Ernest Floyd Petty

I was there when Ernie died. He was killed along with one other Marine in my company early on the morning of July 5th when the Dong Ha combat base received a sustained artillery barrage. He was sleeping outside of one of the squad tents because it was so hot. I was sleeping on the other side of a low sandbag wall inside the tent. The first two rounds hit almost simultaneously, killing Ernie instantly and mortally wounding another in another tent. A third was also sleeping outside the tent near Ernie and was seriously wounded in the leg.