I caught a hop on a C-141 out of Cam Ranh Bay which was headed north to the airfield at Phu Bai in the “I Corps” area of South Vietnam. I was trying to make my way to the village of Tan My, on the coast six miles northeast of Hue City.

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I was assigned to the 20th Naval Construction Regiment in Gulfport, Mississippi as Regimental Training Officer. The Regiment was the technical and military training command for Atlantic Fleet Construction Battalions and at the time, a new experimental undertaking of training Reserve Seabees in organized battalions rather than in random individual or small unrelated groups.

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Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta last Thursday laid out plans to cut military spending (http://www.defense.gov/news/Defense_Budget_Priorities.pdf) by...

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The end of January ‘68 brought the most festive and holiest of holidays to the Vietnamese people. South Vietnam, as in earlier war years was celebrating the lunar New Year, “Tet” during an uneasy truce with the North. It was the “Year of the Monkey.”

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On my den walls are a variety of plaques, photographs and other trivia of my 30-year naval career. Among this cherished conglomeration are several faded photographs. One is of my uncle, a Navy cook who served in World War I. Following the war he reenlisted and went to China on the Destroyer Truxtun DD-229.

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By Commander Ed Bookhardt, CEC, USN Retired After a two year delay from my earlier orders to Vietnam, the Admiral finally agreed to release me; I arr...

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The tree house in the fork of the old Chinaberry was a formidable fortress. It was the secret headquarters of the “American Eagles.” A club founded w...

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By Commander Ed Bookhardt, USN retired He stood ramrod straight, yet the lines in his pleasant chiseled features reflected the rigors of his life. Im...

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The sun’s nurturing warmth and the rising saps of spring bring forth the effervescent bloom of youth in shades of brilliant greens and jade. With his...

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By Commander Ed Bookhardt, USN, Retired It was an era of continued post WWII prosperity. The Korean War was now in its second year. Naval ports and f...

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