THE LAST DAYS
Copyright - Ron Heller 1999
- The night before I left Viet Nam, I was in the bar at the officer's club
drinking with a FAC. I told him that I would love to go on a bombing run
just once before I went home. He told me that he couldn't take passengers on
a scheduled strike but if he got an on call mission, he couldn't very well
take a passenger home first. He told me to meet him the next morning at the
airfield. The plane was an OV 2, a twin tailed craft with a pusher and a
puller prop. Just before we taxied to the runway the pilot told me to hold
my hands in the air. When we did the ground crew armed the planes target
marking rockets. After that the crew saluted and we took off.
- We went to Vung Tau on the South China Sea Coast. I remembered my
in-country R&R there a few months or was it years ago. Our job was to
fly high cover over hunter killer teams that were operating in the mountains
above Vung Tau. If they drew fire our job was to call in the big boys. It
was really beautiful. The sky and sea were gorgeous shades of blue. I could
see the ship that had run aground some years ago. It was an ugly shade of
rust and marred the otherwise beautiful tableau. The beaches were brilliant
white and, of course, the jungle was green.
- The pilot said that he had run out of map and told me to fly the plane
while he rummaged through his maps. I'm sure it was a set up but I could
hardly complain. It would have been easy if we were flying in a straight
line but we were flying in a circle above the mountains. I couldn't believe
how hard the damn thing was to steer. The pilot was turned around in his
seat and seemed to be oblivious to my plight. I got the nose too high to see
over and I kept over compensating on the altitude. I'm sure that I left my
finger prints on the wheel. After what seemed like a few hours the pilot
faced forward and asked me if I would like to continue flying the plane. I
thanked him but said that I was happy to be a passenger. We never did have
any action but I felt good because I had tempted fate just one more time.
- The next day I went to 90th Replacement. I was to catch a "freedom
Bird" at Bien Hoa AFB the following day. That night I got drunk at the
club and listened to a Filipino group butcher the Beatles. One of my
strongest images of the war happened there. The band ended the evening with
their version of God Bless America. Everybody got up and joined in.
Everybody except one guy who had passed out at his table. His buddies
grabbed him on each side and jerked him to his feet. The held him up for the
entire song. When it was over they dropped him back onto his chair. I could
really feel the love of country that came through even through the drunken
haze.
- I staggered to bed and immediately fell asleep. The next day I got up and
showered. While I was putting my boots on I heard the sound of distant
explosions. I figured that they were aiming at the USARV headquarters
complex, several miles away. For us to be hit so close to the perimeter
would be incredibly bad shooting on the part of the communists, incredibly
bad luck for us and extremely unlikely. A combat soldier only gets excited
when they are in or close to the impact area.
- The next thing I knew people were hollering "Rocket Attack!!! Get
into the bunkers!!! Pull mattresses over you!!!" There seemed to be a
touch of hysteria in the air. Another combat type was getting dressed and he
seemed to react like me. We decided to ignore the fools. We finished
dressing and headed to breakfast. The mess hall was empty and the cash
collection sheet just lay there unsecured. It was great. All the bacon I
could eat.
- Later that day we got on a plane at Binh Hoa and began the long flight
home. We were a fairly subdued lot but when the pilot announced that we were
leaving Vietnamese airspace, we started cheering. The next thing I knew I
was in San Francisco Airport. I went right to San Francisco from Travis and
didn't have to go through the zoo at the Oakland Army Depot. My mother had
sent a green uniform to the airport Holiday Inn, so I wouldn't freeze in my
khakis. I changed and went to the restaurant to eat a good steak. I
automatically reached into my back pocket and snapped open my Buck knife
with one hand to cut my steak. The sound of the knife opening echoed through
the room and everyone looked at me with my knife in the air. I really felt
like a fool.
My war was over.-
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