2N  DON’T SIT OVER THERE

On Nui Ba Den we kept benches around the twelve-foot water tower so the men could relax while waiting for the mess hall to open. The benches could accommodate around fifteen men, and everyone usually had an enjoyable time joking around or reading letters from home. The ground around the tower was always damp, with occasional puddles caused by the tower’s condensation. There were four oddly shaped three-inch holes approximately one foot apart under the bench facing the mess hall. The holes did not look fresh, so everyone assumed they were old rat holes and ignored them. On an early morning inspection of the mess hall, I passed the water tower and was surprised to see two large dead snakes with their bodies twisted around each other in a death grip, their jaws grasping each other’s body. It was obvious that each snake died by the other snake’s venom. We removed the bodies of the King Cobra and the unknown snake and then I had the benches removed.
The last thing I needed to do was to write a letter to a parent whose son had died in Vietnam by a venomous snake bite. It just was not going to happen on my watch.