Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Write a Travelogue (11/06/14)
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TITLE: I Wish I'd Been There | Previous Challenge Entry
By Clyde Blakely
11/12/14 -
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Boarding the plane, I noted the back of a blond haired man about 5’ 9” who had a perfectly round head. That’s what Charlie Brown would look like from behind caused a stifled chuckle. Again after our short refueling stop in Japan: the same perfectly round blond head appeared, I almost spit out my chuckle. It would later be a blessing when I finally saw his face.
We flew into Long Bien airport outside of Saigon, the busiest airport in the world at the time. As we were coming in I noted pits from enemy mortar rounds across the air field: “Welcome to Vietnam” was the greeting there. Debarking was the opposite of Fairbanks: the heat and humidity weighted the air filled with an unfamiliar musty odor.
Assigned to a site in the Central Highlands as a mortar man/infantry I processed through cool coastal Cam Rahn Bay. While there I learned that jeeps with a bumper insignia of four diamonds was the VN equivalent of a four star US general – oops – you are supposed to salute the gentleman seated in the back seat. I guess the military forgot that part of our training for VN.
I decided to try the local cuisine at a Cam Rahn Bay Vietnamese restaurant next to the US mess hall. The squeaking door echoed in the spacious “empty” dining area, empty except for the wide-eyed waitress and cook. Not to embarrass our VN friends, I took a chair near the door. The waitress hesitantly brought me a menu and asked repeatedly if I wanted to eat there (the exit door looked inviting). I noticed they served hamburgers, good but probably water buffalo. I ordered one anyway. When served, the waitress again asked why I was eating there before informing me, “But GI it thankgiving.”
Arriving to my duty station a mile up in the Central Highlands around 0200 (2 AM) to find it was snowing. “Well, how often does that happen here?” Unheard of and it never snowed again to my knowledge. But it was pretty cool.
Checking in at headquarters, I was asked if I could type and was made a “company clerk”. It wasn’t long until the First Sergeant told me “We were getting a new Commanding Officer and I have his ear and you’re a-- is grass”. Never did figure out what he was angry with me over. Nothing could be done about it, I thought.
Remember that round headed guy? Walking into the office was our new Commanding Office with the First Sergeant right behind and a smile as big as the Mississippi River. Although never having seen his face I glanced at his name tag and said, “Captain Reese we came over here together.” “I don’t know you,” was his response. I replied, “Your DEROS date (date expected to return from overseas) is such and such (the same as mine).” Thrusting out his hand, he said, “By golly, we came over here together and we’re going home together and you’re my new company driver.” As the First Sergeant’s 6’ 4 frame and smile melted, I thought, “There’s a God!” Everywhere the CO went, I went.
Guard duty was always with a Vietnamese. Convenient to the gate house was a small VN restaurant, which allowed me to buy both of us a very tasty bowl of noodles and grizzly meat soup. One time I asked the Vietnamese what kind of meat it was. “Oh, that’s fish GI,” a slight smile crossed his face. Hmm, we are a mile up in the Central Highlands with no fishing holes around but there are a lot of puppies running around that restaurant. It was still good soup but one my wife refuses to duplicate.
I found out years later the children I played with, then 6-10 year olds, where all killed when the North Vietnamese captured the site. Some heart aches never go away. Perhaps, if I had been there, maybe…
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