Bomb Crater from a Five-Hundred-Pounder

We were in Cambodia on patrol in early May 1970 and came across this bomb crater.  That's me standing near the bottom.  Considering that I'm 5'-8" tall, the hole had to be close to fifteen feet deep and maybe thirty-five feet across.  We all assumed that it was made by a five-hundred-pounder.

The official name for a five-hundred-pounder is the MK82 General Purpose Bomb.  The United States started building them in the fifties and General Dynamics still builds them today.  Then and now, they remain an unguided, dumb bomb that is controlled by gravity once released by an aircraft.

McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom jet fighters were used extensively in Cambodia back then to deliver five-hundred-pounders when needed.   What a site it was to watch one being dropped.  The jet would shriek by low to the jungle, release the bomb then climb as fast as it could to get out of range of the explosion.  To help delay the detonation, the bomb when released, would spin slowly, end-over-end, to slow its travel before hitting the ground .  Many times we were within five-hundred meters or a little more than one-quarter mile from the explosion.  The ground shook.  It felt like you were picked up an inch or two then dropped back down to earth.  Hot shrapnel from the bomb would rain down around us.  Of all the firepower I witnessed used on enemy soldiers, five-hundred-pounders had to be one of the worst.

Some might say that napalm was worse.  Napalm was less humane, delivering death that was slow and agonizing versus the instantaneous explosion of the bomb.  I thank God I never had to be on the receiving end of either of those weapons.