Colonel Pete Stuck
This is Willi's recollection of an incident involving then Major Peterson,
and a little time on the ground (or partially in the ground) outside Cu Chi.
Date: January 1967
I think it was the second time I took a ride out of the wire, probably for some door gun practice. So this must have been mid Jan. 67. We were headed back in to refuel and rearm when we got a call that Maj. Peterson needed some assistance. Our Infantry was not too far out to the north west (you could still see the camp) in some rice paddies. They were hunkered down on a dike and Maj. Peterson for some reason just had to be with them.
When we got there we found that he had been dropped off in the middle of the rice paddy and was stuck. I thought we might hover over and pluck him out, but that was not what happened. I was the lucky one who got to jump in with him and help him out. Probably because I only had one stripe. I don't remember who helped who out but we got out. All I really remember is being scared to death thinking I'm not supposed to be in a rice paddy, I'm not a grunt. Just the first of many times I would be on the ground outside the wire.