I do not remember talking about Nam during the reunion but Jim probably mentioned it. Sounds good. We read about the WW2 vets a lot and the Korean Vets then some about the Vietnam Vets. But no one ever asks me to talk about my experiences in Nam. Not even my kids. So much for that.
You asked for it so here goes;
I volunteered the draft since I had taken my physical and then my employer decided to let me go for a couple very mundane reasons, so I became unemployed. Got a job at Detroit Plastics on 10 mile inRoseville, earning a dollar & 85 cents per hr. I started on Thursday then worked Friday and came back the following Monday. I was doing some menial task and smelling the plastic aromas. I said to myself, Walter what are you doing here, just bidding your time when you know your going to get called up to active duty, so lets get on with it. I punched out for lunch, and drove back to Gratiot & straight to the draft brd. Walked in & my neighbor looked up at me and said, Walter what are you doing here? I told her I wanted to volunteer the draft and get going. It was March 13th, and she said well the April levey has gone out already. I told her to take the last guys name off the list and put mine on, i wanted to go. She did and two days later I got my notice to appear April 2nd. I went to Ft. Knox for basic and then got reassigned back there to the Brigade Hqs. But I did not want to spend two years at Knox, I wanted to go somewhere and see something. I put in about a dozen 1049 actions and kept getting denied. So finally I put one in for the Pacific and then came down on a DA levey with 350 names. I was destined for Nam as a clerk typist. I even submitted a 1049 volunteering extra time in the Army to guarantee going somewhere so there would be the full 12 months requirement.
So I was flown to Oakland Cal where I checked in and boarded a C128, 65 guys sitting sideways on strap seats looking at each other with knees touching. We made it to Hawaii the first day when they said we had some instrument problems that needed to be fixed. Well we ended up spending the night in Air Force billets, which were the best I would ever see. Then landed in the Phillipens the next day to fix the same malfunctioning guage which then we spent the 2nd night in Air Force billets. Then the 3rd day we landed in Guam and ended up over night again, then Wake Island the next day and finnally arrived in Nam the 4th day. It was night, and when the back landing door opened the hot air rushed in which felt like we just opened moms oven to check the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. It was hot and would stay that way for the next 12 months. 105 to 115 or 120 temps each day, but at least it was dry heat. It was Tan Sun Nut air base, then on a deuce & a half to the compound, which was located at the farthest end of the runway. I was assigned to the 509th Radio Research Group, which in actuality was the Army Security Agency, ** where I was a clerk typist for the brigade colonel in S1, which turned out to be one of the most interesting assignments I would ever experience.
I remember driving down the dirt road to the compound and looking at the women washing thier clothes on the river bank beating them on the rocks just like you would see in the movies, only this was reality. The "homes" were made of tin or metal that looked like a million beer cans clad together. The poorest of the poor living conditions you can not imagine until you see it for real.
I would travel that dirt road many times in the next 12 months in order to get to the main gate to go "downtown" Saigon for some bar hoping or a real meal at a local restraunt that we would come to know as being ok & safe to eat there. The transportation were the motor scooters (Isettas) or Cushmans', you know, or motorized bikes, or front seat carts.
Yup there were the Budhists just like they showed on TV and in the mags back home. All over the place. The people were always clean, neat & in a hurry going somewhere. It was 5 mile to downtown & took about 10 to 15 minutes to get there. You went to the PX first to buy your 5th of booze, like Canadian Club or 7 & & for a $1,85 or gin or vodka for .90. Then to the bar where you plopped you bottle on the bar or table and ordered Coke or Lemonaide to pour over the ice to mix your booze. 3 or 4 guys would kill the 1st 5th quickly and then back to the PX to get the 2nd bottle to keep the fun going before it clsd at 9:00pm and then out to the street at 11:00pm to get your ride back to the main gate before 12:00pm curfew when they clsd the gate.
Our company was made up of 650 guys who manned 3 shifts 24/7 sending the intelligence back home to Washington or wherever. Yup, the mess hall never clsd, it was open 24/7 & our warrant officer got the best of the best. The cook called Shorty barbecued stead every Sunday and there was enough left to have for breakfast the next day with your eggs. I grew up in a home with my father being a butcher so we ate well & every kind of meat there was, but I actually got a bit tired of steak. Would you believe?????? In a war zone!!!!
The city was beautifull, the architecure was something else to see. I took a lot of pics. The air was full of gas fumes from all the cyclos etc. The garbage was stacked in the streets on a regular basis.
When I first arrived in country I pulled guard duty on the NCO billets downtown for a couple months before my top secret crypto clearance came through. I got to know the city real well.
There are many stories to tell, much to many to even start here, but before i knew it I was on a plan coming back home to Oakland where I became a civilian in 12 hours. Oh I could have reupped for a $3,000 bonus signing but all I could think of was being a civilian again.
When I took my R&R I went to Tokyoe Japan and took in the sites. What a beautiful city that was. We were on a brand new DC 10, maiden flight. It was great.
I spent about 3 days in Oakland soaking up the sun & sights before boarding a Greyhound to come home to Detroit. 65 hrs cross country. Did not actually see that much because of the night driving. Got home at 6:30 on a Sunday night & Mom & Dad were waiting for me at the Greyhound station downtown to bring me home. Dad opened a new bottle of wiskey and by 11:30 it was empty, when he said good night I have to work tomorrow.
I never seen action or shot the rifle in Nam. The S3 unit at the reay of my HQ had a hugh table with a mock up of Vietnam where the generals would come to formulate their strategy. Oh ya I seen them all from every country. There was the big box with in the room with the green light on, meaning if you picked up the receiver you would be connected to the White House in Washington.
Hope this is something to give you an idea of what I did. If you have questions please ask.
For Now
Walter Kulczycki
After reading some of the others I started to recall some of the other experiences during my tour in Nam. I see where Joe V. arrived at Ft. Knox the day before I did, so we were in basic training at the same time but I never crossed paths with him. Did not know he was there.
I had said my compound was at the end of the run way in Tan Sun Nhut. About 1/2 mile from the control tower and the buidling we worked in. I would walk back & forth to work, for lunch and then the end of the work day. There were no windows in the building, just a front door and back door that was bolted shut & locked. So the only entrance was the front door that was guarded at all times against unwanted persons. I found out the day I was leaving for home that this building was mined that if it was ever over run by the enemey it would have been blown up to destroy all of our incripted machines to save it from getting into the enemy hands.
This air base was considered the busiest in the world at that time, with more flights going in and out each 24 hrs than anywhere else in the world. The jets took off 2 at a time, side by side and the roar of the engines was deffening, where you were trying to talk to someone right next to you and you could not hear them or what they were saying. At night a old C 4 would take off loaded with flares that they would drop and they would light up the sky and area down below.
We did get mortored one night and it landed two doors down in front of the billetts, the shrapnal entered the front and took the life of the guy in the first bunk, the only casualty. We fell out into the the bunkers in front of our billett. We had no weapons because they were locked up in the weapons building and the two guys in charge of the keys both decided to go to town that night against rules of course. So we did not get a weapon until they got back. Then we went on guard duty to protect the perimeter. Nothing else happened and we were told this mortar could have come from several miles out and there was no way of telling where the VC were located to combat them.
Interesting thing happened from this event. There were six planes parked on the runway right in front of our compound and facing our compound. These were planes from the the 2nd WW that came off aircraft carriers, with the folding wings. They were loaded with live rockets and were given to the Wyn Cou Key the premier of So Vietnam as a gift. Well someone quickly realized that if one or more of those planes were hit by the enemy the rockets would have come right into our compound and no telling how many lives would have been lost. They were quickly turned around facing the other way.
Saigon was a beautifull city from the stand point of architecture and design. The buildings and houses were all so different and facinating to look at. Remember it was called the "Peral of the Orient" at one time.
There was a orphanage right outside of the main gate, not to far. Some of us took it on as a project to visit and intermingle with the family who owned & ran it. At one point they were wealthy land owners but at some point the government took all the land away from them. The orphanage was all they had left. So at Christmas time a bunch of us decided to get permission to bring all the kids to our compound and have a party for them. We played basket ball on the court and served them lunch of hot dogs and hamburgers, which they never seen before. Then we gave them some gifts which I do not remember what they were. Needless to say there was a lot of love shared that day and many happy faces.
Thats it for today.
Walter K.
NOTE: **
The first man to die in Vietnam was James Davis, in 1958. He was with the
509th Radio Research Station. Davis Station in Saigon was named for him.
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