The sweep was over and we had taken a break to eat a bite.  I was facing away from the truck eating c-rations.  As the driver started to leave the scene, he let the truck roll backwards a bit ( new drivers always had trouble starting 5-tons on grades w/o rolling back a bit).  A 5 ton makes a very distinctive pop sound when starting on a grade IF you let it roll back.  This truck made that sound a split second before the explosion.  I was standing on the opposite side of a small burm to the right of the 5 ton and maybe 20 feet away, when it went up.  The burm was just high enough to shield me from the direct blast, but low enough for the blast to send me flying through the air, landing running with my c-rations still in my hands.  A Sgt/E-5 was literally blown by me on fire.  Myself and another rolled the Sgt., maybe in a blanket, to put out the diesel fuel fire in/on his clothes.  If I remember right, he escaped with minor burns.  The driver lost his left ear and maybe the hearing in that ear and had some minor burns.  Several others scattered around the immediate area had hearing problems for a while.

****************************************************************

Harvey Blair has a story to tell about this river crossing.  Thanks Harvey for sharing this with us.  Here are his comments:

This incident happened after January 10 and before January 20, 1968.  I was at the sight when it happened.  The Sgt that was burned so bad was Ron Huffman from Bellefountaine, Ohio.  I was wounded at the same place on Jan 20 by a mine and lost my left leg.  I saw Ron Huffman later that year when I was home on leave from Valley Forge General Hospital in PA.  I am Sp/5 Harvey Blair of the 2nd plt of D CO.

****************************************************************

General Albert Nolan Campbell was at the river the day this truck hit the mine.  Here is what he remembers about that day.

I remember the truck hitting the mine and the body going through the air.  I was watching the truck back up when it hit the mine.  I was just getting ready to eat some peaches and pound cake, my favorite C rations.  The blast filled them full of dirt.  I did without dessert that day.