accounts, the history behind an article. Many of the systems were… I’m sure a psychiatrist could explain it in technical terms, but it was fairly obvious that the alcohol, the behavior and the special comradeship enjoyed by the “old hands” were all a means of shutting away the nasty stuff, enabling us to get on with the continuing task in the months ahead. Fortunately the grenade hit a dirt mound, absorbing the explosion. Their mission was to dispatch any enemy soldiers they found inside, or recover any useful materials left behind. But often they would find clothes, sheets and medical supplies. Jim Marett served in the Vietnam War with the Royal Australian Engineers. Three of these “tunnel rat” veterans of Vietnam joined the Forest Lake community at a two-hour commemoration of Vietnam Veterans Day at American Legion Post 225 March 29. It was sometimes difficult to identify the vast network of hidden tunnels used by Viet Cong for stealthy navigation and as hideouts. It was the end of ambushes and patrols beyond the wire. or anything. October 1 – Mao, fearing Soviet encirclement, commissions Edgar Snow to signal that he desired a new meeting with the U.S. October 7 – During a TV speech, President Nixon proposes a “standstill” cease-fire in which all troops would stop shooting and remain in place pending a formal peace agreement. I arrived in Vietnam on June 11, 1969, with the rank of sapper, the Engineer Corps equivalent of a private in infantry. 1, could handle it. The Bayport American Legion will host a community conversation about the Vietnam War at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 25. Hear their stories: In 1946, Viet Minh (a predecessor to Viet Cong) resistance fighters began digging the tunnels and bunkers throughout the countryside to combat the French, whom they would eventually defeat. Armed with only a flashlight, a single pistol, or maybe just a knife, a "tunnel rat" didn't have much in the way of defense as they crawled in to clear these tunnels. that is degrading to another person. Errors in the Official Commemoration Website, Resources for Learning about the American War in Viet Nam. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism Photo: Sapper Jim Marett outside the ruins of a rubber plantation mansion in Vietnam in 1970. “You haven’t been here long enough to see this, anyway.” Geoff and Rod, also a No. Geoff knew that one of our fellow tunnel rats, Sapper Robert Earl, known as Yogi, was the No. We soon learned that the battalion’s 7 Platoon had hit the mine, and that about half of the 24-man platoon were casualties. It was maybe 300 feet from our position. After deafening shots rang out and reverberated off of tunnel walls, the enemy would left puzzled as to how many rounds they had left.