4th Infantry Division
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2/35th
Cacti Blue
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Since my graduation from Lowell Technological Institute's engineering school in June of 1968, I had been working on the wiring systems for the Apollo Spacecraft with the Brand Rex Company in Willimantic, CT. The project also carried a draft deferment. On July of 1969, shortly after the landing on the moon, my deferment was rescinded by my draft board and I was sent for an induction physical in Springfield, MA. I passed the physical with only having one defect, the inability to distinguish red from green. The Sergeant assured me that we were not fighting Indians or Martians and that I only had to identify the color yellow. On August 21st I was ordered to report for induction at the local draft board in Southbridge, MA on September 24. From there a group of us were bussed to an army base and I entered the Army in September at Fort Dix, New Jersey where I celebrated by 23rd birthday on the 29th. About a week later, because of lack of space, our entire barracks was shipped to Fort Campbell, Kentucky (Home of the 101st Airborne) for basic training. Upon the completion of Basic Training, I was shipped to Fort Gordon, Georgia to be trained in the Airborne Infantry. They were short of volunteers, so I was drafted again. Upon completion of training I was given the choice of going to Fort Benning, Georgia for two weeks to finish my training by jumping out of an airplane, or going to Vietnam after a two week leave. Since I was afraid of heights, I took the ticket to Vietnam. The rest are excerpts from my letters and tape recordings that my future wife saved. She gave them to me around 2000. The rest is history:
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