Flying back across the International Date Line, I lost, or was it gained, a day? Well anyway, leaving Saigon/Tan Son Nhut Airport, flying across the Pacific with stops in Guam, Hawaii, then San Francisco, Chicago, and finally Dayton, Ohio, on a Wednesday July 1, 1970...My parents, picked me up that morning, and I would begin my 39 days of leave, before heading off to Upstate New York, Rome, NY, to finish off the final 20 months of my 4 year hitch. Those 39 days were to be action packed, booze filled, and frankly, fun. I know stories of guys in uniform coming home that were "greeted" in a not so kind fashion...can't say that for me. I wore my tan, summer dress outfit from Saigon all the way home, and if I had a comment or dirty look, I don't remember any...same for my stay at home, I don't recall a snide comment about Vietnam or my service...but that was Celina at the time. All White, All, or mostly, Patriots, except for the clowns running the local rag...The Daily Standard {or Slander as we called it} ...it's still a left wing rag, without the editorials these days...biased stories against Trump and others, but not so many editorials as the old days of Parker Snyder and Company.
As for me? I planned on enjoying the heck out of my time, I had a couple of dates with old girl friends, but for the most part, I hung around with a group of close nit friends, Jerry Jones and others, who were either never in or recently out, of the military...many of my best friends, Rick Pearson, Bob Jones {Jerry's brother}, and others were still in uniform...
Lots of drinking, fast cars, especially Jerry's 1970 Charger 440 Six Pack, and other activities kept me busy and made the time fly...a quick trip to Wilmington, Delaware, with mom {her home town} to visit her side of the family, and the folks that helped me through my months stationed at Dover AFB, before my trip to Vietnam, was also on the agenda...like I said, the 39 days flew by, and I despised the thought of 20 more months in service....If I had known what Griffiss AFB would be like, I surely would have returned to Vietnam to finish off my days in the Air Force...Vietnam, especially my tour at Nha Trang, was much better than the Chicken Shit duty of Stateside.
Anyway, regrets or not, 50 years ago on 1 July 1970, my time in Vietnam had come to an end...at 21 life, the good, the bad, and the ugly {mostly good} awaited me...
Back with more, Corona Be Dammed, later...>>>
