Remembering the 127th MP Company

by Jeff England

I served in the 127th MP Co from Nov 67 through Nov 68. When I found Dale?s website I spent most of the day looking at all the pictures and reading the many letters. What a trip! I?ve thought about all my friends in the 127th so many times over the last 33 years. I couldn?t believe the emotions I was feeling and the absolute flood of memories that began to fill my head. These are some of them.

I remember Oakland CA, Honolulu Hawaii, Clark AFB Manilla, Yakota Japan, and Okinowa.

I remember the day I arrived at Ton Son Nhut, and riding from Binh Hoa to Long Binh in a bus with steel mesh on the windows so Charlie couldn't throw in any surprises.

I remember incoming rockets my first night in Vietnam. Nothing near me but I was still very scared.

I remember Dodge City, the tents, barracks, guard towers, orderly room, mail room, shower, motor pool, boardwalk, bunkers, and the latrine with "the post" outside.

I remember The Goose Goes Inn, O.B. Beer, Lone Star Beer, and the ping pong table.

I remember the chow hall, SOS, mystery meat, and poppy seeds in the rolls that turned out to be weevils.

I remember lister bags, shaving with cold water , "I'm buyin', who's flyin?", and letters from home.

I remember fire ants, pit vipers, mosquitoes, mosquito nets, insect repellent, and malaria pills.

I remember my house mouse, the AIKs, the "shit burners," and feeding rats to the pet boa constrictor.

I remember jungle boots, jungle fatigues and green underwear.

I remember the night someone tossed a CS grenade in Top's hooch.

I remember Vung Tau Mountain, the graveyard, stringing beer cans in the concertina wire, the refugee camp, the fire in the refugee camp and the ARVN compound across the road.

I remember 45 automatics, M-14s, M-16s, M-2 Carbines, Thompson Submachine Guns, M60 machine guns, M79 grenade launchers, flares, night sticks and hand cuffs, and the 30 Cal machine gun outside the old PMO.

I remember guard mount, town patrol, ship security, POW security, skimmers, road recon, and guard duty.

I remember Vo Tahn St, Tang Bat Ho, Nguyen Hue, the traffic circle, the movie theater, the Korean Hotel, 200P Alley and VC Village.

I remember bicycles, Mopeds, cyclos and Lambrettas.

I remember the Long Beach Bar, the Hong Kong Bar, Ba Mui Ba, Saigon Tea, Madam K, and "Oh, M Fee, I love you too much!"

I remember LST Beach, Red Beach, and Shit Beach.

I remember the 93rd MP Battalion HQ and the 66th MPs in Phu Tai, and MACV HQ in Qui Nhon.

I remember HueyCobras, Med-Evac choppers, C-130s, Deuce and a Halfs, APCs, and our worn out old MUTTs that we couldn't get parts for.

I remember "jungle rot" on my feet and the rash that wouldn't go away.

I remember "Stars and Stripes" and Hanoi Hanna.

I remember stealing US Navy raincoats and steaks from the supply depot.

I remember Navy Skimmers and the night Charlie got into Market-Time.

I remember the PX, ration cards, cigarettes for 10 cents a pack, and beer for 10 cents a can.

I remember the VC for Lunch Bunch, the Rat Patrol, and the Dirty Dozen.

I remember the Cahn Sats, the Quan Cahns (QCs), and the Korean MPs.

I remember the old PMO on Vo Tanh, the new PMO in Dodge City, Rectangle Control and Texas Botfly One Zero.

I remember Victory Ships loaded with beer, cigarettes, 500 pound bombs and napalm, the Merchant Marines, and the Han Jin Transportation Company.

I remember the 85th Evac Hospital, crispy critters, the nurses and the Red Cross Donut Dollies.

I remember Tet, Qui Nhon Airfield, the Vietnamese police station, the radio station and the sports arena.

I remember when Ron Orlando, Phil Crittenden and Gene Young were shot, and praying they wouldn?t die.

I remember when Dingus Banks, John Morgan, and Bob McCormick died.

I remember when Charlie got into the 41st Signal Battalion on top of Vung Tau Mountain.

I remember bagging body parts of children killed and maimed when a deuce-and-a-half from the 41st Signal Battalion overloaded with AIKs rolled off the road coming down the mountain.

I remember Checkpoint Charlie, the Causeway, BJ Annie's, ASP Checkpoint, and the night Charlie blew the ASP.

I remember rice paddys, water buffalo, sugar cane, overloaded Lambrettas, pot-bellied pigs in baskets, nuoc mom sauce, slicky boys on motorcycles, and the "gook squat."

I remember the heat, the rain and the typhoon.

I remember the White Horse and Tiger Divisions of the ROK Army, and that Charlie never tried to blow the bridge outside White Horse HQ.

I remember Highway 1, VC Hamlet, Deadman's curve, and QL One Niner to An Khe and Pleiku.

I remember being short of jeeps, stealing one, the guys in the motor pool repainting it with 127th MP Co tags, and sending it out on patrol.

I remember filling stolen jeeps with equipment that had been stolen and scrounged from the supply depot (fans, etc) and driving around town all day during an IG inspection so we didn't get caught with equipment we couldn't account for.

I remember learning to speak Vietnamese: Boo Coo; Number 1; Number 10; Dung lai; Sin Loi, Choi Oi; and Chao co minoi? (pardon my spelling)

I remember exactly what I was doing on the days Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated.

I remember the movie "Georgie Girl," "I cant get no satisfaction" and my favorite "Gimme a ticket on an aeroplane?"

I remember my Roger's Rangers card, my immunization card, my Code of Conduct Card, the Military Policeman's Creed, my Geneva Convention Card, and my POW Card.

I remember Dong, Piasters, MPC and that one greenback folded very small in the corner of my wallet.

I remember the MPC changeover and Vietnamese throwing old MPCs at us as we drove down the street because they no longer had any value.

I remember my R&R in Hawaii and that no one else in Hawaii seemed to know or care there was a war.

I remember USARV, DEROS, CONUS and ETS, my Short Timer's Stick, and ALWAYS knowing exactly how many days I had left.

I remember President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ), Long Binh Junction (LBJ), and the Long Binh Jail (LBJ).

I remember Jeff Bledsoe, Bob Nehring, Larry Cremeans, Tom Gissberg, Dale Mattier, Dingus Banks, Bob McCormick, John Morgan, Ron Orlando, Gene Young, Tom McLean, Fred Bennett, Dale Comer, Larry Ausborn, Tom Klaiss, Phil Crittenden , Don TeBeest, Len Dickson, Neil Hamilton, Paul Terzulli, Len Dickson, Tim Towarak, George Ecklar, Gary Ward, Bob Wizorick, Bob Dietz, Ronnie Ricks, Jeff Bledsoe, Amadio, Mike Cline, Bob Deihl, Frank Nitche, Bivens, Harrison, LaCroix, Charlie Brown, Lippencott, Capt Corey, "Top," Sgt Bergquist, Sgt Werns, Sgt Gildowie, and Sgt Willie Williams.

I remember so many other faces without names.

I remember the day I left from Cam Ranh Bay.

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