soldier suffered horrific burns and life changing injuries after getting engulfed in what he described as a "fireball" inferno.David Pristash, 80, is a retired veteran of the Green Beret Special Forces – the US equivalent of the SAS – passing selection in 1967, during the height of US involvement in the Vietnam War.In September of that year, he was deployed to the East Asian country where he and a small group of other special forces troops would be leading and training a Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) that he described as "basically para-military people, Vietnamese, Montagnards, Cambodians."David's camp was under heavy pressure by enemy forces from the moment he arrived and would often endure intense barrages.Speaking to Cleveland.com on YouTube, the 80-year-old said: "We started getting mortared and shelled.
I was in the position coming under direct fire."I really don't know – the only thing I can think of is some shrapnel or possibly some sparks got into the ammo bunker and something set those off."It was just like a huge fireball, with the blast coming through the position and pretty much burnt everything off me and I assumed the other guys."I could feel the blast hitting me and when it stopped, I was on fire, so I jumped out of the pit, got some dirt and put the fire out." To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.The father-of-four was transferred to hospital for treatment where he claims the doctors only gave him a 10% chance of survival.He added that he wasn't given any painkillers, as medics feared he would become addicted to them.He explained: "You basically just have to grin and bear it.
Read more on dailystar.co.uk