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http://CHAPTER I
ONCE UPON A TIME, in a Land far away my past began. A few month earlier I had been with the XVIIIth Airborne Corp waiting to invade Cuba. Now I was in Saigon enroute to Korea. It didn’t make sense and it certainly wasn’t the assignment to Germany I had enlisted for, but for the moment anything was a break from the Military Sea Transit from Oakland to Sasebo Japan. A large room in an aircraft hangar seemed a good enough place for the hundred and fifty of us who had “””volunteered””” for this mission. a young Officer in short sleeve Khakis told us that We were on TDY Temporary DutY for 89 days or less.The Treaty the French had signed with the Communist limited us to not more than 1,000 troops. Over that had to be on TDY.
They were beautiful days, warm with sunshine interrupted only bu the 4 O’clock monsoon. A deluge I had never imagined. Pved air field was the best place to be. My training in Artillery was waisting and the Vietnamese Army was too busy with their monthly coup to pay attention to us. I was a Pfc and drove an M151, a 1/4ton, a Jeep. I shuffled Officers from the Airport to Long Binh or Bien Hoa. An excellent day usually wound up at MACV or Ton Son Nhut Airport. I could gas up and leave my vehicle there. Then I would ease out into the safe zone between them. Find a Bar, find a girl, enjoy. I had discovered the pure beauty of an asian girl in a simple Ao Dai, That outfit Vietnamese girls wore with an Ankle length blouse and wide leg slacks. No need to dress it up if it is great as is.
About two weeks in I was detained on a trip to deliver vehicles to Pochenton Airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We made our delivery and were going to turn the vehicles over the next day when the “””Peace Keepers””” told us that we could deliver but the actual turn over had to be done by Personnel Assigned to the Embassy. We stayed a couple days hand held classes on first Echelon to the Embassy Staff with the Cambodians watching. The “””Peace Keepers””, one Canadian, one Polish and one Indian grudgingly accepted that. And so it was written ARTY LIAISON, VIETNAM, CAMBODIA in my. 201 file for alto see. After that the emphasis seemed to be getting us out of Vietnam so that they could bring in another group.
ONCE UPON A TIME, in a Land far away my past began. A few month earlier I had been with the XVIIIth Airborne Corp waiting to invade Cuba. Now I was in Saigon enroute to Korea. It didn’t make sense and it certainly wasn’t the assignment to Germany I had enlisted for, but for the moment anything was a break from the Military Sea Transit from Oakland to Sasebo Japan. A large room in an aircraft hangar seemed a good enough place for the hundred and fifty of us who had “””volunteered””” for this mission. a young Officer in short sleeve Khakis told us that We were on TDY Temporary DutY for 89 days or less.The Treaty the French had signed with the Communist limited us to not more than 1,000 troops. Over that had to be on TDY.
They were beautiful days, warm with sunshine interrupted only bu the 4 O’clock monsoon. A deluge I had never imagined. Pved air field was the best place to be. My training in Artillery was waisting and the Vietnamese Army was too busy with their monthly coup to pay attention to us. I was a Pfc and drove an M151, a 1/4ton, a Jeep. I shuffled Officers from the Airport to Long Binh or Bien Hoa. An excellent day usually wound up at MACV or Ton Son Nhut Airport. I could gas up and leave my vehicle there. Then I would ease out into the safe zone between them. Find a Bar, find a girl, enjoy. I had discovered the pure beauty of an asian girl in a simple Ao Dai, That outfit Vietnamese girls wore with an Ankle length blouse and wide leg slacks. No need to dress it up if it is great as is.
About two weeks in I was detained on a trip to deliver vehicles to Pochenton Airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We made our delivery and were going to turn the vehicles over the next day when the “””Peace Keepers””” told us that we could deliver but the actual turn over had to be done by Personnel Assigned to the Embassy. We stayed a couple days hand held classes on first Echelon to the Embassy Staff with the Cambodians watching. The “””Peace Keepers””, one Canadian, one Polish and one Indian grudgingly accepted that. And so it was written ARTY LIAISON, VIETNAM, CAMBODIA in my. 201 file for alto see. After that the emphasis seemed to be getting us out of Vietnam so that they could bring in another group.
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