Wednesday, November 20, 1968
Frequently there were funerals after an incident when the VC entered a village. It was common for the local commands to compensate the families of victims killed by friendly fire. The provincial hamlet chief would complain and show the evidence of our wrongdoing, and then we paid for their loss.
Today Fernando’s return from FLC was delayed by a funeral procession. The “friendly village” our machine guns had fired into the other night (returning fire at the mortar flashes) was burying its dead. This ville did not claim any victims of friendly fire . . . the funeral was for someone who had died of natural causes. The Grunts’ consensus was: The departed was probably a VC family member from the area, killed by our guns.
When I arrived at Hill 65, there was a lot of talk about “Payback is a Muther F***er.” It was a superstitious mantra everyone believed. Another presumption was the notion of being attacked on the night of the new moon. When payback and new moon were linked, the odds were stacked in favor of a bad night. Tonight was one of those nights, and sleep would come in short cycles. I checked the luminous dial on my watch every hour, sleeping in 40-minute stages.
My Vietnam Experience 
For the past two months, I have read every blog that you wrote, and I find it to be amazing. I was a lowly Air Force Emergency Flight Line Medic at Cam Rahn Bay from 4-70 to 71. My main take on your blog is that you were a proud Marine first, then a cook/chef second. We were very fortunate because we ate at the hospital dining hall. Because I was on the night shift, I ate midnight Chow at 0200. I finally published my Memoir in May, and the promotion side of it is more work than the writing part. My job hardly had good endings. I am happy to hear that you married the love of your life. Keep up the great work. I look forward to reading your well-written posts. As soon as my E-Book version is published, It will be my honor to send you a copy. I have a Facebook page for my book: Letters From A Vietnam Vet: Words I Could Not Write. Gary B. Macchioni Honor, MI garybmacc@gmail.com
On Tue, Nov 20, 2018 at 9:25 AM My Vietnam Experience wrote:
> myvietnamexperience1968.com posted: ” Wednesday, November 20, 1968 > Frequently there were funerals after an incident when the VC entered a > village. It was common for the local commands to compensate the families > of victims killed by friendly fire. The provincial hamlet chief would > complain ” >
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Thanks Gary. The link you provided isn’t working.
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