…but am I younger than that now? This is a photo taken of me in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam in early June of 1968. I believe that I had just turned 21. The photo was taken between assasinations: MLK and RFK…Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. I was one of maybe two people who were drafted into the Navy during the Vietnam era…did I make that up? I had absolutely no political consciousness at that time in early 1967 but I knew that I did not want to die or kill another. By the time I got to Vietnam (just a 3 week stay), my soul had been psychedelicized and I was "On the Road" as they used to say back then. My sister Joanie, sent me this photo yesterday…I was absolutely blown away when I saw this. We are all so fortunate to be blessed with this life and all of it's adventures. This photo chronicles one of my adventures…far long ago a boy went to Vietnam and he got to come home…many were not that lucky….I count my blessings!
oh…
the look on your face,
the airmail letter in your pocket…
you’re a long way from home here
I was so young then and so wished to be hip and not in Vietnam…I colored my moustache with shoe polish because the lil’ hairs above my lips were blonde….
I so understand the desire to be hip. I wasn’t quite old enough to want to be hip in 1968 (only being 11), but by 1970 I was so desperate to be hip that I might have considered a deal with the devil.
Fortunately he never came by to offer it to me, and here I am…
yes, the airmail letter. I wonder who it was from. Joanie?? or were you sending it? The forearms and nose are you, still. and the stance, the elbows back a bit….
And that was probably a letter to your MOM, in your front pocket…..Awesome pic….