I knew that Craig Mulford had been killed in Viet Nam. Were there any other persons lost in that infinitely stupid war?

Gregg Wilson

Ross Hillman. I still have his obit in my yearbook. Also I was told by a  third pary that Mike McCarthy got it there also.

Hi Connie,

Sorry to learn that. I guess I was in the lucky 5 percent and made it through in one piece.

Gregg

Greg, it is so wonderful to hear from you. I remember you well. I am very glad you made it back home for Nam. Never did understand that war. But I was always there to give a helping hand to troops and their families. It was the best I could do.  Thanks for getting in touch. If you should ever want to talk, you know where I am.  Take care now.

Hi Connie,

I spent only two months in Viet Nam - on a debarkation crew, loading and unloading ships, etc - and was never in combat. Got malaria and was shipped home. So, no horror stories. Trained as a forward observer, I came a lot closer to getting whacked by our own artillery - stateside!

 Don't have any mental problems about the experience. It does make me angry that Ross Hillman was taken into the military and put in combat. He obviously had a vision problem. This is not an ethical judgement on him. Simply a medical observation. He should have been classified 4F in 30 seconds flat.

Gregg

Hi Back Atcha, Gregg,  I went to Sylvester with Ross-9th grade-we had art class together.  He didn't look like the kinda guy who could draw from his heart and let it flow through his hands by what he put on paper.  But his work was awesome. He was always very quiet. He didn't have a chance. I sat right next to him! He didn't finish that class so I lost track of him, til I saw his obit years later.

Sorry to hear about the malaria. That stays with you forever, does it not? Two months was enough. And, yes, stateside was dangerous. I have always wondered why Jane Fonda was never tried for treason.

As I recall, only rich kids didn't get drafted to Nam. Everybody else was fair game.

Remember. The Class of '64 does not quit. Connie

PS-I apologize for spelling your name incorrectly.  Librarians are notorious spellers.

Hi Connie,

I never had a recurrence of malaria so apparently the GIANT ORANGE HORSEPILLS worked. I don't know about rich kids not being drafted, About one third of us were draftees, including myself. They loved to grab kids at age 17 who were extremely naive. I could pick out the ones who would not make it. A good number were already charged with a felony and were given the choice of prison or the Marine Corps.   In the Viet Nam war, the military drew people from the bottom of the barrel. A far cry from the Marine Corps of World War One, when only the best of the best went "over there".

Gregg

Hey Gregg, I agree. It was my experience that none of the young men whom i just listened to or wrote letters for or made phone calls for were from privileged circumstances. i was and am not qualifired to diagnose etc. i was and am strictly a volunteer. Doing the work nobody else wants or has time to do.

The pills sound disgusting. Do you have any residual affects from the malaria?

You know, we do not have to keep this conversation going. You can always tell me no! Cease and desist!

Well, the band has a gig tonight and tomorrow night and there is quite a bit of moola involved so I can hardly say no! So gotta get out the Strat and run thru some songs. We only play old time rock n roll. I am the only female. Most everybody is my age, although we have a few old Memphis  blues players who keep us straight so we all don't meander off in all directions. Can't say we have a whole lot of discipline as we do it to have a really good time. The dinero is just a bonus.

Connie

Hi Connie,

I agree we have probably beat the subject to death. However, I want to recognise and thank you for helping young troopers coming back, probably with life long injuries and messed up minds. I did not need that, but a great many of them did need help. You are literally one in a thousand. I know.

Can be contacted at wilbot@nuclearpyramid.com

Gregg

My parents were friends of the McCarthys. This is pretty old info, but the story I heard was Mike McCarthy, a Navy pilot,  made a hard carrier landing and the aircraft went over the side.  Mike didn't eject. Aircraft and pilot lost. Don't know if it was in Nam? Think it was a training exercise....

Looking for info on Mike on the web. Will post if I find some.  RIP Mike!

I too heard Mike got it early on, but not how. If we could find Sherry Waters I think we could find out. They lived two doors down from each other on Three Tree Point. Don't even know if those houses still exist anymore. I loved them.

Back to Mike, though, I remember him as hilariously funny, yet he never played the fool. It was fun being around him.

If the way you say he went is true, it makes my heart hurt all over again. In 1964 all of us were just babies. What did we know?

Connie Purdy Gilbert, Class of '64-we took it on the chin and just kept getting up again.