Fire Base Ann April, 1970 Memory is a funny thing; why one day or night would stand out, one event is so vivid and others aren't. I have a great memory of one night on Ann. I had been out with Recon on my first patrol.  We had walked off, patrolled several days and walked back in. There was plenty of beer for Recon and by the time the sun went down, everyone was three sheets to the wind. Well, of course, Cossey would have been sober, but I think he was listening to the Armed Forces radio … [Read more...]

I remember flying into FSB Granite in what must of been mid-March, 1970. My first firebase, my first day assigned to Echo Co. 1st Battalion/5th Cavalry, 1st Air Cavalry. It looked like it had been hacked and bulldozed out of the jungle, a rough barren circle in the middle of the all that green. Echo company saw fit to put me in the .50 caliber squad. My MOS was "unit armourer", earned OJT in Hohenfels, Germany, my first overseas assignment. I had attended a weapons maintenance class that … [Read more...]

Excerpt from the "Rouge Bouquet" by American Joyce Kilmer, killed in action 1918   In a wood they call the Rouge Bouquet There is a new-made grave today. Built by never a spade or pick Yet covered with earth ten meters thick. There lie many fighting men, Dead in their youthful prime, Never to laugh or love again Nor taste the summertime. … [Read more...]

I may be overstating the obvious, but we're not expecting parades. So that's understood by veteran and non-veteran alike. There is a legacy though and that does count. So ok, Bird, what is that legacy? Well, it comes in several parts. Today soldiers, sailors and marines do not pass through airports and other public places without being recognized. Not everyone, but someone is going to thank them for their service. There was a cultural shift across the US of A after the Vietnam war. People … [Read more...]

Actually taken from a North Vietnamese soldier killed by Echo Recon on May 30, 1970. The VC were really a separate force under the NLF (National Liberation Front), but our Cambodian scouts always yelled, VC! VC! No matter who we encountered. So, a VC knife. And the scouts didn’t always yell, unless of course they were warning everyone we had been spotted and being silent no longer mattered then. That day started out bad and got worse. We had spent the night alongside the Ho Chi Minh … [Read more...]

I enlisted immediately after high school graduation, but I did allow myself about a month in which to relax and travel. Something I really enjoyed without thinking of the consequences of spending a summer in southern Missouri.                                                                             Fort Leonard Wood-1967 Why, oh why did I think going to boot camp in southern Missouri in July and August was going to be ok? Oh, the innocence of youth! Yes, it was hell. I swear there was … [Read more...]