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Author’s Note: I finally went back to Vietnam in
April and May of 2003 with 3 other veterans – we called ourselves “The
Peace Patrol”.
I was interviewed by our local NBC TV station before I left and when I got back
again. It was a trip of a lifetime – and no one was shooting at us!
THE FLIGHT BACK TO NAM
– The Flight from Hell Part II
I was planning on going to India
that year for a couple of months but the events of 9-1-1 changed all of that
when my tour company cancelled the tour on me. So – I had the time and the money
and no scheduled place to go – so was it fortunate or lucky that I happened upon
a website were a small group of veterans were planning on returning back to Nam
the spring of 2002.
A veteran named Dave
Gallo out of San Francisco, had put together a nice tour package for interested
veterans – he was joined by me and two other veterans - Richard Webster from
Illinois, and Robert
Reese from Georgia. We had all served in the same basic area of operation in
Vietnam during the war. They were all
former members of the 1st Infantry Division. Each of our reasons for
going back were very individual but all of us wanted to go back and see what had
happened to the old base camps and battle fields but most importantly the
people. We also went to make some kind of peace with ourselves and see what has
happened there since the end of the war.
The beginning of our trip felt like
I was reliving my first Pacific crossing to Nam back in 1966. This flight was
going to make me wonder about sanity of this journey.
I was to meet everyone at the
airport for our flight that left about 30 minutes after midnight. I got there
way too early thinking that I could check in the airlines ticket counter and get
rid of my bags and go relax. I found out that they didn’t even open it up until
a couple of hours prior to the flight. So I found myself there in the afternoon
with nothing to do but sit around. My old classmate Karen who sent me off the
first time I went to Nam wanted to carry on the tradition and so she showed up
at the airport and had a dinner with me.
Eventually, I was able to check in and say
good-bye to Karen and go to the boarding area where I met my fellow travelers on
this trip for the first time. I was instantly impressed
with the guys I would be spending the next 3 weeks with. I felt good already but
I had a nagging feeling about getting on this airplane. I chalked it all up to a
case of emotions since I was going back to a place and time in my life that
might open some emotional and spiritual wounds once again.
I sat there waiting to board and the
nagging got even worse. Something was wrong with this flight, I just knew it but
once I was on the plane and it lifted off the runway there was nothing I was
going to be able to do about it.
The plane was full and very
uncomfortable already and we had just begun. There was not that much space for
your legs or your butt and I am a little guy. I tried to take my mind off it and
thought back to my original flight back in 1966. That was a mistake because that
flight was plagued with nothing but troubles – that really was a flight to hell.
I tried to sleep and get my mind off
it – but it kept coming back to me that something was wrong with this flight.
Finally, I looked out the window and saw jet fuel feely flowing out of the wing
tanks. It looked like someone was pumping the fuel out of the tanks to lighten
the load for a landing or to crash. We were two and half hours from the coast of
California and over the Pacific Ocean, so landing did not sound like a great
idea. My mind was really going to town with this. I poked my travel mate and
told him what saw. He looked out and confirmed what I was worried about just as
the aircraft was making a slow180 degree turn, then we heard the captain come on
the intercom telling everyone that they were experiencing “some minor technical
difficulties” and would be retuning to the San Francisco Airport.
I was wondering why we would fly
so far out into the Pacific Ocean and then just turn around and return to where
we began – that was 5 hours spent going no where! It had to more than some
“technical problem”. I sat there wondering what would be next.
We finally arrived off the coast of
California and circled around the Bay Area skies a few times. I looked down at
the airport and saw red flashing emergency vehicles sitting at the edge of the
runway – in what I assumed was for our landing. That didn’t make me feel that
good about the “minor technical difficulties”.
We finally turned and made our
approach and touched down. I was much relived to be back on the ground – right
were we had started off from. I went forward and wanted to ask what had happened
but the door to the flight cabin was open and we could hear some of the
conversation going on about a broken windshield. It seems that the “minor
technical difficulties” was their concerns about having their windshield getting
blown out and sucking all of them right out of the cockpit. I am glad that I
didn’t know while we were still in the air.
We had to find a place to sleep for half a day and then go back and
take a late afternoon flight to Hong Kong.
We missed all the connections there and had to spend a night there as well. By
the time we got to Vietnam, it was
already a two day adventure. I was tied and was wearing the same clothing -
having had all my bags loaded on the original airplane so I had no change of
clothing with me. In wondered what great adventures laid ahead for us. I was
ready for anything.
Welcome back
to Nam!
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