Lou J. Klaiber

HANOI HANNAH?

Don’t remember her… or the Cronauer guy on Radio in Saigon. Don’t remember any transistor radios either.

Everybody carried a lot of weight, in weapons and ammo and basics like food and more ammo, and Ponchos, cigarettes, lighters… canteens of water… etc… Etc… And…like 40 or 50 pounds day to day – plus or minus a pound or so… Tim O’Brien covered most all of it in his book…”The Things They Carried’. Lots of things carried. Lots!

Sometimes I remember them carrying themselves, day to day; no matter the weight, just carrying themselves through the heat and weight of a war. Carrying hope, and sweat and tears; carrying the weight of one more day in Vietnam.

O’Brien writes of all the weight of weapons and ammo and gear, plus many other things… I agree with him.

Most of all, I remember that my guys carried me.

… day to day, and I never realized that I would never be able to thank them.

In my last hours, I will remember and carry them in my heart. That memory will carry me home.