I'd been with the Platoon for about a week or so, I hadn't begun to receive my mail from home or any mail for that reason. I was assigned to Hotel Company 1st Platoon Alfa Squad, there were seven of us and it may not seem like it at first, but we were a tight knitted group. Before Hotel 1 Alfa, I'd been with MAG 13 down in Chu Lai for a month or so. When they realized their mistake in my orders they shipped me up to Hotel Company 2/1. I guess most of my mail was still going to them, but it was depressing watching other guys read their mail and share packages among their squads. That was a given up here, you get a package and it belongs to everyone in the squad. If you happen to be out somewhere or on a special assignment, they'll save some cookies and cake for you when you get back. I missed my Mom's letters, she wrote faithfully every day. My father use to say, your wife might leave you, or girlfriend, or friends in general, but your Mom will always be right there for you to her dyeing day, and I was beginning to see it was true. 

    You'd hear of stories in boot camp not to go home and marry your high school sweet heart, well some did, and when they received the divorce papers they were devastated. God of all places to hit a guy below the belt, they couldn't have chosen a worse spot to do it. Once in a while a guy would receive a Dear John letter, but what could you say to him, really nothing, except pray he got over it before he got killed or got someone else killed. I never had a steady girl friend before going into the Corps. What relationships I was in I wound down to a grinding halt, as the words of my Dad became more clear to me each day, "You will be leaving for the Marine Corps soon." I still had some girls I was close to, but they were friends, even though we went out on dates and all, to me they were still friends. I didn't need a Dear John letter from a long time girl friend or new bride. 

    I was sort a laying there, trying to figure what my Mom was doing back home. Jay and Solomon were wrestling around all over the area, it was common for them to do that. No one ever really won, but as big as Solomon was and Jay was big too, just not as muscular, it would end in a draw almost every time and they'd shake hands. Bowman my team leader must have been sleeping as if he'd seen me lying around doing nothing, he'd find something for me to do. This weather was unbearably hot, and the flies buzzing around you all hours of the day almost drove you insane. New guys always got the worst jobs until someone newer came in to relieve them. Problem we had was we had seven men, and that was all we'd get until we lost a couple, and the couple wasn't going to be me or Fred. 

    Jay was always showing us map reading, making us memorize radio frequencies for medivac's and fire missions.  Jay would fill us in with his map and compass when we'd stop for a break.  He was a good team leader. 

    Jay was about 6'3" tall and on the thin side, a bit lanky to me. Solomon was an easy 6'4" tall muscular, and looked mean enough to take on the entire platoon. Bowman was 6' 2" tall medium build and a bit wirery. Jim was 6' 2" tall from West Virginia and talked like tomorrow would never get here. He humped the radio and I was surprised anyone really understood what he was trying to say half the time. Jim was sick the day I met him and he finally got medivacked home I think, as we never saw him again. Benny Belt, at least 6'1" tall and a Southern boy if you ever heard one. Liked to use the same word Damn all the time to start off every sentence and finish too. Benny was a super guy in the bush and never seemed to get mad or let anything bother him either. Fred was 5'10" or 11" tall and I was a rip roaring 5'6" tall and after a good touch of dysentery, I weighed 119 lb. Fred seemed smaller then what he was as he got dysentery the same time I did and lost a lot of weight too. Being the smallest in the squad, we were sent to Mine Warfare and Booby-Trap School in Da Nang for two weeks. There we learned about booby-traps I never once encountered my whole tour. We also learned about explosives, and different charges to make to blow different type structures. The one thing we took advantage of was sleeping as we knew it would be a long time once we got back to Hotel Company before we'd ever get a nights rest. 

    That's the squad in the flesh. We all, believe it or not, watched out for each other like a hound dog on a fresh scent, personal feelings had nothing to do with war. Our leaders would come crawling out through a hail of bullets to help you get to cover as fast as they'd have you dig a latrine. Bowman would be like a little kid when one of us got a package, and he was quick to share his with us. My father was an Officer in the Marine Corps, my mother's parents very rich, but we still did household jobs around the house growing up even when we had maids. My father always said one day you'll be on your own so you have to learn to do your own wash, or iron your own cloths. Hell I never saw my sister pushing a lawn mower or shoveling snow either come to think of it. I was an official dish washer until I joined the Corps, and in the Corps I never had mess duty, I was always on the other side getting the chow not giving it out. 
     

    Follow along with me as I continue to write about my experiences with Hotel Company, 1st Platoon, 2nd Bn 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division Alfa Squad. Life wasn't all laying around, complaining about the heat or the rain. We hit some times when we thought none of us would come out alive and many didn't, but unless you stay tuned you'll never really know about it, thanks for following along. 
     

    Author: Bobby Hingston 
    The remarks written above reflect the times and circumstances to the best of the author's ability, they do not reflect the opinions, actions or mirror the beliefs of Hotel Marines 1968, or any reference to this web site.