Apricots. Bad news for amtrac drivers

Supersticious, maybe. But opening up a can of apricots is very bad news for amtrac drivers of the USMC. Read this article written by the Stars and Stripes in 1968.

Taste for Apricots Canned at Cua Viet As reported in the Stars and Stripes Newspaper in 1968.

By S.SGT. Bob Donner CUA VIET - Pears won’t do it, peaches have no effect, pineapple chunks and fruit cocktail cannot be blamed either. Apricots are the only ominous fruit known to the Marines of the 1st. Amphibious Tractor Bn. at Cua Viet. According to the AmTrac Leathernecks "there is no doubt about it, apricots do cause enemy rocket and artillery attacks." Every time a can of apricots is consumed, the word goes out to "standby for incoming." This may sound like an unfounded superstition, but as far as the AmTracers are concerned, the apricot hex is very real. Cpl. Billy C. Cooper (Valdece, N.C.) Has been with the battalion for a year; according to him, the apricot jinx started about the time he joined the outfit. "It all began when "B" Co. was on a patrol north of Cua Viet," Cooper said. They were taking a break for chow and one of the Marines was eating his C-ration apricots when the company came under heavy artillery fire. Cooper, an intelligence clerk on the battalion, said that the jinx started out as a joke. "I didn’t think much of it myself," he continued. "I ate then regularly up until June 12." "About that time we started taking more and more rounds. Guys began to think that maybe there was something to this apricot business," he concluded. Cpl. David H. Funkerburk (Columbia, S.C.) Claims that he too had a bad apricot experience. "On March 14 of this year, I was sitting in my hut having a late breakfast of C’s, and was just finishing with my apricots when we started taking incoming. " I jumped up and started making my way to the bunker. As I got to the door, a rocket round landed at the other end of my hut. Before I knew what happened, the explosion knocked my right into my bunker. "I’ll never touch another can of apricots while I’m in Vietnam," he said. "As far as I’m concerned, apricots are numbah 10 (bad)." During an artillery and rocket barrage two months ago, HMC Benjamin W. Margot (Almedia, Calif.) headed for a bunker. As he entered, he noticed a Marine sitting inside, quietly eating a can of apricots. "The man asked me if I wanted some," Margot said. "When I asked him if he knew what he was doing, he replied ‘sure, eating chow.’ Needless to say, I found myself another bunker." For all I knew that bunker could have taken a direct hit," Margot Concluded. A battalion hunt is currently underway for the individual who ate the bad luck fruit on April 15. Just past midnight Cua Viet was hit with mixed artillery and rocket rounds. The Marines definitely feel a man eating apricots is a man to stay away from.

JUST SAY NO TO APRICOTS...

Apricots, Heaven or Hell?
by Tom WilliamsAmtracers have not eaten apricots for close to 30 years as they are believed to be a jinx. This amtrac tradition started with my Amtrac Platoon in Vietnam. I was with 4th Plt B Co 4th Amtrac Battalion and we were on float with the "Magnificent Bastards" of 2/4.
I was sitting on the ramp shortly after my arrival to the platoon in the village of Mai Xa Tai and was eating my c-rations. Most anyone who spent time in the bush, in Vietnam, knew the fruit in c-rations was one of the most sought after items next to pound cake. Danny Foisy, I think it was, took what I had in my hand to eat and threw it as far as he could. I said "What the hell are you doing?". He says "We don't eat apricots in Amtracs! ". He then related the following story to me:
I am not sure of the name of the Marine but he did not believe in the Amtrac taboo against apricots and ate them anyway despite being warned not to. A short while later while he was on patrol he took a sniper round right between the eyes and was KIA. It was not the first time that bad luck had hit someone from the platoon after eating apricots so they had all started to avoid eating them after this happened.
Another incident that I witnessed served to confirm this belief to stay away from apricots. The old P5 had a auxillary generator that we called "Little Joes". We had one that we could not get to run right and the mechanics could not find anything wrong with it. This went on for a coulple months with the "Little Joe" not running right. One day I was looking around and found a can of apricots in behind the generator. I removed the apricots and gave them to one of the grunts in exchange for peaches which I than ate. We tried the "Little Joe" and it ran from then on just as if it were a fine tuned watch.
When I left Vietnam and the Platoon was disbanded I was sure the Apricot myth would die. I found out I was wrong when I visited Quantico in 1994 with my father. I was standing on the ramp of a new P7 amtrac and this SSgt says you know I have a LCpl who still eats apricots. I was shocked to hear that apricots were still considered tabo in tracks.
In April of 1997, while visiting 3rd tracs, I asked this tracer who was showing us around if he ate apricots. He said "NO WAY " would I eat apicots. He than told me a couple of storys about peace time problems that had befallen others who ate apricots that were in tracs.
Read the following story about apricots and tracers during Desert Storm and then see if you have apricots any more.

TERESA TAYLOR: Tasty apricot fare, but don't tell it to the Marines


A Charleston reader asked for savory or sweet recipes using dried or fresh apricots.
The apricot is an ancient and prized fruit whose origin isn't crystal clear. The scientific name Prunus armeniaca (Armenian plum) is due to the apricot's long cultivation there, but other sources suggest China, perhaps even India, was the first place where the trees were purposely grown for harvest.

California is a leading producer in the world today thanks to the Spanish, who planted them in the gardens of missions.
At any rate, Confucius is said to have honed his philosophies while sitting beneath an apricot tree. The Romans named the fruit "praecocium," meaning precocious, because of its early ripening. Thus evolved the English word "apricot."
One group doesn't prize apricots at all: our U.S. Marine Corps. The superstition exists that apricots are a jinx that invite deadly trouble, especially for Marine tanks and their drivers. This may have started during World War II when a platoon of Amphibious Assault Vehicles fell to the Japanese. Supposedly every AAV was sunk and all crewmembers died. The bulk of their supplies were apricots.
(Indeed, I found numerous anti-apricot sentiments expressed online by Marines or former Marines.)
Apricots are closely related to plums, peaches, cherries and almonds. In fact, an offspring called "pluot," a cross between a plum and apricot, is growing in popularity today. You might be seeing similar hybrids as well, such as plumcot or aprium. Science certainly keeps things interesting

DOGANBEY, Turkey (October 27, 2000) -- Staff Sergeant James A. Brown knows apricots cause Amphibious Assault Vehicles to malfunction.
He has no scientific proof, but the section leader with Battalion Landing Team 2/2 Echo Company's AAV platoon does not need any. He has experience.
"On my first float, we had an engine blow up in one of the AAVs," said Brown. "No one could figure out what caused it. We took it apart at the very bottom was an apricot seed."
Though Brown is far from alone.
"I would say in the AAV community, about seventy percent of us believe apricots cause malfunctions to the AAVs," said Cpl. Matt O'Connor, AAV Crew Chief and Portland, Ore. native.
"Yeah, that's about right. It might even be eighty," agreed Cpl. Eric Budgett, Marietta, Ohio native and fellow AAV Crew Chief.
Truth or fiction, apricots and AAVs have a sorted history. Most accounts say that in World War II, during the Marine Corps' island-hopping campaign, a platoon of AAVs carrying supplies was shot down by the Japanese. Every AAV was sunk, and every crewmember lost his life. The bulk of their supplies: apricots. Also by most accounts, this event marked the beginning of the apricot's malice.
"I know its true," said SSgt. Joseph Landgeraf, Toledo, Ohio native and Section Leader with the AAV platoon. "When I was a rookie in the AAV community I didn't believe it, but I've seen too many things that proved me wrong."
Landgeraf said his turning point was an incident where a Marine had drank apricot juice and boarded the vehicle. Within hours the transmission died.
Apparently the power of the apricot's wrath has grown over the years. Believers say it is not only important that you stay away from apricots, but anything containing apricot extract, like most fruit drinks.
"If I know someone has been drinking something with apricot in it, I won't let them on," said Brown, who added that it takes 24-hours of an apricot-free diet until the effects wear off. If an apricot or apricot juice is applied directly to the vehicle, then a thorough cleaning should be sufficient. But Brown takes no chances.
As a joke, some Marines once sprayed his AAV with a juice containing apricot extract. Brown refused to operate the vehicle until it was blessed by a Chaplain.
"I just don't believe in it," said Cpl. David Lynn, Tompkinsville, Kent. native and radio technician with the platoon. "I think planes have gremlins and AAVs have apricots. These things are just old. Sometimes old things just break down."
Others in the Battalion are also skeptical.
"As far as I know, there is nothing linking the performance of AAVs to apricots," said CWO-2 Cannon Cargile, a weapons expert with BLT 2/2.
However, several years ago apricots were removed from the military's Meal, Ready to Eat (MRE).
"Anytime you would open an MRE you'd have apricots," said MgySgt. David Lynch, Excelsior Springs, Mo. native and Operations Chief with BLT 2/2. "Now they aren't there anymore."
A coincidence? That depends on whom you ask. Some in the AAV community believe the peach-like fruits were removed from the ready-made meal because officials knew something was awry, though no documents exist to corroborate this.
Believers within the AAV community do not need documents. They have their stories, and that's enough.
"I've seen too many things that made me wonder," said Cpl. Joshua Cartmil, Saranac Lake, N.Y. native and Crew Chief with the AAV platoon. "I don't trust apricots. I don't even eat them when I'm on leave."
"Maybe the only way to test if it's true is to throw a couple of crates on an AAV and go," said Lynn.
Not likely. Brown and his fellow AAV crew chiefs said they would rather live with their hunches.

All these supersticious things I hear in aviation from pilots or mechanics, I'm like yea yea....I've heard them all. Only difference is one is a tank, the other an airplane.