12CAG in Plantation Vietnam, 71-72: Charlie
must have laughed---we didn't! Standing guard duty was never fun. We
crewmembers flew all day and then got word when we landed, and after
pre-flight inspections and putting the bird to bed, that we had second
watch---midnight to six A.M.
Tower 13 was the least desired post. A high
tower on the Jungle side of our compound, was dark and the furthest from
the hooches. It seemed that night we had several of the "fly
boys" all standing guard in the same tower. I remember the stillness,
the noises out there, the bone chilling fear, not knowing ....
About 2:30 A.M., we heard noises in the
night. We called the Sergeant of the Guard for permission to pop a flare.
These hand held flares were different colors, but we always used white.
You took off the cap and placed it on the bottom of the silver tube which
was a little larger than a road flare. While holding the side of the tube,
you smacked the cap on something hard. Doing so fired the small
pyrotechnic flare up 50-75 feet before a small charge would
"pop" and ignite the white phosphorus. It was suspended on a
small parachute which would keep the illumination for a few minutes. As
the flare would swing on the end of this parachute it would cause shadows
to sway and dance in the night.
Well here we are scared crapless in the
middle of the night, in the worst tower for guard duty, in the middle of
Vietnam---hearing noises in the wire! We finally got permission to shoot
off an illumination flare. Except, nobody in the tower had ever fired one
before! You do it! No. You do it! No you do it! I'll watch.
We went round and round with that because nobody wanted to do it.
I finally got brave (suckered into doing
it) and volunteered. I removed the cap placing it on the firing end of
the flare. I aimed it out of the tower and smacked the cap to ignite the
flare. The flare launched beautifully! But to my shock, it hit the edge of
the tower roof and bounced right back at us, and ricocheted on the inside
walls of the tower. We danced and dodged to get out of its way! Hollering
and yelling as the sparks flew and the flare kept banging against the
tower walls.
After several minutes of dodging this
missile it came to rest, and with a pop ignited the white
phosphorus flare blinding us. I squinted to see where it had landed. To my
horror it was burning brightly on a box of grenades! We yelled and started
throwing everything out of the tower. I picked up the burning phosphorus
with an old flak jacket and threw it over board. Several of the guys were
already on the ground as they had un-assed the tower when the flare came
back inside!
When my turn for guard duty came around,
nobody wanted to stand guard with me, unless I promised not to get near
the flares!
There were so many incidents like this that it's a wonder any of us got
back to the world!