Well the Chinese had wiped out one of our patrols and then
they put the bodies in the river, this little stream, the
Naburi, it went along the front. Knowing that the Occidentals
would come and get the bodies, you see. Anyhow, we sent our
scouts and snipers out and they spotted the Chinese ambush on
the river and they reported that so we did nothing for several
days. Then the scouts went back out and they came back and
said the Chinese were gone. So we went out to retrieve the
bodies and uh, my people were specialists in booby traps and
all this stuff. We had to go in the water and check these
bodies over for booby traps, etc., mines attached to their
feet or something, you know. And, of course they were badly
bloated, you know, it’s tropical there in the summer, badly
bloated. So when we figured that they were clean, we said to
the stretcher bearers that came with us, “Here they are” and
uh, jeez, they didn’t want to touch them. So we had to heave
them out of the water and onto the bank and onto the
stretchers and uh, that was a lousy job, a lousy job. First
of all, having to search these fellas, you know, pry open
their mouths to see if there was a trigger in there or
anything. That was a nasty one.