to read - Jaltemba Bay Life

six of us walking in single file on top of a ricepaddy dike. All of a sudden I heard explosionsand looked to my left. Flying at tree-top level andbearing down on us at full speed and firing awaywith aerial rockets was a helicopter gunship. Itwas so close that I could see the exhaust trail ofrockets whizzing toward us, and the outline of thepilot and co-pilot looking down at us. I took a stepto my right and rolled off the rice paddy dike,which provided me a two-foot earthen wall thatshielded me from the exploding rockets. Severalrockets flew overhead and hit the ground to myright, exploding and throwing their shrapnelforward. Shrapnel and explosions from rockets tomy left were absorbed by the rice paddy dike,which saved our lives. Machine gun fire,shrapnel, explosions, and the smell of corditeengulfed us. And as I lay there I wondered if Iwould have to try to shoot down the helicoptergunship to save our lives. Instead, I threwseveral smoke grenades hoping that the pilotwould figure out that we were American friendlyforces. Luckily, he did and as quickly as thehelicopter had appeared, it left us there in themud. We were stunned, and silent in both ourdisbelief and in our prayers to God. Everythinghad happened in a matter of seconds, but it feltlike a lifetime. So, that is how friendly firecasualties occur. There were several othersimilar incidents that occurred during my time inVietnam; in one case, one of my comrades diedin my arms.Despite getting “buzzed” by the Spitfire lookalike,we thoroughly enjoyed exploring Tortuguasbeach. It was pristine, isolated, and stretched forseveral miles under swaying palm tree forests