What unit were you in?

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Question. Since you were stationed in Japan during the Vietnam War, does that mean you saw zero combat ? You essentially just fixed the camera's on planes, correct?

No it does not. We were sent TAD all over West Pac including Nam. The only combat I saw was when ourDa Nang attacked. I have some nice shots of the ammo dump at Da Nang being blown up. Did I ever have to shoot anyone? The answer to that thank god is no. Was I shot at. Yes if motars and rockets can be considered being shot at.I did my shooting with a camera. Taking pictures of the dead was not very much to my liking however. They wanted me to volunteer to be a tunnel rat since I am only5 ft 6. I told them to go to hell. I was also offerd Officer candidate school. I asked if my aviation garuntee would stay in effect. When they told me no I said forget it. Im not leading anyone through any jungle. Again most Marines dont get involved directly with combat unless their a grunt. However all Marines remain profficient with their weapons and all are trained to fight as infantry and in Nam many a time were called upon to do just that. I was lucky I never spent more than a few days there. Still not my favorite place to visit.

Also I did a hell of a lot more than just fix cameras on planes. I took photographs of anything I was asked to from promotion ceremonies to as I mentioned deaths. I also fixed the cameras and developed the pictures and made the maps. I even went up in choppers a few times to take pictures.

Believe me one battle even a small one is all you have to or want to ever witness.