EDITOR:

Memorial Day 1968 was on Thursday. In 1969, it was on Friday. The date for both was May 30th. It wasn’t until 1971 that the holiday was moved to the last Monday in May.

The personal significance was that those two years were spent in Vietnam. A week before the 1968 holiday, I was end outs to Vietnam. My flight stopped at Dakota airbase in Japan. We were allowed to deplane for an hour.

Walking grown the concourse, I spied a familiar face in a naval dress uniform. I yelled “Turnip!” He responded “Boden! What are you doing here?” After explaining, he shook his head negatively. We talked for a while until I had to revised my flight.

“Turnip” was, and is, Lynn Richards. Years later, he got a different nickname. It was “Two Dogs.” Ask him about it.

A few weeks later, I was calling for artillery support. As an RTO, it was my job to direct where we needed help. The voice on the radio asked me the universal military question: “Where you from?” I answered “Michiga.” The voice said “I knew it! The last guy was from down south somewhere. I couldn’t hardly understand him. Where in Michigan?” When I told him Gladstone, he was said “No way! I’m from Gladstone! Who are you?” After telling him who I was, he told me that he was Pat Sinclair. We only knew each other by name. He graduated from Holy Name a year before I graduated from Gladstone.

We talked often by radio. Against regulation, I let Pat and my friend Steve Muster play chess without a board on my radio. They were both smarter than I was. Sadly, they are both gone.

On one occasion, my mission allowed me to visit Pat at his firebase. I was introduced to George. That’s another story for another time.

Jeffrey Boden

Gladstone