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Chapter 6
Defending Qui Nhon
Our mission was to be a sentinel for Qui Nhon Air Base and the Supply Depot along with the other platoons in E Company and 2/7 , we saturated our zone of responsibility with patrols and ambushes to keep the VC at bay and off balance— not allowing them to get any kind of a foothold close to Qui Nhon. The patrols often had to move through the rice paddies which led to leeches, immersion foot and other health related issues. Water was a necessity but if not treated properly —even when it came from Bn. HQ , it led to dysentery. I had that most unfortunate experience myself and it stayed with me for approximately three weeks—nothing you can do but do what you have to do as often as you have to do it. As a result I lost even more weight—I came ashore in July at approx 195 lbs. —after a couple of months of climbing the hilly terrain, losing sleep, dealing with dysentery I found myself weighing approx. 155 -160 lbs.
A week before 2/7 landed at Qui Nhon—3/7 had also landed there—my former Basic School Colleague and Pine Avenue neighbor , Lt. Hugh Doss, landed there with L Co., 3/7 and participated in the first ever ‘helicopter assault’ launched from ships off shore. Hugh was the XO of L Company—their first mission was to fly into a hostile landing zone to rescue I Company, third Bn., third Marines which had been mauled by the VC in Operation Starlight—most of the officers had been
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