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Dennis Alton Price
Arrived in South Vietnam - July 17, 1968
Killed by small arms fire in Long An Province - August 12, 1968
Buried near Minerva, Ohio - August 24, 1968
For Dennis it ended in less than a
month. For the rest of us, the agony lingers on for a lifetime. Rest well my friend. . .
We creep through the elephant grass toward a
wooded thicket, the platoon leader whispers, "Keep down, keep down".
The crack of rifle fire pierces the silence as something rips through my chest. Everything shifts to slow motion as I fall to my back. A man next to me cries, "Medic, medic" as he tears open my blood soaked shirt. The pain of the gauze pad pressing against my ribs is excruciating. The blood in my throat has an odd taste like salty Sangria. Small arms fire erupts from the thicket as a helicopter whirls overhead. The elephant grass sways in its wake like a hula skirt. I close my eyes shutting out the chaos that surrounds me. A voice says, "Hang in there kid."
I bolt upright in bed soaked in sweat. My wife
doesn't budge. She's been through this a thousand times over thirty years. Like always, my mind begins thinking of Denny.
- Richard Cook
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