Post by frederickstone on Jul 13, 2005 19:41:37 GMT -8
I was the NEW Assistant Gunner. It was my second trip to Graff. I was the driver of the 175 on my first trip. This time I would be up on deck. That squawk box squealed out the words 'Fire Mission" and the rest of the section repeated it in what seemed like two part harmony. I was ready, they had given me a brand new lanyard, I was excited. I broke that breach as the round came up. It got into loading position and we rammed it. The loader pulled away and I grabbed the ram check gage and thrust it in. It came up a few inches short of were it needed to be. First thing we thought was that it was rammed with the grommet still on it. But we checked and the grommet was on the ground. My Chief said don't worry about it, load the powder. We had this Safety Lt. that was hanging around and he was making a big deal about it. He wanted it punched out from the other end. My Gunner, who had served in Nam kept telling everyone that the round would fly, don't worry about it and that he had seen this happen many times while he was in country. The Captain came down and said I could use the 50 foot lanyard if I wanted. Like that would have made a difference if this round cooked off inside the tube. I was told that it was my call and the gunner kept telling me that it would go and that it would be a pain to punch it out.. He also told me that he was going to stay with me. Well we loaded the powder and got set to fire. I hooked up and pulled the Lanyard. The round left alright. The gunner and I were covered in white smoke. I looked over at him as it was clearing around us and I noticed that he was patting his body as if checking to make sure all his body parts were intact. I did the same. As for the Captain, the LT and my Chief, they all watched this take place from a safe distance of about 300 yards on top of this small hill.