In 1968, my uncle John Ritchie joined the Army directly out of high school. He was placed in the Infantry and was sent to Fort Dix, New Jersey, for Basic Training. He then headed to Fort Louis, Washington, for advanced Infantry training to prepare himself for the jungles of Vietnam. His job was to search the jungles for the Vietcong, and many times he was involved in warfare with them. He received a Bronze Star for bravery because of the following story.
Erin McMenamy
The Infantry is sent to walk around the jungle looking for the Vietcong. One day we were sent to a hill where heavy action was going on at the top. Our goal was to take over the hill. While we were waiting at the bottom to go up, soldiers were being carried down with their guts hanging out from being shot, a lot of them dead. We were all scared and worried to go up after seeing this, but we had to go up or the hill would not be taken. The reason why so many were wounded was because the Vietcong had stakes set up with machine guns sticking out and firing at us.
So, we finally had to go up and more men were being carried down all bloody with their guts hanging out. Then the guy next to me got shot in the neck. So I reached down and quickly got my first aid pack and put it on his neck to stop the bleeding. That wasn't helping and I saw the bullet had gone right through the back of his neck. I kept calling, "Medic," but no one came, so I picked him up and carried him to safety.
We took the hill that day after 10 hours of seeing so many killed and hearing constant screaming. The reason why it took so long was because the Vietcong were hiding in caves and trenches. Even though we were scared, we had to keep going because we were the Infantry, and the Infantry's job is to just keep going. We didn't know what was up there, but we had to keep going, keep going to the top.
John Ritchie
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