I thought if I continued on the bearing 247° for 27 kilometres I would arrive at the Mekong River, where I could continue to a clearing where I would be taken by helicopter back to ‘our’ side of Vietnam, there I could rest and enjoy life. However I only had two days until the helicopter would rendez-vous, so I had to keep a steady pace.
By now hunger had hit me. Ahead of me lay a dark swamp area; there was a disconcerting stench of rotting vegetation. To get past this I needed to take off my boots since they would slow me down. As I was unlacing my bulky black boots I heard a shout, I dived flat to the ground. I peered through a small gap in the thick bamboo and saw two Vietnamese children playing blissfully with a ball; they had weathered dark skin and long greasy hair. To think that such contentment could be created from such a small notion, at a time like this. I could not speak to them because they might alert some local militia. Not long ago I was bombing their homes and villages.
Instead I continued through the swamp. The stagnant water looked malevolent. I slowly stepped into the swamp. The water was tepid. My toes touched some slush at the bottom but I simply took another step into the cloudy mixture. The fluid slowly began to rise up and saturate my trousers, but at least I would leave no scent for tracker dogs to pick me up.
I heard what seemed to be a shout in the distance, then another in reply and I became stricken with terror. I wanted to sprint, but I didn’t; I didn’t look behind me. I was too frightened, I still felt as if I was making huge splashing reverberations as I plunged my legs in and out of the water. While hurrying on I caught my foot on something underwater and I jolted forward, thrust into the water, and got a mouthful of dirt. I rose out of the water and put my hand to my forehead. I reached into my rucksack and pulled out a small roll of bandages. I unwrapped the bandages around my head and tightly tied it in a knot. As I stood up, I felt slightly light headed but I continued as before, like a machine, wading, wading.
I reached the other side of the swamp and gradually tried to clamber out of the mucky edges. I slipped and fell back, I tried again with no luck, and so I made my way round to a shorter edge, which I could climb up with ease. From here, only a few kilometres away, there were a less dense grouping of trees, so I could be seen more easily.
I pushed on through the intense shrubbery and bushes until I came to an opening, in the distance. I could see a small round building, and even further on, a River. The building seemed like it was a guard post. There were two Vietcong lounging about inside reading the newspaper and drinking coffee. Their rifles were menacingly leaning against the wall, ready for immediate use; I couldn’t challenge these men since I had no weapon. I had lost it; I would have to avoid them somehow while crossing the River. I strewed some pieces of grass and leaves and attached them to my helmet and uniform. I then crawled agonisingly slowly towards a small patch of trees close to the River. While there I established a useful position and shacked up, since I had no idea what time it was. I could be there for a while, or I might have missed the helicopter already. Only time would tell.
The sound of helicopter blades slicing through the air awoke me from my resting. I was instantly alert and prepared for the last objective; to cross the River Mekong and escape by helicopter. The watchmen were aroused by this commotion but they assumed it was their own aircraft so they decided to ignore the noise but I could see they were tensed and alert.
I stripped down to my underwear, for the other belongings would be of no more use. I checked around first and then made a run for it, I threw myself out of the trees and raced slitheringly along the grassy plains. One of the guards noticed a disturbance and immediately grasped his rifle and stepped outside. After a pause of indecision he began to shoot. Bullets kicked up chunks of mud and whirred off trees and crashed into stands of bamboo, as I dived towards the River, I plunged in the ice-cold water. The current looked heavy but I had no choice. I swam as hard as I could and steadily made progress. However, by now, both guards were shooting at me. As I was swimming along one bullet pierced through the water and tore the back of one of my legs apart and another ripped through my shoulder blade. An ominous gloomy red flash emerged at the surface. I felt weak as the current dragged me downstream, I persevered but I felt it was all in vein. I continued to battle against the current and at long last managed to grasp a clump of mud from the bank with my fingernails. I drew myself inward however I couldn’t gather the strength to climb. The combined resonating noise of several semi-automatic weapons blasted from nearby, my saving grace had arrived. I yelped like a lost puppy out to them, but the roaring gunfire was too thunderous. I mustered up all my residual energy for one last call. I took a deep breath and bellowed out for help. The shriek reverberated all around and eventually I felt someone clasp onto my arm and heave me out off the water. I was carefully lowered onto a stretcher and transported towards to the helicopter, where I lost consciousness from the pain.
