BS: what war were you in during Christmas

Subject: BS: what war were you in during Christmas
From: SamStone
Date: 17 Dec 18 - 01:51 PM

christmas day
near the village of can tho in vietnam
pushed up against the banks of the mekong
the day had been fairly quiet
save some distant skirmishing
and an brief air strike further down the river
we bought half of some critter
roasted over a firepit
from the local vil honcho
we didn't ask what it was
better best not to know

Subject: RE: BS: what war were you in during Christmas
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Dec 18 - 02:57 PM

I was home in '68, on orders to the 8th Army in Korea. My brother Tony celebrated at Chu Lai with a half dozen of our cousins and even more friends; brother Ted was studying Vietnamese at Ft. Myer, outside DC.

Subject: RE: BS: what war were you in during Christmas
From: SamStone
Date: 17 Dec 18 - 03:28 PM

My brother studied Vietnamese about the same time...not sure where...name of SSgt Grant Simmons, deceased...see if that name rings rings a bell.

Subject: RE: BS: what war were you in during Christmas
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Dec 18 - 08:09 PM

I would, save that my brother is also deceased. He was with the 6990th Security Squadron of the Air Farce and got his VN recognition three months before he died.

Subject: RE: BS: what war were you in during Christmas
From: mg
Date: 17 Dec 18 - 08:51 PM

Vietnam. Stateside. Adjutant/headquarters commandant

Subject: RE: BS: what war were you in during Christmas
From: Charmion
Date: 18 Dec 18 - 07:22 AM

Cold War. A fighter base called Baden-Soellingen, in the southwest corner of West Germany. Late 1970s.

Church bells ringing all over the place at midnight, Germans going home from church, walking around their villages, having fun, sparkly decorations. Base dead quiet after midnight Mass at the chapel, messes closed, the last drunks shovelled out. No flying. The MP patrol vehicle clearly audible across the parade square.

Base hospital on silent hours routine, with the nurse checking charts and two medics -- a private and a corporal -- playing cribbage in the ready room. A post-op surgery patient drinks tea with the card players as he sits out the four hours to his next dose of pain meds. A croupy baby starts crying, and the private puts down her cards. Five minutes later, the baby is draped over the corporal's shoulder and the private deals another hand. The nurse comes in and lights a cigarette. "Deal me in," she says.

Rinse and repeat till dawn.

Subject: RE: BS: what war were you in during Christmas
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Dec 18 - 01:56 PM

I studied German at the Defense Language Institute in 1971, and served in Berlin 1972-73. We had our share of bombings during that time, but we felt relatively safe. We went to a Kristkindlmarkt, and loved it. It was hard to hear that a truck had crashed into a Berlin Kristkindlmarkt in 2016, killing 12 people.
A schoolmate took Vietnamese, and died in Vietnam. May he rest in peace.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: what war were you in during Christmas
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Dec 18 - 05:24 PM

Regarding my post here: My brother Tony and I were activated with our entire National Guard unit in May, 1968. The cousins and friends and even schoolmates were in that unit, which is why he could celebrate with them. I and an entire platoon were transferred out because the Army said that a Quartermaster Company had no need for an Infantry platoon. Some the "surplus" later went to Alberta for Operation Vacuum, a chemical warfare exercise involving things like mustard gas and some also went to Vietnam. The day after we were sworn into active duty, Tony and I went to the bus station to see brother Ted off to the Air Force.

My mother's war in 1968 was pretty terrible, with all three sons in.

Subject: RE: BS: what war were you in during Christmas
From: SamStone
Date: 19 Dec 18 - 10:01 PM

Rapparee...one of the strongest people ever, your Mom...you are very fortunate.

Subject: RE: BS: what war were you in during Christmas
From: Jeri
Date: 19 Dec 18 - 10:25 PM

Before I went into the Air Force, my mom and I lived in a mobile home. There was a couple who lived next door we visited with a lot. Dot had had 4 sons who served in Vietnam.
She had a cassette tape one son had sent her, recorded right before he was killed. My mom and I looked for, and found, a tape player so she could listen to it, because she never had. It was 1976, and she'd been hanging onto it for a few years.
I thought she'd want to listen to it alone, but she wanted us to stay. I didn't understand why at the time, and maybe I still don't. I think maybe it was the only way she could share her son with friends.

Moms HAVE to be strong.

Subject: RE: BS: what war were you in during Christmas
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Dec 18 - 09:58 AM

My mother had 2 out of 3 brothers, a husband, and three brothers-in-law in WW2. All saw combat, one uncle on D-Day with the engineers and the rest in the Pacific. My father died when I was five, so when her sons went she was a widow and living (in the house my father built) with my sister.

Strong? Well, yes.