Vietnam War

VIETNAM REFLECTIONS 1971-1972

 

 

Arrival in Nam...a beautiful country, I thought, gazing from the white sands  and bright blue waters of Cam Ranh, my port of entry, toward the rugged green mountains in the distance...and I still thought so, winging southward in the lumbering C-130 toward Saigon until I noticed----

            “What are all those round muddy little ponds, all so close together and perfectly symmetrical?”, I wondered.

 

And then , as it went on that way for miles, I

SOME THOUGHTS FROM VIETNAM….JOHN LALLIS ‘69

FIRST LIEUTENANT U.S.

During the summer of 1974, I received a call from a Navy captain on behalf of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO, Zumwalt) to determine if there was a way that I might be convinced to remain on active duty in light of my resignation. The Navy at the time had a shortfall of junior officers aspiring to command.

 

I was 5 years into a very rewarding surface line officer experience.

In the Fall of 2023, classmates Bill Stableford and Arthur Fergenson arranged an online Casual Conversation with several '69s who served in Viet Nam.  Bill described his intent as follows: