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Secretary. 15@ We had to ‘clean up’ a bit—made sure we looked sharp because of the circumstances at the airport—we wanted to present a good image for 2/7, our Company and the USMC. After living like monkeys for the past six weeks we again looked like ‘barracks Marines’. Since we had not been involved with anything like this before we developed our own strategies we would use if there was a problem at the airport. Marines ‘rehearse’ their plans and we were no exception—we determined that we would form a perimeter, if necessary, around the Secretary and his party. We rehearsed the movement of that perimeter to be able to move with the Secretary to a secure location —that movement would involve ‘fixed bayonets’ if ‘crowd control’ was the issue. Keep in mind—in Viet Nam—the enemy was ‘everywhere’—they looked like the everyday civilians that populated the Qui Nhon area. We would absolutely not allow anything to happen to the Secretary ! Of course, there were other units at the airport in case problems developed —As it turned out the Secretary’s visit was calm and without incident. Our platoon stayed close and ready if called upon. The Secretary sent us a ‘Letter of Appreciation’ later.
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