Honeymooners

Being too d-mn old to cut my toe nails any more I have a pedicure whenever needed. The gal that does the Pedicure is Vietnamese, I asked where she was from and she told me DaNang and I mentioned I had been in 1st Recon. She told me about going home again for the first time some years ago and going home again just a few months ago. She told me to go to, DaNang on Vietnam.com and take a look at how it is now. I mentioned BaNa and she said go to BaNa, DaNang, Vietnam.com and see how it turned out, China Beach, DaNang, Vietnam.com. I went home and was swept away with what I saw. Now I ain't one to go visiting places I had been where I had to carry a weapon even to the head, and in all the years since I left the Marine Corps the only place I happened to visit since I retired was Guam. I was returning to the states after a visit to Japan for business reasons and the plane stopped in Guam and I had a couple hours to look about. Christ what had been a barren beach with all the palms reduced to splinters was now a spot for Japanese Honeymooners and the hotel was fabulous looking. The pictures show Guam during WWII and the sad looking beaches, the other picture shows me, Top and the Lieutenant having a beer at a hootch on Vietnamese side of China Beach in 1968 or so. The mama-san tried to give us her baby to bring back to the states, I guess she already knew how the d-mn war would end.

GySgt. F. L. Rousseau, USMC Retired