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Kay assured me they had arrived home safely and that all our stuff was in storage and —most importantly our baby girl was doing fine! The family had embraced them at the Bluefield airport when they arrived home from California. A small army of Gross’s and Asburys couldn’t wait to see Kay and our new baby —Kimmie. Kay sent pictures of Kimmie and I noticed how much she had grown in just a short period of time.
I was able to keep the little recorder, my writing gear, etc. in the seabag stored within the Battalion Perimeter. I also carried a small 16mm camera about the size of a cigarette lighter that took 32 pictures per roll. I kept that little camera with me most of the time wrapped in a plastic bag and used it to take most of the pictures I’ve included in this project.
We conducted squad size classes on a range of topics from Vietnamese culture to reviews of land navigation, weapons’ characteristics and news from the States. I held Q & A sessions with the platoon from time to time to answer as best I could any question they had about our operations, politics, rumors, etc. We used this time for the troops to make individual announcements about their family, news from home, etc.—these sessions often were light hearted with plenty of laughter as some of the Marines could be real comedians!
We also inspected the troops checking the routine matters of clean and functioning weapons, individual sanitation, and equipment maintenance and upkeep. I also inspected each position to insure the two man foxholes were deep enough—that they had proper cover and clear fields of fire. Capt. Tolleson would call meetings of the Company officers from time to time—each platoon
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