"Never Again Will One Generation Of Veterans
Abandon Another"
Here is a "Story from the Nam"
Don Dignan
I can see myself (or smell myself in my five day old fatigues) sitting on the sandbags
of my sleeping position behind our foxhole at NDP Normandy II near Claymore Corners, Hwy
1 and Hwy 13 in III Corps. I'm holding a paper plate with mashed potatoes, waldorf
salad, stuffing, rolled turkey, pumpkin pie. They brought all this sh-- out to the field
to dress up Christmas. We also got one beer a man....1st Division was generally not
allowed beer in the field. I'm sure they were playing Christmas carols on AFVN. The meal
came with a menu and Christmas greeting from General William Westmoreland which I still
have. I think the effort made everyone miss home all that much more. There may have been
a proposed "ceasefire" for Christmas, I don't recall. Earlier in the month, they
"randomly" picked four EM's and one NCO to fly into Lai Khe to see Bob Hope. I had seen
him many times in the past on TV and was hoping against the odds but, alas, I was not
one of the lucky ones. One of the guys I served with who currently lives in FL attended
the show. They had S & D patrols and ambushes set out around Lai Khe for days ahead of
time. Charlie was not going to be f---in' with Bob Hope. He was a true American Patriot,
unlike so many of these ungrateful pampered pricks of today's Hollywood. There are a few
good guys in Hollywood today but not nearly enough. A few days later my Platoon leader
and I went into Di An to pick up, count out and disburse the entire Company payroll (the
Company returned to our base camp for a couple day stand down) to the troops because the
XO was on R & R. All pay was in MPC (military payment certificate...I always thought it
was post currency), always in paper, in denominations from 5 cents up to $10. This was
tedious, boring and very time consuming. Happy Holidays ! A month later, the Tet
offensive kicked into gear.....wahoo!
