I wasn't with Big John but the Tet was unlike anything that had
happened up to that point. I was at Bien Hoa when the rockets started
flying we ducked into our bunkers as we normally did. Usually these
attacks lasted only a few minutes and it was back to bed. This night
when the rockets stopped a massive infantry attack hit the east side of
the perimeter. This area only had a couple of VNAF security post and it
didn't take long for the NVA breech the line. About half way from the
wire to the runway was some old French bunkers maybe 250 yards inside
the base. It was at this time that our helipad became the front line.
The bad guys set up in one of the reinforced bunkers and started
shooting a 57 recoiless rifle at the F-100s in their revetments. All
the time we were trying to keep their heads down with rifles and a
couple of M-60 machine guns. Overhead the 334th AHB Playboys were
tearing up the area with their Huey Cobras. That is how it continued
through the night,at first light me and a kid from Texas went to the
other end of the pad to an ammo supply we kept for the gunships. As we
headed back for the perimeter with a supply of ammo. I was looking
south about 10 miles on the solid gray overcast I saw the brightest red
reflection and a shock wave ring growing . The shock wave just kept
coming and the reflection turned into a massive fireball,as the shock
ring passed me the earth shook hard enough to bounce me off the ground
I about crapped I thought that someone put the wrong bullet into a
wrong gun and fired a tactical nuke. I jumped into a ditch and was
trying to remember all the nuke stuff from basic training. Obviously it
wasn't a atomic weapon but the NVA blowing up the Long Binh ammo dump.
Later that day we had A1 Skyraiders and F-100s bombing inside the base.
It took about three days to mop up and return the base to its rightfull
owners,us.

So the gist of this story is if I thought that day someone fired a
nuke, thinking that there was an air attack wasn't to far fetched. On
the other hand Big John may have just ****ed someone off.

Frank M. Hitlaw
Jakarta, Indonesia