night on the hill. I pass the word and Jim
Glemser, my RTO asks if I want him to dig a hole
for me. I tell him no—big mistake.

It’s almost
dark when I finish talking with 6. He decides we
must stop digging now to avoid giving away our
positions. No hole for me tonight. I locate behind
and centered on the 2nd Platoon section, eat and
settle in for the night. PSG Lester Tarkington
(SGT T) is beside me. Glemser and Jesse Erevia,
SGT T’s RTO are 5m or so off to our left. No need
for radio watch tonight so, unlike the guys on the
perimeter we’ll get some sleep.

Night. It’s
dark and quiet, except for the whispered
complaints about the smell of the NVA bodies
around our positions. We agree that the guys
manning our section did little more than throw a
few shovels of dirt on them. Some of us have
little vials of green liquid with Chinese
characters on them (smells like menthol—for their
cigarettes?) that we found in the A Shau. I put a