We reached the place where we were going to set up for the night in the middle of the village. Our gun position was in the back yard of a French made house. It must have been a wealthy landlord or the village chief.

At night fall there was some loud talking by the villagers that echoed through the village that lasted for a few seconds. Then the clear sound of a child talking not far away, and then there was silence. Only the sound of nature as the chill of the evening air crept in. Long shadows of the surrounding trees were cast against the shimmering full moon. Crickets rubbed their legs together in the tall grass. The croak of a frog in a nearby pond sounded in frequent intervals. The crisp smell of dense vegetation wafted by on every breeze. Mosquitos buzzed around your head and landed on your hands and ears. Mosquito repellant was used by a few Marines, but quite a few refused to wear it because the scent could be detected by the enemy. In the same we could detect them from their foul odor.

I had second watch that night. When Etscorn finished his watch he came over and tapped me on the shoulder until I woke up. I sat up and groggily rubbed my eyes and crawled out from under my poncho liner. After giving me a few instructions he nestled down on the ground and pulled his poncho liner over his face. The moon was now high in the starry sky. It's beams glistened on the trees and other foliage in front of me. I sat against a tree next to the gun trying to shake off the sleep that was trying to overpower me. My eyes would dropped and momentarily my mind would fizzle out, then I would catch myself and force my eyes to stay open. I sat there not moving in a semi-conscious state for what seemed like a half an hour. As if in a dream I saw a bent over figure very slowly creeping along my vield of vision about 20 meters away. It stopped next to a tree. The light of the moon reflected on its Oriental face. The dark eyes seemed worried and searching. Suddenly my mind came to. I grabbed my rifle. I put the selector on automatic, aimed the barrel toward the place where I saw the face and squeezed off a couple bursts. Everyone woke up amd jumped up and ran over to me. "What happened"! they all asked in unison. I told them and they started debating about moving to a new position now that our position was given away. If there were any VC out there, they would know where our position was. Finally it was decided that we would stay where we were.

The next morning after breakfast we saddled up and proceeded in combing through the village looking for documents, ammunition and other signs that the Viet Cong might be in the village. We went from hut to hut asking the people if they knew where the VC were. Most said they didn't know. Occasionally we would make them empty out their large ceramic pots to see if they were hiding rifles or ammunition in with their rice. We didn't find any, but managed to make them resent us for making them do that. Each hut was about the same; a dirt floor and very little furniture. Straw mats for beds and an alter dedicated to Buddha which consisted of a table covered with candles, insence and maybe a picture of relative who had passed on.

At that time in the war we were under strict orders not to burn any of their huts, or destroy any of their property as had been done in previous years by US troops. It was sent down by decree by the president that we were not to do these things unecessarily since we were trying to win the peoples hearts and minds over to our side, and our way of thinking. We were supposidly trying to stop them from sympathizing with the enemy.

Etscorn and I walked into a hut where a lady of about twenty years old was in the process of giving birth. She was on her knees bent over a fire of twigs in the center of the hut. The heat from the fire I assumed was to ease the pain she was going through. Her clenched fists were half raised toward the ceiling. She seemed to be in a trance of wreathing pain. Once in awhile she would relax one had and carress her protruding stomach and lean closer to the fire. A small child dressed in a light colored tunic was in the hut with her. It had a dirty face and was looking forlornly looking at its mother. We wanted to help her in some way, but when we came forward she shook her head. She did not want us there. We left her in the hads of nature to agonize over the fire. There was nothing we could really do.

Later in the day we were back in the regimental area. The next few weeks were occupied in going out on small patrols and pulling guard duty