(A Work in Progress)
Early April 1973
I begin my story here at a crossroads in time when I went from being a country bumpkin from Arkansas drifting through my obligatory military service to becoming a career sailor. Perhaps not so coincidentally I was living in an apartment behind the bar district know as “The Crossroads”. In April 1973, after “peace with honor” had been declared and I had served off North Vietnam for 18 straight months with very few breaks, I was back at Naval Communication Station, Philippines (NCSP), San Miguel, Philippines on a long break from the back-to-back deployments. NCSP served as the parent command from which Communications Technicians (CT’s) were sent to augment ships heading to the coast of Vietnam in what was called “Direct Support” operations. These CT’s were area “experts” in providing signals intelligence to the Navy task groups operating in NCSP San Miguel’s Area of Responsibility (AOR). San Miguel’s AOR covered the South China Sea, Malacca Straits and the Indian Ocean. Vietnam had been it’s main focus since the early 1960’s.
At first this down time was a welcomed respite. From October 1971 until April 1973 I had server aboard US Aircraft Carriers as part of the “Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club” on Yankee Station providing cryptologic support to air operations off the coast of North Vietnam that included countering the North Vietnamese “Easter Offensive” that began in March 1972. During that time I had spent only about 14 days back at San Miguel, the rest of the time was spent working 12 hour watches, 7 days a week with the exception of an occasional 4 day liberty call (one day for each watch section on the ship) at one of the nearest WestPac liberty ports* which followed 60 days or so of operations.
This was the first time I had come back “home” without another set of TAD** orders already typed up and waiting. By April 1973 US combat troops were out of Vietnam; the last American POW was home and the Vietnam war was over for America1. It didn’t end and it wouldn’t end for another two years but this was a turning point, a true crossroads for America and for me.
You would think I would have enjoyed the break after such a grueling schedule but before long I was missing the action that combat operations provided. I requested flight duty; the guys in flight billets flew out of Cubi Point Naval Air Station, Philippines and were back home every night for beer and parties. I was told I would have to wait until a billet opened up. Now with little mission left for us at San Miguel, I and many of my shipmates found ourselves spending a lot of time running the bars in The Crossroads just outside NCSP with plenty of free time on our hands. During this period I had the good fortune to meet Teresa Macale Daganta and we almost immediately setup housekeeping. Tess had an ID card that said she was 23 years old (fake documents in the Philippines were easy to get), I figured she was probably around 18 or 19. She turned out to have just turned 16. She was beautiful, intelligent and and had the sweetest accent unlike any other Filipino I had ever heard. She became the center of my universe and was central to my decisions on about nearly everything I did from then on.
* Usually Subic Bay, Philippines or Singapore but I did have one liberty in Hong Kong and one in Yokusuka, Japan.
** Navy for “Temporary Additional Duty” known as TDY (Temporary Duty) in the other services. The Navy’s distinction meant you weren’t exempt from any of your normal duties while away. Yeah, that is pretty much impossible but it was the Navy way.