Taking the seat to his left, I took note of the outline of the missing petty officer’s “crow” on his sleeve. His ship’s patch was on his shoulder: “USS Maddox.” I’d forgotten that was his destination. Inside, sitting at the bar, was my best friend from Navy boot camp, who I hadn’t seen since we had both gone through firefighting training at the San Diego Naval Station the year before while awaiting transport to our separate destinations in WestPac. Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club was a tongue-in-cheek nickname for the United States Seventh Fleet during the Vietnam War. USS Pine Island, an ungainly seaplane tender that was flagship for the admiral’s command, of whose staff I was an enlisted member, had docked that morning for a break after our first deployment to Da Nang, following what we all knew was the first step to a war in Vietnam that involved us – the “Maddox Incident” as we in the Navy called it. I will never, ever forget the moment in late September 1964, when I decided to stop in a bar on the main street of Olongapo, the “service town” outside the Subic Bay Naval Base, that I was passing to get out of the tropical sun. Looking back, I divide my life in two parts: Before Tonkin Gulf, and After Tonkin Gulf. Extract from The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club (courtesy of author and Osprey Books)Īs for many of my generation, the war in Vietnam and my participation in it changed my life completely.
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