March 6, 1968

Fifty-eight years ago, we stood in a knot in the trench outside a dark hatch into a bunker. We talked.

Incoming had been light of late, and we felt safe, although as the month went on, many days and nights found our noses buried in red mud as incoming rockets, mortars and artillery rounds thundered, pounded, wounded and killed our comrades.

But not on March 6, 1968. Not in my memory.

Besides me, there was O, S, J and R talking about, I suspect, home, mail, chow, war.

Someone came down the line from the platoon command post and told us a C-130 bound for Khe Sanh had crashed in the mountains not far away.

And there were Marines from our company aboard.

Most of the men were from other platoons and remained nothing but names, but one Marine we knew. A machine gun squad leader. A big Irishman, red mustache, a temper to match the myth. Some of us hated him. Some of us admired him. Some of us were indifferent. He didn’t care and if he did, now it wouldn’t matter.

We stood there, no one saying anything.

I looked at the red mud in the bottom of the trench.

Lance Corporal R grunted.

PFC O wiped a tear from his eye.

Even though he hated the squad leader, PFC S shook his head and no happiness spread across his face.

Lance Corporal R grunted again.

Then he said, “Lord, don’t you know it’s a terrible thing.”

He paused, one beat, two beats, then finished, “Better them than me.”

Better them than me—down deep, we all knew the truth of that.

Better them than me.

~ by Ken Rodgers

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