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salesinvoice.jpgA Father's PromiseOne of our Commo guys said his dad promised him something. If he would just stay alive and make it home, his dad would buy him a new GTO. Sure enough, when he got home, there was a brand new red GTO waiting for him! THAT got my fires going. I learned through the PX guys that I could order new cars at a military discount! I ordered a new Pontiac GTO convertible. Here is the first of several (modified) orders I made. And check that price! NOTE that the form states it is ordered from Viet Nam, and gives an "APO" address.
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My_GTO.jpgGot me one too!When I got home, I indeed traded in my Ford XL convertible for a new GTO.
Here I am with my GTO convertible. It was loaded with everything I could put on the form! I often said that dreaming of owning that car is a lot of what made me want to survive!
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Modern-Day_Lee.JPGModern Day Leon "Lee" DixonThings are looking good after Vietnam.
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Lee_at_Duc_Pho.JPGDuc Pho HQHere I am with my favorite guitar. I left it behind for someone else to play. Hope they got good use out of it! The Mighty Ninth sign is just over my right shoulder.
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LD-6.jpgCommo Buddy on patrolThis is another Commo buddy out on patrol...name forgotten.
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LD-5.jpgHoganOne of my Commo buddies, Hogan back at Camp Enari in Pleiku shortly before returning home 1968... note the clean, pressed jungle fatigues!
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LD-4.jpgPatrol Training - 2One of my buds was walking one of these dikes in a rice paddy when he stepped on a VC landmine. It was NOT a pretty experience...
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LD-3.JPGPatrol TrainingWe were sometimes forced to go on patrols periodically by a sergeant who was a hard-ass and thought it was "good training" to keep us on our toes so we in Commo wouldn't get too soft out there in the field! Of course, good 'ol sarge was bunked up cool, safe and dry back at Montezuma when we were out crawling around in the jungle, wading through mud, being devoured by bugs, traversing rice paddies, sleeping in foxholes, dealing with "charlie" and... well, you get the picture.
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LD-2.JPGMe & My Guitar - Duc Pho, MontezumaSeeing Sgt Butler's photo with his guitar struck memories. Strange thing the photo triggered was that the orange plastic finger twists on the end of the guitar tuners always twisted loose after just a few tunings. Whoever/whatever made those tuner heads must have been in Viet Nam because they were the worst I had EVER seen... and I had seen a LOT of guitars by the time I got there! Anyway, I bought a guitar in Saigon with orange plastic finger twists and cutaway, exactly like the one in the photo. I gave it to one of the guys in the battery and on my next Saigon trip I bought (for just about $2 or $3 more–in "P" of course) another guitar with Japanese tuners on it (they had white plastic tips that never broke). I also left this guitar at the unit when I returned back to "the world." I just wonder if the guitar in the photos was the one I had!
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LD-1.JPGPopular DogLooks like we have yet another photo of "Short Round". Much talk and I think a special place on the 2/9th web site for pics of unit adopted dogs. Here is another. This dog had several names as I recall... "Short Round" being one of them, but he had others as well. Guy with him here was a Commo member, but I cannot recall his name. Possibly Terry. If I remember, he was a lineman. He arrived shortly before went home. By this time, I believe the 'ol hard-ass sarge was gone or at least not somewhere close enough to have influence. He would have never allowed boots to look like that! Note the the "urinator" and ammo boxes in the background. I think this was at Kontum...
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Jet.jpgChina/Taiwan AirlineMany of us had never seen a "China Air Lines" jet before, thinking of the bitter enemy at the time, "Red China". It caused a little stir and a lot of cameras were clicking away as it rolled past. But Taiwan is the base of China Airlines.
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Dixon9a.jpgTo my rescue...LZ Liz was a scary place to me. Never felt at ease there. I did some commo work out there and this particular time, the guns had been firing quite a bit all night long. I "slept" (if you could call it that) in a bunker right near one of the guns... and was a welcome sight to see the sun come up that next morning. I awoke to the sound of a Chinook coming to get me and to drop off supplies and food. I took pix of him on the way in and landing. It looked like the sun was shining right through him on the way in. Man, it was a beautiful sight to see!...
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