own to shreds, leaving about 70 of 170 pounds to be bagged, boxed and sent home. It's a shame, snuffed out like a candle at his starting point of life, but it's "better him than me".
Moving swiftly, yet cautiously, to where Kilo had been ambushed, Mike Company arrived to try and aid the boys of Kilo Company.
Nighttime has come and with it the stench of battle crawls into our bodies, giving us a chill, which will never leave us.
The deathly silence is nerve racking. The branch of a tree moves and it is swiftly eliminated, by three or four men who saw it move in the wind.
The sun is rising like a messenger trying to say that this battle is over. It is over for those that have died. For those of us that live we will continue to fight. It will be the mental battle of living with what has happened and what will happen.
We are returning now, watching the tanks go by with the bodies of our brothers piled like so many sticks of lumber. It is over for them.
