William (Bill) Hammond - One Day Closer to the World and WAKE-UP!!!

Copyright 2019 William (Bill) Hammond

PRINT ISBN: 9781644381151

EBOOK ISBN: 9781644381168

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Published by BookLocker.com, Inc., St. Petersburg, Florida.

Second Edition

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Hammond, William (Bill)

One Day Closer to the World and Wake-Up by William (Bill) Hammond

HISTORY / Military / Vietnam War | FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Military Families | SELF-HELP / Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019912581

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I have spent 49 years living with these memories. They have followed me, not only in waking hours, but also in sleep. The time has come for me to do a little emptying of my mind and memories of a place that seems more like a bad dream than reality. My Tour of Viet Nam. The hardest part of the whole ordeal was being sent home without my fellow Marines, and not knowing who lived or who died. I have a sense of guilt for leaving them behind.

The mind and human nature have been fascinating things to me since my tour of Vietnam. How 18-21-year-old kids with what seemed like forever before them could be slapped into the reality that their lives werent worth two cents and could be gone faster than a wink of an eye. Yet in such absolute serious times they still find things so hilarious that sometimes they find themselves rolling on the ground with laughter.

This book is dedicated to all my brothers both living and dead who contributed to my surviving the nightmare that we knew as Vietnam. It is also dedicated to my wife and children who suffered a life with a man who suffered from PTSD and didnt have a clue that that was what was wrong with him, he just thought he was a bad person who wanted to do right and just couldnt seem to get it together. I love you all and thank you for not giving up on me even when I had given up on myself. And to all Vietnam Vets, Welcome Home Brothers.

I end each story with the Words Another day closer to the world and Wake-up because Nam was so foreign and backward and violent compared to what we had left behind, and it seemed like another place other than the real world, like a bad dream. The fact that we might go home outside a body bag to the World was a constant topic of conversation throughout my tour. When we werent talking about the last firefight or ambush, we were talking about the possibility of waking up from this bad dream and being back in the world again and home.

In July 1969, I arrived in Vietnam and was assigned to Bravo Company1/7 in the Arizona territory. On my second day in the Bush we met up with Delta & Charlie Companies. That night our squad was put on LP (Listening Post). For some reason that Im not sure about, they pulled us back to the perimeter at midnight and put another squad on that LP. At about 0300 (3:00 a.m.) the NVA hit. The squad that had replaced us was wiped out, all but one, he was WIA (wounded in action), his buddy who was KIA (killed in action) fell on top of him and in death more or less saved his friends life.

Meanwhile we were being hit hard and I got my first confirm. Someone was hit in the CP (Command Post) and called for the Corpsman up, our squad leader whose last name was Coreman, thought they were calling our squad to the CP, so he pulled us off the line. When the misunderstanding was straightened out, the Lieutenant hollered at us to get back to our positions. As we were moving back, I saw a person running with a rifle, he aimed at us and started shooting. I looked to either side of me and noticed no one was there but me. I looked back and he was down on one knee aiming at me and shooting. I started shooting back, although my sights were on him, I couldnt seem to hit him. I kept thinking to myself, I know this rifle is on, whats the matter. I could feel the adrenalin cutting loose and a fear that made me want to run. I kept standing there thinking I got to get him. So, I kept shooting and he finally fell over backwards.

After daybreak the Cobras came over the hill and opened fire. They about scared the hell out of me, I was sure glad they were on our side. After the Cobras did their work Bravo Company was to sweep the immediate area. There was an NVA officer WIA in a bomb crater. He had a pistol and kept diving under the water and coming back up. I pulled up on the back of his head but couldnt shoot, then he went back under water and someone threw a frag into the crater. The shock of it brought him to the surface and several grunts opened up on him. We swept on capturing a couple WIAs for interrogation, one had been hit between his knee and ankle somewhere, Im not sure where, all that was left was the knee and three little strips of skin holding the foot to it. All signs of meat and bone were gone. There was a good number of KIA NVA. Then we came to my confirm. I had hit him dead center just above the eyes. His face was flat with everything gone from just in front of the ears. His brain was just a little way from the top of his head, it looked unhurt. nice and pink. No other part of the back of his head was to be found. I was told to grab hold of him and help search him, but I had to walk away. It took every bit of will power I could muster to keep my guts where they belonged. I didnt want anyone to think the new guy wouldnt hold up his end and I kept thinking him or me, him or me.

Charlie Company then took up the sweep of the outer perimeter. Out by the tree line there were Medevac choppers coming and going real steady. I could see Charlie Company on-line sweeping towards the tree line, and then I could hear a volley of small arms fire. I could see several grunts fall to the ground, Charlie Company with the Marine Corps superior firepower opened up and then I could really hear some shooting going on. I saw the Corpsman running from wounded to wounded as Charlie Company continued to sweep and the choppers flew in to Medevac the dead and wounded. I sat and watched and wondered how anyone ever went home.

We rested the next day then started to sweep towards the river. Bravo Company had the left flank, we didnt hit too much resistance, but Delta & Charlie Companies did. Colonel Dowd, our Six, was KIA. We set up at the river edge under sniper fire. A Cobra flew over and fired a rocket that landed about 10 feet behind me. It was loud to say the least, no one was hurt unless, that is, a couple NVA laughed themselves to death. That night a machine gun opened up on us, so I started shooting back, walking my tracers into his muzzle flash. It seemed like forever and I kept thinking to myself, why isnt anybody else shooting, but I took him out. Just then someone hollered, Fire in the hole! An NVA threw a chicon at me, at the time I didnt know so I started to shoot at his silhouette. I saw a couple of tracers go through him, and then it felt like someone hit me in the face with a board. I landed on my butt in the fighting hole (Marines dont have fox holes those are for hiding). Then all hell broke out again, part of Bravo and Charlie Companies caught the NVA trying to slip across the river. Old Ho got his ass beat bad that night.

The next morning, we made a sweep, the NVA that I shot wasnt quite dead; Im glad a Salt was there to check him because he booby trapped himself and blew pieces of himself all over us. The Salt knew enough to be watching, and when he heard the spoon pop on the frag, he rolled the NVA back over it, which kept everyone from getting hurt. I learned a good lesson that day, Old NVA, he plays for keeps. That was day six in the Bush for me; I had many more fun filled experiences over the next 359 days in Nam. I lost the best friends I ever had. I was WIA a couple of times, but the most I was ever scared was when they took my gun away and sent me home.