INDELIBLE
Just yesterday and forever ago you sat next to me on a plane flying halfway around the world.
They turned on the lights for our final approach while we tried to get just a few more minutes sleep.
The plane rose suddenly, sank, rose, sank again, banking sharply in the night sky then dove for the
runway. With heads almost touching our eyes flew open. You must have seen the terror in mine and
without a word you gently defused my fear… with a wink.
A cheerful voice announced we were avoiding some enemy fire and apologized for the angle of descent.
Six months later I was in An Khe and you sent me a message from the base they called Hong Kong that you
were still avoiding some enemy fire …
I’d like to think I’d recognize you after all these years with those indelible brown eyes and I’ve wondered
since then if you were luckier than most in avoiding some enemy fire…from within.
--Dedicated to Linn Bishop, with the 1st Air Cavalry then…and wherever you are now.
My very first diary entry on September 30th, my fifth morning in Saigon, was simply
John’s birthday!
My brother-in-law once told me his birthday was September 31st
which doesn’t even exist, immediately making it unforgettable.
Later that day as we received our first duty assignments I’d write in my diary again,
--How exciting--
I am with the 3rd Marine Amphibious Forces
58,000 troops.
an intriguing number in 1966, a truly frightening one by November 1982
…when they dedicated The Wall.
when the bare metal floor exploded in front of my seat
and the truck’s tie rod ripped through
hitting my skirt and barely missing my legs
- that I’d quickly reconsider this hitchhiking business—
… the trucks weren’t.
