Vietnam 1970-1971

 My service in Vietnam ended fifty years ago today, April 8, 1971.

      I arrived in Vietnam just short of my 20th Birthday and was assigned to a Public Information office in Quang Tri, a South Vietnamese city just a few miles from the DMZ.

     Halfway through my one year tour, an opening came up for an anchor at the Armed Forces Vietnam Network (AFVN) Detachment 5 Radio/TV station, and I was transfered to that unit, also in Quang Tri.

While my 5th Division PIO position included assignments outside the main U.S. Military base in Quang Tri, I was fairly stationary the rest of my tour, which ended a little under a year because the Nixon White House was trying to reduce forces.

 

     My family didn't know about the early end to my tour, and a gathering had been planned to celebrate my Mothers birthday at my sister's house in New York. With the help of my best friend Steve, I flew home and showed up on my sister's door a few hours before the surprise party. I stayed hidden upstairs until after my parent's arrived and just walked downstairs into the party. 

It was a very emotional moment.