Dave Ingersoll, manager of Ingersoll-Greenwood Funeral Home in North Wildwood and a lifelong Five Mile Island local, nearly escaped the Vietnam draft. But he was framed for running nude across the Ursinus College campus, and an untimely suspension meant he was off to the jungle.
“Well, I might have failed a few classes too,” he said with a chuckle during an interview at the Rio Grande Diner, where he is a regular. “I was accepted to Temple after that, but in between, they got me.”
Ingersoll was shipped to Vietnam on Oct. 5, 1967, on the U.S.S. Upshur, a merchant marine vessel. The journey took 19 days, with a stop in Okinawa. He didn’t bring much with him, but a small square-format camera helped him chronicle the grueling days abroad.
The 19-day boat ride was like a vacation compared to the year that followed, he said. He was assigned Specialist 4 MOS 11B, military jargon for basic infantryman, as part of the 198th Light Infantry Brigade. Only a lucky few enlisted soldiers received an assignment other than infantry.
The details were still sharp in Ingersoll’s mind as the diner table talk flowed. He spent a month at Hill 55, a term that describes both a hill in the Quảng Nam Province and the military base erected there by the Army. “We were under combat assault by helicopters every day,” he said of his time there.
The majority of Ingersoll’s days in Vietnam were spent on a Bell UH-1 Iroquois “Huey” helicopter, which took infantrymen to spots with Viet Cong to kill. Ingersoll flew over 150 times by helicopter to combat zones across the region. “A valley, a rice paddy, a cleared mountain – we went wherever the enemy was,” he remembered.
“Hell, that gun was heavy. I carried three belts of ammo, plus my gear. Carrying that stuff in the jungle beat the hell out of you. It made you weak,” Ingersoll said.
He was involved in the Battle of Kham Duc, one of the most important battles of the war.
On May 12, 1967, the final day of the battle, a Huey helicopter with Ingersoll inside was shot by a 50-caliber sniper. The enemy’s aim, firing from the ground, was impeccable.
That first shot went straight through the fuselage and killed the pilot. The co-pilot landed the helicopter on its wheels, but not before another soldier, without a helmet, was shot through the head.
“A 50-caliber bullet took his head off. Just like that. Gone,” Ingersoll said. “The helicopter bounced three times off the ground. I looked at the person next to me, and we knew it was the end for us,” Ingersoll said.
Ingersoll did not speak fondly of his days in Vietnam. “I was just a kid,” he said as the waitress brought the tab. “I got drafted for God’s sake; I didn’t ask for this. I have nightmares almost every day about being on that chopper again.”
Still, Ingersoll is glad that he was able to serve his country. He was shipped back home Sept. 28, 1968, with nothing on his person but his clothes. Some of his fellow troops “ransacked” his belongings while he was out on a mission. His photos only survived because he was able to mail his film back home while still abroad.
Today, Ingersoll remains a Wildwood kid at heart. His family still owns the Ingersoll-Greenwood Funeral Home on Maple Avenue in North Wildwood, where he remains actively involved. He said he will probably live in Wildwood for the rest of his life.
Contact the author, Collin Hall, at chall@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 156.
