Guardians of Freedom
Saluting Those Who Served in the U.S. Army
Marvin Emming in Vietnam, Part 2
By Janis Stein

Join in the continuation as this Ruth area veteran recalls fighting in the jungles of Vietnam.

At nightfall when the soldiers set up their perimeter, the machine gunner would be positioned where he had the best advantage without getting hit by enemy fire. Many times, Marvin’s squad took on enemy fire, so much so Marvin knew they didn’t have a chance of winning that particular round, but the gunner squad did their best, all the while hoping to have knocked back the enemy to some degree.

Out of a company of 130 soldiers, there were four machine gunners – one from each platoon. Soldiers in the machine gunner’s squad rejoiced in knowing that at least they would not have to take Listening Post guard duty. The gunner’s squad needed to be ready at all times to feed ammo to the gunner whenever the need arose.

Each night, the platoon selected two soldiers to take a radio and travel outside the relative safety of their perimeter. On guard duty, the soldiers stayed awake all night, listening for any activity, listening for the enemy in case they were preparing to attack. The exhausted unfortunate who gave in to the temptation of sleep were found in the morning with their throats slit.

When alert soldiers on guard duty heard the approaching enemy, they informed their platoon of the location of the enemy and any details available. If at all possible, the soldiers on guard duty made their way back inside the perimeter before fire broke out, but more often than not, these soldiers had to take cover in the jungle – between the firing – and hope to make it safely back after their shift, or after the exchange ended.

Like most U.S. soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War, Marvin slept when he could, but even at night, a soldier didn’t really sleep. The Vietnamese did some of their best fighting under the cover of darkness. When daybreak arrived after a nighttime firefight, one of the jobs of the American soldiers was to take a body count, so they could keep track of the number of enemy killed. Evidence in the morning showed signs of the Vietnamese dragging their own dead away so the American soldiers would not be able to measure their success. Following the trails of fresh Vietnamese blood, U.S. soldiers would find their enemy’s bodies half buried under brush. The soldiers then had to dig up these bodies so they could include them in their body count number, before abandoning them to move on to the next battle.

So thick was the jungle, many times soldiers cut their way through with machetes. With a wall of jungle to work their way through, the enemy could easily be camouflaged two feet away and a soldier wouldn’t even know he was there. When the machetes weren’t enough to do the job in the jungle, or rather, if a path needed to be cleared in a hurry, allied planes would come through, dropping Agent Orange. The objectives of this herbicidal warfare were to reduce the jungle foliage so that Communist forces might not use it for cover and to deny them use of crops needed for sustenance. An objective was spot clearing around base camp perimeters.

Piloted allied planes also dropped napalm from above. This agent burned its way through everything in its path, but more so it was used when soldiers on the ground needed assistance in heavy fighting. When no advances were made after steady fighting, napalm was used as a last resort, burning the enemy where they stood. The result was immediate surrender by those hit, and then allied soldiers on the ground moved in to capture the prisoners.

Marvin endured all that the monsoon season offered in Vietnam. It rained every day for six months straight and, while soldiers were given ponchos to protect them from the damp, a smart soldier didn’t dare wear it. When rain hit the poncho, it made a distinct noise, a sound the enemy would capitalize on if he heard it. For the same reason, sleeping under the roof of a tent in the jungle would have been a dead giveaway.

Rather, Marvin and the soldiers in his platoon slept wherever they were, in foxholes or bunkers, but most often on the floor of the jungle. But always, always, some remained awake and alert. If they slept within the jungle foliage, every fifth soldier lay awake – listening. If they had the good fortune to sleep in the protection of a bunker, of the seven in Marvin’s squad, five would sleep while the remaining two stood watch, trading off through the night. But for those who were sleeping, their sleep wasn’t deep, for one ear was always listening for the enemy.

Nights brought with it a slight reprieve from the 130-degree daytime heat. The steady rain, month after month after month, took its own toll on American soldiers. Soldiers used a bar of soap to clean up; fully dressed, a soldier would run the soap over his body, and let the rain rinse his clothes and his body at the same time.

When allied forces came upon a good stream or pond along a hillside or mountainside, they would make a perimeter to secure it. The soldiers would take turns bathing and washing their clothes. The fresh water was heavenly.

American soldiers fighting in Vietnam ate what appeared to be remaining World War II C-Rations. The first container of ham and eggs Marvin opened look like they had spoiled. To Marvin, it was unpalatable, and he promptly through it out. Many times later, when Marvin’s hungry stomach begged for food, he thought of those ham and eggs and wished he could have them back.

Along with the ham and eggs, rations included lima beans, beans and franks, a can of cheese spread with crackers, and for dessert, a chocolate bar. They ate these rations throughout his tour until the final two weeks, when they were given a newer form. A soldier added water to these new rations, and they could warm their food. It was a big change, and the soldiers rejoiced over this new improvement.

Rations also included toiletry items, but due to the stingy amount provided, most soldiers used their letters from home, along with the toilet paper, in an effort to keep themselves clean. Soldiers filled their canteens with water from a running stream; Iodine tablets were put in the water to prevent disease. If a stream wasn’t moving, however, soldiers bypassed the diseased and stagnant water in hopes they’d find fresh water in their travels ahead.

Though most of his time was spent fighting the battles that sprang up in the thick of the jungle, Marvin did make it back three times to the relative safety of their firebase, an artillery site where the bigger guns were located, ready to offer artillery support. A secured area, barbed wire surrounded the firebase, which provided some protection, but the enemy still tried to penetrate the base. Communist soldiers were shot on sight, and the dead were picked off the fences in the morning.

Officers tried to get their soldiers back to the firebase for a two to three-day rest from the fighting. At the firebase, soldiers slept in a bunker, and relished a hot meal, which included chicken and mashed potatoes.

The firebase moved from one location to the next. Soldiers loaded machinery, equipment, ammo, and supplies in a Chinook helicopter. Though Marvin didn’t get involved too much with that aspect, while all was quiet at the moment in the jungle, Marvin captured the Chinook on film.

Back in the jungle, sometimes Marvin and his platoon came across villages in the mountains. These places were called Montagnard villages, and the people were usually friendly. Their homes were constructed of bamboo – roof and all – and these huts stood about three or four feet off the ground. A separate little shack was utilized for rice storage.

Villagers offered the soldiers a sampling of their homemade brew. A soldier used a straw to take a sip of the drink from the bottom. The top of the open container was covered with a mixture of weeds and bugs. To compliment their rations, soldiers would take all the rice they could carry as well as pineapples from the trees and fresh bananas by the dozen. The village people, mainly women, children, and a few elderly men, would get most excited when allied soldiers depleted their food stores.

The villages were supposed to be friendly – and most of them were – though a smart soldier took nothing for granted. Some sent their children out to greet the soldiers, the children strapped with grenades. If Americans were greeted with fire power, the hunt would begin to find the enemy. Once captured, allied soldiers burned down the shack containing the balance of the stored rice. They didn’t hurt these villagers, but soldiers did send a message and made life uncomfortable for them in return for harboring the enemy.

The prisoner would be taken to a secluded location, and interrogators in the platoon would come forward. Should one interrogator not get the information requested, the prisoner would be handed over to the next interrogator. If the POW still refused to talk, a soldier fired a few rounds in the air as a warning. Soon after, the prisoner talked at will.

After the interrogation, an allied chopper would pick up all prisoners captured. From the ground, Marvin watched the chopper’s ascent, and on more than one occasion, Marvin saw the prisoner flailing through the air. From below, Marvin wondered if the prisoner fell out or jumped. Regardless, many of these North Vietnamese soldiers would never return to fight.

When the allied soldiers met resistance while moving through the jungle, Marvin, as the machine gunner, gave the enemy a barrage or spray of rounds from belt level before he hit the dirt. Marvin carried his M60 rounds in a coil around his shoulders, and as he pulled the trigger, his weapon sucked in the ammo. Marvin would shoot 10 or 12 rounds and let up for a second or two. The intensity of battles varied daily. Some days, Marvin went through just 50 rounds; on other days it might have been 1,000. A soldier never fired steadily, because within a couple hundred rounds, the barrel would burn from the heat.

Be sure to look for the continuation next month as this soldier recalls his memories of Vietnam.

© 2010 Stein Expressions, LLC