Читать книгу Welcome Home From Vietnam, Finally - Gus Kappler MD - Страница 14

The flight from Dallas to San Francisco was quiet and introspective for we were all going to Vietnam. I had never been to California and was stunned by the burnt, grass-covered mounds of earth that carpeted the landscape as we approached the airport for our landing. We deplaned and were bussed to our Pan Am flight to Southeast Asia. That departure was even more subdued. There were no amenities during the flight except for multiple breakfasts as we followed an almost continuous sunrise to the east. To break up the fourteen-hour trip, we did stop in the Philippines and Okinawa before landing at Saigon’s Ton Son Nhut Airport. I was billeted at Bien Hao with a major on his way home. There was automatic small arms fire during the night. As I was standing up to see what was transpiring, I noticed him hugging the cold concrete floor. Survival lesson number one.

After being outfitted in several sets of fatigues in olive drab green, i.e., OD green, dull rank and outfit patches, and jungle boots, I began my trek to an unknown hospital in an unknown posting. En route to my up-country destination, I overnighted in Da Nang at the 95th Evacuation Hospital. This lifted my spirits for I was housed in a well-constructed quonset hut with comfortable beds and air conditioning. Vietnam was not so bad.