Does anyone remember the ARVN soldier with the mortar round stuck in him that was removed by American doctors in a field hospital? The solider was surrounded with four walls of sandbags. Then, reaching through ports left in the sand bags the doctors removed the mortar round.
Bravery runs in the veins of America’s fighting forces from generation to generation. The same can’t be said for our politicians.
I remember it very well.......
I remember it as an American soldier who was in the hatch of a tank and got it in the shoulder.
I also heard from someone who was in country that an ARVN soldier with a similar injury was "treated" by Vietnamese doctors who put him in an open field and shot until the round detonated...
“Does anyone remember the ARVN soldier with the mortar round stuck in him that was removed by American doctors in a field hospital?”
In fact, I remembered that and was going to post something about it myself. One minor correction. It was a 40mm grenade fired from a grenade launcher and not a mortor round.
Most exploding ammunition have fuzes that require certain things to happen before they arm. The 40mm grenade had to rotate a number of times prior to arming. The soldier was struck at close range and it was highly likely that the grenade had not armed and would not explode. Still, anything is possible when it comes to fired ordnance and it was possible that the grenade could have exploded. Most likely the RPG has a similar safety device which is why it did not detonate.
These safety devices are there to make sure that the ordnance travels far enough from the firing position that when it does detonate, it will not harm those firing the weapon.
Dear God in Heaven, thank you for our brave fighting men and women! “The same can’t be said for our politicians.” You are so right - there are quite a few people in our country who don’t deserve our soldiers.
“Does anyone remember the ARVN soldier with the mortar round stuck in him that was removed by American doctors in a field hospital? The solider was surrounded with four walls of sandbags. Then, reaching through ports left in the sand bags the doctors removed the mortar round.
Bravery runs in the veins of America’s fighting forces from generation to generation. The same can’t be said for our politicians.”
If this was the incident that happened in late 1968 or 1969 at the Army Hospital (4th field, I believe) just south of TSN, I watched the surgery and joined in the applause when it ended.
It was, however, a 40mm grenade in the eye socket. I never knew who the patient was. The operation was conducted in a parking lot and we watched from a nearby balconey.