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Cpl. Don Sluder, "B" Co. 7th
Engineers, was killed by enemy action on Oct. 18, 1967. |
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Today, Feb.22, is Don Sluders birthday. He was a good friend and I think of
him everyday. This is what I remember of the day he and Jerry Baker got hit. We
arrived out on Hwy 1 early that morning to finish some repairs we had started
the day before. We should have been more alert as the usually heavily traveled
road was empty of traffic that morning - nothing - zip. But this is
afterthought. As everyone was gathering tools to start the job, Smith and I
grabbed the pick and shovel, leaving the jackhammer work for someone else. As
Smith and I headed towards a hole in the road, to start cleaning out the
loose materials. Cpl. Roman barked out "Hey you two get your ass over
here." "Smith and Hafer, you two are running the jackhammer
today." After pleading our case with Roman, we reluctantly handed
over our tools to Sluder and Baker, who proceeded to the pothole in the road. As
Cpl Roman started the air compressor, the engine took off with a roar. At this
moment, Sluder stuck his pick into the pot hole which was booby trapped. With
the noise of the air compressor we never heard the explosion, just the thud and
vibration. We quickly turned, only to see both men, like in slow motion, fall
back. Doc Hansen took control while, I believe Almeter, our radio man called in
the medivac chopper. Sluder died but I'm not sure when. If it was the same day
or a day later at DaNang Hospital? We have had conflicting reports on this.
Jerry Baker the last I heard, was in a hospital in Japan but he seems to have
just disappeared. Some say he lost his life as a result of these injuries but no
one can confirm this. Sluder was due to rotate back to the states10 days prior
to this tragedy, but choose to extend his duty in Vietnam by six months. Isn't
it strange how life can be. It gives you all these roads to travel, choose the
wrong one and you end up a statistic. Choose the right one and your writing
about the less fortunate ones. There isn't a day that goes by, that I don't stop
and wonder, why me. [Rich Hafer]
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Copy of Memorial Services for Don Sluder |
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Best I can remember on the Sluder/Baker incident was, we were fixing potholes on Route 1 just a little bit south of where Anderson Trail joined it. We'd use a jackhammer to dig out and reshape the pothole, shovel out the debris and then fill it with asphalt. Apparently, the team was broken into a few different crews, one using the jackhammer, one clearing the debis and another filling. As the story went, they quit for the night and left a couple of holes with the debris in them. In the morning, when they started again, the VC had hidden one of our frag grenades down under the debris in one of the holes. When Sluder and Baker removed the debris, the grenade blew. I was leaving the company that day and stopped by at China Beach hospital on the way. When I saw Baker in the hospital that afternoon, all I could see was one of his eyes for the bandages on his head and face and his body had stitches and clamps up the stomach. He was apparently pretty close to the grenade because he had blast injuries in addition to the fragments. He was conscious and blinked his eye when I held his hand and talked to him.
Sluder, on the other hand, was sitting up in bed with two medical guys picking
fragments out of his legs. We talked normally and he looked pretty good in
spite of being peppered by the little pieces of wire that our grenades put
out. He did have one busted eardrum also cause he couldn't hear me on one
side of the bed. I was shocked later to hear that a blood clot had
killed him and I never heard what happened to Baker. [Dick Phaneuf]
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The following photos are provided by Jerry Jetton and are
from his visit with Don's mother in Sept. of 2002. Mrs. Sluder is in the second
picture and is very grateful for the messages she has received from Don's Marine
Corps friends. (Click on photos to enlarge)
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