It was Thanksgiving and only a week had past since Gator 297 was lost. The Plei-Trap had become a dirty word because we had lost four ships in the past six week in this area.

The 2nd Bde. of the 4th Infantry had been moved up from the south and now we were assigned to combat assault into different locations along the valley. I felt alone because many members of the platoon had DEROSed and new faces were now manning old friend's ships.

We began the day by moving troops into LZ Mile High from the staging areas at LZ Mary Lou. It was a secure firebase and we encountered no trouble. The next moved was into LZ Roberts. Artillery and gunships prepped the landing zone and again we received no fire.

The day continued as we hit locations along "Rocket Ridge". Once the troops were in place we started to re-supply them with sandbags, wire, trip flares and other supplies. By late afternoon we were sent to Kontum and loaded mermite cans with turkey and the fixins for the grunt's Thanksgiving dinner. Although some of the units didn't receive the plastic forks and plates they were suppose to everyone got some turkey. The looks we received as we delivered the dinners brightened the day for me.

We were released just before dark. My pockets were full of grunt letters that needed to be mailed when I got back to Holloway. To our surprise the mess hall was still open with our Thanksgiving dinner waiting for us. It wasn't the best turkey I ever had but I had a lot to be thankful for that day. I was still alive and had less then thirty days to go before DEROS.