Mountain Man ? You Gotta Smell'em
#7174731
02/09/21 12:15 AM
02/09/21 12:15 AM
|
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,140 Texas Hill Country
Cedar Hacker
OP
trapper
|
OP
trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,140
Texas Hill Country
|
I think maybe so. This is a true account of an event. No fiction, just some of the language has been toned down or altered for the forum. The teller of this will turn 91 next month. He went on to serve as a sniper in Korea with 32 confirmed hits and 29 probables. He used his VA benefits to get a PHD. in wildlife biology, is a well known researcher and a world recognized expert in some mammal species. I can set and visit with him for hours on end.
Korea – 1952 Mountain Man
Smell'em
It was really dark that night, so dark we couldn't see three feet from our hole. It had been raining for days and our hole was a soggy bathtub that we kept bailing out with the steel shells of our helmets but there was really no place for the water to go.
We had taken the hill three and a half days ago and had repulsed three days of counter attacks, mostly at night. The last attempt to drive us off the hill had been a half-hearted one that morning. Since then it had just been a continuous bombardment of 120 mm artillery. That led us to believe they were planning something for that night. We had no wire in front of us. None had been brought up the hill. Very little had been brought up except ammunition. They could have sent us something to eat, but they hadn't. We had been issued three days of assault rations, but like soldiers throughout the history of warfare, we had eaten it all on the first day.
It was 0200 hours on the fourth day and we had been awake for three days and nights. Forty-eight hours without sleep is not so hard when you are getting shot at and fighting off counter attacks. After 72 hours, life gets a little weird and it gets harder to focus on what you are supposed to be doing. You begin to hallucinate at night and see things that are not there. Even imagine things that didn't happen.
It was at this point that Red whispered to me “they're out there.” Who's out there ? “Enemy are,” said Red Where ? “In front of us --- and close.” How do you know ? I can't see a thing. “I can smell 'em'. “ Do what ? I can't smell a thing. “You got a cold?” No I don't have a cold, I just can't smell 'em --- and you can't either. “The heck I can't smell the stinking yellow turds. They're not 10 yards from us and I could spit on them from here.” Chinese or Korean ? “Chinese.” You can tell the difference ? “Yes I sure can.”
With that said, Red eased the pin out of a hand grenade, let the “spoon” off and counted one, two, and gently lobbed the grenade out in front of our hole. We ducked down in our hole and waited two seconds , the grenade exploded and the flash was followed by a scream or maybe two screams at the same time. After that it was quiet and we were wide awake now.
Red said that he could still smell'em but he thought they were dead. “They're not moving any more and I think they're dead. I can smell their blood.” You're crazy, I said. Smell their blood ? For crying out loud. You can't smell their blood. “The heck I can't. I smelled the stinking turds didn't I. You can't tell me I didn't smell any turds. I can still smell the yellow turds and they are as dead as four o'clock. Just you wait till morning and you'll see.”
As it dawned, wet and steamy, we could see two dead Chinese --- maybe five yards from our hole and beyond that a trail of blood down the hill. Red said “see, there they are just like I told you. They're dead now, just like I said they were. You gotta get over that cold Carter. You gotta be able to smell'em when it's too dark to see'em.”
Red was from somewhere in the hills of eastern Tennessee and was easy with the darkest night. No doubt he had spent a lot of time chasing coon hounds through the woods at night. He was a true mountain man with the senses of a caveman. He could always see, hear and smell things the rest of us couldn't.
Sit on your horse on top of a ridge, look out across the country and tell me there is no God.
|
|
|
Re: Mountain Man ? You Gotta Smell'em
[Re: Cedar Hacker]
#7174755
02/09/21 12:46 AM
02/09/21 12:46 AM
|
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,337 The Hill Country of Texas
Leftlane
"HOSS"
|
"HOSS"
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,337
The Hill Country of Texas
|
No nice tryinta sneak up on Red at night. Not smart either it doesn't sound like.
“What’s good for me may not be good for the weak minded.” Captain Gus McCrae- Texas Rangers
|
|
|
Re: Mountain Man ? You Gotta Smell'em
[Re: Cedar Hacker]
#7175012
02/09/21 11:11 AM
02/09/21 11:11 AM
|
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 5,898 michigan,USA
seniortrap
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 5,898
michigan,USA
|
I can believe that he could determine a scent of a nature that wasn't in his group of GI's. If they were eating a lot of Kempshi (sp), its got a strong smell.
Vietnam--1967 46th. Const./Combat Engineers
"Chaotic action is preferable to orderly inaction." "After the first shot, all plans go out the window!"
|
|
|
Re: Mountain Man ? You Gotta Smell'em
[Re: Cedar Hacker]
#7175018
02/09/21 11:14 AM
02/09/21 11:14 AM
|
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 5,898 michigan,USA
seniortrap
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 5,898
michigan,USA
|
Our soldiers in Nam were told, " if you go out on a 30 day stay, careful what your eating, the enemy can smell the food in your waste.
Then they can determine who you are, and what decisive moves to make. Often we ate rice and fish. What I was told.
Last edited by seniortrap; 02/09/21 11:14 AM.
Vietnam--1967 46th. Const./Combat Engineers
"Chaotic action is preferable to orderly inaction." "After the first shot, all plans go out the window!"
|
|
|
Re: Mountain Man ? You Gotta Smell'em
[Re: Cedar Hacker]
#7175039
02/09/21 11:29 AM
02/09/21 11:29 AM
|
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 15,710 MN, Land of 10,000 Lakes
Trapper7
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 15,710
MN, Land of 10,000 Lakes
|
We have quite a few Somalis in our area. They have an odor that distinguishes them from others. Some say it's because of a tea-like beverage that most of them drink.
The difference between animals and humans is that animals would never let the dumbest ones lead the pack.
|
|
|
Re: Mountain Man ? You Gotta Smell'em
[Re: Cedar Hacker]
#7175109
02/09/21 12:18 PM
02/09/21 12:18 PM
|
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 1,971 Peoria County Illinois
Larry Baer
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 1,971
Peoria County Illinois
|
That's a great story. Well written too. Good job.
I can smell coyote and raccoon order coming out of my pores a couple days after I start skinning. Blood does smell. I bet most of you can smell things like that.
Just passin through
|
|
|
Re: Mountain Man ? You Gotta Smell'em
[Re: seniortrap]
#7175134
02/09/21 12:36 PM
02/09/21 12:36 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 2,792 Western Shore Delaware
SJA
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 2,792
Western Shore Delaware
|
Our soldiers in Nam were told, " if you go out on a 30 day stay, careful what your eating, the enemy can smell the food in your waste.
Then they can determine who you are, and what decisive moves to make. Often we ate rice and fish. What I was told. If anyone has ever eaten, or been around someone that has eaten, Petai aka "Stink Beans" You better believe you will smell them! One of the favorite foods of Asians. Turn your pee green and the smell . . . WHoooooo!
"Humans are the hardest people to get along with." Dr. Phillip Snow
|
|
|
Re: Mountain Man ? You Gotta Smell'em
[Re: Cedar Hacker]
#7175157
02/09/21 12:55 PM
02/09/21 12:55 PM
|
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,337 The Hill Country of Texas
Leftlane
"HOSS"
|
"HOSS"
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,337
The Hill Country of Texas
|
My ex FIL is a smallish man and says he was in Nam and then back home again before he ever heard the term tunnel rat. He has always said if your Sargent said recon that hole that the smell alone would let you know whether there were humans hidin down there for any length of time and maybe even worse snakes. He said about half of the holes had booby traps or some kind in his area. He said they could be anything from stolen claymores, grenades with the handle squeezed by a trip wire, or sharpened bamboo sticks that had probably been soaked over night in human waste so if they so much as broke your skin you would get a jungle infection that would likely put you out of action for weeks if not months. He said SOP was if you think the enemy soldiers were down there no flashlight but if you didn't suspect other human beings then a flashlight was of course great to find snakes b4 they found you or traps. The whole thing made my skin crawl.
He didn't talk about 'Nam very often but when he did it always made me wonder what layer of hel that must have been for an 18-19 year old boy
“What’s good for me may not be good for the weak minded.” Captain Gus McCrae- Texas Rangers
|
|
|
Re: Mountain Man ? You Gotta Smell'em
[Re: Cedar Hacker]
#7179142
02/12/21 11:31 AM
02/12/21 11:31 AM
|
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 5,898 michigan,USA
seniortrap
trapper
|
trapper
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 5,898
michigan,USA
|
I was asked once by an NCO to take a look in a tunnel. I told him, "that is not my MOS"! "If you want to stop whatever is in there, give me a grenade and stand back!
Then I'll proceed to bury it with my dozer. And hope that works."
Vietnam--1967 46th. Const./Combat Engineers
"Chaotic action is preferable to orderly inaction." "After the first shot, all plans go out the window!"
|
|
|
|
|