At a landing zone called "Oasis" the witness was working as a door gunner. On that date he was pulling perimeter guard duty. As they came under attack, a C-130 gun ship called "Puff the Magic Dragon" flew just outside their position and was working out their guns. It looked like fire coming from a hose in the dark. The next morning the other gunners and the witness decided to rearrange out-linked ammo to have all the tracers together to give the same effect as the night before. That afternoon they went out on a reckon mission. As they approached the landing zone they opened up with their machine guns. The LZ (landing zone) was large and mostly clear waist high dried grass. As they landed they received enemy fire. Small fires started all over from their tracer rounds. He heard on the intercom that a helicopter behind them was down with main rotor problems and fires had them enveloped, his captain ordered him to go back with a "fire bottle" and see if he could help. The witness grabbed the bottle but did not think to take his rifle. As he ran to their position the crew chief waved him back. It seems like the rotor was fine and they were about to take off. As he ran back he became disoriented, and became lost. As he ran around looking he heard someone shout "Dung Li" which means stop or halt in Vietnamese. He looked around and saw a North Vietnamese soldier pointing his AK at him. Feeling helpless, since he was completely unarmed he dropped to his knees, hands up. At the same time the soldier spoke to him things that he could not understand. As the soldier backed up, the witness knew he was going to die. From fear he then felt overwhelming sadness. As his whole life past in front of his eyes, he just hoped that it did not hurt so much. Suddenly a total peace came over him, a feeling he could not describe. He then heard a loud crack. He jumped up thinking that he had been shot. He heard a thump and saw the enemy soldier fall to the ground. As he looked up, he saw the tallest person he had ever seen. He saw what appeared to be a GI about 7 or 8 ft tall. He just stood there motionless, perfect in dress, incredibly with no soil marks or sweat, a perfect looking figure. His eyes shaded by the helmet showed through; an aura appeared to be all around him. He then spoke to the witness clearly. He told him that it was Ok that he was going to be safe. He added: "Thomas, go back to your bird." The witness realized that the stranger's lips never moved, apparently he had communicated with him telepathically. Thomas jumped up and ran to his "bird" (helicopter). As they lifted up, he looked down to see the dead enemy soldier, but no sign of the giant figure. He never mentioned what really happened to anyone for over 30 years.

Google map of this location.