Nam Nightmare

I hate the noise related to July 4th. Especially the large booming cannons. It elicits nightmares of Viet Nam. The term “friendly fire” virulently erupts in my museum of memories. It was July 27, 1967. Our company (C, 2/12th Cavalry) was sent to a forward fire base to help secure the perimeter. Before we were put on the line we had orders to leave and move some distance from the fire base to act as a reactionary force in case the base was attacked. The intel was that there was a large NVA force in the area.

That evening we set up a perimeter some distance out from the fire base. We were digging in and I was at the CP setting up the radios for a night waiting for something to happen. The FO was calling in defensive concentrations for the night. He was shooting at high angle on the gun target line. He shot smoke into a draw out to our front. They landed where he wanted them so he called for two HE rounds. You could hear them coming and they just sounded too close. The shells didn’t clear the canopy and exploded in the trees right above us.
It was like hell erupted. Men - screaming and dying. The man I was talking to lost an arm. We used shirts and anything handy for bandages. It got real crazy trying to get Medevacs in during the night. We lay there all night knowing we could be over run any minute. That was the saddest day of my life. For some reason I will never figure out why I never got a scratch.
Was there “good” that came out of this? It’s hard for me to see value in a war that our country’s leadership wouldn’t let us win. All I know is that at the time I was not a Christian and possibly God used the experience to draw me to Himself at a later date.
Doug Steiner