This question was seldom asked of me in after returning home from my twelve-month tour of duty in Vietnam. Why? Because people already knew the answer. Scenes of the war repeatedly played out on the television nightly, showing soldiers burning villages, killing innocent civilians and creating mayhem wherever they went.
We were the bad guys and the public reminded us of this upon our return. Many Vietnam Veterans kept their tour a secret to avoid ridicule and verbal assaults from others.
Earlier, in 1968, in an effort to gain support for the war, the government turned to Hollywood, and soon the movie, “The Green Berets”, debuted on screens across the United States. John Wayne, the great American Patriot and actor, had the lead role – all were confident that his message will be well received: “This is why America must be here…”
During the late 1970s, new movies depicting the war in Vietnam (i.e. “Apocalypse Now” and “The Deer Hunter”) were released. I was anxious for the films to show others what I had experienced, but Hollywood let me down – neither was a realistic interpretation of my time during the war. Most war movies, in general, are filled with bravado and do not touch upon the innocence, naivety and fear that many of us endured while in Vietnam. I was not a hero with goals of ending the war within the next few months; I was a scared teenage boy trying desperately to fit in and survive. So what was it really like for me in Vietnam?
My mother saved every letter written home from Vietnam and presented the boxful to me in the early 1980’s. My wife and I spent hours reading through them and sharing new discoveries. We had also come across a pocket diary that I maintained during the war; each page having either an entry summarizing the events of the day or an inner thought or concern.
My wife, Jan was in awe and soon realized that she was witnessing a part of me that she’d never known. “With all this, could you write a paper about your experience?” My wife asked, “something to help me understand?” So began the quest to tell a story about my time in Vietnam – the seed will sprout and “Cherries” will be the fruit of my labor.
Neither of us ever thought that this “paper” would become a published novel, taking thirty years to complete. It was originally written in a first person format and then later re-written in third person per the publishers request. The original was written on a typewriter with carbon paper and later retyped and saved to 5.25″ floppy disks when the Atari computer came out. Remember those?
The project stalled in 1989 and sat dormant until summer, 2009. I found it very expensive to convert the Atari 8-bit format to Microsoft Word – leaving me with only one alternative – retype it once again. I still had the Atari system and disks, so I reconnected everything up in the garage and printed out every saved word on a dot matrix printer. My daughter, Nicole, stepped forward, she duplicated each keystroke into a Word document and handed me a memory stick three weeks later.
I was able to complete the book within the next nine months – which doubled in size from the original first person version. Then on June 20, 2010, I held the first published copy of my story in a 6″ x 9″ soft cover book.
It was a special day! The greatest benefit of all is that my wife and daughter understand and no longer need to ask, “What was it really like for you in the Vietnam War?”
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I am impressed served 8 years in MARINE CORP from 1969 to 1977
1970 served with 3/5 India company
Untill they pulled out and i wentbto 3/1 weapons platoon on Hai Phon
Pass Hwy 1 I also so the last horrors
Of that war as i was there at the SS
Mayaguez incident.
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My heart goes out to all men and women of war. I read and read of stories and how those who where in war had to survive and how they had to live, and protect there fellow war hero’s, and other people. I am proud of all who have served this Country, who had died, and who still are living. People don’t realize how blessed we are as a Country, Americans. God bless all of you. And Thank you all.
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Thank you, Ms.Teanna Wyatt! We were the best America had at the time!
On Sat, Nov 4, 2017 at 12:34 PM, Cherries – A Vietnam War Novel wrote:
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After I saw the movie Apocalypse Now. I vowed to never watch another Hollywood debacle
of the Vietnam War. It made me sick!
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My brother….Marine cpl Richard n Payne (on the wall)…KIA….in a battle called Hastings….does …anyone know of this operation…Just curious….killed 7-24-66
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im going to read this book. my dad ( a v. vet) recently passed to the other side & i’m sittin’ here wondering how he ever even made it back from that place. i hope your book gives me the insight that he was never able to articulate. thanks
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Remarkable! Its genuinely remarkable post, I have got much clear
idea on the topic of from this piece of writing.
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In reply to “Never asked” was very correct. I don’t think my family wanted to know what I did. They waved goodbye to a son they would never know again. The conversation was never up for discussion with my father, which was a WW1 Veteran, nor my mother, simply because they were afraid to find out. I tried to kept my parents in the dark about being in Vietnam for a long time, only my sister knew. But with the press always follow our every move my Mother saw me on a news reel one night. My sister tried to cover for me but just a few weeks later I ended up with my picture in a magazine , then she really blew a fuse. I don’t know if I could really explain what happened in Vietnam to anyone. To the best of my knowledge I never kill a child, but I was told to do so should the need arise. That order came from the very top of our squadron, soon after we arrived. There are times I wished I could return to those younger days, to have a conversation with my Dad. Maybe, just maybe we could have helped each other. My Dad didn’t share many stories about his time in war, I guess now I understand why.
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Thanks for your feedback David! Welcome Home Brother!
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Our New Found Wealth While in Vietnam, the military had a good strategy for our monthly pay. It worked rather well. We got paid a small portion, twice each month, from our regular pay. Then the Marine Corp sent the remainder back home. In my case, it went to my mother, who then deposited the funds into my savings account. For security reasons our country discouraged the use of green back dollars going into Vietnam’s economy. Our government improvised a plan, using MPC, instead of our regular dollars. For those that don’t know, MPC means Military Payment Certificates. We would take our US money and exchange it for the MPC to spend when we went on liberty. The exchange rate changed quite often, allowing some creative GI’s to make a small profit. I forget how much we were allowed each pay period (every 15 days), but I think it was around twenty-five dollars. By the time we bought the essentials: two fifths of whiskey, a carton of Winston’s, and a couple of nights in Danang to visit our girl friends, we were understandably broke. For those of us who weren’t Wall Street smart, we had to use other ingenious ideas — like Bernie Madoff. We noticed the MPC was often changed. This was done to keep the notes from being counterfeited by Vietnam mobsters. When the military changed the face of the MPC, we only had a short time to spend or exchange the old notes for the new ones. One night, during a poker game, we came across an idea that we thought just might work and it did. What drew our attention to this criminal plan were the bars and shop owners on the back streets would take the outdated MPC without knowing the face had changed. We decided we were going to give our plan a shot. One of the criminals
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The Day I Met Charley At this time, I can’t remember the entire where to and whereas of the mission on that day hot summer day. We must have had over a hundred UH34 helicopters lined up on the grass to transport a bunch of Vietnamese troops out of Danang that morning. You could see the fear in the eyes of those young men, as they waited to mount up and fly to some embattled area. For some reason I wasn’t scheduled to go out that day. I don’t remember why. At my present age, my mind is like a book with a lot of pages missing, like my hair. The young troops had brought everything they could for this mission; it looked like a huge flea market with all the stuff they were taking. It didn’t take long for the pilots to see this mess. I was drafted to be the trash collector that morning. They were only allowed to take issued gear but I found everything from umbrellas to full racks of bananas. They sure didn’t expecting to get hungry on that mission. I sure made some enemies as I walked down that line, taking away all those comforts of home. Looking back I could have charged a baggage fee like air lines, I could have returned home rich and well hated. As I made my way down the line an officer was laughing as he held a rope. At the end of the rope was a large gray monkey, with his arms wrapped around the legs of this Vietnamese warrior. I was handed the rope. I had no idea what I would do with an angry old monkey that had to say goodbye to his better half. The monkey was mad and so was his owner. What had I just separated, man I don’t even want to know? I was afraid to get close enough to loosen the rope and I didn’t want the poor thing dragging that heavy rope tied around his neck. Luckily he followed me back to my tent without chewing my arm off. I don’t think he ever forgot his former soul mate, even though we fed him tons of delicious gourmet C-rations. For some reason we named the monkey Charley. Everyday Charley would sit with his back toward us, lonely staring into space. Something was missing in his poor life and finally we figured it out, or we thought so. Down the runway, a few hundred yards, the Army had a squadron of Huey Helicopters. Someone said they had a smaller red female monkey as a mascot. There it was, we all agreed, Charley was going to meet a new girl friend. That afternoon we walked down with Charley and asked the squadron CO if he would allow his monkey to date our monkey. He was totally lost for words, asking us to repeat ourselves. We then explained the situation as his men started to gather around looking at Charley. After a few head scratches he finally approved. Slowly we walked Charley over, with some bread in his hand, to meet his new lover, or so we thought. All of a sudden the little red female monkey went ballistic. First she made a running attack on Charley; she jumped on his butt, biting as she screamed. Charley’s eyes were bigger than a silver dollar. Yanking the rope out of my hand he started running for his life with Red hot on his tail. Nearby was a flag pole and it only took him a second to climb to the top. Red sat on the ground, bouncing up and down, screaming and showing her teeth. An hour or so passed and Charley was still sitting on his perch, not daring to come down. We soon realized Charley hated the Marine Corp, the Army and his unwilling date, Little Red. Finally the CO told one of his men to get a broom handle and a red flare. They taped the red flare to the end of the broom. The CO cranked up his chopper telling me to get the broom and climb in his Huey. For some reason Charley didn’t get spooked with the chopper coming toward him with me hanging out the door with broom and flare in hand. As soon as the spray hit him, he instantly went from gray to a brilliant red. I’m sure this was the second worst day of his life, his separation from his master being number one. Charley slid down that pole, hit the ground running, dragging that heavy rope, he never looked back. After we regained our composure we all pretty much agreed, match making would never be in our future. I sure hope Charley found a better life, and a more passionate lover. Charley never came back to visit, at least he got a new hair color to brag about, rest well old friend. C David Ramsey
>________________________________ > From: CHERRIES – a Vietnam war novel >To: cdramsey44@yahoo.com >Sent: Monday, May 13, 2013 1:19 AM >Subject: [New comment] What was it really like in The Vietnam War? > > WordPress.com >vietnam commented: “Remarkable! Its genuinely remarkable post, I have got much clear idea on the topic of from this piece of writing.” >
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Dave, the story is hilarious! I do recall the ARVN going out on missions and the stuff they used to take with them; it wouldn’t surprise me to see an electric fan being carried along with the live chickens and sleeping mats. Poor Charlie the monkey didn’t know what he was in for…I’ve seen similar encounters late in the evening at some local bars around here! Thanks for the laugh Dave!
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Sad to say I didn’t keep those letter from 1964-65. It would do me little good because I told my parents I was in Hawaii. I have no idea their end. Often a certain day will unfold in my mind which greatly moves me. I promised myself long ago to forget those days but over the years I have found that to be one of my many impossibilities. Often, as I read, just a single word will cause those memories to rush through my mind like a raging river. Those that are able to capture and print those past advents may never know how it helps those like myself. I think someone said we need to face our own demons, the pages you write are often the tools I use.
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Thank you Dave! I’m glad my articles are of some assistance to you! I wish you well…Welcome Home my Brother!
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Speaking of Vietnam movies, “We Were Soldiers Once and Young” was extremely well done. It was my Cav unit that flew the mission on that eventful day. I wish I had been in on that action, though flew many such missions a couple years later.
Thank God for helicopters. And while we’re on that subject, the title of my upcoming book is “Chopper Warriors”. I will be sharing stories of several Grunts who saw a lot of combat. I will be filling in with many of my own experiences as well. I think this book will be another award winner.
Bill Peterson
Author: “Missions Of Fire And Mercy”
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Excellent article as usual John. Isn’t it great to have old memories in print from saved letters and diaries? Though I vividly remember almost every mission, I am thankful that my parents saved all of my letters as well as theirs to me.
Like you, seeing my book “Missions Of Fire And Mercy” in print for the first time made me a bit misty eyed. To relive all of those missions in great detail was bittersweet. But the end result and the lives it has touched make it all worthwhile.
Thanks for your great posts John.
Bill Peterson
Author: “Missions Of Fire And Mercy”
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I was with 2/27 in Cu Chi in 66-67, and have only recently peaked from the shadows. I will read your book in time. I have rejoined some of the guys by joining the Historic Society. Welcome home brother. NEC ASPERA TERRENT
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This SP4 BILLY Hampton thanks for the words of your book i was a apc driver in 1st 50 th mec infantry in 1967 68 .Keep up the good work Brother and God Bless you and your family .
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You basically summed it up. We were very young teenagers thrust into a war with no knowledge of the culture of Vietnam. We were scared, frightened and lonely, even though we were surrounded by 500K of our closest friends. It was like walking into hell while still alive. Looking back, AFVN was the only thing that reminded us we were still in the world or very near it. And the nights were much longer there than back in the real world.
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