Fall In.........

5:22AM

Starting this early before I go to the Honda Satellite plant in Greenville, Ohio. The back continues to be a problem, so getting up early to shower and 'loosen' it up was in the cards this morning....I did manage to go to bed(or rather couch in this case) early to see if I can work this out without going to the chiropractor....I have nothing against them, and have used them in years past when I had back troubles....but they really never seemed to be a long term solution....rest is, and that won't happen for at least another 3 weeks, until football officiating winds down.

FALL IN!

That can be used 2 ways today....today is going to be the first real taste of fall weather, high of 58 with some wind....yesterday was a perfect 75 and sunny with low humidity...now we will pay for the 90 degree days with a cool down, which is OK, as long as it doesn't get too cold to quick.

I would like to go down south and east to the ancestors haunts sometime in the next week or so to get some fall foliage photos around Millwood and Waldo, Ohio....Millwood is the small town(only about 150 people today, if that many) just north and east of Columbus, a town my GGG-Grandfather helped found back in 1825 or so...or so the History of Knox County 1880 tells us. Waldo is about 20 miles north of Columbus on US 23, a town of a couple thousand folks that the local graveyard is filled with the Houseworth name on tombstones...my Great Grandparents and their siblings lived there from about 1845(when both of my GG-Grandfather Houseworths moved there from Delaware County, Ohio) until after the Civil War(moving to Paulding County in 1872).

Millwood is surrounded by lots of Oak and Maple and makes for great fall photos...Waldo is the home of world famous Bologna Sandwiches(don't picture sliced and processed), will stop by G&R Tavern for one with a beer on the way home....hopefully the back will cooperate and I can get over that way next week....Waldo is about 1oo miles from Celina, Millwood another 50 from Waldo.

Nha Trang October 1969

____________________Fall In! was the term we had when reporting for inspection and work in the Security Police career field in USAF.

I had pretty much settled in as a day flight law enforcement cop as October of 69 came around in the coastal town and Air Base at Nha Trang, RVN. Unlike some places with harsh conditions, day flight at Nha Trang was not all that bad, we had a nice beach right outside the main gate(where I usually worked a day or two a week), we could jump a short ride into town for "entertainment", plus we had an open air theater, NCO Club, and the cops?, well we had our own indoor movie house and club for cops only.....life wasn't all that bad for a 20 year old naive kid from west Ohio via southwest Florida.

Now, don't get it wrong, Nha Trang was nice compared to most other spots in the war torn country, but it was still in a war zone.....we would get an occasional rocket, the closest one hit the TUOC Radar Building right next to the Police Barracks.....I managed to be asleep at the time, remember waking up, and by the time I got outside the action was over.....I did pick up a couple of pieces of shrapnel as souvenirs, and still have them today.

Managed in the 6 months I was at Nha Trang, before moving south to Saigon and Tan Son Nhut Air Base, to make some good friends, and even grow up a little, although that transformation would come as my Air Force time moved into it's final stages. The guys I met included Harry Bevan, Marcos Payen, Johnny Claflin, Bruce Thompson, and others who remain nameless.....Harry and Bruce are members of the VSPA(Vietnam Security Police Association), Marc lives in El Paso, and Johnny C lives in Winter Garden, Florida. Harry and Marc continued their law enforcement careers after getting out, Harry for 30 plus years with the Philadelphia PD, Marc as a fed down in Texas, Bruce sells real estate in Kentucky, and Johnny Claflin(from Maine originally) owns his own extermination(bugs and varmints) company in Florida.....they are all alive and doing well...I have contact with them, as well as others I served with before and after Vietnam....some others sadly have passed away, such is life.

Nha Trang was in Vietnam, but it was also a wake up call, and my favorite duty station during my 4 years in the AF.....will post some photos here on this post, and other photos and stories as the days pass.

{photos...Marc Payan, QC(RVN cops) Sgt KY, and Harry Bevan, at the Nha Trang maingate, me at the civilian entry point at Nha Trang, and in my trusty jeep at LE Post #7}

prh