| It all
started out back in the states, when I got my orders by a trick of
fate. As I read my orders I got quite a fright, but there it was in
black-and-white, Vietnam. I got on a plane California bound, and
when I got to Frisco that was quite a town. I reported into Oakland
late one night, drunk and tired, I was quite a sight. I got on a
plane again the next day and for seventeen hours we flew, We landed
in a place they call Pleiku. When I stepped off of that plane
looking my best, I sank to my knees in mud. It was a hell of a mess,
Vietnam. I went the next day to a base called An Khe and there they
said "Boy you got a year to stay". I got an assignment called the
1st of the 8th. That's part of the 1st Cav if you ain't up-to-date.
They said you're in the RECON platoon you lucky cat, and I heard
someone behind me say "Sorry about that". Well after three days
training I was sent to the field, and I knew right then that I had
eaten my last good meal, in Vietnam. Now we walked over many hills
and through many small towns but Ole Charlie was nowhere to be
found. Then one day while on patrol, we came across what they call a
spider hole. As we moved up the trail we found more of the same, and
I knew right then Ole Charlie was to blame. A shot rang out and I
looked to my right, and there on the ground dead was my pointman,
Mike. I saw three Charlies at one quick glance, and I knew right
then it was my very first chance. The gun in my hand bucked as I
fired, and those Charlies laid down like they were really tired.
Well after that first encounter, I've killed many more, and I'll
tell you right now man, I'm strictly "HARDCORE". Six months went by
as quick as a flash, and yet in another way, it seemed like it took
a year to pass. One morning the Old Man looked at me and said, "Mac
it's getting too hard, I'm gonna give you a seven-day pass". When I
flew from the battle area the very next day, and in a few short
hours, I was on my way. I landed in Saigon on a CV-2, stepped out
and looked around and felt as good as new. Went downtown in a taxi
cab, and that scared me a hell of a lot more than Charlie had. So I
got out of that cab on Tudor Street, and I found me a bar that
looked, "clean and neat". I walked in the bar and sat at a table,
and said "Hey Papa San, give me a cold Black Label". He said "No can
do only beer 33", I said "well give me one of them, if it will
please me". I was sitting there sipping my beer, and feeling real
keen, when through the door walked a Vietnamese queen. She came over
sat right next to me, looked up and said "Hi G.I. You buy me Saigon
tea?" Well needless to say, I didn't last seven days, cause money
can be spent in so many different ways. I was back in An Khe after
the fourth day out, looking for my buddy, for a cigarette handout.
Well as time passed on many more battles we fought, and as for
Charlie, we killed a whole lot more. We wrote our own name of fame
and glory, in the 1st Cav some situations got mighty gory. Then the
great day came when from Vietnam I flew, as I looked back and said
"So long Pleiku". Well I'm back in the states now living a life of
ease, and for at least thirty days doing what I please. But for all
you guys that are just going over, Let me tell you son, it's no bed
of clover. And if by chance you get to An Khe, to the 1st of the
8th, it will be O.K. But if they look at you and say "You're RECON,
you lucky cat", all that I can say is "Sorry about that".
|
| Poem by
Roger McDonald, Platoon Sargeant and Leader in 1967. We love you
Mac. |
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