[Conservative Vermont Vet]

A "FREEDOM BIRD!"

Any Nam Vets out there?

If so, you will recognize and very much appreciate the memories of "Coming Home," to "The World."

Mine is especially memorable, though I remember very little of the actual flight as I landed at Travis AFB, CA., on JULY 4th, 1967.

What I do remember is that almost all of my fellow bros on that flight (a mix of Army, USAF and few Marines) including me, wanted so "REAL" Milk (nice and cold) as opposed to any adult beverages we could have had.

I won't go into any details as to the reception I got later in the day when I ventured into downton San Francisco, but suffice it to say, it weren't exacly pretty or much fun.

In fact, though I had planned on spending a few days there, I canceled my Hotel reservation, took a cab to the Airport and waited for the 1st flight out to Detroit with connections to Pontiac MI., where I was going to pick up my brand new GTO.

God Bless our brave Warriors serving in harms way; God Bless all our Vets; and God Bless America.

[Ax]

I remember flying on a PanAm (MAC Charter)from Yokota AB, Japan, INTO Tan Son Nhut AB, Saigon, RVN in Jun 1967. Crisp new $20 bills which wilted before our very eyes while standing in line to exchange the US Currency for MPC.

[onedoug]

Leaving Vietnam was sad for me...the guys in my outfit I was leaving behind...watching it so quickly disappear as we climbed into the clouds...knowing, even then (8/69), how it was going to end. It depressed me for a long time. Then, when the South fell in 75, the same sense came sweeping back in on me.

Alot of that dissipated though when I went back with my daughter in 2000. We really had a great time there, and I found that what I remembered best about the people in the South was still true. Vietnam is slowly but surely coming back together again, even in the North.

If we finally win the War On Terror, we will have ultimately won the Vietnam War. If we don’t...then nothing else will matter.

Thanks for the memory. (Saw Bob Hope too, Chu Lai-Christmas 1968.)

[ConorMacNessa]

Thanks for your service, CVV! My exit from 'Nam was on a stretcher in the cargo bay of a C-130 from Danang to Clark AFB, where I spent a day or two before another flight to USNH Agana, Guam. The surgeons there did some further wound debridement but could not locate the round I was hit with - it had migrated under my shoulder blade. After a day or two in Guam, I was sent back to the World via Clark, Tachikawa, Elmendorf, and Chanute to Andrews AFB outside Washington, DC. The flight back from Clark through Andrews was on a C-141 Starlifter outfitted as a med-evac transport. We were on fairly wide and comfortable cots which folded down from the bulkheads. Lots of nurses and techs on board. I believe it took us about 18 hours to make it from Clark to Andrews.

From Andrews to NNMC Bethesda was a relatively short ride in ambulance and I was home. Mother and girlfriend were waiting at the ER as I was wheeled in. Thus ended my active part in the Vietnam War. Some aspects of that war resound to this day with me.

My bottom line on it is that I am proud to have served with the Fifth Marines as a Platoon Corpsman. I didn't do anything spectacular but I can walk into a room full of Vets and active duty personnel and hold my head up high - I answered the call and served faithfully. 'Nuff said!



Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Welcome back to the World Day, CVV.

We thank you for your service to our country.