war storys from gramps

[xNikex]

Originally Posted by PF_Lizard

Although the wrong era, I'd certainly still be interested in the Vietnam stories. I don't think anyone's going to complain - we're all here because we love planes!

EDIT: Forgot to thank the other posters too. Great stories. I never get bored of hearing personal accounts. Extraordinary experiences.

I guess it wouldn't hurt. Like I said, I was the only one he had ever shared his experience with. I even had to tell my dad(his own brother) about it.

Forgive me for I do not have any aviators in my family. I am the first and currently only one.

He was a sniper back in Vietnam. I do not know what platoon or group he was in.

He told me how him and other group of snipers where counter sniping over a villiage one time. He saw a Vietnamese sniper light a ciggarette and took him out very quickly. Then a few seconds later, a sniper got him in the hand. He said he didn't flinch and used the angle of the bullet wound to locate the other sniper and got a head shot before the other sniper could fire a second time.

Another story he told me was when he and his platoon across were returning to camp and had to cross a creek on the way there and were quickly being surrounded by enemy troops. He had to stay behind for the night and quickly dug a hole in the mud with his helmet and covered it with bamboo and leaves. He told me about how he could hear troops walking over his hole and their shadows dragging across the moonlight shining over him. He could hear them talking and laughing to each other and that at one point, the troops stopped and rested over him. One of the troops walked directly over him and stopped and it seemed to my uncle that the soldier looked down directly into his eyes. He waited all night and they eventually left and he returned to his base unharmmed.

Another thing I need to mention is that on his mission that got him a ticket home, he and his whole platoon were ambushed and were all lined up and shot and he and another soldier barely survived. He was shot in the hand(again), one in the chest, one in the leg, and another scraped his head.

These are the only stories I can recall right now.