Detector Man
Active member
I have been thinking for a while about posting my feelings about my friend Tim......
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[size=large]How I met my friend Tim
I landed in Cam Rahn Bay, Vietnam in mid February 1968. By Mid March I was shipped off to Chu Lai to be assigned to a unit. From there, I took a chopper to our forward base called LZ Baldy located between Chu Lai and Da Nang…Once there I got my gear all together and took another chopper ride to join my company……I land in the middle of nowhere and I meet my guys….we all have small talk. I mention where I’m from in California and then someone says ……Hey!! Tim is from there! I’m thinking NO WAY !!!….i ask: Where is this guy? They respond: Not here, he is in Japan recuperating from Hepatitis……when do you expect him back? They say: don’t know. I am very suspicious, first they tell me there is a guy in the middle of nowhere in Vnam that is from my home town but I can’t meet him because he is getting treated in Japan for Hepatitis?????
Weird….but I’m thinking OK ….for the next week I’m checking out all the choppers coming and going and see if anyone comes out that could be Tim....no new comers just supplies, mail, replacements, guys going home etc.
One day in late March I hear someone yelling…….THERE HE IS…TIM IS BACK !!! I rushed to the chopper pad and sure enough there is Tim….I greeted him and introduced myself and he was just as surprised as I was about our connection. Usually I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to what I deem to be vague information about things and I information from the guys I felt this would quickly evaporate as well but there he was!!!!! The great part was that he was in my squad so we got to know each other very well…..his family lived about 4 miles from my family’s home. He had been in Vnam about 4 months and had survived the Tet offensive….i got to our unit on the tail end of Tet….
Tim was scheduled to leave around Nov 1968 with his group that came in-country at the same time he did. Around Oct after a miserable monsoon week of nonstop rain….we were going up this hill for the night and it was one of those things where you took 1step up the hill and 3 steps back in the rain and we were all soaked to the bone. The joke during monsoon season was that the only dry spot we had was between the helmet and helmet liner!! Upon reaching the summit of this short but steep hill my friend Tim comes up to me and says something along the line: Hey do you know how to repair M16s, M79, M60s?? Without hesitation I said YESSSSSSSSSS I’m your guy……Tim smiles and says…..get your stuff and get on that chopper !!! I get on the chopper out of the field on the way to LZ Baldy ……YES !!
It didn’t take long before the loyalty factor kicked in and I started having a feeling that I was abandoning my guys.. It was hard but being busy all day doing odd and ends I eventually worked out of that mode.
Later, once I got home and I was out of the military I often thought about that fateful day where Tim took me out of the field…..I never did ask Tim on how I got to be the lucky one…….and after all these years I doubt he would recall the details.
I kept thinking why me? Why not Baker, or Big John or Polack or Joe? I had no explanation but I will forever owe him….i do mean forever.
At the present time Tim lives about 20-30 minutes from my house. He rarely stops but I regularly go to his place and remember the good times in the field with the guys. I will forever be grateful to Tim for getting me out of the bush. Thank you Tim !!![/size]
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[size=large]How I met my friend Tim
I landed in Cam Rahn Bay, Vietnam in mid February 1968. By Mid March I was shipped off to Chu Lai to be assigned to a unit. From there, I took a chopper to our forward base called LZ Baldy located between Chu Lai and Da Nang…Once there I got my gear all together and took another chopper ride to join my company……I land in the middle of nowhere and I meet my guys….we all have small talk. I mention where I’m from in California and then someone says ……Hey!! Tim is from there! I’m thinking NO WAY !!!….i ask: Where is this guy? They respond: Not here, he is in Japan recuperating from Hepatitis……when do you expect him back? They say: don’t know. I am very suspicious, first they tell me there is a guy in the middle of nowhere in Vnam that is from my home town but I can’t meet him because he is getting treated in Japan for Hepatitis?????
Weird….but I’m thinking OK ….for the next week I’m checking out all the choppers coming and going and see if anyone comes out that could be Tim....no new comers just supplies, mail, replacements, guys going home etc.
One day in late March I hear someone yelling…….THERE HE IS…TIM IS BACK !!! I rushed to the chopper pad and sure enough there is Tim….I greeted him and introduced myself and he was just as surprised as I was about our connection. Usually I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to what I deem to be vague information about things and I information from the guys I felt this would quickly evaporate as well but there he was!!!!! The great part was that he was in my squad so we got to know each other very well…..his family lived about 4 miles from my family’s home. He had been in Vnam about 4 months and had survived the Tet offensive….i got to our unit on the tail end of Tet….
Tim was scheduled to leave around Nov 1968 with his group that came in-country at the same time he did. Around Oct after a miserable monsoon week of nonstop rain….we were going up this hill for the night and it was one of those things where you took 1step up the hill and 3 steps back in the rain and we were all soaked to the bone. The joke during monsoon season was that the only dry spot we had was between the helmet and helmet liner!! Upon reaching the summit of this short but steep hill my friend Tim comes up to me and says something along the line: Hey do you know how to repair M16s, M79, M60s?? Without hesitation I said YESSSSSSSSSS I’m your guy……Tim smiles and says…..get your stuff and get on that chopper !!! I get on the chopper out of the field on the way to LZ Baldy ……YES !!
It didn’t take long before the loyalty factor kicked in and I started having a feeling that I was abandoning my guys.. It was hard but being busy all day doing odd and ends I eventually worked out of that mode.
Later, once I got home and I was out of the military I often thought about that fateful day where Tim took me out of the field…..I never did ask Tim on how I got to be the lucky one…….and after all these years I doubt he would recall the details.
I kept thinking why me? Why not Baker, or Big John or Polack or Joe? I had no explanation but I will forever owe him….i do mean forever.
At the present time Tim lives about 20-30 minutes from my house. He rarely stops but I regularly go to his place and remember the good times in the field with the guys. I will forever be grateful to Tim for getting me out of the bush. Thank you Tim !!![/size]
