One evening at Loc Ninh we got a mortar attack, which was not unusual. While waiting it out in the bunkers we heard something different - a thud followed by a muffled explosion and then what almost sounded like rain hitting the top of the bunker. We wondered "What the **** was that?". When someone went out to check later, he fell into a hole. When it was light, this was what we found. If it had hit a few feet in either direction it would have destroyed a bunker and probably the soldiers in it. In this photo, David Groh (holding the tip of the round), Dale Carry & Wayne Crisp, all of Bravo Co., 3rd Platoon, show how massive the crater was.

When we first dug in at Loc Ninh the red clay was like concrete. Digging in and filling sandbags for improving fortifications was incredibly hard. After this rocket hit, for the rest of our time at Loc Ninh we had all the soft dirt we needed for filling sandbags. Thanks, Charlie!

Photo courtesy of Joe Hare, rifleman and photographer.