Man-o-man ...

[Thumper]

I just tore the March page off the calendar and for the last almost 40 years, whenever I see the April calendar, my mind goes back to one of the craziest months of my adult working career. The attack on Saigon by the North Vietnamese and the evacuation of the Embassy there. What a frigging mess that was and I was down south to help receive the evacuees. Most everyone is familiar with the evacuation of Saigon, BUT ... The month of May, I was still down south for the "Mayaguez Incident". Talk about SCRAMBLING! We worked our butts off on that one, yet I'd wager a guess hardly anyone here remembers it. Actually, the troops killed on Koh Tang were the last official casualties of the Vietnam War .. the final entries on The Wall. The truly sucky part is, they died for no reason as the Mayaguez had already been released by the Cambodians before the Marines hit the beach.

BUT ... if anyone is interested ... it might be a good read. Everything was happening so fast, by time intel made it to the brass, the situation had changed ... then changed again ... then changed again! Someplace around here I have pics I took of the Mayaguez ... but I don't have 'em scanned. That was in May of '75 ... I came home in August ... after 3-plus years without ever leaving S.E. Asia.

This "might" be a good read if you're into this sort of history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayaguez_incident

[Buckrub]

I can't.

Thanks again, very much, for your service.

[Thumper]

Thanks Bucky ...

[Captain]

Kribbs about a week or so after we got back from visiting you in Florida I thought to myself I should have had you tell the boys some of the war stories you lived first hand.

The man we bought the Florida house lot from was named Fluggie (sp?) Conrad. He was within 100 yards and watch them raise the flag at Iwo Jimi.

Years ago when he was in a rest home in St Augustine I took the kids there and asked him to tell them the story.
He told them how they took the beach and what "color" beach it was he came in on. Told of how many hundreds of his friends died and many he saw killed. He told them his feet were wet for so many weeks that his skin grew to his socks as did many others and the socks had to be cut off. He remembered the Japanese had not metal projectiles for loading bullets and were carving bullets out of Bamboo and reloading cases with those to keep fighting.
The kids listened and I was so glad they got to hear his stories.
I wish I had thought to had you tell them some of the events you saw and remembered. Heck you were younger than hammerhead when you did all that stuff. That was a hell of a war that y'all (we, country) fought with handcuff on.
Thanks for your service and perhaps we will have another occasion to pass along some lived history.
Take Care, Captain

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

[BarryBobPosthole]

Amen!

BKB

[Thumper]

Oh, I ain't no hero ... I just had the inside scoop to most of what was going on .. stuff very few people knew about then or now even. I didn't do the shooting ... just instructed others where to shoot so to speak. But I do have the memories. That's one thing Mauserman and I talked about almost EVERY night as his health was going downhill at the end. I'd give him the hours I was driving and after I'd shut down, he'd call like clockwork just to talk. Toward the end, he quit talking to friends and family (other than his wife) and told me he enjoyed our talks as I was one of the few who "understood".

Ol' Mauserman had been wounded twice in 'Nam ... he was a real ground-pounder. He spent most of his life pretty crippled up ... but the ironic part is, he was crippled from a mining accident working in the coal mines AFTER 'Nam. Now, that itself is a real story not many have heard. I "think" I repeated it here after he'd passed away.