Young Soldiers

The top picture is me (in shirt) standing beside PFC. Rodriquez, a friend in the same platoon as me. He arrived in Vietnam a few weeks before me and was assigned to carry an M-60 machine gun. He was from Mexico if I remember correctly. I served along side soldiers who were from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. During my basic training at Fort Gordon, I visited the fort's swimming pool one Sunday afternoon and heard most soldiers at the pool speaking Spanish. I believed they were bilingual and chose to speak in their native tongue when together socially because on duty they spoke English.

Some young people from foreign countries serve in the U. S. Military to help secure U. S. citizenship. An honorable discharge from the military goes a long way toward gaining the highly sought U. S. citizen status.

Rodriguez was very strong and carried heavy loads for long distances. The M-60 and ammo were heavy. Other squad members assisted in carrying machine gun ammo belts.
These belts crossed our shoulders and dangled under opposite arms. Every fifth round was a tracer which glowed when this high velocity, long-range shell was fired. This visible trajectory assisted the gunner to zero on the target. It was amazing to watch these tracer rounds, especially at night.

A squad is made up of 8 to 10 soldiers including the non-commissioned officer. When our squad walked trails or roads on patrol, Rodriguez was near the center of the line-up. There was a point person to lead the formation and a rear guard was the last person.

When we were ambushed or received enemy fire, we immediately hit the ground in the prone position and crawled to protective cover and then returned fire. When Rodriguez got in position, he laid down a barrage of machine gun fire to cover our squad as we advanced toward the enemy. Then we fired our M-16 assault rifle to cover his advance to keep in line with us. He also fired the machine gun from his hip when necessary.

The picture below shows two squad members. I was with these guys for almost a year, but I don't remember their names. The one holding the rifle was a sniper. He used a special rifle and had received advanced marksmanship training. We were in the rear area in Tuy Hoa when this picture was made.

We slept in the tents in the background when we returned from missions. While on missions, we camped on the ground with no cover and slept in two hour shifts. Two hours of sleep alternating with two hours awake for the duration of the night.

This secured area is where we rested, bathed, and prepared for the next mission.

The bottom picture is Rodriguez again. I wonder where he is today.

Return here on Friday, September 1 for an update.

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The Villa

The PT Cruiser in the top picture is the car we rented while on vacation in Los Angeles. This car was new with only 700 miles and we drove the sporty vehicle all around Los Angeles County. We navigated the freeways during evening rush hours, traveled to Simi Valley, Yorba Linda, Malibu, and El Segundo.

We drove on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu only hours before the Mel Gibson incident on this same stretch of highway in the early morning hours of July 28.

We were in Malibu to tour the Getty Villa. Admission tickets are free but usually require reservations months in advance. We used our laptop computer to go online the day of our visit and obtained a reservation to be there at 3:00 PM plus or minus one-half hour. A printed ticket was required including the UPC code. We secured the services of the Embassy Suites concierge and his printer to produce the hard copy ticket we needed.

I thought a 1909 S VDB Lincoln penny was old, rare, and valuable. But, the Roman and Greek coin collection from antiquity puts the Lincoln penny to shame in terms of rarity and value. The Getty Villa is filled with sculpture and artifacts from the old world.

The Getty Villa is different from the Getty Center which I reported on earlier. The villa was built first and contains much older art, sculpture, pottery, coins, and other artifacts from ancient times.

See the pictures below to get a sense of the architecture of this spectacular place.

Return here on Wednesday, August 30 for a blog update.

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Plan to Visit

There are presidential libraries (museums) in Abilene KS, Ann Arbor MI, Atlanta GA, Austin TX, Boston MA, College Station TX, Grand Rapids MI, Hyde Park NY, Independence MO, Little Rock AR, Simi Valley CA, West Branch IA and Yorba Linda CA.

My wife and I visited two in California while in Los Angeles on vacation.

The Richard M. Nixon Library is located at his birthplace of Yorba Linda. The original home is restored and open for tours. The library complex includes a replica of the East Wing of the White House as my photographs at the top and bottom show. Memorabilia from his entire life are on display. One could spend hours viewing and reading interesting displays of Mr. Nixon's life and time in history.

Richard and Pat Nixon are buried side-by-side on the grounds. I'll show those later.

The Ronald Reagan Library contains a replica of the Oval Office exactly as it was at the White House during his presidency. See first picture below. There were two portraits of former presidents hanging in the office. Andrew Jackson was one and George Washington as an Army General the other. The docent told us that Mr. Reagan most admired these men.

A commemorative postage stamp was issued by the U. S. Postal Service last year to coincide with 50 years of the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955. Click here to read about it.

You may want to plan a visit to one or more of these libraries if you're in those areas.

Return here Monday, August 28 for an update.

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Southeast Asia

The top picture is the jeep in front of me as we moved along a dirt road between rice paddies. Rice was the big crop grown in the areas where we operated in Vietnam. After the rice crops were harvested, the paddies became dry and hard and we could walk across them without sinking. There were narrow raised areas around every few acres to contain the water and for walking by farmers and their cattle. Water buffalo were used in cultivating the rice paddies.

The picture below shows a blown bridge and the bypass around the destroyed overpass. I remember this stretch of road north of Tuy Hoa. The bridge was most likely destroyed with explosives set by Viet Cong guerrillas. Viet Cong or VC were usually South Vietnamese who fought without uniforms for the north. They were small bands of fighters who would blend with the civilian population. The VC employed ambush, hit and run, and sniper tactics when confronting U. S and ARVN forces. ARVN was Army Republic of Vietnam, the legitimate army of South Vietnam.

Viet Cong frequently buried mines in roads during the night. They were usually pressure sensitive type mines that exploded when a vehicle rolled over them. These mines caused many deaths and injuries to civilians as well as U. S. Military personnel. Sweeping the road with metal detectors was a daily task by military personnel.

The last picture is a non-typical masonry or stone building beside a road.

How did the United States get involved in Vietnam? If you're my age (around 60), you've heard this question debated. If you're younger than 40 you may or may not know the answers.

As a nineteen year old person at the time of the mid-1960's, my understanding was that we (the U.S.) had been asked by the government of South Vietnam to help them secure their country from aggression by North Vietnam. North Vietnam was a communist government and the United States was concerned about the spread of communism in southeast Asia. This spreading was referred to as the domino effect of one country after another falling to communism. Cuba, closer to home, had recently come under dictatorial or communist control.

When I arrived in Vietnam, there were around 60,000 US troops there. When I departed a year later, I recall that there were twice that many. During the peak of that 12-year war, there were over 500, 000 in country at maximum build-up.

The United States involvement in the war began around 1963 and ended in 1975. I was there early as the war scaled up in 1965. My tour of duty lasted the full year of 1966.

I belonged to a combat unit in the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. Some officers in this brigade became highly decorated for combat actions and, deservingly, gained national attention. David H. Hackworth (Captain or Major at the time) became the most well known with his book titled About Face. He made many television appearances to talk about military affairs during the years after the war.

Return here on Saturday, August 26 for an update.

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ESPN (Entertainment & Sports Programming Network)

SeaTac is an international airport that serves the Seattle and Tacoma areas of Washington state. The above photo shows the airport entrance.

My wife and I stayed in Hilton Inn and Holiday Inn hotels near the airport for five nights while in Seattle (see below pictures). The other nights were spent in the home of our daughter and son-in-law.

While in the Hilton Inn, we saw people wearing knit shirts with ESPN logo embroidery on the left front of their golf shirts. One morning we boarded the hotel shuttle bus to ride to the airport to meet the metro bus for the ride to downtown. On the same bus was a man who turned out to be one crew member of the ESPN group.

My wife and he initiated a conversation which led to talk about where we live and the reasons we were in Seattle. We learned from this ESPN person that he was from Pennsylvania and was going to the airport to rent a vehicle for the whole crew to ride to a rodeo somewhere in Oregon. The crew had plans to film the rodeo for later broadcast.

When the crew member learned that we were from North Carolina, he said "Oh yes, I've been to Charlotte area on assignments and enjoyed the state." He asked, "Have you been to the Richard Petty Museum?" We responded, "No, we've never visited the museum but we know about it." He then said, "You should go there; it will be the best expenditure of $5.00 you'll ever make." He added, "There is so much to see including Richard Petty's personal gun collection which is extensive."

We thanked the gentleman for his suggestion and made a verbal promise that we would soon visit the Richard Petty Museum in Randleman.

My wife and I talked later about how far away from home we were, the chance encounter with this man, and the way he aroused our interest in this museum near our home. We committed to make a future day trip to the museum.

Has such an experience happened to you? Are you taking advantage of worthwhile public attractions near where you live? I suspect that many people are like me. I should do a better job of seeking and experiencing activities, parks, culture, and events close to home.

Return here on Thursday, August 24 for the next blog update.

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Bridges in Seattle

The Fremont troll lives under Aurora bridge next to the north abutment. This shaggy haired troll with a grip on a Volkswagon Bug was sculpted by four area artists in 1990 and attracts visitors every day. Phil and Jennifer drove us here one morning where I took the above picture. "Trollaween" parties are an annual event each October 31st.

The first below picture shows a railroad yard along Elliott Bay between Queen Anne and Magnolia areas of Seattle.
The next pictures show a bridge over this railroad yard. Notice the unusual design. This bridge was built by Amgen as a pedestrian bridge for employees or other foot-traffic to get from the main street to the office complex of Amgen. This bridge is said to have cost Amgen $10 million. Amgen is a biotechnology research company which started twenty-five years ago in Thousand Oaks, California and expanded research facilities to Seattle a few years ago. The twenty year average annual growth rate of Amgen has been 28.7%. You do the math and compute what an investment in this company twenty years ago would be worth today.

Back to the design of the bridge: after viewing the below pictures, you may recognize the shape of a helix. A helix is a spiral shape like a screw, spring, or spiral staircase. DNA is also helical and the reason this biotechnology company chose to use this shape in the bridge. See the attached link here for interesting information about helix.

Return here on Tuesday, August 22 for an update.

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Public Transportation

When we weren't driven around Seattle by Jennifer and Phil, we used the public transportation system. The Metro bus system is well developed and a wonderful way to travel in this large city. We traveled from our hotel near SeaTac airport to downtown Seattle, made bus transfers in town to go to other parts of the city, learned about the different zones of the city, and experienced free-ride areas during certain hours.

This mode of transportation was good for us to experience and gave us confidence about trying this means of travel in other places. The bus drivers were super nice, patient, and helpful in explaining where we should depart the bus to best get to our destination. Other riders on buses were helpful the same way.

We used the Metro system Online help desk while in the hotel room. When we were out and about, we telephoned the help desk and spoke with a live person. I'd tell the help-line attendant where we were, our desired destination, and time desired to travel. They responded with street corner address nearest us to catch a bus of a certain number, where we should get off, which number bus to transfer to, the total travel time, and cost.

The cost was usually $1.25 or $1.50 per ride within a zone area. If a transfer to another bus was required, there was no additional charge. Exact change was required. Many riders had a pass or card to swipe through a reader when they boarded. Buses we rode might be near empty when we boarded and completely loaded with aisles full with standing riders when we reached our destination.

We saw wheelchair riders and watched the bus unfold a ramp to permit their entry or exit. The buses also had capacity to lower the right front corner to reduce the distance from the curb to the first step. This lowering and raising the bus' body was accomplished through air pressure or hydraulics when the driver pushed a button on the dash.

The buses also accommodate bike riders. Each bus is equipped with a bicycle rack on the front (see above picture). We observed bike riders as they secured their bikes to the rack before boarding the bus. The Metro bus system encourages citizens to combine bicycle riding with the public transit system to travel around and within the city. There are bicycle parking accommodations in certain areas.

I began to notice signs along streets indicating bus-stop points. We learned to read and decipher the bus schedules posted at bus stops. This is something I never paid attention to as a car driver. It's interesting what can be learned when we step outside our paradigm and experience something different as we did on this vacation trip.

Parking did not concern me nor did heavy traffic.
Our bus drivers used the carpool lanes on Interstate 5 as we sped past slow moving motorists in the other lanes.

Return here on Sunday, August 20 for an update.

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A Walk in the Park

Fauntleroy is a residential area in West Seattle. Lieutenant George Davidson who took soundings off this bluff in 1857 named this region after his fiancee Ellinor Fauntleroy in Illinois.

Lincoln Park and Colman Pool are in this neighborhood which borders the Puget Sound as shown in the bottom picture. Colman pool is an outdoor, olympic sized pool, open in summer months only, heated to 85 degrees, and filled with saltwater. This was the first pool in the U. S. to use seawater.

The park has many walking and riding trails, picnic shelters, ball fields, tennis courts, redwood trees, and bluffs along the water front.

Many people use the facilities of the park. During summer, it doesn't get dark until about 10:00 PM so there is lots of evening daylight for activities in the park after work..

The four of us were walking along the road by the water on Saturday evening about 9:00 PM. There were picnic tables along the road with a birthday group or church gathering of people enjoying the outdoors. Apparently, they were finishing their picnic and beginning to pack and clean the site for departure. As we approached the area on our stroll, one nice lady in the group met us with leftover watermelon and offered each of us uniformly, triangular-cut melon still attached to the rind. We each accepted a slice and thanked her for the generous gesture to complete strangers.

It's experiences like this that cause me to feel good about people in the area. I wonder if I would have done the same if roles were reversed. Would you?

Return here on Friday, August 18 for an update.

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Fuchsia Show

While visiting the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and Carl S. English Botanical Garden, a Fuchsia Show was taking place in the garden. The above picture gave directions to the show.

Fuchsia plants of many varieties were on display by their owners. We were asked to participate in a competition by voting on the plant we liked most. It was difficult to decide on the prettiest plant, but each of us came to a decision and cast our votes.

The two below pictures were blossoms in a water glass on a display table. Each blossom is different and two photographs were needed to capture the total table.

The bottom picture shows the fuchsia plant I voted as my favorite. I wrote its number on the paper strip and placed it in the ballot box. There appeared to be several hundred votes inside the box from other visitors.

You may have noticed the wet ground in the top picture. A drizzle began to fall as we toured this show. It didn't amount to much but it caused us to hurry along. This was the only rain we encountered during several days in Seattle.

Seattle is known for lots of rainy days. The annual rainfall is thirty-some inches which is less than where I live in North Carolina for example. The difference which causes people to think so much rain in Seattle is due to small amounts of rain at a time. I understand rain comes in short, passing showers. In my home area it may rain one to two or more inches, then become clear sky for days. In Seattle it might be cloudy skies for days and rain amounts of less than one inch.

I am impressed with people who have passion for their hobby. It is so interesting to talk with the ladies of this garden club and learn about fuchsia plants. They gather together and compare growing practices, show their plants, learn from each other, and share with passing citizens like me. It is encouraging and uplifting to observe people engaging in common interests.

This was an unplanned encounter while on our vacation.

Return here on Monday, August 14 for another blog post.

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Locks and Salmon

We visited the famous locks in Seattle which were built by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1917. The above picture shows the names given the locks and garden.

The first picture below shows boats inside a lock which floated them from sea level of the Puget Sound to a higher elevation for entry into Lake Washington.

The bottom picture was taken inside the fish ladder viewing room. There were lots of children and adults crowded next to the windows to see large sockeye and chinook salmon making their way upstream to spawn in areas of Lake Washington's tributaries.

The park employee in the bottom picture explained the interesting life-cycle of salmon. Here are some facts she related:

Salmon live 4 to 5 years.

They're born in fresh water and die naturally in fresh water.

Between birth and death, salmon live in salt water.

When salmon leave the ocean to fresh water to spawn, they swim in place for a few hours when they reach fresh water to allow their gills and lungs to adjust.

After they begin their swim from the ocean to fresh water spawning areas, salmon never eat again. Their body will undergo a transformation to an ugly shape and discoloration.

The female will lay about 2 thousand eggs, then the male covers them with sperm. The male and female then die. Their bodies contribute valuably to the ecology.

Only 2 or 3 salmon will reach maturity from the 2000 eggs.

Phil and Jennifer took us to several Seattle restaurants where salmon was on the menu. They were cooked to perfection and were delicious beyond any I've had anywhere else.

Return here on Monday, August 14 for an update.

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Vacations

People take vacations for various reasons. Some vacations are planned to get away from a routine of work and daily living to rest and relax. Other times people go places to experience events, history, arts and crafts, weather, mountains, beaches, or restaurants. Often, these types of vacations do not allow for much rest or relaxation.

My wife and I traveled across the country to Seattle to visit our daughter and son-in-law who recently moved to Seattle from Cary, North Carolina to work for Amgen and Microsoft Corporation. Amgen is a leading biotechnology research company and Microsoft is a computer software giant.

Jennifer and Phil were excited about our first visit as we were eager to see their new home, city, and surrounding areas. They drove us to the company properties where they work. The top picture is at the entrance to the Microsoft campus in an area called Bellevue and Redmond. The first picture below is the building where Jennifer's office is located. This campus is spread wide with buildings and immaculate landscaping of trees, plants, rocks, and waterfalls.

The third picture below is Amgen's court in front of the company's buildings and the bottom picture is a farther away view of the same buildings. Phil's office is located here. Both these companies have workspace that would be the desire of any employee. In a later report I'll show you a pedestrian bridge built by Amgen that crosses a railroad yard. The bridge is amazing in design and construction.

We stayed three nights in the home of our family and they went all out to take us places to experience the sights and sounds of Seattle. We ate in magnificent restaurants, attended events like the car show and Powwow about which I've already reported on this blog. We drove one day to Mount Rainier which is partially reported on 7/23/06. Thank you, Phil and Jennifer.

We saw sights we'd never seen and experienced events new to us. It was a wonderful time in and around the city of Seattle.

I plan to share with you more about what we saw and did while on this vacation trip to Seattle and Los Angeles.

Return here on Saturday, August 12 for more.

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Milestone

Throughout life, we reach milestone dates that are significant. For example, the date we get our driver's license, school graduation dates, reaching the age of forty, or our 25th wedding anniversary date. All these can be important to us and represent an accomplishment, a new beginning, or another chapter in our life.

Such a milestone was reached by me yesterday when my age became 59 1/2. This age is key as it relates to Individual Retirement Accounts because one can begin to take disbursements without the 10% penalty imposed for early withdrawals.

Traditional IRA's started in September 1974. These accounts were created to encourage citizens to save and plan a source of money for retirement. IRA savings are tax-deferred which means contributions into an account are not taxed that year. Furthermore, the growth of money in this investment account is not taxed until withdrawn unlike ordinary interest, dividends, and capital gains in other personal accounts.

I started contributing to an IRA account the month the new program started in'74. I made regular contributions to the maximum level allowable into the IRA ( later 401K) for the life of my working career. I never stopped contributing (until I retired a year ago) and never took withdrawals for any reason.

A friend and former colleague introduced me to the term "serious money". He often used that term to describe money amounts that were large as opposed to pocket change.

I'll use that term here to describe IRA sums after 30 years of contributions and growth. It can be serious money.

Sometime in the future, I will start to take regular monthly distributions from my IRA, pay the taxes due in full without complaint, and hopefully enjoy a comfortable retirement. But for now, the amazing power of compound interest is at work in this account. The monthly growth in my IRA is serious money.

I encourage all young readers of this blog to do as I did and invest to the maximum in your IRA or 401K and additionally, if possible, the Roth IRA.

Return here on Thursday, August 10 for an update.

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Another Memory

A few weeks ago I attended a funeral at a nearby church for an acquaintance in the neighborhood. He died at age eighty. In the eulogy given by one of his daughters she expressed regret and remorse for not talking with her dad about his experiences in WW II. Just before his death she said, "I joined him for a restaurant meal and asked him questions and was enlightened by what he said about his experiences." But, this dialogue was too late in his life.

I think the above situation is common. Young people are busy, have their own agendas, and little time for discussions with older people. This is one reason I'm recalling and documenting my experiences and feelings, and writing them on this blog.

Five, twenty-five, a hundred years from now, descendents or someone may stumble upon this blog and find my written words and pictures interesting history. If so, it will be worth my efforts of putting these bi-daily blog updates in print.

The top picture is of me somewhere in Vietnam in February 1966. 

Daily existence in Vietnam was difficult. The weather was always hot both day and night. The range of temperatures were mid 70's to high 90's. There was no ice to cool drinks or air conditioned spaces to get relief.

There were periods of monsoon which was continuous rain for several days and nights. We were soaking wet all that time.

There were no toilets, showers, beds or laundry services except in rear areas. Rear area was a heavily guarded space near a town and next to an airfield. The rear area we used most often was near a coastal town named Tuy Hoa. The airfield was only big enough for small aircraft and helicopters. The military used laundry services of the civilian population to clean our clothes. We returned to this rear area one or two days per week to change clothes, bathe, eat cooked meals, and sleep on a cot under a two-man tent that was surrounded by sandbags.

Here we would rest, clean our weapons, replenish our ammunitions, and get more c-ration meals for the next deployment to the countryside. These deployments meant squad or company size foot patrols into areas of suspected enemy habitation. The officers and non-commissioned officers received instructions, studied maps, and planned our next mission.

The picture below is a convoy of jeeps ready to move to another area or ride patrol on the coastal highway that ran north to south. The man in the passenger side of one vehicle is 2nd Lieutenant Palmer who was the officer over our platoon. Lieutenant Palmer's driver, standing by the jeep, was Spec. 4th Class Hovland.

Return here on Tuesday, August 8 for an update.

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Free Admission

The top picture shows gardens and architecture of the The Getty Center which is located on 750 acres in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains of Los Angeles County, California. It took Richard Meier, architect, and the J. Paul Getty Trust thirteen years and one billion dollars to construct this complex.

We parked our car in an underground parking deck at the bottom of the mountain. A mono-rail system carried all visitors to the hilltop to begin tours of this unbelievable place. There is no cost to visitors to enter the grounds, gardens, exhibit halls, and film presentations within this complex. (Oil money earned by J. Paul Getty and now in a $10 billion trust covers the cost) There are docents and volunteers in every room and at every turn to guide and explain everything one wants to know about the complex. Famous art from European countries dating back to the early eighteen hundreds is on display. The construction and design of this complex is difficult for me to comprehend.

One hundred ocean freighter voyages were needed to deliver the travertine stone from Italy for the building's facade. Romans used travertine from the same quarry to build the Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, and the colonnade of St. Peter's Basilica. There is no mortar between the 30" x 30" square travertine stone panels. Grid lines formed by the walls, floors, steps-whether stone, glass, or wood-are perfect straight lines. All dimensions are a multiple or factor of 30.

Crepe myrtle trees in the Central Garden are planted in straight alignment and kept the same diameter and height. Thirty-eight full-time gardeners are employed for upkeep of all the gardens.

The wood floors and door frames are quartersawn oak of perfection and pattern that seem impossible. See pictures below to understand what I mean about the wood.

I met retired teachers on the architectural part of the tour who had returned for the fifth time to visit this museum. I understand now why repeated visits are needed to begin to absorb and appreciate the spendor of the architecture and history depicted in the art works.

Return here on Sunday, August 6 for an update.

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Car Values

I was told that car values drop the moment you drive them off the dealer's lot. I believe that's true in general.

I was in Seattle recently and encountered a classic car show on Saturday at Alki Beach along the Puget Sound. As we ate breakfast in a restaurant across the street, classic car motorists drove onto the beach area, registered their cars, found their parking place, and began wiping the surfaces of their shiny cars.

After breakfast, we began walking among the cars and listening to the beach music blaring from the disc jockey who was there for the day of fun.

I talked with several owners about their cars. One of particular interest was a man with a 1969 Camero. He told me about saving his money while in the military in Vietnam and paying cash for his new Camero when he exited the Army in '69. He said, " I paid $3,200 cash for the car, drove it for 10 years, garaged it, and now have it ensured for $35,000." This man is the one with the beard in the picture below.

Of course, he spent money keeping the 1969 Camero clean and serviced. He and his wife have fun driving the collectible car and attending shows with people of similar interests.

I bought my first car late in 1967 when my age was a few months short of 21. I, too, paid cash of around $3,200 for the new 1968 Plymouth Sport Satellite. I bought it off the showroom floor of a dealer in Yadkinville, North Carolina and drove the metallic blue, vinyl-top, stick-shift car for five years when I traded it for a new 1973 Ford.

I wonder how much that car would be worth today if I had kept it.

Return here on Friday, August 4 for an update.

Have a good day!