When the area was secure at Fire Base Birmingham, we would pile into a duce and a half truck and drive down to the river where a water purification outfit for clean drinking water
was located. There was also an operation that dredged stone from the river bed to be used in construction. There was a wicked current on that part of the river and a vicious undertow that was created by the dredging operation leaving deep holes in the river bed. You had to be a strong swimmer to counter their effects, and a lot of the guys that went swimming with us couldn't swim well or at all. So we would try to keep an eye on them so they didn't get out in the main currents. I got into them a few times and had a hell of a time getting out of it. I was a very strong swimmer at the time, and I wanted nothing to do with it after getting sucked to the bottom of one of those holes. We had air matteresses to sleep on, when they held air long enough, but they made a great raft to float around on. Skinny dipping was the only way to go, the army wasn't issuing swimming trunks at the time, and underware were generally used to clean clean your weapons with. The only rags to be found were on your back, untill resupply got us new fatigues. And that wasn't done on a regular basis. I was especially watchfull when Maryland was with us. The man was from that state and we were always buggin each other about MD or NJ being the best state, so he got tagged with that nicname. I never really knew what his real name was. I think it was Hill, but I'm probably wrong. He was really scared of the water and couldn't swim a stroke. But with the unberable heat, the river was our only relief. I eventually got my R&R orders and asked one of the other guys to keep an eye on him at the river.
He must have forgot, or wasn't there one day when Maryland went swimming. Maryland got out into the heavy current on an air matteress and must have panicked or just slid off the matteress trying to paddle back to shore and was sucked straight to the bottom and never came back to the surface. They sent divers down. He was found at the bottom
of one of the holes that were left by the dredge. I was told about it when got back from R&R. I can't help thinking that if I had not gone away, he might still be alive today. I know it's not
really my fault, and I probably could not have helped him if I were there. But it's one of those things that come back to haunt when you least expect it. One more ghost from the past.
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