Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
8:58 | While on jungle patrol, David Ray noticed that the point man was tilting his helmet back when he was on point. Why was that? It wasn't long before he found out why and when he became the point man, he tilted his helmet the same way.
Keywords : David Ray Vietnam underwear shower extend replacement helmet booby trap grenade shrapnel Rick Watts radioman Viet Cong (VC) Mike West
David Ray played football for two years in college but his grades started slipping and he had to start thinking about the draft. He thought he might as well do it up right and so he enlisted in the Marines. About the time he was standing on the yellow footprints, he decided that he had bitten off more than he could chew.
His MOS was 0341, Mortars, but he never touched a mortar while he was in Vietnam. David Ray was now a rifleman and a jungle grunt. When a buddy of his who went to a different unit was killed after one month in country, he was shocked. One month?
The radioman was wounded and evacuated for awhile. He was David Ray's best friend and foxhole buddy who decided one day that the M-16 was too much to carry with the radio and got a .45 instead.
For their booby traps, the VC preferred to use American hand grenades. They would shorten the fuse as much as possible for a quick reaction when the trip line was hit. They would also use artillery rounds but, by 1970, punji pits were no longer used. (Caution: strong language)
The Kit Carson scout had led them to some caves where bad guys might be holed up. David Ray grabbed a .45 and headed down the slope. He peered through an opening and saw an NVA standing on the other side. When the man refused to come out, he shot him in the leg. Working his way around to the other chamber, he realized there were four of them. (Caution: strong language)
The Marines had been choppered to a mountain top and David Ray was walking point. He was fortunate on this operation to have a dog and his handler with them. The dog had advanced up the trail when he suddenly stopped and growled.
David Ray was in the jungle for his entire tour. He never saw a city, rarely had a shower. The base camp where he went to rest was often under fire. The lady from the Red Cross had a hard time relating to this.
His homecoming was easy. Not only was David Ray not yelled at or spit on, he came to regard those stories as a kind of urban legend. The worst time he had was an encounter with a World War II vet.
Was Vietnam a waste? Not at all according to David Ray. He and all the others who fought and died there paved the way for the eventual downfall of the Soviet Communist dream.
