I was with the 3/506th Inf, 101st ABN during 69-70. I was 11Bravo. My Battalion was the only not with the rest of the Division I Corps during that time frame, we were a reactionary force used mostly in II Corps during that time.

The story that I want to tell is the day that we were up in the mountains of the Central Highlands, which we humped for months by the way.

Photo: POW/MIA Monument dedication,
"Riverside Arlington National Cemetery," Riverside, California

One day we were out working as a platoon when we came upon something that didn't look right with the rest of  the woods. It turned out to be a hidden cage for taking POW's up the Hanoi Highway.

I remember getting up on top of the cage and looking for booby traps and wanting to open the hatch of the cage. All I could think of was if there was a G.I. in there and that we could get him the hell out of there.

Turned out that no one was inside the cage and so we all felt very frustrated. We ended up blowing that cage into pieces the size of toothpicks.

Many years later I wondered what would have happened if we had just moved off and kept an OP there, could we have saved someone? I will never know.

Mike Howell