This story is a little different than the others I have shared. That’s because this is not my story, but my father's. This is my retelling of his unforgettable story about a near tragic event that transpired one night during the Vietnam War. Though many other memories relating to that period in his life have faded greatly, the one I am now retelling has remained deeply etched in his mind, almost as fresh as when it happened all those many years ago. But make no mistake, the gruesome horrors of war are not the focus here, this is all about being saved by nothing less than divine intervention.
My father was a young man of only 20 when he was drafted into the Army to go fight in the war, like so many other young men at that time. He and my mother had only been married a short while and were just beginning to settle into their life together. He completed basic training at Fort Polk in Louisiana and was then sent very shortly after overseas to that small foreign country of Vietnam.
The location of this story was a remote jungle area near the demilitarized zone known as Charlie Ridge, and the year was 1971. America’s involvement in the war would soon be coming to an end, but the fighting still waged on for many American troops.
It was common practice during the war for infantry units bivouacked (encamped) in the field, to place one or more rings of traps around their entire perimeter. These traps usually consisted of an almost invisible wire called a tripwire attached to a grenade, Claymore mine, or some other form of explosive device. Several purposes for these existed, one of them being early warning of an enemy assault, another being to confuse enemy troops and disrupt the assault’s integrity, and of course, to maim and kill the enemy. It is important to point out that even though this task was considered routine by most, there is a very real danger involved if not done according to procedure.
As it was, my father and a close buddy of his, who I will call John, were assigned the duty of placing an outer ring of traps around their unit’s perimeter. They had also been informed that a second two-man team was instructed to proceed with the placement of an inner ring, but only after confirmation that my father and his buddy had completed their task and returned.
So, with orders having been given and received, they grabbed the necessary equipment and exited the center confines of the perimeter… and were swallowed up by the thickets of the jungle vegetation quickly closing in around them. Their senses jumped instantly to peak then shifted into overdrive as they became visibly cut off from their unit.
Slowly they began circling their unit's perimeter, positioning traps across paths the enemy would most likely use as avenues of approach. One man guarding while the other constructed the simple, but effective security devices. The sun was on its downward slope, nearing dusk, but still offered enough of its illuminating light to allow them adequate time for completion.
After all were in place, they changed directions and started making their way back toward their unit’s center. My father lead the way in his preferred position on point, still cautiously, but somewhat more hurriedly then their previous pace. The sun was nearing the edge of the horizon now and the light was beginning to separate into the many red, yellow, and orange colors of a sunset. Hundreds of shadows had taken up resident in the thick foliage, cast down by the mammoth leaves of the closely grown jungle trees.
Suddenly, an intense feeling of immediate danger overcame my father causing him to halt, frozen in his tracks. It was as if someone standing beside him yelled, “Stop!” directly into his ears. John, trailing close behind, advanced forward to his position in order to inquire about the reason for the hold up. They briefly discussed the feeling and dismissed it just as quickly, guessing that it was nothing more than being too overly cautious.
My father continued moving forward, a dozen steps or so and he halted, frozen in place once again. The feeling of danger entered his head a second time, much sharper and with increased urgency, as if being slapped hard in the face.
He carefully scanned the surrounding area and listened intently for any signs that would alert his senses to a justifiable source of danger. Seeing and hearing nothing, he glanced quickly back at John then stepped off down the trail again. This time moving only two short strides before finding himself completely paralyzed with the feeling of danger; and unable to continue forward anymore against an irresistible force.
It was so powerful and overwhelming, that to this day he does not believe he could have moved forward against it even if he had wanted. Like being held back by an invisible supernatural presence pressing solidly against him.
Unwilling anymore to fight against the feeling of danger and that impossible force holding him back, he made a sharp right turn, went straight for several steps, turned back toward camp, and proceeded in without further incident. Knowing that the other team had orders to place an inner ring of perimeter traps and was still waiting for their return, they went to find them as quickly as possible.
Very much to their surprise, they learned that the second two-man team had already completed their task and placed their inner-ring of traps around the perimeter about an hour before. Now to spare you the details, I won’t describe the events that unfolded over those next several minutes, but to put it mildly… my father and John were not happy after having learned that news.
Early the next morning both teams went out together to retrieve the traps they had set the night before. This was necessary because the location of the traps in the inner ring was unknown to my father and John, and they would have put themselves in great danger if they traveled ahead of the other team.
As they arrived at the location of the first trap in the inner ring, they discovered boot prints on the other side only a single step from the tripwire. My father and John knew immediately what they were seeing, but proceeded to investigate further to be absolutely sure they were not mistaken.
They could see the trail they took leading up to it. They could see where they turned away. As my father stood there, his eyes bouncing back and forth between the tripwire and his boot prints, the reality of what transpired the night before began to fully set in.
If it were not for the invisible force that stood in his way, and had he taken one more step that night, it would without a doubt had been his last.
There are some who would argue that what happened was a product of human instinct. My father, however, knows that it was God's intervention that saved him that night. He has no doubt that Holy Spirt impressed the coming danger on him, and that it may have even been an angel pressing against him... preventing him from taking that last and final step.
Myself, having grown up hearing this story and knowing both my earthly father and my heavenly One, I have no doubt that the intervention was divine.
Only God knows why He saved my father that night when so many others perished in that war, but that very same day he received new orders and was reassigned to be a chaplain's assistant for his remaining time in country.
