When a 155 howitzer shoots out


A near fatal mistake

It had been a misribley hot and humid day. There had been an unusually large number of details(extra duty)to get stuck with. About the only thing thing that kept me from loosing it completley was that it was my turn to have the nighe off. Free of fire missions, guard duty, and radio watch. As soon as I got done with the detail that I got nailed with and finished with chow I went to the bunker where a case of Black Lable Beer was waiting with my name on it.
You see, beer was not an easy thing to get at times. And this was one of those times. But I had managed to wheel and deal myself into a stray case. I was looking forward to a whole night of undisturbed sleep, that only happened once a week. And that case of beer was what would insure that I slept like a baby. So I proceded to get toasted, then crawled into the sack to pass out. It was dark by now and as I started to go under I vaguely recall a fire mission being called down to the gun sections, and the rest of the guys running up to the guns. It was an exceptionally long fire mission. Eventually I drifted off to never never land. I don't know how long I was out before all hell broke loose. There was a loud explosion that woke me up just in time to hear all sorts of stuff hit the side and top of the bunker along with a lot of yelling a screaming. I just about fell out of my rack. Then ran up to the guns to see what was going on. What I saw was #6 sections bunker totally leveled. Everyone was trying to see if anyone was still inside. No one was. It had been hit with a 155 shell, fired from the battery down the hill from us. It was a National Guard 155 unit that was new in country. One of the sections had not layed out, or forgot where thier no fire zones were, and put a round through the side of the bunker during their fire mission. They were so confused that they also forgot to put a fuse in that round. Very lucky for us. The next day they had to send a very large detail up to rebuild the bunker. I think they learned a lesson that night. LOOK before you shoot. I didn't get my night off after all.
Murphys law got me again.

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