The word had come down that our detachment was going to do  a sampan operation with two boats.  The plan was to put a couple of sampans across the bow and stern engine covers of the Light SEAL Support Craft (LSSC) and the Medium SEAL Support Craft (MSSC) would act as cover boat for the insertion of the leader.  When the canal water got too shallow for the boats, the sampans were off-loaded for the SEALs and they would use these craft to move further down the canal.

 

Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class (BM2) Austin Moore was driving the LSSC with a squad of SEALs and two of our guys as gunners.  Gunner's Mate (Guns) 3rd Class Dick Kusch was in the MSSC on the starboard .50 Browning machine gun.  The MSSC carried the remainder of the SEAL platoon with some additional sampans.

 

Both boats proceeded slowly down the canal.  The moon had not come up and only starlight provided enough light to make out the water from the canal banks.  Both boats had underwater exhaust to muffle the engine noise and that's probably what got them past the initial ambush site. 

 

Suddenly, there was a flash and a trail of fire shot past the MSSC.  It clipped the sampan laid cross-wise on the bow of the LSSC.  There was an explosion that reduced the sampan to kindling.  Both boats opened fire on the banks with their guns and the SEALs joined-in with their weapons.

 

Dick Kusch was hammering the bank with his .50 Browning when the gun began jamming.  Dick reached up, pulled the retracting slide back to clear the round, and resumed firing.  BLAM!  The gun stopped firing. 

 

Dick felt a stinging pain high on his right thigh near the groin.  His leg collapsed beneath him and he was on his back staring up at the fabric of the canopy of the boat's well deck.

 

"I'm hit!"

 

The SEAL corpsman responded immediately.  He rushed to Dick's side.  "Where?"

 

"Here," said Dick as he held is hand over the spot and fearing the worst.  The SEAL corpsman pulled out his pen light, opened Dick's flak jacket, loosened his belt, pulled open the trousers with the expectation of a bloody hole.  The pen light revealed a huge bruise, but no break in the skin.

 

"You're OK.  You weren't hit.  It's just a huge bruise."

 

It occurred to Dick that he didn't feel any blood and he was able to get up.  He went back to his gun but it was jammed.  He then switched to an M60 to finish the fight.

 

Within 10 minutes the flashing red strobe lights of our aerial guardians, the UH-1B helicopter gunships of Helicopter Attack Squatron (Light) THREE (HAL-3) were overhead raking the ambush site with 2.75-inch rockets and M134 7.62mm Mini-guns.  They covered both boats on the way out.

 

On the way back, everyone had a chance to check if everything was still OK.

 

The B-40 rocket that had hit the sampan ahead of BM2 Moore had destroyed it.  But, the blast and shrapnel had missed everyone in the LSSC.  Moore was deaf for a couple of days from the blast, but his hearing returned to normal.

 

GMG3 Dick Kusch had been hit in the thigh by the back of a ruptured .50 casing.  Unknown to Dick as he fired the gun, the locking notches of the barrel were worn.  The recoil of the fifty caliber caused the barrel to start to unscrew.  When the gun started jamming in the middle of the firefight, it was a signal that the headspace was getting to be excessive.  Dick just thought the gun was getting dirty from the firing, cleared the stoppage and continued firing.  Finally, the headspace got to the point where the brass case let go.  The bolt was blown back and the ejector kicked the back end of the cartrdige case into Dick's thigh.

 

I surveyed the gun the next morning.  The bolt had been blown back over the locking cam and had bowed the lower cover.  The top cover assembly was bowed,  The barrel was junk.  I salvaged the .50 for all good parts.  Later, Dick used to tell other guys how he was given a "mentionable" wound by his own machine gun.