Memorial Day 2015

                                                               Memorial Day 2015

It was around 1976 in Washington State. We had just pulled out of Viet Nam and my permanent duty station was Ft. Lewis, Washington. Half our unit, the second of the fourth field artillery, ninth division went to Korea. I stayed "home". We had a choice and I was married and lived in Tacoma near the base with my wife. Still, even though at home, we trained hard at places like "Yakima" in western Washington state;  a large desolate area of rocks and mountains and I can't remember seeing a plant, not even sagebrush.  It was appropriate as a training ground for field artillery maneuvers.  

I remember getting "lost' out there at night and getting a ride on top of a tank turret. It really swung around and you had to hold on for dear life onto these steel handles as it spun around. It was quite a ride in the total black of that night. These tankers - they were just kids really, learning to drive, were tearing up the countryside. I don't know how they stayed on any kind of path - or if they had to. I just hung on and hoped I'd get back to my unit somehow. They stopped and opened up these big search lights they had mounted on the tanks. What a show - bright lights onto the hills and mountains in the middle of the night. I guess it was part of their training program.

I made it back to my unit and I was told there'd be training maneuvers all night long. I thought about these guys driving all over the desert with tanks and half-tracks and whatever and decided to hunker down under our deuce and a half - a two and a half ton truck, just in case one of these guys would come ripping across the desert and not even notice me in my sleeping bag. Let me tell you guys, if you haven't done your service yet. "Take care of yourself" - it might be that no one else will! "Think!" Find yourself a safe cozy spot and make a home!  I had lived and worked on a ship for a while and I'd learned a few things.

Sure enough, twenty six guys lost their lives that night - mostly all run over!  This was peacetime in the USA. Imagine being in an actual battle in Europe or the Pacific. Being shot at, bombed, I knew exactly what an artillery shell did. Pretty vicious stuff, naturally. We're lucky over here in the good ol' USA - all safe and warm and cozy.

Thanks guys!!