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My
hometown reporter, Peter Behr, from the Rochester NY Times
Union newspaper, came to Vietnam to interview as many of his hometown boys
as possible. He spent a total of 3 months in Nam and interviewed most
of us. Both the above photo and the photo below were taken on
the same day but the newspaper articles ran 4 months apart. The above
photo and article ran on the front page, needless to say, in early July
1966 when I arrived home, it was to a hero's welcome. I was one of
the lucky one's !!
The
day after these photos were taken was my 19th birthday, it was also the
day General Walt awarded me the Bronze Star. It was one of my more
memorable birthday's, considering the circumstances!
This
was considered a safe rear area by us Grunts, I had to hump through 3
miles of rice paddies to hill 22 and then take a 20 minute, bumpy ride on
a Mule (flat bed VW for you civilians out there) to get to this wonderful
place!
My
regular home wasn't nearly as nice as the sand bag bunker behind me in the
photo.
Notice
that I'm not packing and hardware (weapons of mass destruction) (you know
what they say about a marine and His Rifle) Battalion HQ was fairly safe in
early 1966, but during the Tet Offensive in early 1968 it was overrun by
the VC and there were many U.S. casualties.
My
Bronze Star episode took place less then 6 miles from here, in Sept 1965 -
I'm really not sure why we thought this place was so safe ???
The only photos ever taken of me in Full
Dress Blues Circa early 1967
That sure is a damn good looking uniform
I was an MP at the Norfolk Naval Ship Yard
in Portsmouth VA. Our Duty Required that we maintain one set of Dress
Blues, however our duty seldom full Dress Blues, instead a
Kaki or Tropical Shirt & Tie was warn with the Trousers.
I still have the buckle but the rest was
sold when I was discharged. I have the same waist size today as I did when
these photos were taken, I can still fit snugly into my Dress greens,
unfortunately, I'm no longer as good looking,
But, the Marine Dress Blues is still
a damn good looking uniform !
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