SGT Van Blackard served with Delta Company from January 1967 until February 1968. He was in recon platoon and was with Delta in Dak To and Tam Quan. His sister, Cheryl contacted Delta as a result of the Delta Company Videos. (See Video index)

Here are a few words from SGT Van Blackard's Sister.

At first he was the machine gun carrier.  That's why he has the ammo belts on in the "Mohawk" picture.  There was a black guy called "Heavy" (he's in your video).  Heavy took over the machine gun when Van made Squad Leader.

One night, Van and another trooper were on night guard.  They heard a noise and Van told the other guy to wait until he made it to a tree, about 20 yards away and then throw a grenade over to where they heard the noise.  Well…the guy lost his grip, or something, and the grenade ended up landing about a few yards away from Van.  He (Van) squeezed his body behind the tree as much as possible.  When it went off it wounded him on his left side.  He said the force knocked him out.  This woke up the others, and the guy named "Heavy" went out and dragged Van back to their position.  Van said the grenade explosion caused a small fire fight, but he really didn't remember anything until the hospital.  They patched him up and sent him back out.