God in the Foxhole by Charles W. Sasser

Author:Charles W. Sasser
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2008-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

“It’s that crazy Lieutenant Ruffer!”

Other Marines picked up the chorus. It radiated around the perimeter until all able Marines, including the wounded, filled the night with the words of their brave fight song. Gaddy felt a surge of pride swelling his chest. They were the Marines, the badass, kick-butt Marines, and they could take anything the enemy threw and deal back double. He might die tonight, but God was granting him his request to die like a man. Like a United States Marine.

Amid the roar of battle and the overwhelming rough harmony of Marines, Lieutenant Ruffer’s shouts of encouragement rang out: “Let’s go! Let’s go, Charlie! Let’s go get some!”

Brandishing a .45 pistol, he charged, firing to either side and pulling other Marines along with him. A grenade bounced off his back while another landed in front of him at the same time. The explosions all but took his hearing. He and his band of warriors continued their counterattack.

The enemy withdrew from inside friendly lines, running for their lives against the disturbing presence of crazy Americans who sang as loud as they could while dealing death from both hands. The VC left at least a half dozen of their own dead on the LZ.

The battle went on for four hours without pause. The enemy hurled himself against one point in the line, then withdrew to attack another sector. Marines were beginning to run out of ammunition. Corporal Ken Chambers was down to a machete. Morale was nonetheless high, and every now and then a fierce voice broke out spontaneously with another verse of the hymn.

When Delta Company drew near to reinforce besieged Charlie, Lieutenant Ruffer volunteered to meet the relief force and guide it safely through to the fortified LZ. Fresh Marines shouted encouragement to their compatriots as they flowed into the perimeter to expand and reinforce defenses.

That did it. Enemy fire ceased abruptly. NVA companies melted away into the jungle, soundly drubbed by the crazy Lieutenant Ruffer and his equally crazy choir of fighters.

“If it doesn’t rain now,” commented Private First Class Chesty Story, looking up at the moon, “we’ll make it after all. We can see them if they come back.”

The rest of the night remained clear for the first time in two weeks. Moonshine brightly lit the makeshift LZ until 0500 when the eastern sky brightened into Friday the 13th of October.

“Amen,” whispered Lance Corporal Bob Gaddy, who had survived the battle unscathed. “Dear God…thank You.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.