Note:I have found this story in an "old webpage" that due to its inactivity was closed. http://www.vietnamstories.com/forum on "Stories" category.
Hello. My name is Edward Garner, a Vietnam war veteran that wants to share this story with all of you. I had the most horrific experience ever in the battlefield, but not for the war itself. I said to myself everyday if I have to go to the war aie, it will not be a problem. It was in 1966 and I was 26 years old with the rank of Sergeant, we were going to a Search and Destroy mission in Phu Bai, I was in charge of the "X-Ray Squad". The first time I entered to the barracks I encountered many familiar faces. On the corner, smoking a cigarette was Pvt. Straatman, known for being a complete asshole. Cpl. Wilson was sleeping on his bed. Pvt. Michaels was dominating Pvt. Gray in Arm Wrestling, Pvt. Orton and Pvt. Adams were listening to music. The place was too quiet. I expected a hot welcome from my comrades, but only Wilson stood up and salute.
I gave the instructions for my soldiers: We had to wake up at 0630, and go towards the jungle, so we could expect ambushes and other serious bullshit. We went deep into the jungle, it was a very cloudy day, Adams thought it would rain or something like that. I noticed that Gray's face was completely emotionless and asked him what was going on with him. Gray didn't say a word and his head pointed towards a dark cave. I made a finger gesture to Straatman and he threw a grenade to the cave. When it exploded, something let out a terrible painful screech. Gray went to the cave to see what screamed and the surprise was huge: Nobody was there, there was no dismembered limbs, no blood, and the "cave" was sealed, so it was just an empty hole. Then I made another gesture, then everybody went prone. We expected an ambush, but nothing happened, so we continued our way deeper. I thought we walked around 2 hours and we found nothing, but the supposed building we had to destroy. Orton and Adams entered the house and found 4 dead VC soldiers, the curious thing was, each body had a slashed chest. No one gave importance to this, but I investigated a little more the wounds the corpses had. The wounds were not made by knives, but with something sharper like a sword or a hatchet. The weird is, no U. S. Soldiers (at least the ones in Phu Bai) were carrying hatchets, axes or swords of any type but SOG knives.
Immediately, Michaels began to search for explosives while the rest were outside the house. Michaels didn't find anything. So just we put explosives to the house with VC supplies inside and an entrance to a kind of tunnel. Michaels wanted to go inside it but I said that the hole was not important for us right now and is risking his life for nothing. 20 minutes later we began to hear another screaming a few meters of our position. I told everyone to cover a flank and Gray to cover the hole just in case. Then, I walked slowly where I supposed the cry came. But again, we found nothing, but hearing it again from Gray's position. Gray started to shoot frantically to the hole and he fainted in an inexplainably way. We immediately aimed toward the hole. Straatman carried Gray and we walked back to the barracks. Nobody of us have experimented shellshock or consumed any drugs, so the screams were real, even if we said isn't. Real or not, we felt extremely disturbed due to the screaming.
Eventually, Gray woke up 10 minutes later. I asked what happened to him, but Gray didn't say anything again, I personally thought that the kid was very scared from the start. Wilson asked him what happened, but Gray still said nothing. Lt. Peterson called me to the radio, I informed about what happened in the jungle. And he had more instructions for us, it was just a nightwatch, we will be taking turns guarding the barracks.
It was around the 00 hours, when Michaels woke up from his sleep and went to guard the barracks, the weird here is that normally we listen to music when we go to sleep, but the music was interrupted by creepy sounds and static. I could not sleep. Gray whispered something like "Sorry guys, I love you, thanks for looking after me", Straatman, even being an asshole sometimes, said "You're welcome, brother". At this point everybody was sleeping, except me. I started to hear a woman crying and screaming on the radio while static sounding in the background and it scared the shit out of me, enough to see what is going on outside the barracks. The screaming was louder and everybody woke up as they saw I wasn't in my bed. What I saw was horrible... and marked me for the rest of my life.
I saw Michaels lying on the ground with his chest open and the word RAY written with his blood on the floor. I watched a strange silhouette far away and I started to shoot at it. My squad started to shoot at the figure too until it disappeared into the jungle, or at least I thought so. We carried the corpse of Michaels inside the barracks. Straatman said that his limbs were completely static when disappeared from our sights. For our surprise, the woman in the radio stopped crying and was only sobbing. But around 1 hour later, the woman began to scream and cry louder than before. I paid attention to what the woman was trying to say while screaming, as the static sound louder it became almost inaudible. I found that she was crying something like "Ray" or "Troy" or "Gay", then I suddenly yelled "GRAY!", then I thought that figure would appear again and I alerted all the guys. I was the first outside and I saw the corpse of Gray, with a wound on his head, telling me that he committed suicide. I decided to give advice to Lt. Peterson, but there was no signal. I just heard interferences with a kind of laughter in the background.
After the deaths of Michaels and Gray and thanks to Orton and Adams, who could give the advice to Peterson, our barrack has been relocated. We never saw that figure again, or at least me and my platoon. As 2 months later, a sergeant reported that 4 soldiers of his platoon committed suicide after watching, apparently, the eyes of the creature. I still don't know how Michaels was killed and I still have nightmares about that creature that I can swear to see from the corner of my eyes, every night at the window. I hope it's just a trauma.
RIP Gray and Michaels, America loves you two.
The supposed Phu Bai Figure