There may have been times that I was unaware of when I was closer to death but these two are the ones I know about.

Since our CAP was an island we could and did go swimming in the river alot to try and relieve some of the heat. Even though the water was as dirty as anyplace I'd ever seen. At least it offered some relief.

I had gotten out of the water and was listening to a firefight to the south and southwest of the island. I did not know until recently that CACO 2-3 was not very far from us in that direction and it could have been them in contact. You could tell though that the firing was very far off.

As I stood there a round went past my left ear. I could feel the air pressure change and I also heard the round although I'm not sure which I was aware of first. To be able the feel it like that I imagine it could not have been more than a few inches from my head. To the left just a bit and I would have been killed and no one would have known why. I'm not sure where the other guys were; I was just crazy enough to go there alone.

Even as fatalistic as I had become by that time I was not prepared to stay around and wait for more incoming. I quickly gathered all my gear and got out of Dodge!!! As far as I know that was my closest brush with death in my year over there.

Another time I was on a day patrol. One of our PF's called another Marine and I back to look at something on the trail. First he and then I had stepped over a trip wire connected to a M-26 grenade. The PF behind me had spotted it. It was just our day to be lucky I guess. Or perhaps it was set up wrong by the VC. But it doesn't matter what the reason is I suppose; I'm just grateful it turned out the way it did. We should have seen it ourselves but we were probably goofing off. If the truth be known it was the Lord once again looking out for one of his foolish children.