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>Hi Brittany, > >Rats in Vietnam came in varying sizes. I was already >three months in-country when I first arrived at our An >Hoa (pronounced "Ann Waah") 175-millimeter gun >artillery firebase. The marine who introduced me >around to the other guys showed me a "Wanted - Dead or >Alive" poster of "Big Al", a Viet Cong rat that was >terrorizing the gun crews at one end of our >cantonement at night. The poster described this >creature as 6 feet 2 and 240 pounds. Of course, I >laughed at the accompanying picture of a hand-drawn >rat who was sitting on his haunches and carrying an >M-60 (machine gun) on his lap, crossed ammo belts >across his chest, a scowl on his long snout, and a >tiny helmet on his head. > >Two weeks later, when I went over to the ammo box wall >(105 millimeter wooden crates filled with dirt and >half-lapped like bricks to [hopefully] stop >fragmentation from mortars and rockets), for my >morning shave and teeth brushing, I saw "Big Al" >stretched out cold with a sizeable chunk of meat >missing from his back. > >The story related to me by one of our gun sergeants is >that he had killed Big Al during the night with his >bayonet. Our sergeant described that night of >hand-to-paw combat. The sergeant was armed with only >his bayonet and a flashlight and Big Al snarled and >hissed at the light shining into his beady eyes and >was armed with his two big sharp front incisors. (As >an aside, the sergeant relayed that he had wanted to >face Al with his military-issue .45 pistol, but the >gunny in charge of our operations didn't want any >gunshots within the perimeter of the firebase at >night--his rationale: it might spook the sleeping >troops into a "friendly fire" incident while thinking >we were being overrun.) > >I kid you not, Big Al (now dead) was approximately 26 >inches plus another 10 inches of tail. No one had a >tape measure at the time, but my recollection is still >pretty good (from the butt of my M-16 to well past the >receiver was my measurement). Big Al was the largest >rat I ever saw overseas, and his untimely death ended >a reign of terror for that sergeant. > >Big Al's smaller (rat) companions did bite people and >often my buddies slept with a military-issue green >wool blanket over their heads to keep from getting >bitten in the night. Remember, it was HOT over there, >so keeping a woolen blanket over your face during the >only relatively cool time was almost torture in >itself. > >I saw a guy with a fresh rat bite. It didn't look >nice. Rat bites left scars on guy's faces, and the >rats ate everything that wasn't protected in something >made of metal. Old cookie tins and three-pound coffee >cans (with plastic lids) were prized items at many >base camps in Nam. > >Some rats were just plain sadistic and would jump on >people and wake them up at all hours of the night. We >generally never got much more than about 5 to 6 hours >of sleep a night, so getting wakened by a >mean-spirited rat was a real pain. > >As for a man-eating rats in WWII...well...all I can >think is...you'd have to be "dead" to put up with it, >don't you think? > >Semper fi, > >Harry
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