1st Battalion 22nd Infantry Khun's Story Page 6

1st Battalion 22nd Infantry

HOSPITAL
July 1971

It rained daily now and we were assigned guard stations along a river that had a lot of swampy areas.

Me along the river

I started not feeling well one night for some reason. I got sick to my stomach and I had no idea what brought that on.
Then the next day I started getting a fever. I covered up with my poncho liner and laid on a cot in the tent most of that day.
I told Doc that I was really sick and he said to wait till tomorrow and we’ll see how you feel then. The next day I felt fine but
then the following day the fever returned. Once again Doc said to wait till tomorrow. It was the strangest thing; I would
get the fever every other day and be perfectly fine every other day. Finally Doc agreed to send me and one of the other guys
that was sick also to the hospital. But Doc wasn’t happy about it. He had been getting flak from the CO
for pulling too many guys out of duty.

MEDEVAC (dust off) TO QUI NHON HOSPITAL

We were sent on a medevac chopper to Quin Nhon hospital where they placed me in a big ward filled with guys with
similar symptoms. They sent the other guy to a hospital in Japan for some reason. I wondered why I couldn’t
be that lucky! I had a lot of bad headaches and fever in the hospital and they were doing blood tests on me.
I had no idea what was wrong but I knew I was very sick.

The Dr. came around and told me that I had a right to feel as sick as I did. There are two types of malaria in
Vietnam and I had them both at the same time! The nurses were nice and I remember being struck at seeing American girls
in Vietnam. They drew blood and took vitals 4 times a day and gave me a lot of pills to take. My arms started to look like
the arms of a junkie from all of the needle pricks. The first few days continued to alternate good and bad. One day I would
have a temp of 102 and the next day normal. But it was getting worse. I remember one time after the nurse took my temperature;
she pulled the sheets off me and told me to go to the showers. My temperature was over 106. I was getting weaker and weaker
and she had to help me get out of bed and helped me walk to the shower. She told me to get into the cold shower and stay
there for awhile. If the temp doesn’t come down I would be packed in ice next. The cold shower worked and I felt a lot better
afterwards. My temp went back down to 101 so I avoided the ice. I had been delirious and didn’t even know it.
I remember trying to write letters home but at times I couldn’t concentrate or complete a written sentence.
I wasn’t able to think clearly. I was really weak and extremely sick now. The chills and fevers continued for a couple
more days until the medicines started working. They told me that after 3 consecutive days without a fever that I could go home.
She must have saw the quizzical look on my face and laughed. Home meant back to Tuy Hoa!

I was released from the hospital and was told to return to my unit. I remember asking how I was going to get back to the unit.
They told me that I would have to wait around by the choppers pad and try to catch a ride from one of the choppers. I couldn’t
believe that! I had to hitch hike! I wasn’t even sure where the company was but I figured they should be back at Tuy Hoa any
day now, so I hitched a chopper ride to Tuy Hoa with orders for light duty only and no night duty for two weeks. That meant
no guard duty or ambush patrols for two more weeks. On a follow up visit with a doctor on base, I was told that there is no cure
for malaria. It just goes dormant and will be in my system for the rest of my life.

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