Up close, war is even more painful

This story is about Bill Beck, assistant machine gunner, Alpha Company, 1st Air Cav. Division, Vietnam. He said, “the tough part in battle is the close-up.” 

Seeing what a bullet can do to your friend, and that is the image he always has of war, Beck said, adding that war is very senseless, and changes a lot of people’s lives. The ones who got killed changed the lives of their loved ones, their wives and their children.  

He went on to say that they fought for their lives and that all of the soldiers all thought they were going to die. “When surrounded and outnumbered, we had to depend upon each other,” he added. 

In battle, he saw his buddies around him get killed first, before he even fired a shot at the North Vietnamese enemy soldier. Lieutenant Taft was killed right in front of him. Taft’s radio operator was hit as he was trying to give help to Lt. Taft and the operator was screaming for help. Right in front of him, another fellow got machine gunned right across his stomach.  

As Beck jumped beside another friend, his friend got shot in the head and died instantly. He was 22 years old at the time. In this battle, he then rushed to Adams’ side who was firing a machine gun from the hip at an enemy soldier hiding behind a tree and killed him.  

It was the first time he had seen an enemy soldier killed up close, Beck said. He said just one minute in battle in the Ia Drang valley was like a lifetime. They spent three days there doing that, round the clock, with no food or water and not knowing if they would be next.  

When war is up close, it is very painful, it never leaves you, Beck said; the pain is always there, the memories — they never leave you.  

I imagine that the young 18- to 24-year-olds nowadays don’t have any idea about war, thinking they will never be in one. But now think again, there are wars going on in Russia and Ukraine, in Israel and Palestine, and China is threatening to take over Taiwan. So, my bet is down the road, the draft will be restored. 

Roger Gregory is a Vietnam veteran and business owner in Priest River.