hell of a story... one of my best friends was a radio operator in 3rd Shore Party at Dong Ha
Posted on 03/15/2018 11:23:46 AM PDT by Chainmail
This is the continuation of my first story The DarkI posted a couple of days ago. These events took place in April, 1967.
bump
hell of a story... one of my best friends was a radio operator in 3rd Shore Party at Dong Ha
Give hin my best!
will do Sir.
Thank you for the ping. Somehow I missed The Dark, but I’ll be reading that later. Yes, by all means write it all down now before you begin to forget.
I’m also that age (born in ‘48). Me and my best buddy, Gary, decided to join up in 1967, he the Marines and me the Army.
I got a few letters from him from Vietnam while I was stationed in Germany. I could tell he was scared and I was worried for him. Then the letters stopped.
About a year later, I got another letter from him saying he had been shot in the chest while he was in Vietnam and that his esophagus had been partly destroyed and they had to replace part of it with a plastic (iirc) piece.
After spending almost a year in the big Naval hospital near the Great Lakes, they gave him a medical discharge and sent him home. But he kept getting constant infections and spent the rest of his life (about ten years) in and out of hospital. He’s not on the Wall and I always felt that was unfair. Getting shot in Vietnam is what killed him. I’ve always wondered how many others died from their injuries, like he did, years later?
Anyway, I lost a cousin, two good friends (including Gary), and a couple of acquaintances from my old high school days, not to mention at least one Army buddy who was sent there and died. I was never sent there, so I don’t know exactly what you went through, but I know it was bad. So I am saluting you, my friend. Thanks for writing this down, and I’m glad you made it out okay in one piece!
bttt
I didn't exactly make it back in one piece:50 Years Ago Today
But I was able to recover and spent another 24 years after that in the Corps. All the best to you, Buddy.
Thank you for writing; please continue as able. THIS is history at its best.
The F-4 Phantom was a superb combat aircraft that only got better as it was further developed. The men at McD-D should be proud of what they made. It was also in the ‘right place at the right time’ for its pilots to show off its superb characteristics. I’m not saying we should “go back’ to it; that’s absurd. Rather, present day aircraft designers should study it (among others), and get their heads in the right frame of mind.
This particular Phantom driver exemplified excellence in the CAS mission: marksmanship, persistence in the face of enemy ground fire, care and extra risk to himself to protect the friendly ground force. I would like to think this was standard practice for him.
Good story keep ‘em coming.
Semper Fi bump
I'm sure that all of you have seen the nastiness and lies that we got from the Left when we got home and I am trying to do my part to set the record straight.
But just in case some of you think that it was only Leftists, I have recently gotten hissing hate as a Vietnam Veteran from a conservative "BigRedBadger" here on the FreeRepublic in response to me when he didn't agree with my part of a discussion:
"Check YOUR Meds..grunt.
Better yet Use that Zippo you torched brooches With and turn yourself into a LawnCandle. Piss off!"
I guess that we'll have to deal with this kind of weird crud for the rest of our lives.
Thx, well done. S/F ...
You caught me on a bad day.
“Torched brooches?” I guess the he meant “hooches.” Whatever that jackass is he ain’t no “conservative.” I don’t even know what the word “conservative means anymore.
Must be all that jewelry you wore into combat..... ;-)
Have had old liberals accuse me of false valor when they did not like my manner. You cannot reach into the screen and drag them through it, unfortunately.
Thanks for writing this.
Thanks for your service.
Hey guys..
I Don’t recall and really it
Happened a month or two ago
But I’m positive I got “it”
Before I “Gave it.”
Let's be clear about something: you haven't got the slightest clue what we went through during and after the war - and there's no excuse at all anyone can offer for telling us to be a "lawn candle".
Supposedly, conservatives are more patriotic than their Lefty opponents - like the ones that called us "butchers" and "war criminals". Your excuse is that someone called you "Granny" in a debate about China's military threat?
Those of us who served in combat in Vietnam deserve better than that. The average time an infantryman lasted until he was wounded or killed was two months. Every single grunt I knew had been wounded at least once, several more than once but they stayed with the rest of us as long as they could. And all of us, every single one, that I served with in Vietnam and survived combat got prostate cancer thanks to the crap that was sprayed around us.
You want to insult me directly in a debate, fine - but attacking us as Vietnam Veterans is shameful garbage and you know it.
China....
Okay ..
I admitted makeing a general statement
And You went off on me!
A month ago...
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