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I absolutely loved working at the 91st Evacuation Hospital. I learned so much and felt I had acquired some useful skills that I would be able to use in helping others, but I have to admit I was looking forward to returning home.
Home being Hawk Hill.
Soon after I got back to Hawk Hill, however, I was informed that life would be changing for the 3/82 Artillery.
We would be leaving what I considered home.
The Marines are Leaving
It seems the Marines were initiating a drawdown from portions of Vietnam, marking a shift in how the war was being managed. As Marines prepared to leave areas they once controlled, the responsibility of filling the gaps fell to other units.
For us in the 3/82 Artillery, this meant stepping into the places the Marines were vacating at the Da Nang Air Base, a task that would bring its own challenges and unexpected changes.
Da Nang was a major city in Vietnam and the Da Nang Air Base was a major operations center for the war.
Arriving in Da Nang
Arriving in Da Nang felt like stepping into an entirely different world compared to Hawk Hill.
For starters, our aid station wasn’t buried underground but stood proudly on a solid foundation. It was a real building! It had proper exam rooms, a pharmacy, and a dedicated office for the doctor, it looked more like a professional clinic than a makeshift wartime facility. It was a stark contrast to the primitive conditions we had grown accustomed to on Hawk Hill.
But one question lingered for me. Where would we live?
On Hawk Hill, our sleeping areas were connected to the aid station, which meant we were also partially underground, and we had those problems with mosquitoes and bugs.
That was not to be the case for our living spaces in Da Nang.
We were assigned to buildings — above ground buildings — that would be our home.
My Personal Home
I was assigned to a nice place that resembled a college dorm room. It had two beds — not bunk beds — regular beds with mattresses. And there was a nice desk between the beds where I could keep my books and correspondence.
And even though there were two beds, I was the only one assigned to the room, so this was my spacious home.
There was no mosquito netting because there were no mosquitoes.
And there were no strange jungle bugs falling on me at night.
It was a very nice place.
Some Unexpected Perks
There were a number of perks for those of us who helped with the transfer from the Marines to the Army.
One of them was the food.
The Marines, it turns out, ate astonishingly well.
I’ll never forget walking into their chow line for the first time. The cook, standing at a grill, didn’t just slap food on my plate and rush me along. Instead, he asked, “How do you like your steak? Rare, medium rare, or well done?”
Steak. Real steak. Cooked to order.
He carefully plated the meal, ensuring it looked as good as it tasted. I thanked him, and I meant every word.
From that moment on, the Marine chow line became a daily highlight — a little luxury in the middle of a war zone.
And Then There Was Handball
Fitness was clearly a priority for the Marines, but one feature of their base truly caught my attention — a handball court.
This wasn’t just a simple wall like the ones we used in grade school. It was a proper court, with all four sides constructed from sturdy plywood. Even the PX stocked specialized gloves and handballs, emphasizing just how seriously they took the game.
I quickly learned the rules and jumped into playing. Before long, I was hooked.
I had become so addicted to the game that even after I returned to civilian life, I looked for places that had handball courts so I could continue playing. When I lived in Glendale, California I joined the local YMCA because they had a handball court.
When I moved to Billings, Montana I found another YMCA that had a handball court, and I joined it. And when I moved to Missoula, Montana, I joined a recreation center that had a handball court.
Like I said, handball had become an obsession with me since my time in Da Nang, but that obsession would eventually die out.
Handball would become less popular as a sport in America, replaced by racket ball. And through time, the handball-racketball courts disappeared, and the sport of today is something called pickle ball.
Pickle ball.
Who came up with that name?
But that’s another story.
Back to Vietnam.
Even More Amenities
There were other amenities as we transitioned to taking over the large base at Da Nang.
Every so often we would receive a package of “stuff” from … I’m not sure who … the Red Cross or USO or someone else. But there was usually a scramble for those extras in the package. Usually, coffee and cigarettes were the first items to go, but I went for the books. Books were not in high demand, and I had my pick of so many excellent books.
And I had a place on my desk where I could store them.
It was a rough life, but I was getting used to it.
In our new aid station, we were also given a jeep. It served as an ambulance when needed, able to transport injured people on stretchers. But most of the time it was just our personal transportation vehicle for wherever we wanted to go.
We had access to a movie theater on the base — a real movie theater, where they played recent Hollywood movies. We would use our jeep to take a group of us to the movies.
And not far from the theater, I believe it was in the city of Da Nang, was a nice Chinese restaurant where you could have a great meal for a small price.
And there was a major hospital nearby. That meant that if we had patients who needed more help than we could provide, we didn’t need to airlift them to a distant hospital. We could load them in our jeep and drive them to the hospital.
Life had definitely changed from my old home on Hawk Hill.
Yes, transferring command of the area from the Marines to the Army was a big job, but someone had to do it, and I was willing to play my part in this stage of the war effort.
A LESSON
I do have a lesson I took from this time when we transitioned to Da Nang.
I was reminded of an important truth: God is in control.
Even in the midst of a war zone, God provides blessings — moments of comfort, joy, and opportunities to serve others, in ways that lift our spirits when we least expect it.
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."
Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV)
Our job is to use those moments well, for His glory.
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