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50 years ago -Vietnam - Call home?
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50 years ago -Vietnam - Call home?


Dec 30, 2020, 8:21 PM

Sometime in the middle of the summer months we were on the firebase guarding the perimeter and were told we would be able to make a call to the States through a patchwork system of ham radio connections from the base operations center. Don't have any idea how it was supposed to work but I put my name on the list and waited until after midnight before finally being called to the center to make my call home. Can you imagine the feeling of being in a war zone years before today's instant media devices and hearing your home phone actually ringing ? And can you also imagine the feeling you would get when you realized that with the difference in time zones and the long wait for your turn to call that your mother had just left for work and that nobody would be home to answer the phone. I did not have to imagine the feeling.

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Re: 50 years ago -Vietnam - Call home?


Dec 30, 2020, 8:23 PM

Did any of your superior officers serve in WWII?

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Re: 50 years ago -Vietnam - Call home?


Dec 30, 2020, 8:27 PM

Not to my knowledge - this was 25 years after WWII - I didn't see any officers over mid-40's but I guess it was possible

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Re: 50 years ago -Vietnam - Call home?


Dec 31, 2020, 12:37 AM [ in reply to Re: 50 years ago -Vietnam - Call home? ]

None of my superior officers served in WW II, but my first platoon sergeant (E6 - Staff Sergeant) was in the First Raider Battalion in WW II. His Name was Chester James Chapman and was in the Marines for 10 years after serving in WW II, then out of the Marines for ten years and then was back in for nine years when he became my platoon sergeant. He was a crusty old dude and quite a disciplinarian, but my guys loved him. He liked to drink a little too much and one night he had a little too much to drink and shot up the roof of our hootch .... said he saw a "wildcat" in the rafters. He was replaced the next day and I don't think I ever saw him again.

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Re: 50 years ago -Vietnam - Call home?


Dec 30, 2020, 8:24 PM

I’ve not had that experience, but i am from the letter era, so I can imagine how you felt. God bless you, and please keep sharing these snippets from your time there.

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Re: 50 years ago -Vietnam - Call home?


Dec 30, 2020, 8:29 PM

I guess next week it becomes more than 50 years, so I guess I'm done.

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Re: 50 years ago -Vietnam - Call home?


Dec 30, 2020, 8:50 PM

What year did you come home?

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Made it to Walter Reed in October 1970


Dec 30, 2020, 9:18 PM

Didn’t make it home until summer of ‘71

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Re: 50 years ago -Vietnam - Call home?


Dec 30, 2020, 8:31 PM

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

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"It is not part of a true culture to tame tigers any more than it is to make sheep ferocious."
--Henry David Thoreau


I do understand and God bless you! Glad you made it home


Dec 30, 2020, 8:55 PM

Nm

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Re: 50 years ago -Vietnam - Call home?


Dec 30, 2020, 10:04 PM

I enjoy your stories and may God bless you for all you do and did!

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Re: 50 years ago -Vietnam - Call home?


Dec 31, 2020, 12:58 AM

Thanks again for your service. You can still tell us stories even if past 50 year mark, many here enjoy them including me.

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Great story - thanks for your service! What you used to call was the


Dec 31, 2020, 1:10 AM

Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS). You brought back memories from using the system - like having to say “over” when you were through with talking! As a 1970s US Army draftee fortunate enough to be stationed at TASCOMEUR in Worns, Germany, we used MARS to keep in touch for free with parents &’relatives back in the states. Great for troop morale!


FROM WIKIPEDIA: MARS is a United States Department of Defense sponsored program, established as a separately managed and operated program by the United States Army, and the United States Air Force. The United States Navy-Marine Corps program closed in 2015. The program is a civilian auxiliary consisting primarily of licensed amateur radio operators who are interested in assisting the military with communications on a regional and national level when access to traditional forms of communication may no longer be available. The MARS programs also include active duty, reserve, and National Guard units; and Navy, Marine Corps units.

Go Tigers!

Ps - Is the Clover for Clover, SC?

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Thanks for the info - I was only given that one


Dec 31, 2020, 7:35 AM

opportunity to use the system since we were in the field most of the time. I guess the guys permanently stationed on the base used it most of the time and just allowed us grunts to have access in the middle of the night when they were sleeping. And yes - Clover is my hometown but haven't lived there in almost 50 years. When I went to Clemson the Tommy James song Crimson and Clover was changed to "Clemson and Clover Over and Over". Even hitchhiked home a few times.

Message was edited by: clover65®


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50 years is about the right time period! In high school


Dec 31, 2020, 4:44 PM

I worked summers ‘67 & ‘68 at Terry’s Marina at Lake Wylie. There was a great hole in the wall seafood place about two miles up the hill on the SC side of Hwy 49 past Joyners & Buster Boyd Bridge. I think it was named Capt Lyle’s. All you can eat flounder for $6.99!! I was in my teens and could put the food away then (not so much now!). I felt guilty that I ate so much flounder I was to blame for their closing! Lots of good memories of Wylie, Terry’s, Joyners, Piers 49 & 88 and the Shriners Red Fez Club!

Go Tigers!

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Re: 50 years is about the right time period! In high school


Dec 31, 2020, 10:55 PM

I ate at Capt Lyles a few times and remember all the places you mentioned- had a high school reunion at the Shrine Club after missing the 5- year one because of Nam. Couldn’t convince the brass to let me go one for that one- if you haven’t been in that area recently you would never recognize it - actually a named town now

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Re: Great story - thanks for your service! What you used to call was the


Dec 31, 2020, 12:26 PM [ in reply to Great story - thanks for your service! What you used to call was the ]

MARS just joggled my memory and I remember it being used, but I never spoke to anyone at home during my year in country. Most of the communication from back home in my platoon came via letters and an occasional wellness check inquiry from the Red Cross ... saw quite a few of those. I really encouraged my platoon to write home and let their families know what was going on.

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