Southern Cross information
for 198 BDE 23 INF
5/46 INF 23 INF

For date 700619


198 BDE 23 INF was a US Army unit
5/46 INF 23 INF was a US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Army
Quang Tin Province, I Corps, South Vietnam
Location, Chu Lai
Description: The following is an edited version of an article titled "A HARD PILLOW" by SP4 Louis Featherman 198th INF BDE. IO. LZ BAYONET - Sometimes the only way to find a booby trap is to use one's head. A Division soldier did just that on a recent operation 14 miles northwest of Chu Lai. SP4 Tracy W. Austin, Birmingham, Ala., and his comrades from Alpha Company, 5th Battalion, 46th Infantry, 198th Infantry Brigade had moved into a night defensive position and settled down for what they hoped would be a quiet night. "I was pulling radio watch from twelve until one," recalled SP4 Austin a radio telephone operator for the company command post (CP). "When I came off duty it was still very hot and the mosquitos were out in full force and I was restless." SP4 Austin looked around for a place to lie down and found one next to the CP radios. "I laid down, put my head back and then felt something hard under my head so reached back to move it and felt three prongs of a booby trap pressure device. It scared me half to death. The CO was pretty shook up, too," said SP4 Austin. "He called for the Kit Carson Scout, a former enemy soldier now working for the allied troops, an expert on mines and booby traps, to disarm it." The scout dug up the device and found that it was attached to an artillery round. It was also discovered that one of prongs on the pressure device was bent. "I don't know if I bent the prong when I lay back on it or not," commenced SP4 Austin. "I was just lucky that it didn't go off, it would have messed up a lot of people."

The source for this information was 7006_322_scr supplied by Les Hines 12/17/2000


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Last updated 12/24/2000

Date posted on this site: 05/13/2023