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thedrifter
03-06-04, 10:31 AM
Vietnam, the Marines and Coming Home <br />
<br />
This just in...and it's a good read! <br />
<br />
WELCOME HOME <br />
<br />
One of my earliest memories was sitting on my Dad's shoulders <br />
watching a parade in downtown Kansas...

thedrifter
03-06-04, 10:32 AM
We rode into the village of Ky Lien and walked from there into An
Tan. I was dark by then and a little spooky for me. We were about
half way through the village, when this little guy dressed in black
pajamas jumped out from between 2 hooches and pointed a rusty old
Thompson at us. He was really scared and was jabbering something. I
don't think I heard a word he said over my own heart beating in my
neck and my backside snapping shut.

Joe and I were both at sling arms and caught dead to rights. ****,
this wasn't working out at all like I planned! My mind was racing.
I remembered they said your best chances of escape come early on.
I asked Joe if he could get him, he said "No, he's got our ass..I
think we're in deep **** here". The guy motioned with his Thompson
for us to go north to the end of the village. He followed us to the
Village Chief's hooch, where we saw another Marine and Bac Si Nguyen,
the village doctor.
Joe breathed a sigh of relief, " Hell, I think this guy's a PF". Doc
Nguyen explained something to the guy and he lowered his Thompson.
It seems he was a newly recruited Popular Forces guard and was just
about as scared as we were. We spent most of the rest of the night
laughing and drinking Ba Muoi Ba Beer with the PF and Doc Nguyen.
Doc wanted me to read a bunch of stuff from a book into his tape
recorder to help him with his pronunciation of English. I also spent
a good deal of time trying to retrieve my skivvies from my backside,
which took a long time to release it's clamp from them after our
earlier ordeal.

I had just begun to think this was a good idea again, when a PF ran
into the hut shouting "VC ..VC"!
We all split on both sides of the road and followed him back down the
road to Ky Lien village. As we approached, I could see 4-5 very
large men in pajamas and with Vietnamese hats. We challenged them
and found them to be Civilian construction workers from RMK
Construction. They must have had the same idea about the village as
we did. We had the upper hand here, they didn't know that we were
not supposed to be here. We ran them out of town and told them not
to come back or they could get shot.

Early in the morning, we caught the guard truck as planned and went
back to Chu Lai. I got back well before morning chow and assured
myself that I had been on a one time deal. It was probably not a
good idea.

I did continue to volunteer for MED CAP and Civic Action Patrols and
went on one to unload a barge of concrete at Ky Chang market place
north of An Tan on Highway 1. This place was directly across the
river from Snaggle tooth Island and was not a friendly area. We
split the force into two, with half creating a defensive perimeter
and the other half wading half way across the river to a barge. The
barge didn't have enough draft to get close to the bank with his
heavy load.

There were several hundred bags of cement aboard the barge that were
to be used to build a new Ly Tin District school. Several were torn
and by the time we finished relaying it all off, we were all tired,
hot and covered in concrete. You had to go neck deep in the river to
get to the barge and carry the cement on your head.

When we finished unloading the cement and picking off the leeches, we
went to the Ly Tin District Headquarters across the river from An
Tan. This was a tin building that had so many bullet holes in it
that looked like a piece of Swiss Cheese.

By now, everyone was baking in the sun and ready to get to the
showers. As the caravan of 6 bys pulled into the compound, who
should I see but Bac Si Nguyen. He was shouting and waving and
motioning for me to come into the building.

The Civil Affairs officer was a Captain who wanted to know just how
the hell I knew Dr. Nguyen. Shaking his head, he advised me to get
off the truck and go see what he wanted, since Nguyen was the top man
in the District. When I told the Captain that Nguyen had a cold beer
for me, he was ****ed! "By all means Lance Corporal, have your cold
beer while the rest of us who didn't get invited f****** bake out
here" bellowed the Captain.

Nguyen wanted to show me a French Mark 49 submachine gun he had. He
told me to come out tomorrow and he would give it to me. Pretty cool
weapon, but I never made it back to get it.

Upon my return, I thought it would be a good time to approach the
powers to be about becoming a sniper.
I was told that I was entirely too valuable to the Marine Corps with
all my training to become a sniper, and by the way, no more MED CAP
or Civic Action Patrols, and I was to report for 30 days of mess
duty! Not long after my valuable ass completed mess duty and a
couple of weeks of guard duty, I was sent to Phu Bai.

I tried to fly as a gunner with the resident helicopter squadrons
with limited success and found only one adventure to volunteer for.
We ran out of fuel and had to drive north to a port near Hue through
several miles of Vietnamese prayer tables and protesters. There were
paintings and signs on the road that read "Down with Ky and the
Americans", didn't give me a real warm fuzzy about the whole deal.

As I neared the last space on my short timer's calendar, I asked when
I would be going home. "Don't worry about it, you've been extended 3
months and we are pursuing extending you another year", I was told.
That pretty well frosted my 'nads, but what the hell are you gonna
do?

Eventually I got my orders and went to Da Nang to await a "Freedom
Bird". That didn't go as planned either, with a Typhoon over Okinawa
delaying us for 3 days. During which, we got mortared twice and
watched "Puff" light up the countryside near "Dogpatch" both times.
Would have been a nice display if they hadn't already checked in our
weapons! It was getting to the point, with all the backed up people,
where you were looking for someone smaller than you to evict from the
scarce foxholes!
They finally flew us to Kyoto, Japan until the Typhoon cleared and we
could continue to Okinawa.

After about a million shakedowns for weapons and standing in line for
what seemed like weeks, we were reunited with our musty seabags and
sent to El Toro, California.

When we boarded the ship to go to Viet Nam, the band was playing and
there was a crowd of cheering people at the dock. I really felt like
I was in a re-run of a World War II movie or something.

When the "Freedom Bird" touched down in El Toro, there was total
chaos on the plane. Lots of cheering and shouting, in contrast to
the 5 minutes before touchdown, where there was total silence.

When the plane pulled up to the taxiway and we disembarked, there was
one family waiting for their Marine. We were herded through a
Customs stop and told to "Get the hell off the runway". Where the
hell were the bands, the crowds cheering? Why does everyone look so
fat?

After processing in, I raced to the front gate and liberty. I tried
hitch hiking to town with no luck, so I grabbed a cab. I told the
driver I just got back from Viet Nam and he said, "Oh yeah?" and
yawned.

I went to the nearest bar and got blind staggering drunk before
returning to El Toro.

During the Gulf War, one of the guys who worked for me had a younger
brother in the Marines. I told him to bring him by when he came
home from the Gulf, I wanted to buy him a steak.

When he came home, we had a steak for lunch and he was grateful. He
couldn't understand why I was doing this for him, since I didn't even
really know him. I told him when I came home from Viet Nam, nobody
gave a damn and I wanted at least one Marine to know that this old
Marine was damned glad he was home. I guess I did it as much for me
as for him.

In 1996, I noticed a sign in the gas station asking Viet Nam Vets to
come and participate in a parade in Bonner Springs, Kansas. I
thought, "What the hell, it's been 30 years, why not?". So my Wife
and youngest son and I went.

I dug out my old "go to hell" hat and put my ribbons on it, along
with a Marine Corps emblem.

Showing up at the staging area for the parade, I noticed a bunch of
Vets standing around with various parts of old uniforms on.

continued.....

thedrifter
03-06-04, 10:32 AM
As I joined them, the Sky Pilot of the group introduced himself and
asked if I had ever been in one of these parades before. After
telling him no, he said, " Okay Marine, get the Stars and Bars and
get out in front 30 paces or so, this one's yours". Well, I was
honored and did as he asked. My Wife and Son fell in with the rest
of the family members at the rear of the formation.

I was doing pretty well as we rounded the corner to begin the parade
route, until someone yelled. "Welcome Home and Thank You!". Other
people began to chime in and applaud. My stomach began to tighten
and I could feel my eyes welling up. "Damn", I thought, " I hope to
hell I don't make a fool of myself here". There was a lot of
swallowing and deep breathing going on during the balance of the
parade route and I stayed on the edge of totally losing it until we
were through.

A former Sergeant who was in the Ia Drang Valley with the 1st Air Cav
came up to me and said "Good Job Marine". I told him that I damned
near lost it when people started yelling "Welcome Home", and he
nodded his head in acknowledgment. He pulled off his sunglasses and
I could see the tears streaming down his face. "Now you know why we
all wear sunglasses to these deals", he said. As I looked around, I
could see that every damned one of them had on sunglasses. Not to
look cool, just to hide their eyes!

When my Wife and Son came up, they gave me a hug and my Son said "I'm
proud of you Dad, welcome home!" No amount of swallowing or deep
breathing could have prevented the outflow of emotion that I felt at
that point. I wished my Dad was still alive.

Gerald N. Kelly



Sempers,

Roger
:marine: