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Khe Sanh, Republic of South Vietnam
Patrick Seamus Flaherty has landed on Khe Sanh combat base in Vietnam. He is a new marine and he has been flown out to a hill on the enemy lines of North Vietnam. -
Khe Sanh,hill 881S
The platoon has been patrolling the area scouting to see if they can find any Vietnamese soldiers. Patrick used his gun for the first time for real but what he was shooting at was just a cobra and not a Vietnamese soldier. -
Khe Sanh,hill 881S
The platoon was still patrolling the area. A new guy came in to the platoon and his nickname was Pugsley. Patrick is also receiving much mail from his family and friends. -
Khe Sanh,hill,881S
One of Patrick's best friends (Hollywood) died due to a mortar that was stuck in the mud and didn't exoplode untill Hollywood hit it with his shovel which set it off. He was then carried off on a chopper back to the main base. -
Khe Sanh hill,881S
Patrick and his friend (Bebop) were sent down to the main base to get stitched up due to some gashes from barbed-wire. He and Bebop found a chopper to take them back up to the hill and when they got there, there was a new guy named Perez. -
Khe Sanh hill,881S
Patrick's platoon had to go out and save the recon guys that were stationed on the hill with them. The recon guys split off while the platoon was patrolling the area and hit an ambush of Vietnamese soldiers and needed some help. So the platoon went out and called in a medevac for the wonded and KIA's. -
Khe Sanh hill881S
Patrick got into his first gun fight. They were going out to find the NVA who had attacked the recon group on hill 881S. While they were in an open area the Vietnamese unloaded on them and made the Marines retreat. They regrouped and went back out to fight them. Patrick's platoon went out with the other platoon on their hill, then the recon group and third platoon went around the side to flank the Vietnamese. All three groups lost about half of their men, but they still won the battle. -
Khe Sanh hill,881S
The hill has been taking a lot more motar rounds than usual. About 8 to 10 guys have been medevaced out in the past week, and half of the new replacmements have been hurt or killed. The NVA took Lang Veiand and killed about half of the special forces there. -
Khe Sanh hill,881S
Mooch, one of the guys in Patrick's platoon, got hit by a sniper in the stomach. The fog was so bad that they couldn't get a chopper up there to get him down to the main base so he had to spend the whole night up there with a bullet wound. He died the next day at 9:30 AM. -
Khe Sanh hill,881S
Patrick sprained his ankle getting caught out in the open trying to run into a bunker when he heard some mortars go off. The main base got pounded with mortars and a lot people were either hurt seriously or kiled. -
Khe Sanh hill,881S
A spotter found some motion out near a mountain cave, so the captain called in some B-52's to drop some bombs in that area and it blew to shreds. Also they were able to take out two snipers with a 106mm recoiless rifle. -
Khe Sanh hill,881S
It's been pretty boring around the hill for the past few weeks. There hasn't been as much shelling or guys getting killed. Shadow, their old captain, returned from the main base, but didn't even make it off the chopper for a minute without getting a round through his shoulder that almost took his arm off. So he's back down at the main base at the medical station. -
Khe Sanh hill,881S
Patrick was a bodygaurd for a look-out guy trying to spot any enemy movement. He is supposed to hurry the guy to the nearest trench if they hear a mortar round go off, but if they don't have enough time the he is supposed to tackle him and cover his whole body. Patrick heard the "pop!" of the mortar and told the patrol they had to go, but he was calling in a air strike so Patrick had to wait. He knew it had been too long so he tackled him and covered him. Patrick took sharpnel in his leg. -
Khe Sanh hill,881S
Some days the platoon only got one c-ration meal a day depending on the supply chopper., When they got several c-rations they make a stew by mixing beans, chicken, beef, potatoes, tobasco sauce, and meatballs together to feed the whole platoon. -
Khe Sanh hill,881S
The Army has arrived with some backup down at the main base. The platoon has started patroll around the hill again searching for any Vietnamese soldiers near by. When they were patrolling they found a ton of Vietnamese bunkers at the bottom of the hill, which means the Vietnamese were planing to attack hill,881S. -
Khe Sanh hill,881S
Every platoon on the hill except for Patrick's went to go take control of hill 881N. They did take control while Patrick's platoon watched, but his platoon still cheered when they won. -
Quang Tri, Republic of South Vietnam
The platoon has moved from Khe Sanh to the coast of Vietnam. The first night they were there the tent the platoon was staying in got a dirrect hit from a rocket. Patrick was severley injured with a leg wound. His best friend Bebop was killed and his other friend Professor had a serious head wound. -
Afterward
Patrick was flown back to the United States and spent several months in the hospital nursing his leg. His memoir was then published in June, 2002.