Saigon

I spent each night at the Officer's Club, having a wonderful hot dinner and playing contract bridge or watching the latest movie. Oh yes, and I drank plenty of gin and tonic. (The tonic keeps malaria away. He he he.)

I remember lying in my bed one night, listening to Neil Armstrong (live) as he stepped on the moon's surface for the first time.

What a weird feeling. That is, listening to such a glorious human achievement while in a War Zone, engaged in Modern Barbarism.

I never missed the "Good Morning, Vietnam" radio show while there. It was quite strange listening to Acid Rock while in a combat zone.

Go to Saigon pictures.

I spent the last 3 months of my tour on the outskirts of Saigon at Bien Hoa, the Army and Air Force Base, II Field Force Headquarters.

I was in charge of the Base's perimeter defense. Fortunately, we were never attacked under my watch. I was the commander of all the clerks, jerks, grease monkeys and dope smokers who didn't know which end of a rifle to use.

However, the job was real cushy. I'd get about 30 Vietnamese laborers each day who were detailed to build fortifications, lay barbed wire and clear fields of fire throughout the base. (No doubt half of them were VC, mapping all our positions.) My Vietnamese secretary served as my translator and paymaster and rode around with me in the Jeep.

I kept a pet python in my office, named Charlie. He usually stayed around the file cabinets. We fed him mice, rats and raw chicken.