Welcome to the ‘Nam

By Rod Jordan

When I was young, like so many other young men of my generation, I gave our country what we thought was our obligation to our country. Like the generation of our fathers and the generation that came after us.
I never minded a persons belief in being against the war in Vietnam. But they forgot that the ones that served were good people too. They found us in contempt. But they were wrong. We did what this generation is doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is no difference.
Things have changed over the years and people now thank us for our service as they do the new generation. That is nice, and should be said.
The misnomer that we lost the war is not accurate. We won every major battle in Vietnam we fought. Often times out-numbered. The Communists only fought major battles when they had the advantage. The Tet offensive of 1968 hurt them severely, completely wiping out the V.C. Army and making the N.V.A. Army rebuild.
If North Vietnam would have honored the peace treaty, it would have been like the Korean War with the south and the north.
America did not though support South Vietnam after our troops moved out. Congress did not appropriate funds to the South Vietnamese government. But I think our country could no longer fund in money and lives. It always would come down to that.
Stats of Marines in Vietnam: 26% casualty rate. Highest of any combat group in South Vietnam.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781493187065

Book preview

Welcome to the ’Nam

Rod Jordan

Copyright © 2014 by Rod Jordan.

Library of Congress Control Number:                    2014905044

ISBN:                  Hardcover                            978-1-4931-8707-2

                            Softcover                              978-1-4931-8708-9

                            eBook                                   978-1-4931-8706-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 03/14/2014

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

601810

Contents

My Home Life

Some Remembrances

Always was a Marine

High School

1966

Changes in the Wind, 1967

Draft Notice

Choices of the Young

Drafted

Breaking the News

Boot Camp 1967

Arrival—San Diego MCRD

Inside the Gates, MCRD

First Night of Boot Camp

Marching at 3 am

First Day

The Grinder—MCRD San Diego

Camp Pendleton and Qualifying on the Rifle Range

Almost a Marine

MCRD Graduation Day—December, 23rd, 1967

(BITS) Basic Infantry Training

Training and More Training

Leave at Last

19 Days to Have Some Fun

Time is Short

Back to Cali and Pendleton

Staging Camp, Pendleton

Escape and Evade

Last Liberty in L.A.

Saturday, April, 1968

Saturday Night, April, 1968

Back to Camp Pendleton

Last Night in Barracks

Travis Air Force Base Departure

Okinawa Bound

One Day and Then Vietnam

Today is the Day

Da Nang Airport

Little Building

The Wait

Dong Ha, a Beautiful Place

Some Camp at Quảng Trị

Khe Sanh

Wonder Beach

First Impressions of Delta Co.

Co. Talks to Us

April, 1968—Coming to a Close

Basic Load, 60 Mortar Man

Time to Leave Wonder Beach

Quang Tri, Cam Lo, Cat Tien

Luck’s a Chopper

Arrival at ARVN Outpost

Places and Things

Reflections

Cam Lo, Quảng Trị

(May 9th, 1968) First Fire Fight

Night Falls—May 9th, 1968

Inside the Perimeter Again

Water Run

Morning, May 10th, 1968

Short Reflections—Summer of ’68

May, 1968

Who Am I Anyway?

Transfer to Da Nang

Charlie Ridge

Landing Hot L.Z.

Up the Mountain Charlie Ridge

2nd Day Charlie Ridge

(An Hoa – June, 1968)

Shit Hits the Fan

June 6th, 1968

June: Month from Hell

Saddle Up and Move Out! June 15th, 1968

Nightfall—June 15th, 1968

June 16th, 1968

End of June

Bar Fight, An Hoa

July 5th, 1968

July 6th, 1968

Wounded on My Father’s Birthday

An Hoa Medevac

Chow Hall Delight

Medical Tent

Long Night

Da Nang Naval Hospital

Cam Ranh Bay, July 1968

What a Site!

Settling in at Cam Ranh

Back to My Company

Phu Bai

Village Life

Sunday Visit

Rifles in Anger

One Last Dance

On to Da Nang, September, 1968

1st Day Da Nang

September Reactionary Company

2nd Day Elephant Valley

Hill 180

50 Cal. Laughs

Our Hut WPNS Plt.

Settling in 190°

November 1968

1st Month, Hill 190

December Hill 190, 1968

R & R, December 20, 1968

December, 1968—R&R

Hong Kong, Dec 1968

Getting Setup – Hong Kong

2nd Day Hong Kong

3rd Day Hong Kong

Rickshaw Man!

Crazy Night

Calhoun Side of Hong Kong

Day 4 Hong Kong

Back to Hotel, December 17th, 1968

Short on Money

Evening Adventure!

Last Day RR

Back in the ’Nam—December 20th, 1968

Back to Work

Terrible Nights

December end 1968

Christmas, Hill 190

Bob Hope Show, Christmas 1968

Mad House

Show’s Over

Px Fight

Return to Hill 190

Tape from Folks

Christmas Gone

New Year’s Eve 1968

New Year, Jan. 1969

Hill 122

Marriage Proposal! Jan. 1969

Back to 190

River Patrols

Recon Team C Ration

Recon Team Appears

Almost Dark and Home

Jan, 1969

Deep Shit!

Jan 21, 1969, Nightime Blues

Hell Night

Feb 1969

22nd Feb, 1969

Afternoon Feb 22nd, 1969

The Start of the Sweep

Amtracks Leave 190

Medevac Chopper

Shock on Hill 190

Nighttime Feb 22, 1969

Spooky

Some Ass Chewing

Feb 22nd, Aftermath

Sidney, Australia

Sidney Life

Whisky, A Go Go

Run Like Hell

Hotel Room

Party is on!

Day 3, Sidney!

Evening 3rd day, Feb 28, 1969

Whiskey a Go Go Again!

2 Girls!

End of Night

March 1, 1969

Back to ’Nam

Arrival Da Nang

March – April, 1969

Float USS Okinawa

Boarding Ship

Boarding Ship

Inside Ship

New Home, April 1969

Company Meeting

Chow Hall

Life Down Below Ship

Last Day on USS Okinawa

Last Night in ’Nam

Orders Home

Chow Hall Celebration

Last Night in ’Nam

Last Day—May 19, 1969

Flight Deck

Our Chopper – May, 1969

Da Nang

Last Day Vietnam 1969

Last Plane of the Day

Lift Off

Okinawa

Killing Time

Downtown Okinawa

Fight Breaks Out

Back to the Barracks

California Coastline

Barracks El Toro Air Base

Tim Garrison’s Apartment

Hanging Out

Sugarbear’s Apartment

Monday through Friday, May 1969

Late Evening

Wednesday & Thursday

Friday, May 14th, 1969

LAX Airport

Boarding Plane

Arrived Dayton, May 14, 1969

Family in Window

Fears Gone

Car Ride Home

Real Life Begins, May 1969

Job Railroad

The Wall

Blessed Life

Summary

Dedications

My Hope

My Last Hope

T he end of my life as I knew it, and the beginning of a new way of life began on April, 10 th 1968. Arriving in Da Nang, South Vietnam via Hawaii and Okinawa.

My career as a Marine to this date was only 5 months in the making. 10 weeks in Boot Camp, on to basic infantry training and home for 20 days on leave. After leave it was on to 3 weeks of staging and then on to Vietnam.

My Home Life

My family consisted of Harry, Margaret and 8 children: Rod, Cindy, Linda, Debbie, Bonnie, Tom, JoAnn and the baby, Maria. All with the last name Jordan.

Our life was a good one but we didn’t get a lot of extras. We didn’t notice though, because that was the life we all knew.

Dad, whom they called Jake, and Mom, whom they called Marge, were good parents. Dad worked hard on the railroad and anything else he could find to put food on the table and shelter over all us kids.

Mom was a great woman. Just a housewife, but the best housewife. She could make do with whatever she had at her disposal. She was the backbone of our family.

Some Remembrances

Seems like a family of eight wouldn’t need any more kids, but every place we lived, all the neighborhood kids would be at our home. I guess they all felt at home there.

Always was a Marine

I guess that the Marine Corp was always waiting for me to grow up and snatch me away. When I was a young boy I remember looking at pictures of my father as a Marine during World War II. I asked Mom one day what Army unit he was with, and she replied that he was a Marine. I asked what a Marine was. She said they were a special kind of unit. From that day forward and with the help of some war flicks, I knew that I would someday be a Marine. I really don’t believe much in destiny but sometimes I guess it does play a part.

High School

Fairmont East High School is where I spent 3 years of my life: 1964 to 1967. This was a brand new school and one of the best in the state of Ohio. It was in the city of Kettering, a suburb of Dayton. Dayton is about 50 miles north of Cincinnati.

My days at Fairmont East were good ones and I have fond memories of my high school days. I played sports such as track, cross country, basketball and was supposed to play receiver on the football team my senior year but didn’t because of being the captain of the cross country team. I have always regretted that. Football was my true love.

1966

The fall of 1966 I was a senior and had met a girl that year named MaryAnn Decker. She would someday be my wife and give me three daughters: Nicole, Angela and Kelly. 1966 was a good one for me. Plenty of friends, and for the most part I was a happy young man. My grades weren’t the best but I did graduate. Mom used to ask me why I didn’t bring home books. I said I was fine and did my work in study hall.

I worked at a small neighborhood grocery store named Helm’s Market. This was a special place for me. I enjoyed working there. Saturdays were great. All kinds of men would hang around and shoot the breeze and buy meats from Mr. Helm. They liked to do a little wagering, and some drinks on the side made it a festive time. We would watch sports on a small TV in the corner of the store. This TV was where I watched Martin Luther King give his I have a dream speech.

This speech touched me somehow. Maybe because growing up in Springfield Ohio I lived in a very integrated area. That was life in that small town. It was normal for me.

I wish that the others felt the same way at the store but they didn’t. I kept my mouth shut. In 1966 there were maybe a handful of blacks in the city of Kettering. That was the way that town was. They liked it that way!

Changes in the Wind, 1967

The start of 1967 began a change for many young men whom I was friends with. Up until this time Vietnam and the draft were not much on our minds. We did know one guy who was killed there, but still it was far away.

Most of my friends were a year younger than I. They were 18 and I, 19. That number 19 was of real significance. I was prime draft bate. And yes, in the spring of ’67, I began to pay attention to that far away place. The US Military was beginning to take more and more casualties.

Draft Notice

After graduation I worked at Elder Beerman, a home town department store. I sold shoes. It wasn’t the best but gave me cash in my pocket and a few dollars for Mom and Dad. I didn’t try for another job because I knew I would be drafted. And jobs in that town were plentiful. GM, Frigidaire and NCR, among many.

Choices of the Young

In the sixties you had choices. College, go to Canada, go to jail or get drafted.

Some of my friends went to college and some of us, or should I say most of us, were drafted. It seems a shame because the sixties were kind of a smooth time for young people.

Hot chicks, cruising the strip and hanging with your friends. It could have been a good time.

Drafted

July 1967 I received a draft notice in the mail. I went to the induction center and promptly asked if I could join another branch. They said yes! I decided I would join the Air Force or the Navy, even though my heart was with the Corp.

I remember Dad dropping me off downtown Dayton. I was to take a bus home. As I went toward the Air Force recruiter’s office, I noticed right next store the Marine Corp recruiting office. There was a big sign in the window saying two year enlistment.

I walked in and signed up within a few minutes. I took an extension until October 1967 before I had to leave for boot camp. This was great! I had a couple of months before I had to go in.

Breaking the News

I remember the look on my dad’s face when I told him I joined the corp. He was pissed and exclaimed how he had told me not to join that outfit. He didn’t speak to me for 2 days. He was drafted into the Marine Corp. during World War II and had always resented it, but I know secretly he was always proud of it. He told me so many years later.

My family was also concerned, my mother and siblings and my cousins and so on. Only my grandfather Joe Silvestri wasn’t. He knew for some reason I would make it.

Boot Camp 1967

The day began on October 14, 1967 with much excitement and anxiousness. My