8 March 1970

Sunday night
8 March 1970

No mail again today - but I’ll write anyway!

Tomorrow we go on the hot pad - so I have to spend my last week on that lousy hot pad!  I’m planning to leave Chu Lai as early as I can on the 14th, so I’ll spend all day the 13th getting packed and checked out.

I flew a BarCap today, a 3 hour mission up north.  Not very exciting and awfully tiresome!

Major Gibson gave me the enclosed picture today, but I had already sealed up last night’s letter.  I don’t think I’ve flown with him since the picture was taken.

It’s midnight now.  I worked on tomorrow’s flight schedule from 1930 ‘til 2300.  However I looked after me!  I don’t have anything until 1200 - so I can sleep late, as I did this morning.  While most guys are drinking and relaxing, I’m over working on the schedule, so I don’t feel a bit bad about having the morning off.  I only write the schedule for three days at a time then the other writer does it for three days. 

The picture sure makes me look burly!  More so than the ones I sent yesterday.  I don’t know why.  I’m just rattling on about nothing - it is late - so I’ll sign off now.

Photo - summer 1968, Pensacola, Florida.

7 March 1970

Saturday night
7 March 1970

The end of another week - and one week left to FAC!  No mail today - and I have absolutely nothing to write!

I flew once today - a rather lousy hop all in all - so I really didn’t have a very good day.  The day is only as good as the flying!

The pictures were taken on my 100th  mission on 18 Feb.  I also have some slides taken on the same occasion, but don’t have them back yet.

6 March 1970

Friday night
6 March 1970

I’m sending this clipping just in case you missed that news.  Very interesting - and causing a great deal of speculation!!!

I’m going to go ahead and request R and R for the end of June, as planned.  I need to do this before I leave for FAC because I have to do it through the squadron.  As time goes on and I find out more about this pull out business, I can always cancel the R and R.

I flew two missions today - both very interesting and challenging because of the nature of the targets and the bad weather in the target area.

On the first one, the C.O. was leading the hop and I was in dash two.  The C.O. and his RIO couldn’t talk to the FAC because they had bad radios, so I had to do all the talking for the flight to the FAC.  The C.O. was very complimentary to me when we got back.

Well enough bragging!

It’s now 20 weeks and 32 to go - but everyone knows we won’t be here for that long!

Gee, I really can’t think of anything to write!

We had a fair movie tonight, of which I got to see the last half.  I had to write the flight schedule for tomorrow.  The movie was “A Man and a Woman”, an “art” film which has received a lot of awards for various things.

I finally got my laundry back today - it had been at the laundry for about ten days!!

5 March 1970

Thursday night
5 March 1970

Nine more days of this Mickey mouse routine - and then I get out where the real war is!  I understand the unit I’m going to has seen a lot of action, and that’s just what I want.  I suppose I’ll get tired of that after awhile - but for awhile I hope to enjoy it - if such a thing can be enjoyed.

I didn’t get to fly today because my hop was canceled because of weather.  However I’m scheduled for two hops tomorrow.

I have a brief at 0545 so I’m going to get some sleep!

4 March 1970

Wednesday Morning
4 March 1970

I went to Da Nang yesterday afternoon and got back after 10 last night.  I had 2 letters waiting for me.

I found out that I’ll be with 1/7 as FAC.  In grunt talk, 1/7 is First Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment, First Marine Division.  I’ll be assigned to the Battalion as either a FAC or ALO (Air Liaison Officer).  ALOs don’t go out with the company like the FACs do, unless the Battalion is short of FACs.  1/7 is located about 15 miles south of Da Nang.  My address will be

Name, serial number
H&S Co. Air Officer
1st Battalion, 7th Marines
1st MARDIV
FPO, San Fran. 96602

I still haven’t had a chance to get to the post office to get a money order.  But I will at first opportunity.

I will take as little stuff as possible with me when I go FAC.  The rest of my stuff will be stored with the squadron here.  I’ll just be taking the bare necessities with me.  I’m not even going to take my cassette recorder.  If I’d known I was going FAC I wouldn’t have bought it.  But, you never know what to expect next in this war.

So far no one has been rotated to Japan at the end of six months like we thought they were going to start doing.  Looks like the only way I’ll get to Japan is for the squadron to pull out and go up there.  However, I would much rather go to El Toro!

Major Gibson is the Chu Lai Air Base Operations Officer now and only flies rarely.

Kurt is married to a former airline stewardess and is from St. Paul, Minn.  As his name implies, he is German and is quite a character.  He has only about one year of college.  He enlisted in the Marine Corps and applied for OCS after boot camp.

I was supposed to fly this morning, but the mission was canceled because of bad weather.

The first planes that flew out of here this morning, had to divert to Ubon.  Sure wish I would have been on that flight!

There will be things I’ll need while I’m FAC - such as laundry soap, flashlight batteries, etc.

We have a pilot named Doug Burpee who just came back from FAC.  He was with the same unit that Bill Overcast, the corpsman, is with.  He said he knows Bill real well and, in fact, was along on that operation when that picture was taken.  Small world.

Nearly noon, and I didn’t eat breakfast - I’ll go eat and mail this letter.

2 March 1970

Monday night
2 March 1970

No letters today, but did get two papers.

I’ve my orders for FAC and I’ll leave here on March 14 and report to First Marine Division to be further assigned to a Battalion.  I’m going to Da Nang tomorrow to take a plane up there to have some work done on it.  While I’m waiting for the plane, I’m going to Division headquarters and try to find out just exactly where I’ll be going for FAC and what equipment I will need.

I get more excited everyday about going FAC, I’m really looking forward to it.

Flew my two hops today.  Can’t think of another thing to write.  My mind is blank!

Photo - 1969, while stationed at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina.

1 March 1970

Sunday night
1 March 1970

I was hoping to get a PAR trip to Japan to pick up an airplane before I go FAC.   But I just don’t know if I can afford to.

I have the all night duty tonight, and am about to start writing tomorrow’s flight schedule.  I suppose today’s schedule was okay as I never heard anything to indicate otherwise.

I still don’t know what date I’ll be going FAC.  I was sure I would find out today, but since everyone had the afternoon off, I couldn’t get any action.

The “frag” just came in so I’ll have to stop now and get to work.

Later

The schedule is finished and being typed, so I’ll add a few more lines.

I flew once today and am scheduled to fly twice tomorrow.  As usual, we’re short of RIOs.  We got two new RIOs in today.  I say they’re new, they were in VMFA-542 which went back to the states.  I’m sure these guys were part of the crews which ferried the planes to El Toro.

The beach party this afternoon was a big success.  We had steaks, hamburgers, hot dogs, and all the beer and coke you could drink.  All the officers were thrown into the ocean by the enlisted men.  The enlisted men get a big kick out of doing that. I suppose it releases their latent desire to be disrespectful to an officer.  And we don’t mind either.  I had been there about five minutes when I was surrounded by a number of burly, drunken Marines so I went quite peacefully!