The Bomb

Clearly, I love to write and I hope you’re not too let down at the outcome of this one. But, before we get started, the late great Ernest Hemingway once said “A writer should write what he has to say and not speak it.” So here we go:

“The Bomb”

“In July, 1970, I was on guard duty at the Air Section on Artillery Hill Army Post in Pleiku, Vietnam. We maintained and operated ten OH-58A Bell made Observation Helicopters to shuttle around artillery officers to various locations in the field on the Hill. We had several 10 inch and many Howitzer artillery cannons to pound the area around Pleiku. At the air field, we had each of the helicopters in armored revetments for protection. On this night, it was misting rain and very dark outside. I was making a round with my flack jacket, helmet, M16 rifle, and flashlight when I heard something going tick, tick, tick………..in one of the helicopter areas. We were on yellow alert so I had been a bit nervous all night. As I moved closer,, I could tell it was coming from one particular helicopter. The closer I got, the louder the ticking got. I thought…this could be a bomb placed by one of the Vietnamese employees on Artillery Hill. A week before they had shot a Viet Cong soldier coming through the wire at night on the Hill that turned out to be a barber during the day on the Hill. He had given me several shaves with a strait razor in the past. Anyway, I opened the door to the helicopter and carefully looked around and could find nothing. My hair was standing on end as I worked my way toward the ticking. I happened to look up and noticed that moisture was collecting on the rotor and running down the rotor slowly then dripping on the fuselage of the helicopter and thus making the ticking sound. Relieved, I went by the outhouse and dropped a bomb in there.”

An OH-58A helicopter taking off from the Air Section on Artillery Hill at Pleiku Vietnam.

Me shooting my M1 Carbine at the Air Section Artillery Hill.

We were part of the 52nd Artillery Group, First Field Force, Vietnam

Thank you for reading The Bomb.
by Hawg Jaw Bill