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oldman

oldman

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PA
New guy here just wanted to say "hello." I am 67 and live in PA. I graduated from Kent State University with a degree in M.E. I am also a combat veteran of the Vietnam War as a Marine and damned proud of it. I really do not like to talk about the war. Just too many bad memories. I was with the 1st Marines out of Camp Lejeune and was with the Force Recon unit along with a bunch of other units from Pendleton. Enough said about that. I like to travel and fish. I have been married for over 40 years. We have 2 children and 5 grandchildren.

Maybe we'll talk to each other on the boards as I peruse the index. Thanks for having me.
 

Hi there, Oldman, which you aren't.
You're still a bit of a lad as far as I'm concerned.

Did you ever spend any R'n'R in Sydney?
 

I have never been to Australia. The closest I ever got was when I spent time in Singapore on business and while I was there, I met a lot of very nice Australians. Some told me that going to Singapore was the same as when us Americans would go to Hawaii.
 
oldman said:
I have never been to Australia. The closest I ever got was when I spent time in Singapore on business and while I was there, I met a lot of very nice Australians. Some told me that going to Singapore was the same as when us Americans would go to Hawaii.
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Nah, they all head for Bali these days. I've been to Singapore and it was always more British than Australian. Trips between London and Sydney were often broken in Singapore or Hong Kong, mostly for shopping. On the east coast we tend to holiday in New Zealand first, then Fiji. At least we did before Bali became the place to go.

Later this year Hubby and I will be taking a SE Asia cruise and we will revisit Singapore where my uncle is buried in Krangi war cemetery and our cruise will also include Vietnam and Cambodia and several other ports in Brunei, Thailand, Malaysia. In Vietnam we will visit Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City.
 
Welcome oldman .. from someone from the old neighborhood.. lived in Kent, Cuyahoga Falls area years ago. (probably same time as you)..
Enjoy the forum, and thank you for your service.
 
OK, first, I want to thank everyone for the welcome. To reply to the Aussie re: Singapore, when I was there in 1990 & 1991, I was there on business when I worked. I was also in Hong Kong and Taipei and then we were to Korea, (Incheon), for a few days. I really liked hanging around the Aussies. They were all great story tellers. We would sit in the hotel bar and talk for hours. Back then, I still remember we drank "Tiger" beer or Singapore Slings at he Hilton. Alcohol was very expensive in Singapore. I was grateful I had a nice expense account. Oh yeah, we also shopped on Orchard Road. We rode in the cleanest, brightest subway that I was ever in. The lights and colors were just beautiful in downtown Singapore. We also visited "Old Singapore" and I got a haircut from a barber that had his chair outside in the street and just used a razor and a scissors. 1990, I believe was the year of the horse.

Next item......When I went to Kent State, I lived in a small suburb of Akron called Ellet. Do you know of this place? We used to go to Mogadore or Triplett, I believe and eat at Bob's Big Boy. It was cheap and filling. I didn't have too much money back in those days.

I used to think about going back for a visit to Vietnam. A psychologist from the VA once told me that if I went back, I may be able to rid myself of some of the psychological issues I was having, but I just couldn't bring myself to go back. I thought that I would relive some of the horror that I went through. Our platoon spent most of our 14 months in the Mekong Delta. we were a recon unit that was "NOT" supposed to engage the enemy. Yeah, that worked out real well for us. Other than the Delta, we would patrol the air base at Da Nang. Another horrible place to be stationed, which we weren't, but we would patrol it for snipers. Another great job that I would not recommend as a career move. I still give thanks to the Lord for our Marines and Navy pilots who would save our butts when we would get pinned down and had to call in for a bombing strike, so we could fall back or get out of the situation we were in. We would only have minutes to dig in or fall back for the jets would be on top of us dropping their load. You gotta' get your head down, so if we couldn't pull back, we would have to dig a hole and get our heads down and go as deep as possible before you'd hear the jets. Once you heard the jets, it was too late to do anymore digging. God, I would be so scared. This is why I can't talk about it much. The things that I would see that would happen during the fire fights was unbelievable.

Sorry for the long rant.

Thanks again for the WELCOMES!!
 
Great to have a fellow Keystoner on the board. I live in Southeast PA.
 
Don't feel the need to apologise for having a rant, Oldman. That's what the internet is for. You can dump on stranger what you can't on friends and relatives.

I had a haircut in Singapore too. After over four months away from home I really needed one. The cutter was fascinated by my hair which is very fine and was fair in those days. He wanted to talk about Australia and finally divulged that he had a sister who was killed in a car accident while on a holiday in Queensland. Somehow my being Australian allowed him to talk about it.

It's almost the witching hour over here so I must away to bed. Ni-night all.
 
oldman said:
Next item......When I went to Kent State, I lived in a small suburb of Akron called Ellet. Do you know of this place? We used to go to Mogadore or Triplett, I believe and eat at Bob's Big Boy. It was cheap and filling. I didn't have too much money back in those days.
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Yes, I know of Ellet, and Mogadore. .. .closest we were was a home just off the Tallmadge Circle back in 1965.
My husband graduated from Kent State at the time of the shootings. It's been so long now, my memory of details is getting blurry ..(and my husband died last year)..
Bob's Big Boy ... they sure were all over the place.:) ..
 
thanks for joining us OM, and heart-felt thanks to you for serving our country. I hope you will enjoy the boards, lots of topics to choose from, and some pretty, decent folks, well, a few warped ones like myself, but I do try to behave;) Denise
 
Yeah, that's right, Tallmadge Circle. That is where Bob's was, I believe. They had the best Chili at that time. I remember that Circle all too well. Wasn't that on Route 91 or SOM Center Road? I had relatives in Chardon and Mentor and I would go that way when I visited or just to go in that area to eat. I also have relatives in Streetsboro. The shootings at Kent State were in 1970, I believe I have that right. I graduated high school in 1965 and went right into college. I graduated from Kent in 1969 and signed up for the Marines before I got drafted. I was promised a job in either Okinawa or Hawaii.

When I graduated basic at Parris Island, or what we called the Island, they changed my orders. I was sent to Camp Lejeune for advanced weaponry training and I was told that I would be assigned to a combat unit. After I got to 'Nam, I was moved into a Recon unit with some guys from Camp Pendleton, CA. We were called Force recon. There were two types of Recon; one was to search, engage and destroy the enemy and were actually Special Forces. Then there was the other unit of Recon, which we were to seek out the enemy and report our findings to whatever Colonel or other officer was asking for a surveillance on a certain grid on our maps. We were NOT to engage the enemy, but that did not always happen. Sometimes the enemy (Charlie or NVC) would find us before we found them and then all hell would break loose. If we got into more than we could handle, we would call for an air strike from a carrier that was sitting in the South China Sea.

My favorite carrier was the Enterprise until it left us to return to the U.S. for refitting. The F-14's and the F/A 18's were the best jets. I better stop. I get started and I can't shut up. I don't mind talking up the Navy and Marines, I just can't talk about the specifics that we were engaged in. Just too many bad thoughts. I am sorry to hear that your husband passed. Was he a local man from that area? Did he work for a rubber company? I really liked Ellet and wanted to settle there, but when I got married, I married a local gal from here in PA and she did not want to leave home. I had made so many friends that worked in the rubber factories back then and I thought someday, I would end up there. I went back about 5 years ago for a wedding at Akron U. My Niece had her reception there. I could not believe how much Akron had change. It was like a completely different city. Main Street looked nothing like I remembered it. I had friends in Manchester, also and I went to pay them a visit and got lost because everything just made no sense to me. It was all different. Akron is now a very nice city, actually. Again sorry for the long rant.
 
Pittsburgh? Great! I am a Steelers fan. Ever since 1974. Pittsburgh is almost like living in Ohio, very cold and a lot of snow in the winter. Pittsburgh is another city that has come a long way. It used to be a big dirty city when the steel mills were in operation. Today it is more commercial and the Riverwalk is just beautiful. When we go to the Steeler's games, we go up to Grille 36 for dinner on Saturday night.
 
Yes, your welcome. So far, I have just read a lot of 'stuff' and I like what I see. I like traveling and taking pictures and I see there are many more that also like these things. I have already learned some things from reading in the photography section.
 
Your welcome. Just a quick word about this. A lot of people thank us Vietnam veterans today, but back in the day, it was not too good of an idea to wear your uniform when you were home on leave. I hold no grudges for how I was treated back then. It was not a popular war and I do not want to start a political debate about it. It's over and we have moved on. When I visit the Wall in D.C., I wear my jacket or cap. It is a very solemn place and many times I have been approached by either women who had their husband or boyfriend KIA, or maybe a younger adult that lost a Dad and they will ask me if I was in their unit or whatever. They also want to learn some of the history. I appreciate the fact that only a few will ask about personal experiences. I enjoy talking to all of the people so much. It is like therapy for me. I really like talking up the Marines and Navy. The Army took the biggest hit because they were mostly all infantry, calvary and etc. Most all were combat soldiers. I always thank them for their service. Even today at the airports when I travel, I will thank the men and women in uniform and if I have the opportunity, I will buy them lunch.
 
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