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These stories are true, but the names may be A Special Forces team was training Montagnard Spec Forces troops in the use of White Phosphorus ("Willie Pete") grenades. They were located at an outdoor class facility near their base camp. As the instructor, a SpecForces Master Sergeant (E-7) pulled the pin, he fumbled the grenade and dropped it. It rolled away from him and he chased it, screaming "Grenade", as he was trained to do. The students, also being well-trained, hit the deck, just as the grenade exploded, filling the air with the smoky trails of burning white phosphorus. Most of the blast was absorbed by the sergeant, as well as most of the WP. The blast knocked him onto his back. The front of his body was on fire, as the smell of burning flesh and the sound of screams filled the area. Another SF soldier called in Medevac and did what he could for the sergeant. In a short time, the chopper arrived and headed for the 71st Evac Hosp. We got the call that a WP injury was on the way in. The airborne medic had started treatment and was pouring Copper Sulfate (I think that's what it was) solution on the burning phosphorus. The solution binds the free oxygen in the water and blocks oxygen from getting to the burning metal. Plain water contains too much oxygen and would just bubble and spit, while allowing the phos to burn. When we got the patient in the ER, we immediately cut off his clothes, placing copper sulfate-soaked gauze pads over the burning areas and rushed him into surgery. Once there, we began removing each individual piece of phosphorus, while trying to keep all the others from burning deeper into his flesh. After several hours of this tedious work, we had the burning under control. The patient, however, had sustained terrible burn wounds to his face, throat and chest, with lesser wounds to his arms and legs. We smeared his burns with Sulfamylon cream, covering his whole body and moved him to post-op to see if he would stabilize. He died a couple of days later of Sulfamylon poisoning, as a complication of the treatment. Having all that copper sulfate and phosphorus in his system probably didn't help much, either. The bad thing about burns is that the smell stays with you for days afterward. All you can taste is burning flesh. The memories last even longer....burns are the most horrible of wounds, IMHO. Comments: E-mail me Thanks for visiting ...SP5 Steven Streeper
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