Home   Contact  AFVN   Past Contacts   AFVN Roster   POWS: The Honored   Taps: Those Departed   AFVN Organization   AFVN Reunions

AFVN History         AFVN Photos & Stories           AFVN Group Conversations         Audio Archives          Video Archives       AFVN Guest Book

​ Project Jenny        KLIK - 1st Inf Di v       Women in Vietnam        RELATED--  To AFVN    To Saigon   To Vietnam       Further Afield      Index

         First of all, I was in-country and at AFVN for two full years.  That got me a six-month reduction in Army-time.  During the hotel years, I lived at the Ky Son.  With regard to your reference to the Plaza rooftop, are you referring to walking the ledge?  That was one of my specialties after an evening of imbibing.  As I recall the ledge was a little less than a foot wide.  But it was the thrill and potential for disaster that made walking the ledge a challenge.  It's amazing how much sense it made at the time.

         With regard to John Rehrauer, [SFC, USMC (1968-1969)], I saw him probably in 1975 at a conference in St. Louis.  At that time he was working TV news in the upper peninsula of Michigan (Marquette, I think) and was using the name John Williams. Haven't heard of him since.

         Since Sgt. Banks' [Raymond, MSGT, USA, (1969-1970)] name has surfaced quite a bit of late, I have my own story to relate. For whatever reason, we didn't hit it off.  But by the time he arrived, I was in Sports, [so] it didn't make much difference.  But in the winter of '73-74, I was on my second year-long hitchhiking trek around Europe and northern Africa and met up with Banks in Garmisch, Germany.  Garmisch used to be a haven for R&R for our troops and I worked as a bar helper and bellhop at one of the largest of the hotels that attracted GI's (the Green Arrow, for those who have been there).  So, I'm carrying bags one afternoon and in walks Banks.  I had hair down to my shoulders, but otherwise I thought I looked presentable.  He thought differently and proceeded to give a military line on the purpose of life in general.  Needless to say, the chance meeting did not strengthen our ties.  I left him standing in the lobby with his bags at his side.  Tip money just didn't seem worth the effort.

         That was a great six months at that hotel by the way.  Our manager had been a tank commander in North Africa under Rommel.  On slow nights, we'd sit around drinking good beer and we'd exchange war stories.  He'd talk about dodging shells and I'd talk about walking ledges or making hamburger runs through Saigon at 2:00 a.m.  Of course, the Garmisch area had been one of the early Nazi strongholds for the Hitler years...and most of the older people had been staunch members of the Hitler youth corps.  Most were reluctant to talk until they got to know you.  But again, once the beer started flowing (which was every night), the recollections became a little easier to relate.

-- 4-1--

Larry Green, SP5, USA (1968-1970)