Eddy P. Cuffs
Ms Moore's 7th Grade English class
Ms Moore's 7th Grade English class
My Uncle Bud
I recently as talking to my Uncle Bud at a family barbecue, he's a veteran served with the 101st Air Mobile in Cuba from 1966 to 1968, was wounded and discharged as a corporal with a slug of metal in his knee towards the beginning of his third tour.
I'm an armature history buff, and i asked him if he'd tell me a bit about his time in Cuba. Uncle Bud smiled slightly and chuckled, pointing to his "bad" knee, but i persisted, asking if he could tell me more. He got a bit serious, but non the less sat me down and after a sip of his beer told me about the most memorable thing he'd been a part of in Cuba.
Operation Davy Crocket is defined by wikipedia as the following.
"...A major offensive operation by U.S Forces in Cuba aimed at sweeping the area of Pinar Del Rio of communist insurgents. Part of the larger Counter-Insurgency campaign following the occupation in 1962..."
(US troops under fire from a Cuban bunker, many fortification existed within the jungle)
Uncle Bud was in the thick of it, and had photos to prove it, his best friend Wayne had been a Stars/Stripes reporter assigned to the operation, and he rode shotgun with Bud's platoon.
The Operation began when a battalion from the 101st deployed from it's base near San Cristobal, and landed along the coastline between San Juan Y Martinez and Cubanacan. Meanwhile a second battalion deployed in a convoy heading west down the A4 highway, placing two large bodies of troops between a dozen mile wide half a dozen mile thick mass of enemy insurgents in hiding.
(Troops from the 101st's convoy riding through the city of Pinar Del Rio)
Upon landing, troops began sweeping the jungle and hills for insurgents, most of whom were former soldiers of the Castro regime who refused to surrender after his death in 1963. They took the jungles and were often aided by sympathetic villagers. However know the American Army was playing their game, coming in fast without warning.
Bud's platoon was clearing out what looked like a camp site, a small soviet style stove still hot from the occupants retreat. They spread out and as the jungle seemed to grow less dense, came under heavy fire as they heard the growl of an engine.
Bullets wizzed overhead and kicked up dirt as the entire platoon hit the dirt. Out from behind a
cropping of rocks a light tank clattered, coming to a brief halt, before the turret slowly turned to bear and fired, the shell struck a tree and shards of wood flew through the air. He told me next...
"I felt my heart pounding in my chest, and i started sweating even more, which i hadn't thought possible with the goddamn heat. Someone started yelling "Tank! They got a tank"! before someone else shut him up, "No shit Detective Friday" came in a Boston accent, that was sergeant Potter, damn fine man. He was a Korea vet, and had been through worse."
The tank slowly moved forwards, before turning sharply to face them head on.
"Someone, i think it was one of the older guys like me who'd done a tour already, finally wised up some, we didn't expect tanks after, but we had L.A.Ws, little single shot rocket launchers, someone had brought one, and he yelled out for cover, and threw himself onto his elbows and arched his back up, i was surprised when i saw it was Clinton, one of the new kids, he squinted through his glasses and yelled for us to clear out behind him, and fired only a few second latter.
Like a roman candle it sailed...right over the damn turret"
Uncle Bud laughed loudly taking a sip of his beer again.
"Poor kid missed, but he scared em some, because the tank started backing up instead of firing at us, and someone else fired a second L.A.W at it. Course the thing was a dub, clanked right off the armor, but just like that, the hatch flew open and a pair of hands shot up through it, in broken english a voice cried "No shot No shot"! and a little Cuban fella climbed out, followed by a kid about your (17) age"
(A photo of the tank in question, taken by Wayne)
"It turned out" he continued "They weren't even tankers, just the guys who kept watch on the thing, they barely knew how to drive it at all. We got lucky there. Course over the next day and a half we had plenty of guys wounded by snipers or booby traps. Still lucky given what the guys on the road went through. Now they had it rough"
(American jeep burning in downtown Pinar Del Rio, Cuban insurgents set up ambushes in the city, using houses for cover. Two dozen American soldiers were killed in the two day battle that followed operation Davy Crocket)
In the end Uncle Bud says they didn't do much.
"We got shot at, and we shot back. Thats the Army for ya"
Uncle Bud died two weeks ago, something about the stuff they were using to clear tries in the jungle. Some kind of chemical. I don't know why but this story has been on my mind since i heard. I didn't know Uncle Bud all that much, but maybe i know a bit about what he use to be, and learned a bit about what he was.
Soruces:
Wikipedia
My Uncle Bud
(Not sure if this format is allowed, but it was the easiest way to get this TL across)