‘You can get killed here. Get out while you are still alive.’

That is by a Viet Cong Communist, played by a Communist radio station beamed at American soldiers. Every GI who heard it would have laughed, most saying something like, “Shoot, Man. You can get killed anywhere.”

The statement was a voice-over for a short video on the 9th Infantry Division.

A high school friend who was in 9ID died a couple of days ago. He was a year younger than me. He died from lung cancer. Jerry Ray was with the 2nd Battalion 47th Infantry. The 2/47 was a mechanized infantry battalion.

I went to school with another soldier in the 2/47 and knew of another. J.R was two years younger than me. He was with Alpha 2/47. He was killed in December 1968. I knew of Phillip W., who was from Clarksville, Texas. He was also with Alpha 2/47. He was killed in May 1968 at the Y Bridge in Saigon.

They were good people.