1st Battalion 22nd Infantry Diary of John Grant Page 2

Diary Entries of John A. Grant
Charlie Company 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry 4th Infantry Division
1st Platoon (Roadrunner)

April 1, 1970

Today was no April Fools Day.
We continued down to the valley on our way to the fire base.
We humped in Platoon size until we caught up with Sidewinder,
then we humped together.
Today was an important day for me.
I walked point.
About 3:30 it started to poor down rain,
which was surprising because it had been about 90 to 100 degrees all day.
Today was the fourth day on three days rations.
It is a good thing I had world food because I am out of C’s.
Tomorrow we are supposed to be re-supplied if it doesn’t rain.
End of Entry

April 2, 1970

Today was ambush day for me, I guess.
I have been on ambush all day and now I am on it again tonight.
We are supposed to be out here until the morning of the 4th.
The orders were brought down late this afternoon from higher-higher.
It is hard telling when we will be on the firebase now.
I also received pictures I had taken on some of the last missions.
When I look back, war really isn’t bad 100% of the time.
In fact, the Army sometimes is pretty nice to us.
That’s sometimes!
Very damn seldom.
End of Entry

Notes:

All of the pictures I took in Vietnam went home to my wife.
We divorced after 13 years together and she decided to toss them.
I’m hoping I can find ONE.

April 3, 1970

Nothing special has happened today.
I have been on ambush all day just waiting for Charlie to come along.
Thankfully he hasn’t!
I have been bull-shitting all day about home and Monie and
just good old days.
We will probably be here again all day tomorrow.
My main projects today were to re-arrange my ruck
so, it will ride better on my back, and write letters.
Tomorrow I will have 270 days left in country.
End of Entry

Note:

Bull-shitting: The art of male conversation!

April 4, 1970

My excitement for today was cleaning my rifle, eating,
relaxing and writing letters.
I have been on ambush all day again today.
No definite news on when we will move from here to the firebase.
It rained part of the day and has been cloudy all day.
I’m glad I wasn’t out humping.
End of Entry

April 5, 1970

Same-same bush-wac.
End of Entry

Notes: Things were a little redundant.
I apparently decided not to make an entry on this day.
Very unusual.

April 6, 1970

We got up before light and DD’ed back to the papa.
Approx 8 A.M. we moved out in route to firebase Terrace.
It was one of the longest, hardest humps I have been on
with no food or little water.
We did cross 2 blue lines that were waist deep and rapid.
We arrived at the firebase about 3:30 and
ice cold beer was waiting for us.
Along the way on the trail before reaching Terrace,
Ed Lambert, point man, tripped a booby trap, he almost died.
He was lucky as hell.
Hobbel also, the 2nd man, was hit.
Both will go back to the world, both were married.
Hobbel is a brand-new father.
End of Entry

Notes:
DD’ed: A Vietnamese term Di Di Mau
what it means is “go quickly”.
Papa would be the remaining company’s Night defensive position.
I never heard a follow up on Hobbel or Ed Lambert

April 7, 1970

5 men in our squad left for SRP early this morning.
5 stayed back, then later left for LP,
which I am on now with 2 others,
100 meters in front of bunker 19.
Hot chow and mail are waiting for us in the papa.
End of Entry

Notes:

SRP would be a recon patrol around the perimeter.
LP is a listening post outside of LZ Terrance.
Papa is the perimeter of the LZ

April 8, 1970

Last night was the worst experience I have had in Vietnam.
On a 3-man LP outside, 100 meters in front of bunker 19,
Reeves, Griffen and I were awake all night.
We had movement to our East, approximately 10-20 meters away.
Approximately 12:00 Midnight we blew the Claymore and opened
Up with automatic fire.
From then on, every little movement made our hearts
pound for fear of death.
We smelled a dink several times and heard him walking around.
I have never been this scared in my life.
My nerves are about gone and I’m still shaking like a leaf.
That’s not all, we will be here again tonight,
God willing.
End of Entry

Notes:

Everyone in Vietnam has experiences that they will never forget.
This is one of them.
We caught hell from our C.O. for waking everyone else up on LZ Terrace.
This caused everyone on the LZ to be on alert all night. We searched for the dink but never found him.

(Ed. ) Above: Entry from the 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry S-3 Daily Staff Journal of April 8, 1970,
indicating that C co LP 3 (C Company Listening Post) detected movement and fired its claymore.
This entry closely matches John's diary entry of April 8, 1970.

April 9, 1970

Nothing posted in my diary for April 9th.

I do remember that we were extremely tired from not sleeping all night last night.
The three of us were again on the listening post outside of LZ Terrace.
With only three on the LP, the “on watch” time is much longer too.
Stress.

April 10, 1970

We have been on details, getting haircuts, cleaning up and
eating hot chow, the last couple of days.
Nothing exciting has happened to us.
Tonight, we saw another firebase off in the distance under
some kind of attack and gunships worked over the area.
We could see tracer rounds flying every which way.
I got drunk, started playing Acey-Ducey and won $40.00.
I kept playing and finely lost it all plus $5.00 of my own money.
I should have quit but I was just too greedy.
End of Entry

Notes:

April 10th was WAY better than April 8th and 9th!
Gun ships would be Cobra gunships. Amazing to watch these
fabulous helicopters work. To see them at night even better.

April 11, 1970

We packed up our gear and 5 of us went on a short-range recon patrol
outside the wire for today, tonight, tomorrow, tomorrow night
and we should return the morning of the 13th.
We heard nothing all night.
End of Entry

April 12, 1970

We set out early to do nothing all day on our SRRP.
All we did was read, write letters and play cards.
Nothing exciting to write about.
End of Entry

Note:

SRRP: Short Range Recon Patrol

April 13, 1970

We packed up our gear early in the A.M. and moved back into the papa.
We sat around our bunkers all day.
I got two packages from Monie this morning, one was busted inside.
We are to be CAed to the field tomorrow.
End of Entry

April 14, 1970

Our rucks were packed with 12 meals, plus mine had
world food and we were CAed to the field around 9 A.M.
We set out on our hump and half way to our
destination we came upon an ammunition cache’
with mortar rounds, 50 caliber rounds and rockets.
We stayed there for awhile and had 2 shots fired over our heads.
We ran a patrol to see what we could see but we found nothing.
Tomorrow we will take the cache’ back to the LZ and ship it out
so, the dinks can’t use it on us.
End of Entry

Notes:

World Food: Food from family sent in packages

(Ed. ) Above: Entry from the 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry S-3 Daily Staff Journal of April 8, 1970, indicating
that C co. 1st (C Company 1st Platoon) found an ammo cache. This entry closely matches John's diary entry
of April 14, 1970.

April 15, 1970

Early this morning we heard small arms fire.
Later in the afternoon we found out that the mortar men,
who were humping with us on this mission, killed a dink.
Sidewinder found a G.I. ruck with AK-47 rounds, a G.I. diary
and letter. A dink was using the ruck for his own.
This morning we humped all the ammunition down to the LZ that
we found yesterday.
We are staying in the same NDP as last night.
End of Entry

April 16, 1970

I was given the honor of walking point today.
It wouldn’t have been so bad but Sgt. Brown read
the map wrong and we went out of our way about two clicks.
We still aren’t where we are supposed to be.
Sidewinder was in contact today.
Lt. Ewald was hit in the arm, Lugo was hit in the chest.
I was fortunate. No booby traps, snipers or ambushes.
End of Entry

Notes:

In contact means getting in a fire fight.
Two clicks in the wrong location could have been a disaster for us.
2,000 meters in the wrong direction could have put us in harm’s way.

April 17, 1970

All I can say about today is “It was an ass kicker.”
We humped up and down ridge lines, crossed ravines and I thought
the day would never end but it did end.
I fixed a LRRP ration to top it off.
Tomorrow we should be resupplied. We are out of food, going
on our 5th day of 4 days rations.
Finally, we are where we are supposed to be and
we have linked up with the rest of the company.
We are at least 300 meters or less away from them.
End of Entry

Note:

LRRP: Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (freeze dried food)
Lighter to carry and better tasting when prepared with hot water.

April 18, 1970

It is 10 minutes to 3 and I am on bush wac waiting for resupply.
We just got word over the horn—Lugo is dead.
He turned for the worse over night and was given a 10% chance
to live. 10% wasn’t enough.
Lugo was married and a brand-new father with only 50 days left in country.
Praying wasn’t enough.
End Of Entry

Note:

The horn: radio communication.
This kind of entry brings back too many memories of too many
killed who had recently become a father.

Left:

Anthony S. Lugo

3rd Platoon Company C
1/22 Infantry

Died on April 18, 1970,
of wounds received in action
on April 16, 1970.

Mentioned in John's diary entries
of April 16 and April 18, 1970.

April 19, 1970

Roadrunner platoon and Headquarters moved out together
Heading North to an LZ for C.A. to be on the 21st.
We set up on a small hill and dug a fox hole.
I dug up a 4-foot worm about an inch in diameter.
End of Entry

Note:
The size of that worm in not an exaggeration.
Jeff Van Arsdale pulled the worm out of the bunker and held
it up to show its length. Incredible really.

April 20, 1970

All we did was hump down the finger we were on.
Tom (Porter) walked point; I was 3rd.
Tom spotted a dink, opened up on him but missed.
We found 1 ruck and 1-25lbs of potatoes.
End of Entry

April 21, 1970

Morgan, our 60 gunner, just killed a dink trying to sneak up on our LZ.
End of Entry

Note:

The entry on this day is short as we were all on alert for hours.
Where there is one dink there are several.

April 22, 1970

April 22nd we were CAed to firebase Challenge (deserted).
We rebuilt a bunker, sat around and did as little as possible.
End of Entry

April 24, 1970

We humped off of Firebase Challenge.
I walked point.
Our mission was changed so we humped back up.
Beer and soda were waiting for us.
It rained really hard for about an hour and we were all soaked and miserable.
End of Entry

Above: Map from the 4th Infantry Division ORLL dated May 31, 1970, covering the period
ending 30 April 1970. The map shows FSB Challenge, indicated as Firebase Challenge in
John's diary entries of April 22, April 24, and April 25, 1970.

April 25, 1970

We humped back off of Challenge again today.
This time we set up for the night.
Our plans are to move to a new A.O. for 10 more days.
Our CA was canceled about 2:30 today.
Chances are we will have another change in plans
before the 10 days are up.
End of Entry

Notes:
A.O.: Area of Operation
CA: Combat Assault

April 26, 1970

We woke up to rainy weather this morning and humped until
2:00 PM. We reached our NDP and went on a small patrol.
We ran into an old, very small, bunker complex and one hooch.
It was nothing to get excited over.
There were a lot of punji sticks all along the route we traveled.
Greg (Surratt), Tom (Porter) and
Butch each were poked, but not severely.
End of Entry

Note:
I don’t remember Butch's last name.
NDP: Night Defensive Position

April 27, 1970

We humped our asses off.
That’s about all.
The point man thought he saw a hooch and heard movement,
so, we set up where we were because it was 6:30 already.
We were going to recon by fire (shoot up the hooch) but we would have had to
check it out, so we passed until morning.
Scottie killed a dink (Panther man).
They received fire a few hours later and
their 79 man was hurt.
His 79 (grenade launcher) malfunctioned.
A round backfired and exploded.
End of Entry

Note:
I do not know the extent of the 79 man's injuries or the outcome from it.

April 28, 1970

Morning came and we set out to recon and check those hooches.
When we got there, there weren’t any hooches. It just appeared
that way last night.
I spotted a dink today. My first one.
I was going to shoot at him but by the time I got
my rifle up, he was over the ridge where I couldn’t
hit him. We patrolled the area where he was and
found caves, pottery etc.
He was about 300 meters away when I saw him.
Sidewinder killed a dink.
Panther wounded one.
Panther received fire this morning.
End of Entry

Notes:

Received fire: small arms (rifle fire)
In the jungle, when the sun goes down, your eyes can play tricks on you.

April 29, 1970

We humped down the finger from our NDP and made
an LZ for RS. We were resupplied about 12:00.
Our squad had an ambush out (me not included)
and they were attacked by bees.
Every one of them were stung badly.
Dicks eye was swollen shut, Gregs mouth about 10 times the size,
Toms head was bitten (stung) and he had headaches from it.
They all left their weapons, packs and everything there and
ran down the hill in thick jungle vines and
jumped into the river.
Reeves popped smoke to smoke them away
but the bees were mad and chased them clear to the blue line.
I received Monies anniversary card and three
other letters. I’m on ambush at this time with 8 others.
End of Entry

Notes:
NDP: Night defensive position.
LZ: Landing zone for choppers
RS: Resupply of food and ammo plus mail.

I can picture these poor guys. The stingers were rose bush thorn size.
There was a lot of pain. Huge bees apparently.

April 30, 1970

We stayed out on ambush all day today and will be here again tonight.
We haven’t had movement since we have been here but I am
surprised, because we have a couple of guys who insist on talking loudly.
At least loud enough to make me nervous.
We just had a little movement.
I shouldn’t count my chickens before they hatch.
Everybody is quiet all of a sudden.
End of Entry

Note:

Being as quiet as possible in the jungle is imperative.
Loud causes death.