John Strunk > Quotes

“We moved out in column with no flankers for security. That is normally an invitation to be ambushed, but in the situation it was an acceptable risk in our minds.”
― John Strunk, We Walked Across Their Graves: Vietnam 1967—The Que Son Valley

“So we agreed to never speak of it again, but ever after this our greeting of “buddddddddyyyyyy” was often followed by the crude word “fucker”—our mutual confession of our cowardice and abandonment of each other.”
― John Strunk, We Walked Across Their Graves: Vietnam 1967—The Que Son Valley

“had bent the pin so the grenade wouldn’t be accidentally detonated during transporting.)”
― John Strunk, We Walked Across Their Graves: Vietnam 1967—The Que Son Valley

“tule fog could form and lay covering only about two to three feet off the ground. It could be dense enough so that a man walking would miss seeing someone hiding at his feet. The fog was so thick that I could sit with my head above it but couldn’t see my feet. It tended to form after rainstorms and would blanket the ground anywhere there was a clearing. It did just that on this particular night.”
― John Strunk, We Walked Across Their Graves: Vietnam 1967—The Que Son Valley

“On an LP we generally sat back-to-back, using each other as back rests and giving 360 degree vision. This made what little necessary communication we had as quiet as”
― John Strunk, We Walked Across Their Graves: Vietnam 1967—The Que Son Valley

“With this maneuver the pilot hoped not to reveal his final direction to the enemy until the last moment.”
― John Strunk, We Walked Across Their Graves: Vietnam 1967—The Que Son Valley

“The toy-like weapon had a curious habit of jamming after cycling through forty rounds or so, and even less than that if you panicked and fired full automatic.”
― John Strunk, We Walked Across Their Graves: Vietnam 1967—The Que Son Valley

“needed to be her rock and place of confidence,”
― John Strunk, We Walked Across Their Graves: Vietnam 1967—The Que Son Valley

“Because every air strike before this had required that panels (green smoke) be out to mark our position we had put them out to our front, assuming that the pilot would make the common fly over to observe our position then in his next pass make the bombing run.”
― John Strunk, We Walked Across Their Graves: Vietnam 1967—The Que Son Valley

“LAW was a replacement for a weapon that we carried earlier in the war: the very effective but much larger and cumbersome 3.5 rocket launcher.”
― John Strunk, We Walked Across Their Graves: Vietnam 1967—The Que Son Valley

“we could feel the heat and feel the air suck toward it as it ignited to its full glory.”
― John Strunk, We Walked Across Their Graves: Vietnam 1967—The Que Son Valley

“Whoever was operating the gun had been through night battles before: he would burst, stop and listen, then fire another burst.”
― John Strunk, We Walked Across Their Graves: Vietnam 1967—The Que Son Valley

“The panels were bright orange colored squares of cloth that would be laid out to the front of a line creating an obvious marker separating us from the enemy”
― John Strunk, We Walked Across Their Graves: Vietnam 1967—The Que Son Valley

“motioned to us that we would be heading to 3 o’clock when our copter hit the deck, so each of us knew which way to run when exiting the back of the copter—critical to a fast and coordinated exodus.”
― John Strunk, We Walked Across Their Graves: Vietnam 1967—The Que Son Valley

“we could stretch it across the top, providing a roof for those not on watch.”
― John Strunk, We Walked Across Their Graves: Vietnam 1967—The Que Son Valley

“The only time we used the poncho was when our hole for the night was off the perimeter line and”
― John Strunk, We Walked Across Their Graves: Vietnam 1967—The Que Son Valley