I Carried Him Across the Stream

In the ambush of 20 April, a fourth was KIA — Stan Sargent, severely wounded, evaded and died the next day. He was my squad's assistant machine gunner. The back of his skull was blown off but he lived till the next day.

My squad's machine gunner, Steve Schneck, was severely wounded at the same time as Stan Sargent when two Chicom mines were blown in the trees above them. Steve's back had hundreds of pieces of shrapnel and his back was shredded. When I saw him, he was sitting in the draw, head hanging down between his legs — this was during the firefight.

I was heading to support the right flank and saw him sitting hunched over. I stopped and asked if he was alright. He looked up, stared at me the longest time, and I could tell he was in shock. He said "I'm okay." But I knew he wasn't. I put my hand on his shoulder, felt it was soaking wet, looked, and that's when I saw his back was shredded and soaked in blood.

I told Steve I was going to get him across the stream to a medic and be medevaced out. I picked him up, handed him his M16, grabbed mine, and asked Bill Marr — my squad leader — to pull security for me so I could get Steve to medical help. I carried him across the stream.

When I crossed, I found Stan Dillon sitting on the embankment. He also was in shock. He and Steve both had that thousand-yard stare. I yelled for a medic three or four times and waited a couple of minutes but no one showed up. Then I heard Neal telling me to get back across the stream to my platoon. I said "I'm going" — just as mean as I could make my voice sound. I went back across the stream not knowing if a medic had ever come to help Stan and Steve.

I never found out until 2004 at my very first reunion, in San Diego, that they had both lived. Steve told me that I had saved his life by getting him aid so quickly. That's what the surgeon had told him after his operation — if it had taken any longer for treatment, he wouldn't have made it.