I got by with a little help from my friends

I guess I wasn't done... I need to mention other friends that were a significant impact on my Vietnam experience.  I need to mention 3 very good friends that had an impact on my Vietnam tour.

Good friend... what is your definition of a good friend?

Before I even left for Vietnam another one of my good friends from pilot training stopped by Tokyo and visited Martha and I.  Martha's sister Sue was visiting at the time and we had Terry Silverthorne over for dinner to set them up... Terry was single and a great guy.  Terry and Sue didn't work out but while Terry was there he found out I was going to Nam and he soon set out on a mission.  When he was back in the states he tried several times without success to volunteer for my spot in Nam... the personnel center would have nothing of it.  Later he would tell me about it... it is not often a friend volunteers to be put in harms way so you could stay safe... in effect he was volunteering to risk his life for me.

Terry became a pilot for American Airlines and is now retired.
 

The three of us... 
Randy, Chuck and I were good friends.  We shared our thoughts and ideas all the time.  I am sure we would have done anything for the other guy.  I did find a few photos in a box I thought would add some interest.

Randy... in the Philippines (The 3 of us were at jungle survival school there), standing next to the main mode of transportation... "Jeepie".

Chuck on the left and Randy barely seen on the right end of table. Which one do you think was a line backer for the Atlanta Falcons?  Ha.

Photo of a barracks near ours in DaNang.  Note the Mamasan's hats. 

Two other guys made times in Nam a little brighter...

Roger Ram Jet
Roger Ram Jet is the nick name of a very good family friend.  Roger got that nick name because he is a very good pilot... he lived for flying.  When Martha and I were stationed in Tokyo we lived next to Roger and his wife in base housing.  Martha and I are God Parents to their daughter who was born in Japan.  When they disbanded our squadron in Japan we were all scattered across the globe and we didn't know where each other went.

One day while I was at DaNang I heard someone call my name as I was walking back to my barracks, and it turned out to be Roger Ram Jet... Eternally young and tan as ever.

Roger was flying Electric Gooney Birds at DaNang... our nick name for EC-47... an old DC-3... Nothing but the best for our military.  He would fly off the coast over the Gulf of Tonkin and the crew in the back would listen ... or electronically eavesdrop on the enemy.  The idea of Roger flying an old DC-3 was laughable.  He should have been assigned to the most complex aircraft in the world... where he would have excelled.  He is quick and smart.

One day we were airborne about the same time and we formed up on each other... formation... sort of.

Roger says... "Watch this"
I say... "What... I didn't see anything..."

It was the old walk to the lavatory trick... haha.  

I obviously had no lavatory... So I said... "watch this"... and I did the best aileron roll that an O-2 could do... which wasn't very good.  I thought about firing off a smoke rocket for him, but I thought I might need it so I didn't...

It was always good to see Roger and his smile... we laughed a lot.  Later, Roger retired to Fredericksburg.  After years of retirement he looked for something to do... he now runs the airport in Fredericksburg.  If you go to the restaurant at the airport in Fredericksburg, (private planes fly in just to eat there) wander around out there and you might run across Roger Ram Jet... say Hi for me... you will know him by his smile.

Edesboy
Edesboy was my college roommate at Baylor.  We are like brothers... he is my brother... my fraternity brother... pledge brother... My Best Man...
 

The phone in our barracks was at the half way point in the building... in hall.  I remember it ringing two times... both times it was for me... both times I answered it because I was in the hall.  The first time it rang I was very surprised to find myself talking with Edesboy and he was passing through DaNang in his C-141 cargo airplane.

I jumped into our jeep and headed for the flight line and the one C-141 that was parked there.  I think we managed to have a 30 minute conversation that day.  It was a little dose of my old life.  I told him about  Steve and Jimmy.  All and all, he now recollects how low I was feeling... but I remember the bright spot in my day and the pallets of coca-cola and toilet paper in the back of his jet.  We had some good laughs.  I remember watching him takeoff.

I am sure Edesboy volunteered to take that flight into DaNang... he is that kind of guy.  We didn't often see a C-141 there.  Enemy ground fire was present at times and the likely hood of it was increasing everyday... his airplane was a big target.

A few years after this, Edesboy had the honor of picking up a plane load of our POW's from Hanoi.  There was no FAA approved approach chart for Hanoi.  The approach was hand drawn on a piece of paper from information supplied by Hanoi... definitely a high risk operation.

Edesboy is a retired Southwest pilot.  He still works at Flight Operations for Southwest Airlines.  He promises me he will retire at age 70 and go fishing with me.

It is nothing short of amazing that we would run across friends any where in the world...  And this was the perfect time in my life to run into old friends.