Hill 69

		Hill 69
		The infantry had the nasty habit of finding positions that were good for your soul but not for your body. In the fall of 1965, I became the Artillery Liaison Officer for the 2d Battalion, 4th Marines, affectionately known as the "Magnificent Bastards." When I joined them, they were located on the beach at Chu Lai. Perhaps I brought them bad luck, because shortly after I arrived, the battalion moved to this God-forsaken mound of mud on the northwest edge of the Chu Lai perimeter. Hill 69. In the monsoon season. Read the details in Images from the Otherland. This shot is for Jim Mazy. A few weeks after my book was published, he gave me a call. It was a Sunday night, I believe. When I answered the phone, he announced himself as a "voice from the past." I thought maybe it was a tax collector from Kentucky. Sensing my confusion, he gave me his name. Meant nothing to me. Then he told me that he had just finished my book and had to call me because of this photo from the book. Turns out that Jim was in the 81mm mortar unit, one weapon position of which is shown front and center in this picture. That poncho covering the tube was pretty important. It was raining nearly constantly. Just take a look at the slime in the foreground and the overflowing rice paddies at the base of the hill.