For many of us, life lessons are learned the hard way. When we reach a place of stability and calm, we are able to look back on those life-changing experiences and reflect on what they meant, and how they changed us. Read my story about how lessons I learn throughout life and my service in Vietnam shaped my personality and my beliefs in my book "Hard Lessons: Lessons Learned The Hardest Last The Longest".
Category: Vietnam
Purple Heart Reissued
The attached article appeared in the Newport Plain Talk, the paper in Newport, TN where I was activities director and training to be a nursing home administrator at the local nursing home at the time.
Resident smoke breaks were divided up among the various departments for supervision. Every once in awhile one resident, Mike Price, would get a pained look on his face and say, "Got shot in Vietnam for nothing…." Everyone thought he was making it up. His medical record said he alleged being in the Marines, but there was no official record of him ever having served. I told him I was in the Marines, and we started talking. He knew it all…the rank structure, the jargon, and he was telling me things about Parris Island I'd forgotten a long time ago. There was no doubt in my mind whatsoever that Mike was in fact a Marine at one time.
10 MPC
I saw someone mention MPC. Here is a copy of a 10 cent MPC I brought home. Know anyone who wants to trade me for US?
Semper Fi and remember our fallen brothers on Memorial Day.
Cpl. J Kanavy
Extending In Nam
Just a note to respond to Robert Bliss' question in the 14 May Newsletter on extended tours in Vietnam. Someone had told Robert that he had extended his tour in VN for up to two years ('68 to'70) which raised the question whether a Marine could stay that long in the field.
1st Medical Battalion – Da Nang
I was one of 10 6×6 trucks from Motor-T, 1st Med Bn. We were the first at the blast to remove military and civilian personnel from the blast. The blast was so severe it almost blew our trucks over. I made many trips from there to 1st Med on the other side of Freedom Hill. Everything was leveled to the ground. PX at Freedom Hill…Sea bees base gone… driving back and forth. Ordnance was blowing onto the road… some of which exploded… there for 36 hours… one hell of a time.
I Got It In Beirut
I took the liberty of adding a few devices to the ribbons on your Vietnam cap. Before anyone gives me a ration of cr-p about the star on the Combat Action Ribbon, I got it in Beirut. The second photo is in response to your last posting with the young Marines performing the same detail in Iraq. I am on the right of that photo. This would be in Vietnam about May/June '68.
Hill 200 or 250
I was the the officer in charge of Hill 250 from January 1969 until September 1970. 1st Recon was sent to the hill to provide security for the IOD and my men and I, in that order. We had thermite (sp?) grenades strapped to the IOD. Our job was to destroy it should we get over run. The IOD (Integrated Observation Device) was my responsibility. I remember the dozer being brought to level some high ground adjacent to our hill.
Hill 250, 6-70 to 3-71
I was TAD from 1/13, 3rd Howitzers (Danang) to Hill 250. I was a Fire Controlman and secondary Viet Interpretor. But I was an Troop Handler at Camp Pendleton for year, instructing mortars & MG.
Only got a few pics of Hill & others, as lost camera in poker game, but would like to hear from anyone who might remember me (Panther tattoo on right forearm & Jesus/crucifix on left forearm). I also carried a huge Bowie Knife, which I threw alot, during spare time.
Post Cards From Khe Sanh
I was a 21-year-old Marine stationed at Khe Sanh with Delta 1/26 when the seige began. The day before it started, I sent my Dad a post card made out of the lid to a box of 'C' Rations (Ham & Muthers). I just found the original card and thought it might be of interest to others. Semper Fi All Hope you enjoy the memories.
Orson Swindle: Lessons from the Hanoi Hilton – Vietnam prisoner to Asst. Commerce Secretary
In September of 2013, I had the distinct honor of interviewing Lieutenant Colonel Orson Swindle (U.S.M.C. Retired). After spending six years in a Vietnamese prison known as the “Hanoi Hilton”, Orson Swindle returned to the United States to not only reclaim his life but triumph over his captors by his unbridled success which included becoming Ronald Reagan’s Assistant Secretary of Commerce.