I remember 50 years ago riding in an UH-34D helicopter heading west over the South China Sea. A clear blue morning greets me under a cloudless sky. We are U.S. Marines heading for the landing zone in Chu Lai, Vietnam. I’m wondering if I will see my 20th birthday in 22 days or even my 21st birthday. I’m carrying a PRC-10 radio on my back and holding an M-14 in my hands straddled between my legs. I land without enemy fire. Marines move out to secure the area. Our strategy is to secure the area around the future airstrip. We dig in, setting up a defensive perimeter for the night. Our May 7th landing ends without casualties.

This is how I remember my first day in Viet Nam. My tour of duty was filled with lots of radio watch, night patrols, digging latrines, hilltop relay stations, sweeping operations clearing out Viet Cong from around the Marine Airstrip. We, the 1st Battalion 4th Marines swept the surrounding area near the airstrip flushing out Viet Cong to prevent them from attacking airstrip.

Though I walk thru the valley of booby traps and land mines, I feared no evil. Well, not exactly...