Chapter 43

R&R

On May 9, I was offered the chance to go on R&R to Tokyo. I dropped everything and caught the next convoy back to Dong Ha. When I got back to the rear area, I checked into the H&S Company office and received my traveling orders.

According to the orders, I had to wear a Summer Service uniform (khakis). This presented me with a problem. Having left my seabag with all my uniforms other than my utilities on Okinawa, I had no Summer Service uniform to wear. I proceeded over to our Battalion Aid Station and informed Lima Company’s Senior Corpsman HM2 Jacques “JJ” J. Ayd of my predicament. JJ offered his uniform, which I gladly accepted. JJ and I were almost the same size, and his uniform fit me perfectly. No one questioned the discrepancy between the rank on my orders and the rank on the sleeve. I then reported to the airstrip for the flight back to Da Nang, where I again reported into the Marine transient center. After a short wait, we got into a cattle car and traveled across the airstrip where we loaded aboard a Pan Am Boeing 707 for the flight to Japan.

After a five-hour flight, our plane arrived at Kadena Marine Corps air station after dark, and I proceeded to the R&R center. I presented my orders at the new arrivals window. The clerk took them and issued me a liberty card allowing me off the base. They then directed me to a room full of civilian clothes on racks to select attire to wear off base. After finding clothing and shoes to my liking, I checked my uniform into the laundry, to be retrieved on my return. Then there was a briefing on the rules and regulations while on R&R in Japan. We were also given a time to be back at the R&R center. We were informed that if we did not meet this deadline, we would be considered AWOL and receive disciplinary action. The response was, “What are they going to do, send me to Nam?” After all the formalities, I left the R&R center and caught a cab to the train station where I boarded a train to Tokyo. I then took another train to the Tokyo suburb that was my destination.

Since my arrival in Vietnam, I had been corresponding with Mariko Kobayashi whom I had met in September just before I left Japan. Arriving back home several weeks later on my way to Camp Pendleton, there was a letter waiting for me from Mariko. After arriving in Vietnam, I wrote her a letter. I told her that when I got home, I was drafted into the navy and was now in Vietnam attached to the Marines as a corpsman. I told her that if I got a chance to go to Tokyo for R&R, I would look her up, and we started corresponding regularly. Unfortunately when I was offered the opportunity to go, I didn’t have sufficient time to notify her that I was on my way. All I had were her address and phone number.