Vietnam Diary

27 Jun -

Slept late after all good intentions & a 7:30 call - Pick up 6 shirts at ascot [?] - [illegible] are or - looks good hat to China Fleet club - after T-Bone lunch - bought another Minox - Tried on some sweaters - [rejustenatos arcussist?] size I'd have spent some more money -

Wandered around Hong Kong - picked up Terry's Banjo strings along the way & a Bachelor cook book - Ferry ride again [illegible] to Lee Kee! to pick up Foy's shoes but I didn't have the slip with me - walked back to [illegible] - [entrusting?] [illegible] - minor traffic [Bang?] - tail to - almost started a [pist?] - a dozen people started yelling & people came running from everywhere - ! Easy to visualize & potentially explains popular cop jumped in offenders car & got the Hell out! fast - crowd slowly dispersed.

Now its back to lee Kee for shoes and then later back to the den for dinner & last night.

Did my duty with a few post cards & letters to the Home Front.

Bad news - Putting on Rank noticed that trousers looked funny - it appears

they washed my original [?] [?] uniform trousers! - they're now 4 sizes smaller - [illegible] to tailor down the street & he says hell have a new pair in my room [illegible] [illegible]

Dinner late a Eagles nest & "The Den" swinging. - Ran into a couple of old crochetts at the Bar - Air Force OK Pilot with honors & a Ex-Navy [illegible] recently having completed ferry [illegible] of [illegible] for Army from LA to Bancock across the Pacific in a day - great fun - and [illegible] as Air Force and I might the conversation drifted that way continually -

The Den was great as usual - really think I missed the boat by not coming there earlier & more often. Eagles Nest was beautiful but ration exorbitantly esxpensive - even by Hong Kong standards Caught last Ferry to Kowloon & in bed by 2:00

24 June-

Early call at 0630 and stumbled into my [?] and rapidly completed packing hoping to have time for breakfast. -Successful- Bill for week 248.60 HK I have one silver HK dollar left - Departing [?] I noticed [church?] half way down theblock spoted Maoist Shogans about head & [?] last night which I missed by being on Hong Kong Island - (Killed - 40 artist - Picture taking [disp?] - not - tear - gas- raid - 6 hour battle -

Plane back with MAJOR Colan Reuters - EX of CT-23 and a darn good fighting pilot - Read "Rector of Justin" - completed "In Cold Blood" on the way out - Danang was hot - wasted no time hiching a ride to [Bole?] and changing to flight out. - Missed CH37 connector so back a 60 Cubic and brought some supplies via GV [?[ it Dope -

McCleaky - Punch out - Engine seizure over Danang - [C???ful]

32 plane group strike on AAA sites north of DMZ - gaggle led by Gibson - & Doering - Al Ronsen flew #2 and got good [?] from him - Idea

Sound good but execution left some to be desired - [inc???] [?] very hot let the experienced people lead us? BDA still unknown although secondary reputed - typical off tgt drops & screws up - Co Blenture on lading - plogging cost field - MAJOR Blanchard blew - [?] - ernest? - with 20 plane 7 sec partial [?] - Jesus ! Jim hayes ran off the end of utu west - nose gear failure - Cause disputed - Blockie Hand out - flight OK in manual

Orders to 2nd [?] become apparent as I get questions from 6-1 requesting experienced [?] etc -

Still impacting 0- long [?] at bar with COL hanes & Bill (Douglas tech Rp) Re problems in Marine Corps - Solidifying Thanking-

Tomorows another (ugh) day -

20 June 1967

Ended the month with a bang - have flown every day since my return from R&R - and two today including night alert launch - no drop however Most were CAS/DAS and an [?] that my bombing improves greatly with just a little thinking & concentration Flyuing generally has been slow but 34 is very short of pilots - [?] 14 yesterday If the war picks up in July - which I thnk it will in the Ashan Valley - Should be a good month

Smiley's off to Hue to play soccer - what next

Hank Castle is down from Danang to get club budget signed - partook of the chu lan beach & provded to get burned.

Been thinking more & more lately at odd times about what I am going to do re - service - extending - etc - Eh? - Going away partly last night for LT J. V. Harris - XO - Skets and a druni til 0200 - What a great guy ! They [?] his flight out

off him ! - so he spent the evening at the bar in his shredded BVD's Talked with off and on all evening about club problems, project - the Marine Corp - Very enlightening CAPT Bob Allen - [lot66?] - Ade De Camp -

4 July -

Took my first good solid hit yesterday - CAS/DAS with Don Berry up near the firebreak - 2/3 west & 600 meters north. One turn around the target - marked - Don rolled in & off - I rolled in from 8000 ft - 30 degrees - Just thunk & sudden decel at about 3500 - tried to fire guns but no go - master arm off ! - and no air in bottles - anyway - Don said I was [?] fuel so headed for the ocean - lost 3600 in about 4 minutes. Transferred about 600# back into ext tank by pressing [?] wing. Then transferred to fusilage cell by way of special "bullet hole" [?] AFC 317. - Dumped 10-D1 in ocean[?] [?] & ships - all went off which I'll bet woke up some sailors. Made Danang with 700# and shut down on Rwy - fuel still leaking after stop Don went back to Clu Cai - Towed plane to ctag [?] H & N [wh?] STRAAD - Hopes to patch it up in 12 days - met Smiley on his way back from soccer in Pdu Bai - we chowed and borrowed VW from clubs & hooked a GV back to 50

Day after we lost one F-8 & one F-4 in same area - believe they rescued allF-? crew next morning however Bill Loftus got hit twice in two hops - I was wing on second - made one run [sal?] [?] & 14 K-[?] - and left the area, he went back for second run & got hit - 12.7 in aileron - Small airframe - huge hit.

Have 6 hops so far this month - mostly day CAS/DAS - Good BDA generally - structures, bunkers, NVA -

3 flights yesterday accounted for 80 V.C. - They salvoed in the middle of "Human Wave" at locks. north of firebreak -

Got the concrete floor in today - all except under the [?] bar - Awaiting water pipes - all day job !

LTCOL ? Kept bar open late so I did a little paper work -

Woke me up to fly 0400 TVQ with MAJOR Coffin - Salvoed on artillery posts in DMZ 2 - secondary fires -

7 July 1967

No hop today - yet - Spent the whole day at disbursing with a calculator figuring out July 1-6 receipts - Hope everything is squared away now so daily inventories will go a little easier.

Joe Miller had a [?] last nite - He and MAJOR Brubaker had a trampars ("Thats tired raggedy assed Marines firing at Sams") alert - Shrike & 2 unis 24,000 and the Gooks launchec two Sams at them - Joe out manuver one - but sighted the site but the shrikes won't fire ! - TEHD to PISS YOU OFF ! - Found out later they weren't loaded & armed properly. MAJOR Brubaker wasn't so lucky he took frag hits from the missle & ejected. Joe never heard from him again. This morning "Jolly Green" plucked himm out from the middle of the 324 B Division! He now in an AF hospital in Danang & full story is not yet known.

MAJOR Blockington informed me this afternoon that I am the Civil Affairs officer Fretabs-12 ugh & double ugh ! - that's what I like about the [?] ]?] -

Lot of good jobs floating around just waiting for some hard working young officer. The Marine Corp has tried to do much, for too long with too little. Too many jobs are assigned but not accomplished. We're over [?] ! -

Wrote out questions for 2nd [?] & sent it in. Brought to mind the ultimate question of what D's going to do come Feb(?) Dont even know if I'll extend or not - have to end of July -