In early 1969 we were assaulting an NVA held hill SW of DaNang. I had just rolled into a nice, safe, deep slit trench they had dug and we had driven them out of.
I was thinking, “Oh, good, nice cover!” when word is passed down the trench, “Fix Bayonets!”
We all started looking around, “Where’s John Wayne?” “Where are the movie cameras?” “No one does this in real life!”
Next thing we know, the XO (the CO had just been shot) says “Follow me, men! Over the top!”
Sure enough, we did a bayonet charge across that field. (Being one of the mortar forward observer team, I was in the 2nd wave)
When the NVA see the Marines doing a bayonet charge, they think John Wayne must be around somewhere and they boogie out. The only guy we had wounded was accidentally hit in the back by someone shooting from the hip, John Wayne style. (His name does seem to crop up a lot, doesn’t it?)
In close combat, if you don’t have a bayonet, you’ll just end up using your e-tool.
Heh, the first time I was taught how to use the e-tool as a weapon I decided that it had a lot of advantage over the bayonet. Better reach, more mass and if you sharpened the edges it would be great at disemboweling or cleaving a skull; something akin to a battleaxe.
Semper Fi