Page 103 - Stand Down Vietnam

I stayed on the east coast mostly. I wanted to get off
the ship, so I volunteered to go to the Antarctic, but
I was turned down. So, I said I want to go to any ship
or shore installation in the Vietnam area. So, they
sucked me up quick. BUPERS had to ok my volunteering
to serve in a war zone. I was nineteen years old at
the time.

I come home on a thirty-day leave; got married the week
before I went back. When I got back, they gave me
orders. I went to Coronado, California; amphibious
base for my Vietnam training. I went to mechanics
school there and I had to learn the language and take
survival training.

When I arrived in country there were four Americans on
the Vietnamese naval base and we had to work with them,
eat with them, sleep with them, and everything. We
taught them how to patrol on the river and the ocean.

We’d go out and stop sampans at night; we’d make sure
they had ID cards and everything, if they didn’t, we’d
just sink the boats and let them get back the best way
they can. I don’t feel bad about it.

In fact, the only thing I feel bad about is the way we
was treated when we came back. We were called baby
killers, spit on and everything.

When you go into a country like that and are fighting
guerrilla warfare, everybody is your enemy. They would
have kids come up to you, pull a pin on a grenade and
throw it underneath your feet. You got five seconds
before that thing goes off. The first time I seen it,
it really bothered me.