XMAS '64...
Bill Hughes
Jay,
I recall X-mas 64 very well. A few times during my tour I got really depressed and Christmas 64 was one of those. Not for the fact that we picked up three American
KIA's but more or less because of myself.
I recall being pissed that I was duty medic on Christmas day. The reason was because I was also duty medic on Thanksgiving Day. That was the way the rotation fell.
We had declared a cease fire for a few days and I remember thinking that at least it won't be busy. No one knew if Victor Charlie would honor the cease fire but I knew
that at least we wouldn't be having any big assaults and have to get up in the middle of the night to get to the staging area.
I remember that Thanksgiving was somewhat uneventful. I believe that we picked a few wounded that day. But thanksgiving didn't have a declared cease fire in effect. I
do recall the mess hall held dinner for us because we were on a mission around supper time.
I was right about it not being a busy day on Christmas. As a matter of fact we only had one call all day. That call came in around mid-afternoon. Three Americans were in
a jeep and ran over a land mine. All three were killed instantly. Of course when we arrived we just had to transport the bodies back to the mortuary as there wasn't
anything that we could do for them. I didn't put the bodies in body bags. I put two of them on the bottom litter and one on the middle and we left to go back to Ton Son
Nhut.
When we got back to base we taxied down the runway and my side of the ship was facing in the direction of our "Pad" and I recall hearing a loud noise. It sounded like a
huge crowd at an Eagles Football Game. As we moved closer I saw what must have been 30-50 thousand people watching the Bob Hope Christmas show. This really put
me down in the dumps. I remember thinking to my self about how unlucky I was to be duty medic. Here I was working and all of those people were out there having fun
watching the show.
At that moment I turned around and faced the back of the ship and I'll never forget my reaction to what I saw. The KIA's head on the middle litter was looking directly at
me. His eyes were open. In that split second I remember thinking, "Oh my God what the hell is wrong with you Hughes?" Here I was feeling sorry for myself and I had
three dead men in my ship. My thoughts went back to their families back at home. I thought that their relatives were home celebrating the holidays and they didn't even
realize that in a few days they would be receiving a telegram that would change their lives forever. Then I started to cry. I cried for these poor men and their families and
I cried because I was so ashamed of myself. Here I was feeling sorry for myself and these brave men had given there all. I recall saying to myself that I will never be that
selfish again. I don't think that I ever have been.
When I was at Valley Forge Hospital, my CO received orders for my second Bronze Star and my Air Medal w/ 17th OLC. He was amazed that I had 17 Air medals and he
approached me and asked me if I would give a speech at the USO 50th Anniversary being held in Philadelphia. Among those attending would be the Vice President, Gen.
Westmoreland, Bob Hope etc. I told him that I didn't know what I would say. He told me that I should talk about what the USO meant to me. I agreed to do it but as the
date drew closer I couldn't get out of my mind those three dead Americans and how selfish I had been. Four days before the event I backed out. Not because I was
scared to talk in front of so many people but because I was still embarrassed about my being so self centered.
The speech I had prepared was to the effect that all of those thousands of GI's and Airmen that were watching Bob Hopes show that day were, for a few hours, back
home. They had their minds taken off of the war for a few hours and forgot that they were 12,000 miles away from home. But I couldn't forget why I was there. I'll bet
that not one person out of all of those thousands saw a lonely Med-Evac fly by on its way to the mortuary on that day. After all wasn't that the object of the Bob Hope
show? In a way this was good because if they had looked they would have noticed that one of the crew members was embarrassed and crying and disgusted with
himself.
Sorry for the downer. But I just printed pages 181-182. On page 181 is a shot of SSgt Carter and he is holding back the flap of a body bag and a dead American's face is
showing (the only shot of a dead American in the book) and on page 182 is a shot of me at the hooch with a small Christmas tree holding open a Playboy magazine
(center fold). Then I opened up your e-mail about Christmas 1964.
Anyway that's the way I will always remember Christmas 1964.
Bill
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Bill Hughes wrote:
Thanks for the correction although I believe that my e-mails got to Pat with
the incorrect address. But I have made the necessary change.
Sorry I made you feel bad. If I had given that speech it would have been
about how you guys in the audience were enjoying the show so much that you
forgot where you were and in some cases what you were required to do.
We all came home with some heavy shit on or minds. I have always tried to
focus on the lighter side. Don't know why I wrote that piece yesterday. It
had to be the combination of Jay asking about X-mas 64 and working on those
two specific pages. I'll try not to get so heavy in the future.
Look at the
baby photo I found of Bob Mock (I just sent it out).
As for some of our memories being a little sharper. I can't speak for
everyone but in my case, due to pain, I am reminded of Nam every day. That
plus my collection of about 500 photos and the ones that you guys have sent
have helped me remember a whole lot more. But the real reason is probably
that I'm a lot younger than you guys. Youth does have it's advantages.
Thanks for the note,
Bill
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Jay McGowan wrote:
Bill: I just got out my diary ... yes I have one and made an entry
every day ... and I wasn't the duty pilot on Christmas. My crew was on
an assault from 4AM to 4PM to try and rescue 4 US from a VC prison camp
up near Tay Ninh. No luck. My entry says the same thing was tried a Cau
Mau a few days earlier. Same results. No mention of Bob Hope. It may
have been another of shows that I saw from the air.
Entry from Dec. 18, friday: "Gerry Shaw ("Grumpy") went home. He was
certainly happy and rather unbelieving that it was happening to him. The
past two days have been the first times I've seen him with full smiles."
Dec. 19 Sat. "Charlie Clark wounded in the foot Wed. night"
Dec. 23 Wed. "big news was that Si Simmons had a jeep stolen last night
while he was in town. needless to say he is worried".
Jay
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Bill Hughes wrote:
Jay, Something's wrong here. I know that I was duty medic X-mas day 1964 and
we picked up 3 KIA's and I saw The USO show from the ship. But I was also at
the Tay Ninh show to try to free the U.S. Sgt. That was being held
captive.
Tell me if this is the story about the Tay Ninh operation:
About three or four days prior to we were told to report to our ships, and
oh yeah, Bring your gas masks! We were to have a practice assault with our
gas masks on to see how we could communicate. The Enlisted Men we very
puzzled. Who the hell ever hear of a practice assault.
On the day of the mission ( I believe it was the largest assault to date) we
all met at the staging area up in Tay Ninh. Now this is why I remember it so
well....... The higher ranking Officers were all called together for a
briefing. They were about 150 meters form our ship. The object of the gas
masks was that they were going to drop the gas on the VC's to stun them and
then free the POW. Well while all of this brass was over at the briefing a
Vietnamese Helicopter came hovering over top of them. Now this wouldn't have
been bad except for the fact that they had big drums of the tear gas opened
nearby. The rotor wash caused the two drums to mix together and all of the
officers got gassed. When major Huntsman came back to our ship I got
hysterical. He looked like a mad man. His face was covered with a white
cream. Needless to say he failed to see the humor in it all and proceeded to
chew my ass out. Boy was he pissed.
The net results of the operation was that the VC were forewarned and moved
to a different location. But the day was not a total lost as I heard that a
gun ship from the 120th bagged a tiger that day.
I remember this as clear as it were yesterday and like I said I know I was
duty medic on the 25th. If my memory serves me correctly this Freedom
Assault happened on Dec. 24th. We only had one ship operational on the 25th
with a backup crew back at the hooch. And I'm sure that the backup crew did
not fly on the 25th.
I could be wrong but I believe this to be true. I'll never forget Huntsman
up at Tay Ninh.
Bill
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Jeff Grider wrote:
Jay,
I was on the Tay Ninh mission on Christmas Day, remember we had to wear
gas
masks but it was hush-hush and some lift pilot said I am having trouble
talking with this stupid gas mask, so much for radio security. Also
remember
the VNAH 34 blew tear gas powder all over Bloomquist and Huntsman when he
landed in the Soccer Field.
The Bob Hope show at Saigon was not on Christmas Day. One of Bob's big
joke
was in reference to the Brinks Hotel bomb. He said a funny thing happened
while I was checking into my hotel, another Hotel went by. I guess I do
remember some things, even at my age.
Jeff Grider
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Bill Hughes wrote:
Bob,
Thank you for your kind words. I used to think,when I was very
young
and foolish, that real men don't cry. Now I'm convinced that only
assholes don't cry.
Your letter was very nice and was appreciated. I just can't think
of
Christmas 1964 with out remembering that incident.
Thanks,
Bill
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Walt Harris wrote:
The Assault was on Christmas Eve 'cause I was there and I flew with either
Jay or Huntsman. The Bob Hope show was on Christmas day or the day after
Christmas. Everything shut down for about two weeks; an agreement with
the
enemy so we could honor their Tet celebration later on.
Walt
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Bill Hughes wrote:
See Walt, you say the Freedom Assault ( my terminology) was on the 24th.
Actually I'm inclined to agree with Jeff & Jay that the Freedom Assault was
on Christmas Day and the USO show was on the 26th. Hope couldn't be at every
location on the 25th. And the cease fire was in effect for a week or two.
It all adds up to what Jeff and Jay said. It would be very easy for me to
remember the incident with the three KIA's as being X-Mas Day. After all
that was 36 years ago. I had to be back-up medic on the 25th and duty medic
on the 26th.
I just remembered that we were told that we were going to try to free that
Sgt. for Christmas. So it makes sense that the Assault would take place on
Christmas Day. And what a wonderful gift it would have been. One thing
confuses me though...... If we had a declared cease fire in effect what the
hell were we doing on what had to be the biggest assault gathering up to
that date? Kinda makes us seem less that honorable doesn't it?
Bill
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Bill Hughes wrote:
OK, for the record I am not nor have I ever been ashamed about crying on the mission with the three KIA's. On the contrary, I would be very ashamed if I hadn't had that
reaction. There were a few occasions when Nam got to be too much for me. All of us have indicated that this happened. We were only human and had human reactions
to what was going on around us.
Bill
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Bill Hughes wrote:
Dream on Jay. Ellie said that one of the Kosovo twins should have
said," Boy
that water must have been real cold!"
Walt was your roomy. Say Walt, did jay look anything like the Bob
Hope Shot?
Bill
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Bill Hughes wrote:
Jay,
Were you on Duty Christmas Day 1964? I was duty medic. We saw the
Bob Hope
Show as we taxied to the mortuary with 3 dead Americans. I recall
that day
very well. One of the saddest days of my life.
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Jay McGowan wrote:
I may have been. I remember seeing the show from the air and thinking
what an irony; he's entertaining all those guys and people are out
there
dieing.
Jay
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Doug Moore wrote:
Bill,
While you guys were out picking up the US Kia, I also had a mission on
Christmas Day.
We picked up several Vietnamese out near Duc Hoa as I recall and dropped
them off at Cong Hoa Military Hospital. We jumped over the fence and
started
down the taxiway towards our ramp when someone called our attention to the
Bob Hope show that was going on alongside one of the huge hangars near the
eastern end of Tan Son Nhut.
I did a left pedal turn and began hovering sideways down the taxiway just
as
Janet Leigh walked out in a skin tight, white body sock. My Fort Rucker
hover went from a rock solid, four feet to nearly crashing.
Unfortunately, the tower saw us and told us to get the hell out of the
way.
While I was in Japan a year or so later, I was talking to one of the PAO
folks who told me he had helped film that show and one of the scenes
showed
a Dust Off ship hovering sideways down the taxiway.
Did you guys pause to take a look too?
Doug
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Bill Hughes wrote:
No Doug, we just did a slow taxi. I could make out Hope on the stage with a
woman but couldn't see who she was. I think at the time I was more taken
back by the size of the crowd.
You guys must have been back up crew on that day. Do you recall if it was
the 26th? Seems to be some discussion about the date but I believe we all
have more or less settled in on that date.
Bill
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Doug Moore wrote:
Let me add to the confusion.
The Brinks Hotel went up on Christmas Eve and
the Bob Hope show was the next afternoon.
The Tay Ninh fiasco occurred a day or so earlier. I'm sure you guys
remember
Cpt Larry Osborne who was the Assistant S-3 of the 145th Aviation
Battalion
who helped engineer that particular operation and many others that we were
involved in.
Larry told me the VNAF H-34 was apparently being flown by the Vietnamese
Corps Commander's pilot. Wonder if they shot him afterwards? No matter, he
was Air Force as you will recall!
My apologies, Walt, but we saw those
guys
turn around too many times.
Anyhow, Larry Osborne walked into my office a couple of weeks ago. He
retired early and has been selling real estate here in Washington for
several years. He sold a house to a LTC's wife who works for us as a
nurse.
Larry still looks like he did 35 years ago and still has the highest
regard
for us.
Doug
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Bill Hughes wrote:
OK, now I am confused. Does this mean that I was duty medic on the 25th? I
was almost sure that was the case until Jay re-opened his diary. Can anyone
figure this one out? I thought that I remembered it like yesterday, three
Kia Americans, The USO show & Christmas Day.
Bill
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Bill Hughes wrote:
Doug, As the worlds worst speller I am not in a position to correct anyone.
I did a search because I was curious about the spelling of "33" beer. It
took about 45 minutes to come up with it and here it is:
BA-MA-Ba = Term for Vietnamese beer. More properly it would be :
BA-MOI-BA = BA-MOI being 30 and BA being 3 ( MOI counts in 10's so 3x10 =
30) All in all I'd rather use "33" in brackets. That's the way it was on the
bottle (see page 36 in the book)
Some other terms I found that you guys may find a useful:
Khong Biet = I don't understand
Lai Dai = Bring it to me or come to me
Nuoc Mam = fermented fish sauce
Tee-Tee = Very small
Dinky Dau = Crazy
Di Di Mau = Move quickly
Di Wee = Captain (As in Di Wee Moore)
Dung Lai = Stop
Du Mi Ami = The worst thing you could call a guy ie; Mother
f----er
I'll see if I can find more later on.
Bill
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