Page 107 - People & Places In Time

War & Remembrance
We arrived at Dong Ha a few days after leav- ing Saigon. Actually, the town is a few miles upriver, we were anchored out from where the river emptied into the bay. There was one day when we took some medi- cal supplies and doctors in the LCM’s to help people Q living in town. These were the type of excursions when I maned the 30-caliber machine gun mounted at the back of the LCM. The night before going up river there was a briefing of what to expect. This was my only mo- ment of anxiety as we were reminded that if we had to provide cover with our guns, to be aware of where your own men were.
A very large Air Force base sat across the river from the town, where you could watch, while on the river, as a nearly endless stream of C-47 cargo planes arrived and left. From so many sources us included I still can’t fathom the resources delivered to this small country, to sustain a war.
We stayed on our boats a couple of times at the smaller NSAD base at the mouth of the river if it became too late in the
day to return to the ship. This is the
place we dropped off our Marines
and supplies. The only image I can
offer to describe the site, is the
opening scene from “Apocalypse
Now”, though not so dramatic as
the movie, it looked similar and
there was still a lot going on. I use
this description because the base
was on a very wide sandy beach at the river’s mouth, that extended well inland before giving way to jungle. I thought sometimes, but for the war, this place has some of the most beautiful beaches I’ve seen.
The irony of taking supplies and help into the villages was, that at night, it was from inside these towns that the Viet Cong launched their mortars onto the bases.
So, this was pretty much our routine for the next eight months. One particular stop I recall was in
Da Nang. It was mid-July when we were tied up in the harbor. What I remember is the heat, it was so hot and humid. The base is barren sand and dirt I think there must have been trees before it was leveled to build the base, now it’s just hot, dry and flat, except when it rains, then it’s muddy. Tents and Quonset huts with jeeps and trucks scurrying every which way, spread as far as I could see, and the dusty, hot air had an acrid smell.
One evening I had gone up onto one of the 40mm guns that I maintained on the ship, it was a quiet place to look out at the bay and base while watching a
They landed nowhere near us and this is why I try to explain, that for the most part I was a spectator. Close enough to be aware of what was happening, but still
a safe distance away, usually aboard ship, and much
of the time, that was at sea. We dropped off cargo and solders with the landing craft (LCM’s). I often spoke with the solders when they were on board, sometimes we heard what had happened to them, but for the most part we dropped them off and that was that. Anyway,
it was near my birthday when the ships postman went on base to get the mail. Unfortunately, the mortars from
war happen. Somewhere I had come into possession of a small transistor radio, the kind that would fit in a shirt pocket. Trying to pick-up anything as I moved the dial back and forth . . . then through the static I could barely make out a song that sounded familiar, and yet I knew that I hadn’t heard it before. I was pretty sure it was John Lennon and the Beatles, and that was the first time I heard “Strawberry Fields Forever”.
Mortar fire had hit many buildings and planes waiting on the runways on this night, inside the base.
the night before had hit the post office. Though a pack- age had arrived from Mom, it was full of holes and the chocolate chip cookies reduced to crumbs.
Every six weeks or so there would be a chance for R&R (rest and relaxation). I really enjoyed Hong Kong as one of our destinations. We visited there for three or four days, two separate times. One of the best steak dinners I’ve ever had was at a restaurant called Jimmie’s. Several of us had gone there with a friend whose father was an admiral. This friend a seaman,
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