The bump

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1967, and the same people who defeated the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu were directing the war against us, and still sticking with their principle of mass attack. From 67 on, even when the rains turned the ground into a red gluttonous morass, the attack pressure kept on building up until the Marines referred to themselves as, “Walking Dead”.

There was a psychological advantage to be had when riding around on our Mike boat over crawling around in the jungle with the South Vietnamese grunts, in that we had a sense of security due to the ready made steel cover it provided. However, either out on the water, or when taking to the jungle, Charlie always did his absolute utmost to kill us, and we the same thing to him.

The Plain of Reeds was an area which fell within our operations zone. It could be reached via a river then canals. The plain itself was designated as prime “Indian Country” so the South Vietnamese Special Forces, the Lien Doc Nguoi Nhia, had full operational control over it.

The Special Forces, both ours and South Vietnamese, made use of many strange, even at times weird people. One of which being an ancient and squat little guy whom they operationally coded with the nickname of Bigfoot. There was absolutely no derision in the choice of nicknames, although it was regarded by some as overly melodramatic and hinting somewhat of a nickel and dime spy novel. Bigfoot knew of his code name, and when we explained to him that it was also the name given to a great legendary beast of the forest he personally revelled in its significance.

Bigfoot had become a legend operating during WW2 when running a bunch of Chinese cutthroats supporting Allied Special Forces operating against the Japanese, now his new band of youn...

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...doubt if they had. All VC activity dropped off dramatically in that operations area whist we were there, but did eventually return with a vengeance when NVA Regulars started pouring in as the North’s General Giap prepared for his Tet offensive.
Of the Wife who helped the LDNN via Bigfoot so effectively, she moved into a large villa in Saigon with her lover, courtesy of a grateful agency. In 69 she was found floating and bloated in a Saigon cess pool, having been beaten then strangled to death by a piano wire garrotte.
I never did meet nor see Bigfoot again, but I have always liked to believe he prowls jungle tracks somewhere, making his money from the peddlers of liberty, freedom and democracy.

Regretfully, our NFG casualty died from wound complications in the Naval Hospital, Yokosuka. At least he had boarded the Freedom Bird back to the world whilst still alive.

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