Chinese Bandit 13 Walking Stick and Foxfire by RANGER Jerry Conners

jconners

Banned Member
Chinese Bandit 13 Walking Stick and Foxfire by RANGER Jerry Conners, Chinese Bandit Recon LRRP Team 1st Bn (ABN) 8th Cav 1965-66

My first memory of foxfire is of a small oak and maple forest that is located below the Legion Pond near Sidney, Iowa. My grandfather and WWI veteran, Rex Darst, began taking me on night raccoon hunts when I was about ten years old where his hunting dogs would chase the raccoons until they would climb a tree where they were shot for the value of their pelts. It was early fall and some of the leaves had fallen. We were following the dogs that were running ahead and barking loudly from the forest located several hundred yards away.

As we walked closer to the trees a faint green glow was noticeable which became brighter as we approached the trees. Entire lengths of small branches were engulfed in the green light. “Foxfire,” my grandfather said. I broke a small branch off continued to follow him. I rubbed the bark that came off in my hands. The texture was woody and not slimy like a smashed body of the fireflies that I captured each summer, but the green light was similar. Looking back over my shoulder the trees were glowing in streams of green light.

Ten years later, I was frequently patrolling day and night in the mountainous areas of the Central Highlands of Vietnam and had seen the same green light emitting from the trees. I collected it during the night and examined it by daylight. I had located foxfire in different parts of the world earlier and had learned that is was a fungus associated with decaying wood. I began to experiment with embedding the fungus impregnated woody tissue into grooves that I cut in my walking stick and trying different ways to increase or preserve the brightness of the material, including compacting, keeping the material damp and not exposed to light. These three factors succeeded whereas the opposite did not.

I had been carving designs and initials in my walking stick since I began to use one upon arrival to the Chinese Bandits. I had learned earlier to select wood that had thin bark, stiff and lightweight, and having a slight curve near the top of the four-foot stick where a grip was whittled. Most of the carvings were military symbols and words such as the 101st Recondo Brand, the word LRRP, Ranger, ABN, Recondo, SF and different patches and unit crests. Every walking stick that I made had my jump wings secured to the top squared off edge and the initials of a girl from high school that I was still nuts over after several years. Her name was Betty Hardy and I would carve her initials in many places on the stick. I did not know then or now the species of wood that the walking sticks were made from but I did probably use the same species that grew along the wetter stream banks in the valleys of the border with Cambodia and Laos.

After only a few days in country I began to embed the foxfire covered decaying wood pieces into the previously carved designs. It was necessary to carve deeper into the stick to insure a better bond of the foxfire. After a few trials, I had a method that where the foxfire did not fall out and could withstand normal field use with only an occasional resetting with the edge of my pocketknife. I carried and used my issued TL-29. It was necessary to dampen the foxfire and replace it every two weeks, but in most areas where we patrolled and conducted long range reconnaissance operations there was foxfire and of course, plenty of water.

In January, we had begun using foxfire-covered branches for trail markers, set along the right side of the trail to signal persons following to STOP and link up, enemy to the right, enemy to left and enemy ahead. I also began to use my walking stick as a trail marker and night signaling device for those following. We also placed different foxfire patterns on the back of our patrol caps above the ‘ranger eyes’ to denote each individual. I had chosen a V-shaped marker and had chosen the design since it looked somewhat like the 101st Recondo brand that was carved into my walking stick.

Within a month, I had discarded several ranger walking sticks when I had become dissatisfied with the carved designs and locations of the carvings. Eventually, deciding that the curved stick kept it from rolling when placed on a steep trail and therefore, the foxfire embedded designs needed to be only on the upper side when the stick was placed on the ground. The arrangement allowed for walking with the luminescent side to my rear and where those following me could see it but anyone on either side or to my front could not.

The final version of the stick that I carried until June of 1966 had many carvings but only two 101st Recondo Brands, one near the top and the other near the tip were embedded with foxfire. Both Brands pointed downward to the bottom of the walking stick. When the stick was placed on the trail and perpendicular to the trail and used with other side trail markers, the meaning was to stop and remain vigilant, and that the team leader should advance and assume command of the patrol. If I had not returned then the patrol was instructed to continue with the mission without me. This procedure was typically used each night prior to occupying the designated observation point when conducting long-range reconnaissance operations along the borders of Cambodia and Laos.

During our first long range reconnaissance observation along the border of Cambodia that occurred in the early spring of 1966, foxfire was used as trail markers and the foxfire embedded walking stick placed horizontally along the trail to allow for assembling the patrol members while a leaders recon was performed of the designation observation point and all trails intersecting the area near the observation point.

My most memorable experience that I encountered with foxfire occurred along the Cambodian border where the actively used ridgeline trail ended unexpectedly during the night while we were enroute to the next observation point. The preplanned route was intended to continue along the ridgeline and then turn eastward downhill to a trail stream crossing depicted on aerial photographs and then occupy an observation point on a prominent hilltop located further to east. A decision was made to rather than reverse our route and follow a trail to our rear which lead eastward into the valley that we would proceed cross country down the steep heavily wooded hillside and intercept the stream.

The under story of the tall trees had little vegetation and the initial movement downhill was performed without difficulty, however after an hour we entered an area that was draped in foxfire. The luminescent green-coated branches were the located on the ground, in the trees in front and above us. As I entered an area having more foxfire than I had encountered previously and since, I developed vertigo and had difficulty maintaining my balance along the steep hillside. I slowed to a pace that was unusual and the patrol members were permitted to move maintaining line of sight. Moving uneasily, we heard the sound of voices and faint smell of smoke ahead and to our left. We changed direction to avoid contact. I could not shake off the vertigo in the overhead, side-to-side and forest floor covered foxfire panorama until we were near the valley where the tree density and foxfire decreased. We were able to easily restock our foxfire branch markers during the movement and I frequently discarded previously collected material for better brighter foxfire branches.

I have examined the topographic map of that long-range reconnaissance patrol route many times in the last forty years and my thoughts linger in the area of dense foxfire. It remains a special place for some of the Chinese Bandits Recon LRRP Team.

I have never re-experienced the foxfire induced vertigo disorientation that we all felt that night; however, I have not made the effort to locate areas known to contain that amount of foxfire. My current Ranger walking stick has neither carvings nor embedded foxfire and at night while walking in the Sierras I often consider embedding some luminescent tape strips but to date I have not done so.

RANGER Jerry Conners
Master Parachutist, Special Forces Weapons Expert, 101st RECONDO
Chinese Bandit 13
 
Top