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  #21  
Old 04-01-2020, 12:10 PM
Baron Von Zeppelin Baron Von Zeppelin is offline
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Sorry i missed this / came in Late.

Full respect and honor towards anyone who served in any conflict our nation has been involved with.
Good Bad Ugly or anything in between.
Anywhere.

Especially the guys who had to do Vietnam

Everyone in my families were either too young or too old for the draft.
But my best friend had an uncle who served in Vietnam.
He caught close range machine gun fire across both legs about halfway between hips and knees.
They saved him somehow.
He didn't bleed out and he didn't lose his legs.
But they were really really strange looking legs to say the least.
He was a determined man
After a long wheelchair stint, then years with crutches, he did finally start walking again around 77 or 78.

Haven't seen him in almost 40 years.
But i think about him every time i see or hear the word Vietnam.

He was a really great guy and i always hated he had to endure that.
He always let my friend and I have all their Coke bottles to cash back in for the deposits.
Every few months there would be hundreds of them.
That was cool

  #22  
Old 04-01-2020, 12:28 PM
Steve C. Steve C. is offline
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Related to going back to the world. Do you guys remember the short-timers ribbon off a bottle of Seagrams VO ?


.

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'70 TA / 505 cid / same engine but revised ( previous best 10.63 at 127.05 )
Old information here:
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/0712p...tiac-trans-am/

Sponsor of the world's fastest Pontiac powered Ford Fairmont (engine)
5.14 at 140 mph (1/8 mile) , true 10.5 tire, stock type suspension
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDoJnIP3HgE
  #23  
Old 04-01-2020, 12:35 PM
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OG68 OG68 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve C. View Post
Most of the troops rotating in and out of the country flew on chartered flights out of the West Coast. With a refueling stop, then on to Vietnam. On occasions some were loaded on air force cargo planes for the trip. On a rare occasion one of these Air Force planes would stop at our base in Taiwan in route to and from Vietnam. A few times I saw troops eating at our chow hall during a stopover, always in a group by themselves. To this day I still remember these rotating troops and the striking difference in physical appearance and the quiet, somber demeanor of those returning back to the world..
Thanks for the memory recall! I was on a flight from Travis (CA) to Hickham (HI) to Guam to Okinawa to Taiwan to Clark in the Philippines. All on Air Force cargo planes. Bus from Clark to Subic Bay. Boarded a ship to Vietnam and then transferred by helicopter to my carrier. Almost three weeks in all. Had to wear my dress whites while traveling until I got aboard the first ship. I quickly settled in as you can see from the photo.
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1968 GTO (Thanks Mom)
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  #24  
Old 04-01-2020, 03:17 PM
Steve C. Steve C. is offline
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Holy crap you hopscotched all over !

My trip over was a contract flight in a Boeing 707 that originated at McChord Air Force Base in Washington, a stop at Yokota Air Base outside Tokyo, then direct to Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. About 19 hours. Then a 100 mile ride in a civilian bus to the Air Base, a harrowing experience as the driver swerved all over the road and passed cars with little room to spare !


.

__________________
'70 TA / 505 cid / same engine but revised ( previous best 10.63 at 127.05 )
Old information here:
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/0712p...tiac-trans-am/

Sponsor of the world's fastest Pontiac powered Ford Fairmont (engine)
5.14 at 140 mph (1/8 mile) , true 10.5 tire, stock type suspension
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDoJnIP3HgE
  #25  
Old 04-01-2020, 04:37 PM
Dragncar Dragncar is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve C. View Post
Most of the troops rotating in and out of the country flew on chartered flights out of the West Coast. With a refueling stop, then on to Vietnam. On occasions some were loaded on air force cargo planes for the trip. On a rare occasion one of these Air Force planes would stop at our base in Taiwan in route to and from Vietnam. A few times I saw troops eating at our chow hall during a stopover, always in a group by themselves. To this day I still remember these rotating troops and the striking difference in physical appearance and the quiet, somber demeanor of those returning back to the world.


.
My father in law did 2 terms in the Air Force. He does not talk about it. But one day he had a few drinks, and began talking to me about it. He told me the airplanes he flew over were barely air worthy. Still flying prop transports. Had oil leaking out ect. Once coming back to the states they were about 20 miles out of Hawaii and he was looking out the window, and a prop fell off. Gone. Plane began to shake and they started to loses altitude. They flew big circles losing altitude all the way, but made it.
The only good flight he had was his final trip out of Saigon. It was on a Pan Am flight, first time he got to fly commercial. The Captain told them to hold on and they took off full throttle getting as high as they could as fast as they could to avoid small arms fire. Said it was the best flight he ever had.
He never told any of this stuff to anyone else. His daughters never were told any of this. Told me of huge underground bases we have in the upper Midwest he was at that you would not believe. Would not give me the state though. He kept a lot to himself.

  #26  
Old 04-01-2020, 05:34 PM
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OG68 OG68 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve C. View Post
Holy crap you hopscotched all over !

My trip over was a contract flight in a Boeing 707 that originated at McChord Air Force Base in Washington, a stop at Yokota Air Base outside Tokyo, then direct to Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. About 19 hours. Then a 100 mile ride in a civilian bus to the Air Base, a harrowing experience as the driver swerved all over the road and passed cars with little room to spare ! .
Yeah, the proverbial Milk Run. I'd get to one place, stay a day or two and catch the next hop. My orders were originally to fly from Taiwan to Da Nang and then catch the ships mail plane to the carrier. Orders were changed at Taiwan due to they thought the ship was in Subic Bay instead of Yankee Station. When I got to Subic, the ship had just left the day before on its way back to Yankee Station.
So I missed out on a carrier landing that would have been a great Bucket List item LOL.

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  #27  
Old 04-01-2020, 07:06 PM
Steve C. Steve C. is offline
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Related and a good read.........

"The World, of course, was anywhere but Vietnam and a Freedom Bird was any aircraft which took you to the World."

Vietnam “Freedom Bird” – Why can’t I remember the ride?

https://cherrieswriter.com/2012/03/0...mber-the-ride/

.

__________________
'70 TA / 505 cid / same engine but revised ( previous best 10.63 at 127.05 )
Old information here:
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/0712p...tiac-trans-am/

Sponsor of the world's fastest Pontiac powered Ford Fairmont (engine)
5.14 at 140 mph (1/8 mile) , true 10.5 tire, stock type suspension
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDoJnIP3HgE
  #28  
Old 04-02-2020, 03:10 AM
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hobbygto65 hobbygto65 is offline
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It's hard to believe it's been 47 years since I got back from my second tour. I have vets coffee every Wed and seems like there's getting less and less of us. Thanks for posting

  #29  
Old 04-02-2020, 01:13 PM
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OG68 OG68 is offline
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Great feeling sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco Bay after a 10 month deployment. Families crowded on the bridge with banners. My parents waiting for me at the pier in Alameda with the GTO

Memories, memorabilia and the scars are all that's left.

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1968 GTO (Thanks Mom)
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  #30  
Old 04-03-2020, 09:17 AM
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FirebirdHank FirebirdHank is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve C. View Post
Related and a good read.........

"The World, of course, was anywhere but Vietnam and a Freedom Bird was any aircraft which took you to the World."

Vietnam “Freedom Bird” – Why can’t I remember the ride?

https://cherrieswriter.com/2012/03/0...mber-the-ride/

.
I'll never forget the loud cheers that erupted when the wheels of our "Freedom Bird" touched the pavement in Seattle. Best part is there were no protesters. August 1970.

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  #31  
Old 04-03-2020, 04:28 PM
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hobbygto65 hobbygto65 is offline
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I came back to a west pac widow and a divorce.

  #32  
Old 04-04-2020, 02:16 AM
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Jack Gifford Jack Gifford is offline
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When I returned (from Germany, not 'Nam) in 1967, I didn't dare be in uniform- too many eggs being thrown at uniformed troops by draft-dodgers.

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Anybody else on this planet campaign a M/T hemi Pontiac for eleven seasons?
... or has built a record breaking DOHC hemi four cylinder Pontiac?
... or has driven a couple laps of Nuerburgring with Tri-Power Pontiac power?(back in 1967)
  #33  
Old 04-04-2020, 09:16 PM
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CraigG. CraigG. is offline
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OG68 - when were you on the Hancock?
My father was on several cruises including CV-19 '70-71 Vietnam.

  #34  
Old 04-04-2020, 10:54 PM
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OG68 OG68 is offline
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From April 72 to Aug 74. What squadron was your dad in?

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1968 GTO (Thanks Mom)
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2015 Chevy Express

  #35  
Old 04-05-2020, 02:26 PM
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CraigG. CraigG. is offline
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VF-32

  #36  
Old 04-05-2020, 06:31 PM
Steve C. Steve C. is offline
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Bob Hope USO Shows: The One-Man Morale Machine and a link to home.

"While only a small fraction of the 2.5 million troops who served in Southeast Asia actually got to attend Hope’s performances, for those who did he managed to break the monotony, ease the loneliness and give the troops in combat zones across Vietnam a couple of hours of laughter—and a memory for a lifetime."

https://www.historynet.com/bob-hopes...tmas-tours.htm

In 1969 Bob Hope performed a Christmas show at CCK AFB in Taiwan. I missed the show, I got a 'early out' and was sent home a few weeks prior.


.

__________________
'70 TA / 505 cid / same engine but revised ( previous best 10.63 at 127.05 )
Old information here:
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/0712p...tiac-trans-am/

Sponsor of the world's fastest Pontiac powered Ford Fairmont (engine)
5.14 at 140 mph (1/8 mile) , true 10.5 tire, stock type suspension
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDoJnIP3HgE
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