KEN'S vIET nAM pHOTOS AND sTORIES
About Me
A photo of me digging a foxhole in the jungle of Pleiku
Hello, I am Ken Ervin. I am a Vietnam War Veteran. I'm the young man in the above photo, digging a foxhole I also have some photos from THE VIET NAM WALL in Washington, D.C. I got the opportunity to visit the HEALING WALL in Septmber 2003.
I took the photos in Viet Nam with an old Olympus camera that I purchased in Bangkok, Thailand while I was on R&R. Before that I had an old Kodak Instamati Camera. It is a miracle that I have these photos. I had to hump (infantry term) all of my earthly belongings on my back, which amounted to about 75-100 ponunds
Contents of my rucksack:
One case of C rations (12 meals) Tabasco Sauce (to enchance the
flavor of the C Rations)
One case (1000 rounds) of .223 caliber ammunition Several pairs of dry socks
One Belt (One Hundred Rounds) for our squads M-60 Machine Gun Poncho
Four pounds of C-4 Plastic Explosives Poncho Liner
One Claymore Mine One PRC-25 Radio Battery
One Machete My Letter Writing Materials
About 3-4 LRP Rations My Bandages
One Gallon leister bag of water 2-3 Smoke Grenades
Contents of my Web Belt:
2 Canteens of Water 3 Ammo Pouches(containing 120 Rounds
.223 and 2 Frag Grenades Each)
2 Bandaliers of .223 Rounds (Each Bandolier contained 7 mags..140 rounds)
We had to protect our feet from the Jungle Rot. I still have to this day scar-tissue from the Jungle Rot on my hands and wrists. Jungle rot sets in from cuts and scratches in your skin and all that awful rain. It was a rain forest meaning that during the rainy season (Monsoon) it would rain 24/7 for almost 2-3 months at a time. I went through 2 monsoons in my tour over there because they moved us from Tuy Hoa to Pleiku.
We got resupplied every 4 days except during the monsoon season. I will never forget the time that we went 28 days without getting resupplied. My jungle fatigues actually rotted on me. On the 4th day we usually got our 12 C-rations and Ammo if we needed it. On the 8th day we received
C's, ammo, toiletries, and one set of clothing. We took our baths whenever we came upon a stream. So now hopefully you may understand why my comments are "Why the photo quality is so poor of my photos".
