Thread: Vietnam Vet recalls tour in jungle

MILLSTADT: Vietnam vet recalls tour in jungle




David and Judy Sikes of Millstadt, who will both turn 59 in August, have only recently begun opening up about David Sikes' experiences in Vietnam, sharing stories and photos with their grandchildren. Terry Smith photo

By Lauren Bridgewater
Tuesday, July 1, 2008 1:06 PM CDT


Poo, their little Westy, scrambled at their feet as David and Judy Sikes quietly discussed his tour in Vietnam at the dinner table in his home on Mill Park Court in Millstadt. The couple, originally from Belleville, illustrated their memories with old photographs.

"We will both be turning 59 in August," Judy Sikes said. "We are only six days apart and, yes, I am older."

These days, David Sikes is finally opening up about his experience in Vietnam. Judy Sikes said he recently showed his grandchildren his photo albums, which used to be tucked away in a drawer."They teach you how to play war," David Sikes said. "But you really don't know what it's like until you get over there.

Thirty-nine years ago, Judy Sikes was living with her parents and praying for David to come back safe from Vietnam. They had only been married for one year and were expecting their first child.

"It was only one year, but it felt like 12 years," Judy Sikes said.

David Sikes was drafted in 1969 and decided to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. He spent 1969 and 1970 near Da Nang, Vietnam, serving in the 1st Recon Battalion at Camp Reasoner.

The battalion's main objective was to survey certain areas and report where the enemy was. David Sikes went on 32 patrols that year alongside eight other men throughout the jungles of Vietnam.

"It's pretty from far away, but not so much up close," he said.

David Sikes was a radio man, one of two men on each patrol who called into the base when they came under fire. He relayed the patrol's coordinates to the base for retrieval.

"We traveled on a CH46 helicopter," he said. "They basically dropped you in the jungle for seven to 10 days depending on what needed to be done."

Three of his patrols required ladder extractions, which were necessary when the men came into contact with the enemy in an area where the helicopter could not land.

"You basically hook up to a ladder with a snap tool and then you are pulled up 625 feet into the air," David Sikes said. "It was not a very good feeling. It was cold, but I was too young to be scared."

He recalled one experience where he was airbound on the ladder all the way back to the main base instead of being dropped off at a safe base. Safe bases were used as intermediate transmitting stations and consisted of a tent without shower houses on top of a mountain. A patrol would radio in to these mountaintop locations and then be transferred to the main base in Da Nang.

"Technology wasn't as good as it is now in 1969," David Sikes said.

When the patrols were dropped off at safe bases, it would take over three weeks to receive their mail.

"The mail was the only thing to look forward to," David Sikes said. "It was the only thing we had."

A shower was considered a luxury. Judy Sikes said for the last 38 years David Sikes has been taking two showers a day because he never got to shower while in the service.

"The water in your canteen was for drinking," he said. "None could be spared for showering."

He encountered a few tigers and "rock apes-"monkeys who threw rocks-while patrolling.

"The tigers were scary, but I always had a gun," David Sikes said.

The leeches and mosquitoes were what bothered David the most. He contracted malaria and had to be quarantined on a U.S. Navy hospital ship for close to 20 days spending his 21st birthday with a 101 degree fever.

When his tour ended, David Sikes came back to Belleville. He simply wanted to get back to normal life. The Sikes's had two daughters. The eldest died in a automobile accident at age 21 and the youngest lives in Belleville with her three children. The Sikes moved to Millstadt in 1977. David worked for the railroad in East St. Louis and eventually landed a job with a beer distributor, where he stayed for 20 years. He retired due to a double lung transplant.

Both David and Judy Sikes said they feel Agent Orange, a chemical used to kill foliage so that the enemy could not hide, played a role in his health issues. David is also a diabetic and has faced cancer.

"If you are around it, these are the things you get," David Sikes said. "If you think about it, when you are on patrol, you sleep on the ground, drink out of rivers and creeks and these are the things Agent Orange is sprayed on."

David and Judy Sikes's great nephew Tyler Funk, 19, went into the U.S. Marine Corps about a year ago.

"He always admired David and he decided that he wanted to do that," Judy Sikes said. "David did his duty."

Been there , done that
http://monroecountyclarion.stltoday.com ... n0.ii1.txt

Been There , Done That . For real . There is now alot of Nam vets opening up bout that war . Agent Orange oh yeah .We where young and dumb and thought nothing of using our hands to shovel that stuff with No masks on , never had any to use anyway . The VA needs to get right with alot of Vets and stop making their life hell and believe them . The VA does ask the most InSane questions . I had to "Unlock" my own Pandora's box to fill out a Form entitled "Why do you have PTSD". Bought back my nightmares i'ld managed to surpress all those decades .
I only put this in print Not for ya'll to feel sorry for me . No Sir , I was Proud to do my part for America . But so the public can see, feel just how crazy our government can be to their own