As I was getting directions and instructions to my soon to be home in Ben Het, I noticed the warrant officer, Nathan Trujillo, who was sitting across from me jumped up and started running out of our tin clad building. As he got closer to the door a round landed nearly on top of the building and metal started ricocheting off of it's tin roof. As he got to the doorway he yelled back to me and said "follow me". I finally realized what was going on. It was a rocket attack on Artillery Hill. As we ran out of the building a tremendous thud sounded right next to me. At this point I was too scared to look, though I wasn't too scared to run like hell. We soon reached a nearby underground bunker and went in. Shortly after the noise from the explosions stopped I went back to see what the big thud was. Sticking out of the ground about 5 feet was a dud 122 rocket. I now know God meant for me to stay alive. Had that rocket gone off it would have been hard to find my dog tags. The man upstairs was with me that day.

Artillery Hill, Pleiku 1969

David P. Cotlow
F.O., A.O., X.O, B Btry Comander 6/14 Ben Het '69-'70

View of Artillery Hill - Photo from Paul Wilcox