Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 41 years ago

BG just got in for a lunch break and saw your inquiry about headstamp..LC..Lake City Ammunition Plant...Lake City Mo.

^

Thanks for the email Woody! Very good!

Golly.

All can say to you both is thank you. I too am raising a glass.

Jim - If you are ever traveling across RT. 17, give a shout. The drinks will be on me.

Thanks to ET and Flem, that's very cool that you were able to connect here.

Glad no fratricide happened that day.

Back in March 2003 I was with 2d Marine Expeditionary Brigade in An Nasiriyah, Iraq. Bad comm, units not reporting accurate positions, confusion and fog of war. A-10s ended up rolling in on our amtracs, and making runs with 30mm gatling guns. Ugly, and tragic loss of good Marines.

On the flipside, an AC-130 worked it's magic on a nighttime counterattack by the Iraqi's. What a rain of destruction.

ET & FbF,

Somehow just thanking you for your service seems inadequate for me. I served during that period, but was never assigned to RSVN. I never had to feel what you experienced, and I am grateful for that, but I will never forget what you did there and those that made the ultimate sacrifice.

God bless you

Art

This from old sailor who never saw Vietnam but did serve during that era. My hats off to all of you who did go over there and serve, for that reason I'll never wear any Vietnam Era paraphernalia out of respect for those who did serve in country or in that theater of operation.

God speed to all those who served there. Those who made it home alive, Those that did not make it home alive and Those that are still over there Missing in Action. I salute you all.

I have done one more thing. Thanks to Chapped Lip I went to a Vietnam Memorial Website and found his name and posted a message. That I served in Co.C 3/506th Infantry with Speedy and was one of the Men who carried him out when he was shot and that we guarded his body all night. He was a good dude and as Brave as a Man should be and that I was honored to be able to make the post for him for all to see. Currahee Brother!

How the hell I missed this?!

Am thankful, proud and happy to have fellas like you around.

Very neat story, almost like the one Rocky Raab has!

Some day I am going to visit the wall. 34% of the guys I graduated high school with have their names on that wall.

Jim, I know this is a personal thing for you but I would love to know (I'm sure others would too)if any of Speedy's family contacts you. I'm not asking for details, just to know if contact is made. Of course this is completely up to you.

Bob

Scott,

Man, that is sad. 34% is a lot.

Glad that you and Woody made it though.

John

I guess it all depends on how many guys were in his graduating class. Although 1% would be too many.

Thank you for posting the story.
I'm sure those casings will occupy a special place in your heart and home.

Thakss to all vets past and present.

Not so much if you were from a small town. During that period and i am of that age i lived in prescott arizona. At the time maybe 3500people. In 65, the drums of war were beating, and we had been raised on john wayne. That summer was truely american graffitti. And then the notices started coming and off to someplace nobody had ever heard of. And about a year later the boxes started coming home. I did eventually go to the wall, and i don't think i have it in me to do it again, it is very hard. Today there is a statue on the square in prescott to those fallen in vietnam, with all the names. They are not names to me, as i knew most of them. Before a fence was built around it, kids would climb all over it, which aggravated me to distraction. Until i remembered as a child climbing all over another statue on the plaza of bucky O'Neil, that one for the charge up san juan hill in another foreign engagement. Kids are kids.
I have asked young people in their 20's if they knew where vietnam was, and did just recently. Most of have heard the name, but can't really describe it.
Maybe this is good, probably it is not. We are I think doomed to repeat history because of this.
But I do remember the drag races in 65 at the edge of town, I remember the dairy queen where we would gather, and the hill behind it where people went to "get a little" and I remember well the names on that monument where they will remain forever young.
as i read this thread, i see in my mind my cousin, one of the names on that statue, who died there in vietnam, drowned while loaded down with ammo in the delta area when a swift boat captzized. And the marker in the v.a. cemetary in prescott.

RoninPhx;

Yeah... small towns are where those scars are the deepest.

My mother lives in the house that her older sister's then-fiance' was born and raised in. He went, and never came back. Those stories are far too prevalent in little towns.

Of course, that's always been the case. Try going to Bedford, Virginia, and finding a WWII vet that was born and raise there. you can't, because they lost almost all of them on D-Day.

I can take you places in Virginia that USED to be towns, and are now just long-forgotten graveyards, as those boys didn't come marching home from The Wilderness, Gettysburg, Manassas...

I guess it's easy to forget if you live in a huge city, with huge numbers of nameless faces. But, when you in, and from, a small town, there are no faces without names... and when those faces vanish, you know them and you know their families.

The sadness for guys like ScottF and RoninPhx is harsh. All of you thank your Lucky Stars that you weren't there to SEE it happen. You really,really DO NOT want to see what the response from a Man's comrades is. It is ugly beyond words. Response to a request,yes,if any of Speedy's family or friends responds I will post it here. I am actually shaking over that because after 41 years a man who was there with their son/brother/cousin/best friend has come forward. I Pray I have caused no great pain. I hope they get some solace that Speedy was not alone and we stood by him to the end. I hope you guys say a little prayer for them.Their relative /friend died. A War Brother to me,a Son or brother or best friend for them. Say a little prayer.


http://thewall-usa.com/guest.asp?recid=19102


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Got a really cool PM from Flyboy Flem this morning....
just sayin'.....

Very not turdlike...