Well, I finally dove into a small indentation beside the jungle trail and glanced back. Without time to reload, I ran like hell back down the path expecting a bullet in my back. It wouldn’t have exploded that close, but I thought it might at least knock the man down or kill him from the impact. “I walked around a tiny hut smack dab into a VC with an AK-47 slung behind his neck. “For some foolish reason, I was walking point with a blooper in a small patch of jungle,” Garner said. The M-79 grenade launcher made a distinctive ‘bloop’ or ‘thump’ sound when fired, thus the nickname “Blooper” or “Thumper.” Garner normally carried an M-16, but often worked the ‘blooper’ position. He also received an Air Medal for more than 25 assault flights. With the help of Tommy Clack, former field director in Conyers for the Georgia Department of Veteran Services, Doug Garner received his Purple Heart in 2011.
