My Fourth Encounter!
A couple of weeks had passed and Fred’s chopper had been down for a week
as they performed his one hundred hour maintenance. At seven thirty,
we were all down at the flight line preparing to take off for the day.
The Pilots started Fred’s chopper to test the engines. His revetment
was one row over and one behind mine. I was looking at him as he stood
fifteen feet behind it giving instructions to the pilots over the headset
that attached from the chopper to his helmet by a Microphone cord with a
talk button. As they revved the engines up to full speed, the chopper
raises up off the ground. I knew something was wrong. We always
taxied out of the revetment to the runway. The chopper was pitching
left and right as the pilot was trying to regain control. Fred disconnected
his microphone cord and ran to cover behind the revetment that was directly
behind me. By now, it was turning circles and pitching back and forth.
Suddenly it leaned over to the right and crashed into the blacktop.
Pieces of Blades were flying in every direction as they rotated smashing
into the hard surface. Everything came to a stop as it lay on its side.
The pilots must have been stunned for a few seconds because I didn’t see
them moving. They finally began struggling to loose themselves from
the seat belts that restrained them.
I noticed the struggle and ran to them to help them escape before a fire
started from the leaking fuel. There was jet fuel gushing from the
right tank as I opened the Plexiglas door to help them to get out.
As soon as I released the belt from the co-pilots waist, his weight caused
him to fall toward me. I caught him before he fell to the ground and
lowered him down until his feet were touching. He caught his balance
and ran from the crash. Lieutenant Roberts managed to release his belt
and climbed down through the door I had opened. After reaching the
ground, we ran together from the crashed chopper.
No one had been hurt in the crash, which was a miracle. It was determined
later that there was defected avionics equipment installed that controlled
the gyros to make it fly level. I went back to my chopper to finish
my preflight so we could take off. All day I had been thinking what
might have happened to us if it had exploded. It was the talk of the
company for a week while it lay there until the CO called a crane in to pick
it up and carry it to the ocean to be dumped.
I was on the flight line one morning performing maintenance as the line chief;
Smitty approached me and said I was to report to the CO’s office.
“What does he want?”
“I don’t know, I was told to see that you reported to him.”
“Hell, I haven’t done anything wrong that I know of,” I commented.
“You better get there right now!” he said pointing toward the company area.
“I’m going!” I said, as I rubbed hand cleaner into my hands.
I was at his office knocking on the door in five minutes.
“Come in Lamour!” he said knowing whom it was.
“Specialist Lamour reporting as ordered sir!” I said, saluting him.
“Do you know why you’re here Lamour?”
“No Sir,” I said, wondering.
“Last week you did another brave thing by getting the pilots out of the crash.
Next Tuesday you’re going to long-Bin again to receive the Silver Star and
another promotion. You seem to be very lucky being in the right places
at the right times.
“Maybe I’m just stupid sir! I said, as he laughed.
“I don’t think so. If I didn’t know any better I would say you were trying to get killed.”
“I just react as it comes sir.”
“Well I want you to know it is an honor to serve with you. I know when
you get back to the states your family will be proud of you.”
“Thank you sir!”
The following week I was awarded the Silver Star and promoted to Staff Sergeant
for Valor and life saving. I was beginning to think about home now.
Nevertheless, I thought what was the use. Dad wasn’t there anymore.
I tried not thinking of him because it made me misty-eyed.
We had gotten a new Company Commander. Major Davis completed his tour
and rotated back to the states. I would miss him. Our new CO
was more spit and polish than Major Davis was. Major Donnelly was a
West Point graduate. Everything was by the book with him.
Lin Chi!
With three months remaining, I felt my life was coasting. Everything
was routine during this time except we got a new Hooch-maid, Lin Chi (pronounced
Lin Ki with a long i). She was very cute and didn’t look over sixteen.
Her long silky black hair reached to her thighs. Several of the men
and I guessed at her age and one of them said she had told him she was nineteen
but we knew better.
While down for maintenance I would make several trips a day to the hooch
and try to catch her there to get something going with her. She spoke
a little English but not well. I began by acting as though I wanted
to learn some of her language because she was interested in learning English.
I would sometimes spend too much time away from the flight line with her.
My crew got to where they knew where I was at and would tease me about it.
She had seen several American movies and asked me questions about them.
One of the things that she questioned was that there was so much love, sex
and violence emphasized. It was hard for me to understand why she didn’t
understand it. Her culture didn’t allow the openness of all that.
I would tease her that all Americans were like that and most of them thought
of nothing else.
She made the mistake of hinting she would like to go to the states.
I noticed it right away and would use it as a flirting tool. I would
ask her about her family, where she lived and what other places she worked.
After a couple of weeks getting to understand her, I got her to tell me her
real age of almost seventeen. Two of the other men in the hooch said
they had offered her money for sex but she refused so I new not to try that
approach.
I knew that by the way she talked of her family that they didn’t have anything
of value. She had two older brothers that were in the South Vietnamese
Army and her mother and father living at home. Her parents were very
old, as I understood. Her dad farmed a small piece of property.
Almost every time I saw her, I would give her money, cigarettes for her father,
or if I could get a hold of can food or c-rations I would give it to her.
Three weeks after earning her trust, I decided to make a move. I teased
her that I would love to take her back to the states with me. I wasn’t
sure at this time if she even knew what love was all about except what she
had seen in a movie. Nevertheless, I tried explaining to her that I
had feelings of love for her. I didn’t know if she had ever made out
with a GI, American or Vietnamese. I kissed her a couple of times and
she seemed not to be interested at first. I then tried a more passionate
approach by kissing her around her face, neck and ears. She said she
liked that much more and said she could see why Americans do it all the time.
I had made good progress this day but I had to get to work so there was no
time to make further advances.
I began leaving her money or food in the bottom of my footlocker, which I
kept unlocked for her to pick up each day that I couldn’t see her.
I had a couple men helping me out by getting me things like toilet paper
cigarettes or anything her family could use. They said that I was wasting
my time and money on her that I would never get anywhere with her.
However, they had fun watching me make a fool of myself. I would just
laugh with them knowing I was almost there.
I was down for one day doing twenty-five hour maintenance check when I decided
to make a move that morning. After eating breakfast, I told my crew
to go and work off the items I had put on the list. I would be down
later to help them. Lin didn’t get to work until eight so I had to
wait awhile for her to get there. I was alone in the hooch so I cleaned
out my locker and footlocker and made my bunk. She arrived as I finished.
She was surprised to see me that early in the morning and I greeted her with
a kiss. I explained that I wasn’t flying today but had to go to work
soon.
She immediately began work as I watched her. Some men paid her extra
to make their bunks so she began by doing those. I also paid her extra
to make mine. Twenty minutes or so had passed as I sat on my bunk acting
as though I was reading a letter when she was making the bunk across from
me.
“Lin, come here!” I said, patting on my bunk for her to sit down next
to me. She stopped what she was doing, came over and sat next to me.
I put my arm around her shoulder and kissed her. She seemed as nervous
as I was but I continued kissing her and placed my hand on her breast.
She grunted as to say no but never pulled away from me. I pulled back
and looked into her eyes. “I want to marry you and take you back to
the states with me,” I said, as she had a big smile on her face and threw
her arms around me.
“Yes, I want to marry you!” She said squeezing me. I sensed she
said that more for going to the states than having feelings for me.
She almost wouldn’t let go of me until I pushed her back enough that she
began kissing me all over my face saying she loved me several times.
I laid her back on the bed and began kissing her while rubbing my hand over
her body. She was wearing what we called black pajamas.
I began undoing her top until I had it open. She wasn’t wearing a bra
so I began sucking her breast and kissing around them. I slid my hand
under the elastic that held her pants up. The elastic was very loose
and I had no problem putting my hand under her panties. She slightly
spread her legs allowing me to penetrate her with my finger. I noticed
she looked toward the screen door a couple of time so I knew she was nervous
that someone might walk in on us.
I pulled on her arm lifting her off the bed and I took the blanket from the
bunk and threw it over my mosquito net allowing us privacy. We got
back in the bed under the net and blanket and I removed her pants and panties
and removed mine all the while trying to kiss her. The blanket wasn’t
covering the ends of the bunk so there was plenty of light that I could see.
Her breasts were small but perfectly beautiful. As I looked at the
curves of her body, there was an instant comparison in my mind to American
women. With a little more experience in oriental women, I had derived
that their bodies especially the shape of their legs were superior to American
women. Her long black hair flowed down on the sheet in contrast to
the white. I positioned myself on top of her and continued kissing
her. Moving my lips to her neck and sucking on it until I had put a
hickey on her. Her legs were apart so I immediately put myself into
her and began moving in and out. I almost felt she was a virgin because
she was so tight. However, I could never be sure of that and didn’t
really care. Another thing was that she laid still and showed almost
no emotion except when I pushed hard she would grunt. All of the whores
which I had been with, which were maybe two dozen up until this time would
always put on a show to make you think you were doing them a favor, that
they were getting off. I knew better but it still turned me on.
I began moaning because it made it feel better while doing it. I rose
up enough to see myself doing it, which made me more excited. I slowed
down to make it last longer. I stopped at one point when I felt I was
coming too lean down and kiss her. She put her arms around my neck
and held our mouths together as I French kissed her. She began French
kissing me as though it was the greatest thing in the world. She got
a little carried away with it that led me to believe she had never French
kissed before. That was all right because it made things more exciting.
I began pushing harder until I came.
I lay on top of her for a minute relaxing my body but not putting all of
my weight down. We kissed a little more and as I tried to rise, she
held onto me not letting me go. I slid to one side of her as she continued
to hold on. I noticed tears streaming down her face. I thought
for a moment that I might have hurt her.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she answered as her voice trembled.
“Are you sure?” I asked realizing why she was holding me so tight.
“Why are you holding me like this?”
“I don’t know!” She answered with fear in her voice.
I could feel she may be thinking that I might not have anything to do with
her after this. I put my arms around her neck and hugged her.
I knew the routine and I was well versed. “I love you,” I said, to
reassure her that I wouldn’t do her that way. I leaned over and kissed
her until she loosened her grasp of me. We lay there a few minutes
until I rose up to sit on the side of the bunk. I looked back at her
body and she was beautiful lying there in the nude. She reached for
the sheet to cover up but I held her hand preventing her. I continued
looking over her body placing my hand on her feeling of her. I continued
sliding my hands over her breast and then the curves of her sides.
“I need to get to the flight-line. I’ll be back at lunch to see you,
okay,” I said, looking at my watch. It was nine fifteen.
“Okay, I will see you come back,” she said in broken English.
I stood up to pull my pants up and noticed blood. I looked back at
her thinking she may have been on her period. I knew she wasn’t because
I felt her. I sat back on the edge of my bunk looking at her.
“Have you ever done this before?” I asked. She shook her head
indicating she had not. I felt good thinking I had busted her cherry.
I got dressed, kissed her again and went to the flight line.
While walking I was thinking, I wasn’t one hundred percent certain she was
a virgin, which was enough to keep me suspicious. As I arrived, the
men were teasing me about taking so long. I smiled at them and asked.
“Do you guys have everything done on the list?”
“We’re working on it. The line-chief said to tell you to go over to
041, they needed help with an actuator problem.” Raines said.
“Son of a Bitch! I showed him the last time he changed those engines
how to adjust them. The mother fucker is taking up my time now,” I
said, because I might not get back to the hooch at lunch.
“Jay! Did you finally get some this morning?” Raines asked.
“Yes but I had to tell her I would marry her and take her to the states,” I said, smiling.
“Damn you lucky shit. I’m going to tell Hill about it. He’s been
trying to get some of that since she’s been here!” he said laughing.
“Tell him I said, he has to much class for her. She was just waiting
on a down home motherfucker like me,” I said, because Hill was a college
graduate and thought he was better than most. They laughed knowing
what I meant by that. I walked over to Tucker’s chopper.
As I walked up, he was inside looking over his maintenance list.
“Damn Tucker! I thought we went over this last time!
“I know but I can’t get the linkage right. The RPM’s run too high.”
“Come on, let’s get it done. I need to be at the company at lunch.”
“Why! What’s going on there?”
“I have someone waiting to see me and it will be a week before I can see them again.”
“Lin?”
“Yep!”
“I thought you would have given up on her by now.”
“I fucked her a little while ago.”
“No shit, you’re lying!”
“I don’t lie about shit like that. I think I busted her cherry!
I have blood on me to prove it,” I said, with a serious look.
“Are you serious? She’s a cute little bitch! Damn, I didn’t think
anyone was going to get any of that,” he said being envious.
“It took a damn month to do it,” I said, frowning.
“What did you have to do, tell her you was going to marry her?”
“How did you know that?” I asked, smiling.
“No shit! Did you really?”
“Yeah, but I would like to think it was my charm that did it,” I said, laughing.
“That fucking Hill has been saying that he was going to get some of that!” he remarked.
“I know. He’s an ass-hole. He couldn’t get pussy with a hundred-dollar
bill at the Thai Whorehouse! I said, as we laughed. “I’m not
going to share her with anyone either. She’s off limits and I ain’t
bullshitting. She was hanging all over me. I know she’s not going
to put out for anyone else.”
“Your not serious about her are you.”
“I sure am. I’m going to marry her even up to the day I leave,” I said, and laughed. He burst out laughing with me.
We spent almost three hours installing and adjusting the actuators before
we finished. He had one that was the wrong part, which took us time
to get the right one. It was almost one o’clock before I got to the
company area. I went by the hooch and asked Lin if she wanted something
to eat and to let her know why I was late. After I ate, I brought her
a plate to the hooch and sat with her while she ate.
“I talked to the Mess sergeant and he said if you will come to door of the
kitchen at lunch everyday he would fix you a plate,” I said, to her.
“Thank you,” she said as she continued to eat.
“You know, it's an American custom that you give someone you love a kiss
and hug when they do something for you,” I said, looking into her eyes.
“I don’t know that” she said putting her plate down and kissing me.”
“Your welcome!” I said, smiling. After she had finished, we waited
for the others to leave and made love. I told her it would be a week
before I saw her again because I would be flying late every night.
I would try to leave her something in my locker every morning before I took
off. Sometimes she would leave me a flower or a little ribbon to remind
me that she was thinking of me. It was her simple way of saying she
loved me.
The weeks passed and I had grown very fond of her. I had taught her
many of the American customs and she was speaking English more fluently.
She tried hard to learn as much as she could hoping I would take her home
with me. At this point in my life, I didn’t really care what she expected.
I had no plans for her once I left Nam, but I did care for her.
Several of us were sitting in the hooch one evening joking around and Hill remarked to me that she wasn’t anything but a whore.
“I tell you what Mother Fucker. I will not fight you over her, but
if you say another word to me before I leave this fucking place, I’m going
to kick your ass all over the flight line! Now say something else Mother
Fucker!” I said, to him as he walked away. “I came over here
a private and I’ll leave a private Mother Fucker!” I yelled at him.
“He’s jealous because you got the Medal!” Tucker stated.
“Fuck the Medal! He’s jealous because I’m getting pussy that he wanted,”
I replied. Everyone burst out laughing. “That son of a bitch
has been back stabbing everyone for months anyway. He needs an ass-whipping,”
I said, after thinking about it.
“Calm down Mother Fucker or you’ll have a cow!” Tucker said as we all
laughed. After a couple more beers, I had forgotten about him and we
ended up that night having a great time.
Time continued passing quickly as I flew each day. Lin, as much as
I knew was faithful to me the days I couldn’t be with her. She seemed
sweet but sometimes I thought I would rather she wasn’t. It would make
it easier when the end came.
Closing another chapter in my life!
I was down to my last week and Lin asks me about getting married. I
told her that I was talking to the CO and was waiting for him to okay it.
Two days later, she asked me again handing her papers to me. It showed
the province she was born in and her birth date. She wouldn’t be seventeen
for two months. I handed her papers back and said I would see the CO
again.
Someone, maybe Hill, said something to her because the following morning
she told me that she knew that I wasn’t planning to marry her.
“I can’t marry you, they won’t let me,” I said, making excuses.
“Were you ever going to marry me?”
“I was at first.”
“You don’t tell me that!” She replied as she began crying.
“I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“You hurt me now. I give you everything. I give you my love!
I’m going to have your baby!” She said crying and putting her hands
on her stomach.
“Bull shit! Don’t start that Bull shit!” I said, knowing she was making it up to trap me.
“It is truth! I’m not lie,” she said trying to persuade me.
“I’m not going to marry you whore! Get out of my life! I said,
walking away. I walked to the flight line to get away from her.
I stayed away until I knew she had gone home so I wouldn’t have to face her
anymore.
The next morning as I was doing a preflight, Stevens told me that my orders
were sitting on the CO’s desk. I immediately went to his office and
requested to see him. After entering his office, I asked for my orders.
“Lamour, I know of your record. The Medal of Honor is a valuable tool
to the Army. I would like to make you an offer. If you extend
for six months I will promote you today, to E-7 and at the end of thirty
days, I will give you a special promotion to E-8. How does that sound?”
he asked trying to entice me.
“No sir! I want to go home,” I said, firmly.
“If anyone ask, I tried, okay,” he stated. I nodded yes.
“You better hurry or you will miss your flight. My orders were to keep
you in if I could. You take care of yourself. It has been an
honor to serve with you. Good luck in all your endeavors son.”
“Thank you sir,” I replied.
I left his office thinking he was an ass-hole. I hurried to the
hooch and got as much of my things together as I could carry. I left
a note on Fred’s bunk to ship the rest of my things to me. Lin entered
the hooch as I was packing and walked over to me.
“Jay, I love you and I’m going to have baby,” she said reaching out and putting her arms around me.
“Well, you and junior have a nice life. I’m going home,” I said, walking
out. I finished packing all I could get. I got to the line just
in time to catch the last of the choppers cranking up. I got on and
we taxied to the runway and took off. I reached Ben Hoe Air base and
caught the next flight back to the states.
During the flight home, I had time to reflect back on the past year.
I had not thought about dying for a month or two. I couldn’t even
remember the last time I had thought about it. I will be glad to see
mom and the family. I knew I had changed over the past three years
and wondered what would be different or would anything be different at home.
I knew my heart was hardened. I wasn’t even the same person I was a
year ago.
I wondered what Sue is doing now. A year was too long for anyone to
wait. I should call and let her know that I did make it home.
She at the least deserves to know that. I have not thought much about
her since I came over here. Why not, why am I thinking of her now?
She’s probably married or engaged. She’s too beautiful not to have
someone. What is Christi doing now? Would I have a chance to
see her? Well, she’s married but I hope not happily. No, not
really, I hope she’s fine. Is it love that makes me think of her or
is it my pride not letting me accept the fact that she dumped me? I
feel sorry for Lin, but that was the only thing I could do.
Do I really want to go home to Memphis and live there for the rest
of my life? Maybe I will just visit the family for a week or two and
move somewhere else so I wouldn’t have to deal with all the thoughts that
go through my mind. I don’t know if I can handle dealing with this
much longer. I need to find someone or something to occupy my thoughts
other than the ones I’m thinking now. I had fallen asleep for a few
hours, which was good because I didn’t have to think about anything.