We’ve been learning about Ray Fox’s service as an Army infantrymen to help us better understand the Vietnam War’s impact on our region.

Ray was drafted into the Army in 1967 and deployed to Vietnam in June 1968. The Army assigned Ray to A Company, 1st Battalion of the 6th Infantry Regiment in Vietnam’s central region. He became a Radio Telephone Operator (RTO) after his first combat patrol.

Enemy encounters were always dangerous, but even without enemy contact, patrolling was a dirty, hot, exhausting, nasty business.

Ray’s platoon sometimes patrolled through eight foot high elephant grass that cut their arms, if their sleeves were rolled up. Ray remembered, “You’d get all these tiny, little cuts. If you got a cut, it would never heal. So, you’d pull your sleeves down so you don’t get cut.”

They patrolled through daily rains during the wet monsoon, using their ponchos as little hooches to try and stay dry at night. Ray did not like to use the poncho on night guard because it glistened. “I’d just sit in the rain and get wet on guard duty,” he said, “most of the time you were just wet all of the time.”

Ray recalled patrolling through thick jungle.

“Some of it was very thick, so thick that you couldn’t see a meter in front of you. We were on this wide trail and the Lieutenant says, ‘This is very unsafe.’ So, we walked off the trail forty meters [into] thick vegetation. They were whacking away with machetes. We kind of made a tunnel through this and we walked all day long — probably made about 150 meters. But we were safe. We weren’t on that trail.”

He described a night mission when they patrolled in water.

“When you walk at night you don’t go as fast — you take a small step; listen, then another little step; and so on. We were in water all night. When the sun came up we found a dry piece of ground and three or four of us took turns taking our boots off. It was a pleasurable experience, having the sun on our feet. Then we put our socks and boots on and headed back out again.”

Ray described their field meals. “I always ate a can of fruit in the morning, a can of meat at night, and, sometimes, a can of meat in the afternoon. I remember we had turkey, ham, and maybe some pork and beef in four ounce cans. I liked most of it.”

He explained there was a bit of art to field meals.

“You would not open the can all the way so the lid would be your handle. They carried a white, plastic spoon and then you would either dig the food out or heat it up. We had heat tabs, little one inch squares that you’d strike a match to and it’d have a little, blue flame that would heat the food up.”

Ray smiled recalling a special meal that sometimes came with the resupply chopper.

“Occasionally at noon we’d get a hot meal of sliced roast beef, mashed potatoes, and green beans. And then sometimes they’d even have Kool-Aid. That was a treat for us with ice in it.”

Resupplying canteens with water was another field art.

“We would fill up wherever we found running water. We each carried a little bottle of pills called water purification tablets. Out in the field if the water looked bad, I’d put two tablets in and if it wasn’t too bad, one tablet. They must have worked because none of us got sick.”

Keeping clean in the field was a struggle. Ray explained how they improvised.

“When we’d come across a stream, we’d take turns taking a bath. We’d sit in the stream. Somebody would have a bar of soap. I always carried a towel, so my towel would get used by four or five different guys. My towel was for taking a bath; my pillow at night and for cleaning my weapon. [Bathing] wasn’t all that frequent because we were just a bunch of guys out in the field.”

But these field baths and living in the jungle brought another problem.

“Taking a bath in these streams you’d see these big leeches. They’d stretch out six-eight inches and they’re coming after you. When you are in the true jungle there’s leeches on the ground; leeches on vines; they were all over. Every couple hours we’d drop our pants and you’d look at the guy and, ‘Nope, don’t see any, or…’ Many nights you’d wake up with either a bloody face, a bloody arm, or bloody legs from leeches. They filled themselves up; you didn’t know it was there; and squashed it through the night.”

He explained their sleeping arrangements.

“We’d just sleep on the ground on top of the (uninflated) air mattress. We had a little nylon blanket we covered up with, primarily to keep the mosquitoes off our face. I’d generally sleep on my stomach and put my rifle by my right hand so I could grab it when it’s dark. I’d usually put my glasses either inside my helmet or, if it was raining, underneath the helmet. It was always in the same spot so, if it was dark, I could grab, grab.”

Ray summarized their life while patrolling, “We lived like animals out in the field.”

The Lyon County Museum is organizing an exhibit about the Vietnam War and Lyon County. If you would like to share Vietnam experiences or help with the exhibit, please contact me at prairieviewpressllc@gmail.com or call the museum at 537-6580.