Company D 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry was moving through heavy jungle after disengaging from an enemy contact when a violet smoke grenade accidentally went off.

To prevent the billowing smoke from giving away the location, Private First Class Larry D. Copp tossed his helmet on the smoke grenade, trying to smother the dense purple smoke.

The combination of the helmet's smothering trick and a swift kick to the grenade by Private First Class David H. Scherer extinguished the smoke. The company again started to move through the jungle and PFC Copp plopped his helmet back on his head.

Soon the company stopped to set up a night position. When Sergeant Dan Gralian woke up his squad members in the morning, one of them had purple hair. PFC Copp tried to wash the purple remnants from the smoke grenade out of his normally blond hair but was unsuccessful.