The Last Patrol

This is a sort of "deja vu." 42 years ago, the closer I got to the end of my tour in 'Nam, the quicker I wanted to get OUT. Today, as I'm writing the last installment of my 'Nam tour, I'm ready to get back to the states as well!

My last "operation" with "K" Company, was guarding the supply road that spanned over the top of Hai Van Pass. Two new replacements, Randy Moe and Octavio "T.J." Aceves would join Bosch to make up the new 3rd Platoon Rocket Team. Snowder had already rotated back to the states, and I was a "short-timer." Doug Webber was the senior rocketman in the whole company, and he and I would be leaving 'Nam together, so he pulled me up to the top of the pass with him, and we shared an old French concrete bunker. (The French got their butts kicked in Vietnam in the early 50's).

"K" Company was strung out up and down the grade on both sides of the pass, living in makeshift bunkers and even huge pipe culverts. During the day, military truck convoys would climb the mountain and go down the other side. Webber and I would be sort of a "roving patrol" up & down the road, checking on OUR guys to see if they needed anything.

From the souhside of the pass, you could see DaNang. Doug and I, and Randy Mapel KNEW that the NEXT time we were in DaNang, we'd be headed home! It was just a slight matter of staying alive for the next 6 weeks or so! Looking way out across the bay at DaNang off in the distance, was like a freshly baked apple pie, that you could SMELL, but couldn't quite reach.

But the days passed quickly. My "last patrol" was walking up and down an UN-boobytrapped road everyday, watching for anything suspicious other than 6x6 traffic. The convoys were ALSO well-armed, so if "Luke" DID jump up out of nowhere to start something, he'd have to take on both the convoys AND "K" Company.

Strangely, as you get down to the last week or so, you start getting paranoid, that you're gonna get zapped just before you leave-----------after all of this, for over a year-------somehow the "Devil" is gonna jump up and bite you before you can make it home. I know that might SOUND a little goofy, but a lot of other vets have shared those same thoughts with me.

"You guys get the h--- out of here!" says the old Gunny, and Doug & I climbed into the back of the Marine 6x6 that had stopped to pick us up, on his way into DaNang. That was about the longest 10 miles or so I'd ever ridden. But no road mines or sniper fire, and soon we drove through the gates of 3rd Marine Division Headquarters. We jumped off, thanked the driver for the ride, and reported-in for out-processing.

We'd be leaving on a Continental Airlines contract 707 in a couple of days with a bunch of other guys from different outfits.

At Danang, in an area they called "China Beach", the Marine Corps actually had a make-shift "Recreation Center", which was basically a big wooden shack made of plywood, braced by 2x4's, and lights powered by a generator running outside. There WAS beer and soda, though, and I remember Doug & I taking in a "movie" that first night. It was an old 8mm projector sitting on an empty ammo crate. I think some Lance Corporal was running it, and we all sat around on the floor, watching "The Endless Summer", about a couple of surf bums, travelling the world searching for that "perfect wave." Not much of a movie really...........unless you hadn't SEEN a movie in a YEAR! I saw that movie again a few years ago on television, and I thought back to DaNang. if it's ever available on DVD, I think I'll order it!

We turned all of our equipment in, the day before we left, so our last night in Vietnam would be UN-armed. I didn't particularly care for that, even though the Marines had ample forces guarding the perimeter, I still didn't sleep well that last night.

Earlier in the day, when I had to turn-in my M-14, I offered to BUY it. Since they were being "phased-out", there was no need to just let them lay in crates in some warehouse complex stateside. They cost the government $168.00 apiece, and I'd saved up a lot of money in "script" over the past year. I even offered $300.00 (which was a LOT of money for a rifle back then)........no dice.........mine was a 'Nam M-14. It had a full-auto selector, which technically made it a machinegun. TABBOO in the states.

Funny...........when we were killing for "Uncle Sam", we not only got paid to do it, but "Sam" provided us with mortars, machineguns, bazookas, flamethrowing, automatic weapons, tanks, helicopters----------and all the ammo we wanted.........to help secure someone ELSE's freedoms.

Here in our OWN country.............they don't trust you with a 22.

Anyway, I lost THAT one, but at least I was getting OUT of there in a handful of hours. If nothing happened.

They got us up early on the last day, and we were out on the skirts of the airfield as the sun was coming up, and watched that 707 touch down and taxi in. It was quickly refueled, and after loading our seabags in the belly, we quickly boarded, and weren't even belted-in yet, when they started to taxi out............(those civilian pilots weren't fools-----------they didn't want to be on the ground in DaNang any longer than WE did)!

Except for the sound of the aircraft engines, you could have heard a pin drop on that airplane, as we rolled onto the "active runway" and he throttled it up. I'll always believe that in everybody's mind, "Luke" was gonna rocket the runway and hit the plane before we could get off! Somehow you just KNEW this wasn't going to be allowed to happen!

Then.....we were airborne. Shortly thereafter, the landing gear came up, and we banked eastward. As if on cue, everybody on that airplane started cheering. I'll never forget it. Never. After we levelled out and headed for Okinawa, where we'd do four days of "pre-state" processing, the stewardesses (yeah I know......they're called "flight attendants" now)....started walking up and down the aisles, serving coffee and soft drinks.

THIS was our first real clue that we were headed home. Great looking AMERICAN girls! They were "off-limits" of course, but it was definitely a sign of things to come, and all that stood between us and home NOW...............was Okinawa!