Happy Halloween! While I was writing Maryland Ghosts: Paranormal Encounters in the Free State, my Uncle Bernie sent me more than 30 stories from throughout his life in the form of hand-written letters. After Maryland Ghosts was first published in 2012, and featured most of his Maryland stories, we turned his remaining letters into an unpublished collection to share with family and friends called The Haunted Letters: True Tales from a Ghost-Storied Life. Here is another one of my favorite stories from that collection:
I Corps, Quang Ni Province, Vietnam, 1967
The month is late March 1967, and I am about to complete my third month of a 13-month combat tour. My platoon, reinforced, approximately 45 Marines and one corpsman, have been assigned to guard two artillery units—one is a U.S. Army 175 M.M. mobile howitzer unit, and the other is a South Korean 155 M.M. mobile howitzer unit.
In an attempt to keep myself clean, I would draw fresh water from a well inside our lines. The water was not for drinking, as I would take a bucket of water up and behind our squad tent, bird bath, and clean my jungle utilities. On one such occasion, I approached the well with rifle and bucket in hand. I was only a PFC then, had filled sandbags all day, and it was about 4:30 a.m. Suddenly, I saw a flash as light reflected off of something shiny and small! I thought perhaps an enemy soldier had gotten through the barb-and-razor wire and had booby-trapped the well! Upon further investigation, I could see a small metal object. I blew the sand away and found a Sacred Heart medal with the Blessed Virgin Mary on the other side. After my bath, I put the medal on my dog tag chain!
I ate my C-ration dinner and went to my assigned bunker for security watch for the night. Amelia, I have shared this story with only a few since 1967. Two Marines shared a bunker so one could rest on occasion! The days and nights all ran together back then, 53 years ago, at age 19.
That night, I noticed I could see and hear better than ever. I could smell better and had a sixth sense!
An inner voice told me that I would not be killed in Vietnam, although I was wounded on three separate occasions—April 12, May 18, and June 20, 1967. The enemy tried to overrun us that evening but were unsuccessful!
The next day, I noticed my Lieutenant, squad leader, and fire team leader all looked at me in an unusual way. They said I looked different; I had changed. I felt I had begun a relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary! And then, it all began, after we left the artillery outfit (30 days) and returned to our regular Alpha Company.
On day patrols, I could sense we were going to be ambushed, and we were! I told my squad leader every time I had the feeling, and then it would occur, until Corporal Mac finally asked me not to tell him anymore!
I felt wolflike with my senses, and noticed two other Marines had the same abilities, as they could see at night, hear like me, had senses like me, and had no apparent fear of death. The three of us became inseparable, and our officers took note! Soon the three of us were “walking point,” day and night, for the Alpha Company (150 Marines), 1st Battalion (600 Marines), and 7th Marine Regiment (2,000 Marines)!
The enemy felt we were dangerous and put a bounty on our heads, $500, ha! Pencil-drawn pictures of us began to appear on trees and fences! But as long as we remained together, it seemed you could not kill us. We got wounded together but stayed healthy.
The three of us once walked point for the 7th Marine Regiment, a round trip of 80 miles on a World War II Chinese paved road into the area of the North Vietnamese 2nd Division area, only to see tigers and elephants! We were lucky and blessed!
We should never have survived what we did. I got two battlefield promotions, one to Corporal, and one to Sergeant. And, in all their wisdom, the new officers separated us! On October 8, 1967, Sergeant Carl Boudreaux (The Fox) was wounded so badly he was rotated to the States, and I was not with him. On February 6, 1968, Sergeant Robert Ewoldt (Shorty) was killed in action, and I was not with him!
Sergeant Boudreaux did recover and passed away in July 2015. He lived a good life until the old wounds, and Agent Orange, finally took their toll. He was 67 years old.
I lost the medal in March 1967 while water skiing on the Severn River in Maryland. I tried to retrieve the medal as it sunk like a one cent piece! I could see the Blessed Virgin Mary’s face as she sank into the abyss of that river over 50 years ago! The meaning I placed on losing the medal was that Mary had guarded and protected me for several years and she felt I could make it on my own from there.
–B.W.M.
"The Virgin Mary Medal," copyright 2024 Bernard W. Masino and Amelia Cotter (first appeared in The Haunted Letters: True Tales from a Ghost-Storied Life, 2013 and 2020)
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