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thnx to all //even though he was a Marine he has got a good head on his shoulder /married a great woman and they have a beautiful son together.//me and his mother met before i was out of the service she even drove up to ft dix to see me off to germany//straight from NAM///GO ARMY
Hey Mr. Harper,
So glad that you and Judy are doing well! Tai has made remarkable improvement and with the help of PT is getting along real well! Glad to hear that you and Rex had a long time together. You two have a bond that others of us wish we had with some of our brothers! Hope you get some rain! Our poor farmers in IL have had a long wet Spring and some don’t even have their corn or beans in yet! I am looking forward to my trip to Seattle with my grandson next month and also Killeen! Some folks probably don’t know that Ft. Hood was my first duty station after OCS!
Bill glad to hear your retiring, but most people retire to Florida not Pa. but were glad to have you.
I too, have not taken a part on this site in awhile. I feel bad that I do not. Everything is going well with Judy and I. We are in big drought here in southeast Colorado as we haven’t had any moisture since September. I know that seems crazy to you guys in all the flood zones.
Rex Allen came and spent about three weeks with me last month. I thought he was going to be back soon, but I haven’t heard from him.
LT, seconded by Paul – where is everyone? I go here almost every day because I want to keep up with what is going on – some tradgedy – some happiness and I guess I feel most often unable to respond. Who would care? I need to change my attitude because I am sure others care as much as I do if they come here to look.
Reflecting on the Doc Rimmer Scholarship: I will always be fighting that war in some way or another and getting involved with the scholarship puts my mind on the winning side. At least some good has come out of it.
Went to Wichita this weekend to see my son shoot at the Kansas Trap Association. Pulled in late Friday night – hate to set up my hootch and dig a foxhole in the dark. Bright and early Saturday morning I woke up to Lee Greenwood singing “God Bless the USA” followed by Carrie Underwood’s version of “The National Anthem”. Yes, I wept – couldn’t help myself. Sure put me in a positive attitude for the day. Met a new friend – Jim Foster from Texas – paralyzed veteran (Artillery Officer) Vietnam era. He was 2002 Texas State Champion. Tells me they have a shoot there at Wichita each May for paralyzed veterans – includes a fly-over.
Good luck Bill, be safe.
Gary, I am sorry for your loss.
And Larry, you seem to have one tradgedy after another – hang in there brother. Some times I have to tell myself things are good because no one shot at me today. Stay positive.
Well I got another 10% disability from the VA. Now I am 80% do to diabetes, heart diease, loss of feeling in my feet, & PTSD. Now my line to my wife is honey I can’t do that because I am 70% disabled but only 10% crazy. She is not buying any of it. Officially retiring on Wednesday & moving to Red Lion, PA from south Florida. Look out grand kids here we come!
larry–condolences for your family. hope your son does as well as possible.
paul —from what i`ve seen over the years, i think the 2nd coming will happen before some grunts pick up a pen/pencil or learn to type. many say it was due to too many C-rats enhanced with water buffalo , but i have doubts.
ty
LT. Like you say where is everyone? I’m feeling kind of alone here. . It feels like times in VN. Has everyone forgotten or died? We can’t be the only ones left can we?
Larry, I’m sorry to hear of your wife’s passng. Bless your son.
Paul
Sorry for the loss!
this wknd was filled with sad news//my son lost his mother//heart attack//[my first wife] prayers for him
COME OUT, COME OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE!
Good for you Bill Beckham! I got service-connected for Diabetes in 2003.
good news //njoy
News Flash! In May 2010, I applied for additional VA disability for a life time of heart diease, caused by my diabetes, contributed to agent orange which was approved in 2001. I just received word this week I have gone from 30% to 70% disability. If anyone wishes to contact me about the details my information is on the roster. Plus because they turned me down on the heart diease in 2001 they paid me my claim from 2001 to 2011. Nice chunk of change to spend on my grandkids & retirement starting June 15th.
Bill,
Congradulations! You will enjoy.
Bill:
You’d probably adapt to Vietnam faster than you think. I was in Haiti last August, which was my first trip to the tropics in several decades, and by the end of the week, I felt right at home!
And, welcome to Old Codgerhood! There’s nothing like being a Grandpa. You get to teach those kids all kinds of things you never would have DARED teach your own kids! 🙂
It was 92 degrees in Albany yesterday afternoon. I went into my swimming pool which really took the edge off. Then I went into my air conditioned entertainment room to watch a dvd and have a few drinks. I kept thinking that I probably couldn’t even last a day in the Nam now…..Just as well I don’t have to……Well guys, I will soon join the ranks of Grandparenthood. My daughter and her husband are expecting…..TWINS… around Thanksgiving.
Late for Memorial Day but still wonderful!
http://spiritclips.com/filmcards/view?aid=3922b24e6a
The next to last photo on my first page of photos shows Hueys lined up for boarding at the Tam Ky airstrip to go to Kham Duc. It was a very very large CA operation. I was with B/2/1 on this one!
paul–as i remember–it was near mid july when we flew out to kham duc. to this day, i couldn`t believe our unit–batttalion–got that many choppers at 1 time. i didn`t even know tam ky had an airfield til then.
any 1 remember when the catholic chaplain came out and said a mass out there ? i went to the same grade school as him, knew his family, but hadn`t seen him in years. sure never expected to meet some 1 from cleveland on the laotian border–.
lot of memories on this day–still can`t figure why some say–have a happy memorial day. glad many of us got this far in life–bummer that many grunts didn`t.
paul rost–as i remember–it was just around dusk when the medevak came in for lt. emory. i think the bird dog was still in the area. i remember thinking that choper pilot had a big pair to fly in there like that, cause we didn`t know if the bad guys had left or were just laying low on the other side of that hill–waiting for a dust off to shoot up. thing is–i don`t remember if it was a medevak or just a regular slick that was in the area. any idea why only 1 grunt was taken out ? seems a bit strange, with hindsight. i remember my foxhole buddy–mustache–asking why i was digging a foxhole so deep–and wondered why he even asked that, considering we didn`t know if mmore bad guys would come back that nite.
May God bless all our fallen comrades from the Nam…. and all the dead, the maimed and crippled from our current wars…and to hell with all the greedy bastards that profit from the misery of others.
Never forgotten, never.
Never forget!
Paul,
I had an interesting thing happen when I was selling Buddy Poppys for the
VFW on Saturday. A man came up and told me to tell him a War Story before he would donate(joking I hope). He got told the most horrific sight I remember in Vietnam which was the Chinook downing on August 26, 1970. He didn’t say much after that! Paul, who forget the CA out of Tam Ky with 7 days ration and ammo on our backs going into Kham Duc. It was an impressive sight to see flights of 17 Hueys. Take care brother and never forget!!!
Hi Brothers,
Who out there remembers CA’ing into the destroyed airstrip in Kham Duc in early July, 1970? We went to re-establish our presence in western Vietnam on the Laotion border. The word was the Ho Chi Min trail was extremely active again.
I still think a lot about the Chinook that was shot down on August 26,1970 and all the guys we lost that day.
Peace and a Happy Memorial Day,
Paul
as we get ready to remember those who have fallen in the continueing pursuit of our freedoms may i say RIP brethern to the rest i say may GOD bless and have a safe day///lawrence thnx for making this page possiblelarry
Have a safe and reflective Memorial Day! God bless all of our fallen brothers who will never be forgotten! Paul, nice to see you posting!
Brothers,
Have a safe and hopeful Memorial Day.
Paul
I was thinking the other day about my first CA in late Sept or early Oct, 1970. I believe we flew west of Tam Ky a ways and set down in a narrow abandoned paddy. My guess is in the Hiep Duc area. We were supposed to be near the extreme range of artillery support. When we landed the door gunners shot up a bunch of old stucco labor houses that were painted in pastel colors. We humped back to this area a week or two later. The labor houses were lined up side by side. An old French plantation house made of solid bricks had been uphill from the labor houses and it was nearly collapsed from various abuse, mainly arty and air strikes I’d guess. It was surrounded by a small minefield and barb wire. A well defined path went through the minefield which we used. We NDP’d further up hill where an NVA position had been dug out including a 51 cal AA position w/ a dirt pillar in the middle to set the gun on. They could have shot our CA up had they been there and felt like it. Does this location ring a bell with anyone?