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The Phone Call


Neither the paper or the government gave any clue about what happened to David.

The listing below from the Virtual Wall is for one of my buddies who was KIA in 1968, during an ambush where I should have been killed along with him. I was on the truck, but the company commander made me get off because I was too short (short-timer, not much time left in-country) because he didn't want to risk my being killed since I was just going along as an A-gunner for Chuck Searles in the back of the truck. Both Marines were killed that day.

I made a comment on the wall years later, saying that I knew David and left my contact information. About six months later, I got a call from his older brother. His name was Walter. He wanted to know how David had died because no one in the government had ever told the family what had happened.

So, thirty years after the war, I had to be the messenger. The convoy was ambushed. David's truck was dead in the road from being hit. Chuck was down and already dead in the back. An enemy soldier ran up and dropped a grenade in the cab into David's lap. He never had a chance. The blast hit him in the body and face. A grunt in another truck killed the enemy soldier before he could escape.

I could hear the anguish in his brother's voice. I had hoped we could keep in touch, but I believe by giving him the information I knew, I had become someone he disliked because what I said caused him so much pain. I've never spoken to him since, and I don't know if he is still alive.

That war destroyed so many lives.


David Reid Nelson
ON THE WALL:Panel W53 Line 11
PERSONAL DATA:
  Home of RecordHutchinson, KS
  Date of birth:12/03/1946
  This page Copyright© 1997-2013 www.VirtualWall.org
MILITARY DATA:
  Service:United States Marine Corps
  Grade at loss:E3
  Rank:Lance Corporal
  ID No:2239935
  MOS:3531: MOTOR VEHICLE OPERATOR
  Length Service:02
  Unit:B CO, 7TH MOTOR TRANS BN, 1ST FORCE SVC RGT, FORCE LOG CMD, III MAF
CASUALTY DATA:
  Start Tour:11/12/1967
  Incident Date:07/04/1968
  Casualty Date:07/04/1968
  Age at Loss:21
  Location:Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam
  Remains:Body recovered
  Casualty Type:Hostile, died outright
  Casualty Reason:Ground casualty
  Casualty Detail:Artillery, rocket, or mortar

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