|
|
|
|
|
Heavy mortar emplacement and ammunition dump viewed from across Happy Valley |
|
This picture shows the relative positions of the heavy mortars and the ammunition dump. After leaving the heavy mortars after checking their ammunition status, I went to the ammunition dump check on ammunition status for the mortars. Shortly after I had driven into the dump, I heard a mortar round drop in the valley on the other side of the hill from the ammunition dump. Then another a little closer. Our heavy mortar's Chinese counterparts were probing for the heavy mortar's location. Another mortar round hit, a little closer. I ducked down behind a stack of boxes as from the sound the next round would hit in the ammunition dump. There was no next round. I waited a few moments, then stood up and looked at the stack of boxes I'd crouched down behind. It was a head-high stack of boxes containing white phosphorous grenades. One more mortar round and I would not be here, 50 years later, writing about it. It was a life-turning moment for me. I think of it as the first time I died. The second was open-heart surgery several years ago. I'm not a cat with 9 lives, so I've probably used up all my second-chance allocations. |
|
|
|
©Copyright Freeman Bradford. All rights reserved |
