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These ‘rest’ breaks were about the only time we could catch up with friends in other platoons and in other companies. I rarely saw Lt. Boryszewski , Lt. Kozak, Lt. Lloyd, Capt. Tolleson or Lt. Clancy unless we were back in the rear area. We did see one another occasionally when we were on a Company or Battalion Sweep or Operation. The same was true with my fellow officers from F, G, H and H& S Companies. I heard what other platoons—other companies were doing and I was proud to be a part of 2/7. We were accomplishing our mission by controlling our TAOR. That took everybody—every Marine—every platoon — every company and Battalion HQ. Qui Nhon was a vital supply depot with an airfield, shipping facilities and was critical to the operations of all Marine Units and Army Units in the mid section of Viet Nam.
Protection for the Secretary of Defense—Robert McNamara
On August 19th. the Defense Secretary , Robert McNamara, came to visit Qui Nhon and my platoon was selected to provide security at the airport for the 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
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