Conquering The Power Of Death
A Vietnam survival story
by
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The whine of the helicopter blades became louder in the background as the NVA advanced under a hail of automatic weapons fire, small arms, and rocket propelled grenades. Bone-rack could clearly see their faces now as he barked out corrections to ANGLICO. The ordinance found its mark but many NVA were still between the falling rounds and their perimeter. Pig man’s M-60 furiously took the enemy down but there were just too many. Bone-rack watched in horror as they swarmed over the concertina wire and made their way to the sandbags and to Pig man and Team Eagle. “Check your fire, check your fire” Bone-rack called out into the mike. “Danger close, drop 100 and fire for effect” Bone-rack said, “We have zips in the wire! Fire now, I say again, fire now!” He knew he was bringing the fire down on top of them all. It was no use, and Bone-rack went instinctively for his grenade launcher; he would either save or die with Pig man and Team Eagle.
Bone-rack watched everything unfold in slow motion. He thought back to his childhood, he saw his friends, his family, and he remembered his Catholic school upbringing. From somewhere in his memory he recalled the Sunday school teaching from Easter Season, the Resurrection of Christ, and the power of the words that to lay down one’s life for fellow human beings was the greatest of love; it was, in fact, conquering the power of death. By showing love for his fellow Marines to the extent of dying for them, he was defeating the author of death itself: the devil. He was no longer nineteen or naive.
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“How could this happen?” “It’s the ‘Nam man” said Pig man, “it happens.” Sarge thought about the young Marine; he should not have left him alone, even in the rear. Pig man glared at the young Marine’s bunk and realized he did not even know his full name, only that he was from somewhere in New York. Bone-rack stared at the floor, momentarily “happy” now he had “wasted” so many enemy that day and then profoundly sad that death was winning this war, on all sides. Angry, sad, incensed and then apprehensive, Bone-rack just wanted to go home: Home to where he had never voted, home to where he had only had a legal drink in his native state of New York but not elsewhere in states where the drinking age was 21, and home to where he had not even gotten laid. “God”, he thought, “what kind of hell was this? And who wants to win hearts and minds?” Bone-rack neither understood nor cared why they were in Vietnam, nor did he see any purpose in being there other than protecting his fellow Marines or perhaps saving a pilot. Why did they fight in the south when the enemy was in the north?
Somewhere deep in his Catholic upbringing though Bone-rack permitted the notion that this was a just war, it had to be or he was surely going to a hell worse than he was in. The Marine in Bone-rack wanted to rip out the heart and put a round through the mind of the enemy, but just who was the enemy? Then, upon reflection, he thought “Who am I to decide who the enemy is?” He also remembered that he volunteered for this, feeling it was his duty- duty, just war, hearts and minds, things that were confusing. What was crystal clear to Bone-rack was that another Marine was dead and it was not as a result of the front lines, the enemy, yes – but not on the front lines. “Hell” Bone-rack thought, “There were no lines, no rules, and no boundaries, there was only the absence of reason.” It did not seem sufficient to justify the loss of a good Marine.
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About the Book
Conquering The Power Of Death details the journey of one Marine radioman through 1970-71 Vietnam in the face of ubiquitous death. Whether using radio skills to call in air strikes and artillery or to help Marines contact their loved ones through the Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS), the young Marine’s encounter with death as a seemingly unstoppable force provides a glimpse into the horrors of war. Ambushes, daring rescues, poignant relationships, and civilian deaths compete with survival, maturity, and rites of passage to reveal life and death in a combat zone and afterwards.
The intricacies of a Tactical Recovery of Aircraft Personnel (TRAP) unit’s day to day efforts to rescue downed pilots and the sometimes mundane routine of MARS personnel plying their skills to keep Marines in touch with the “world” only highlight death’s ever present threat to mind, body, and soul. Death’s presence on the battlefield, in the “rear”, and in the ongoing lives of the Marines long after the war, however, begins to identity death’s ”Achilles’ Heel”; unwavering faith, love, and humility prove potent antidotes to death’s destructive prowess.
Enmeshed within the obvious need for the warrior Marine’s physical survival lies the need of the Marine war veteran to cope with a life scarred by trauma and loss; a timeless quest for any veteran and one examined in depth by Conquering The Power Of Death. Death, mythological death, romantic death, and death defined by the artist’s keen insight into the human condition provide the yardstick for the author’s measurement of death’s power while faith, scripture, discipline and love afford the author invaluable insights into the human ability to deal with a preordained force.
A highly personal plumbing of the depths where death resides and reigns in war provides a unique context for Conquering The Power of Death as well as an opportunity to unpack the emotions which travel with every combat warrior. It also provides a glimpse into Death stripped of its mystique, its presumed power, and its claimed finality.
About the Author
David Lee Foster, a long standing amateur radio operator (WA2BQT), served with the United States Marine Corps from 1968 through 1972 having been attached to both the First Marine Division and the First Marine Air Wing in and around Da Nang, Vietnam circa 1970 and 1971. His in-country service brought him into contact with several Northern I-Corps Marine Corps bases including those at An Hoa and Da Nang, Vietnam with Marine Corps MARS. As part of that contact, Sergeant Foster serviced elements of the First Marine Division Reconnaissance Battalion and the First Marine Air-wing.
Upon leaving the Marine Corps to return to school in 1972, Foster attended the University of Maryland at College Park, Maryland and Hobart College in Geneva, New York and both Cornell University School of Law and Hofstra Law School. He holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science and a J.D. in law. At the age of 50, he returned to divinity school at St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry in Rochester, New York earning an M. Div. degree.
A longtime trial and municipal attorney in Up-State, New York, Foster is involved with delivery of legal services to the indigent, private trial practice, and service as a municipal attorney in Geneva, New York. He is also involved with prison ministry and services to veterans.
Foster, 62, maintains homes in Geneva, New York and Key West, Florida, residing with his wife, Bonnie and is the father of four children ranging from 32 to 17.