Gene Hunter

There was one night, on a humor side we were working on the, on the Ho Chi Mien TrailA covert system of trails along Vietnam’s western frontier and a major supply route for North Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War.
< Oxford American Dictionary > and the IR operatorInfrared night vision equipment operator.
< http://www.prc68.com/I/M18.shtml > picked up a hot spot moving on the trail. The pilot called for one of the 40s and put it on the line. Well, the gun just wasn't tweaked that well that night, it wasn't 100 percent on. So in your mind, if you can imagine this hot spot, which we thought was a truck, moving down the trail and this 40 mil, kaboom, kaboom, kaboom, kaboom, behind this hot spot moving down the trail. Well this hot spot moves right into a village. Now by the rules of engagement we couldn't fire into a village, such as we could fire into their temples or whatever. So we had to stop firing.

So anyway, the IR, he calls up and he says, hey boss but you're not going to believe this but that truck didn't stop, it's going through the other side of the village. So we picked it up on the other side. Kaboom, kaboom, kaboom, kaboom, chasing it... what we thought was a truck. Well finally we hit it.

Well the next day some Army personnel confirmed for us that we had killed an elephant. the elephant had been latent with supplies. They would use anything on the trail, not just trucks. Bicycles, feet, by foot, whatever. This elephant had been carrying supplies, but those poor people in that village that night. To hear this screaming, stampeding elephant, with eeerrrr and this kaboom, kaboom, kaboom, kaboom, and it comes through town and goes through your house and then the kaboom, kaboom, kaboom picks up on the other side. Those poor people. But we were nicknamed, we were then known as the elephant killers. The squadron had a good time with us on that one.