Cpl. Sam Yarosh

¾ 3Mar. Div. H&S CO.

Weapons Plt. Flamethrower & 50 Cal. Section

My squad was sent to Firebase Russell a week or so after February 25 1969.

We were sent there to rebuild the firebase and reconstruct the outer perimeter. We imbedded 55 gal drums of napalm with 20 lb. shape charges around the perimeter and rebuilt bunkers and the lines. My bunker was to the right of the conduit to the trash pile. We had that section of the lines for months. Firebase Russell as with the other Firebases in I Corp were mentally and physically grueling. We stood watch at night went out on LP’s and worked on the lines during daylight.

I was on Firebase Russell for about a month when was hit. I was outside the wire getting ready to burn the Jungle back when I hit a trip wire, there was an explosion and shrapnel hit me in the back. There were two or more of us hit by shrapnel, I was med-a-vac to the USS Sanctuary.

My first memory of the sanctuary is when I was taken into one of the wards.

I was laying face up on a stretcher just inside the doorway of the ward, they were signing me in. A nurse was standing with her back to me eating a sandwich.

She started to sniff the air around her and looked back over her shoulder directly at me and gasped “oh my god” she stuffed the remains of the sandwich in my mouth and as she was exiting the ward she began to vomit.

I was unable to wash for months on Russel, everybody smelled the same.  

The corpman gave me a chair and several bars of soap and pointed to the showers. That was the first shower I had taken in months, there were a few rain storms I stood on top of my bunker when I was on Russell, but this was real hot water with soap and everything. I was in that shower for hours.

The next morning I was able to go to the mess for breakfast, it was a grand experience eating eggs over easy pancakes with butter and syrup.

I was sent back to Russell after two weeks on the Sanctuary. I left Russell in May and served time at Con Thien, Dong Ha Mountain, KG Bridge, Vandergrif, Carroll, Gio Lyn, Rockpile, and other firebases in I corp.

In August of 1969 my Gunny offered me a transfer to the 3Rd. Marine Div. MP’s. I had been hit twice had other injuries and had lost about 50lbs. I did not want to leave my unit.  The way Gunny explained it was “if you stay and get wasted it won’t make any difference, if you loose an arm or leg it will make a big difference in the rest your life.”  I took the transfer.

I Arrived back home in late December of 1969, I weighed 124 pounds. I was given an early out in February of 1970.  I wanted to finish high school and attended Wyoming Valley West in Kingston Pa.  I was back in school with students who were a few years younger than me, but they were the brothers and sisters of the friends I had gone to school with before I left to join the Marines.

One Friday the entire student body was scheduled for an event in the auditorium. Two of the students dressed in semi military uniforms with shouldered simulated rifles began dancing as the curtain was drawn open on the stage. They chanted and sang arm in arm as they protested the War in Viet Nam.

One of the students commented that I should not be allowed to attend Wyoming Valley West High School for my participation in the War.  To this day I have never been invited to a class reunion.

I made appointments with the VA. In 1970, for treatment of the wounds and injuries I received In Viet Nam.  I was put off for several years while they “Looked for my paperwork”.  The VA left me untreated until 1997 when I finally received help from an outreach center, my medical records and all other hospital records for entire year of 1969 were completely deleted from my medical files.

 In 1974 I was recruited into the Secret Service Uniformed Division.  The first few years went very well. I qualified for the Secret Service Pistol and Rifle Team and was transferred to the training division. At the training division I was a Counter Sniper/Counter Sniper Instructor. Firearms training instructor/Counter Assault team firearms training instructor.

In 1979 I had a severe change take place in my personality, I had martial problems, I was rotated out of the Training division and had financial problems. I was at the on set of PTSD, and did not know it. I went untreated until 1997.

The VA. Did one thing right, they assigned a young Doctor to me.  She has been a turning point. I am able to receive treatment for PTSD, and for the wounds and injuries that I received in Viet Nam.

One of the most defining moments of my experience in Viet Nam was when my squad leader, Cpl. Johnny Lopez drug me to safety during incoming one night at Vandergrif combat base, he saved my life. He was my mentor, he taught me how to survive on a daily basis. He guided me, and sent me on a direction that helped me through life. I will in always be grateful to him for the time he spent teaching me.