John Hiemstra
Vietnam Diary
Web Page 10

THE BEST OF CHARLIE HORSE
VIETNAM

1 Mar 72 MM
I was on standby all day and during the night too! No flying though. I was able to make a MARS call home.  The call was short, the connection poor, but fortunately I was able to convey the important items before the line gave out.

Postscript 10 Jun 77 Texas
I left for R&R in Hawaii on 2nd of March and returned on the 20th, fully expecting to finish out my year tour in Vietnam which would expire in May of that year. Instead I was shocked to find DEROS orders dated 2 Mar 72. I missed my flight to the States while I was in Hawaii!  I left Vietnam on 20 March and arrived at Ft Lewis, Washington on the same day.  I was out of the Army and on my way home to Portland barely two hours after I had left Vietnam (about a 22 hour flight)! Amazing! I was thrilled to be home and safe!

On 1 April 72, the NVA hit QT province in earnest, using tank regiments for the first time in a conventional warfare role in Vietnam. Needless to say the pathetic ARVN forces were easily rolled out of the way. The final assault that leads to the fall of the Theiu government in April of 75 began in QT province on April 1, 1972. Many of my friends were shot down, some killed, some wounded, in the weeks and months that followed my departure from Vietnam. Would I have been one of them if I had not left when I did?




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