July 30, 2014 at 5:45 PM

Transcribed article from The Screaming Eagle weekly Army newspaper -- page 3
Vol. 1, No. 37 -- 101st Airborne Division -- December 9, 1968

CAMP EAGLE -- An attempt to rejoin his company after two months in the hospital became an adventure for a 3rd Brigade Paratrooper.

"I waited for several hours at the chopper pad trying to get to my company," said Spec. 4 John A. Lind, Sacramento, Calif. "Then someone pointed to a helicopter and said it was going out there.

Lind scrambled aboard the chopper, which carried him to what he thought was C Co., 1st Bn., 506th Abn. Inf.

"They let me off in the middle of a large rice paddy. I realized right away I was with D Co. and the reconnaissance element from E Co.," Lind said.

The D Co. commander told Lind to remain with the recon element until the next day. The resupply chopper would return and could move him to C Co.'s position, he suggested.

"Later, a fellow from E Co. and I dug in near a rice paddy dike as darkness approached," Lind said.

The Paratroopers set up their claymore mines and agreed to alternate guard every hour.

"On my second turn, I noticed an object about 30 meters out on the dike," Lind recalled.

He was certain the object, which appeared to be a log, had not been there during his previous watch.

"I woke my friend, who fired illumination rounds with his M 79 while I filled the 'log' with lead," Lind continued.

The "log" came to life and began crawling away, but Lind was able to put five more M 16 rounds into it.

"The next morning, we went out to check the object and found the 'log' to be a North Vietnamese Army regular with an AK 47 and three Chi Com grenades," Lind explained.

The next day Lind returned to C Co., his reorientation to combat already accomplished.

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