Doughboy, John Marshall Remembers
These
are
my heroes and they have been for 52 years.
Wayne Benes died 52 years ago today
because even though we were under heavy fire he chose to
expose him to that
fire so that he could bandage my sucking chest wound.
He was also shot in the chest, but the bullet
hit his heart and he bled to death after saying he would try
to help another.
A
few minutes later Mike Paonessa helped load me onto one of my
units helicopters
so that I could be med-evaced.
Along with
a couple of others he also exposed himself to enemy fire to
load me onto that
helicopter.
As the helicopter lifted off it was hit by a rocket propelled
grenade and it crashed on top of him.
He was pinned under it and suffered until
the next day when they were able to extract him.
Because of all the fuel that
was puddled around him he died shortly after arriving at the
hospital from
extensive damage to his lungs from chemical burns.
Wayne and Mike weren’t my only heroes that
day.
The crew of the helicopter risked it all to try to get me to
safety.
Fortunately they all survived the crash.
Members of my unit helped me out of
the crashed helicopter.
Others loaded me into a sunken sampan and dragged me to
safety in it.
During all this the gunships from my unit continued to
suppress
the enemy fire, as did the members of my platoon.
I was picked up and flown to
safety by one of the scout platoon helicopters.
I am here today because of all the members of D Troop 3/5 Cav
and the
extraordinary medical staff at the aid station and hospitals.
They are all MY HEROES. I think of them every
day, but especially on each anniversary.
THANK YOU ALL.
Ronald Delp
October,18 2020