May 15, 2025 • 33 mins
From Oklahoma oil fields to Vietnam and beyond, Billy Adams' life story captures the essence of service, resilience, and finding joy in life's journey.
Born in Drumright, Oklahoma in 1948, Billy grew up in Louisiana as the oldest boy among seven siblings. His early years were shaped by baseball, helping his father in the oil fields, and developing the work ethic that would serve him throughout life. When the draft came calling during the Vietnam War, Billy made the conscious choice to serve his country despite having opportunities to seek exemption due to his essential civilian work X-raying pipeline welds.
Billy's military journey took an unexpected turn when his 45-words-per-minute typing skills landed him a position as a company clerk at a post office near General Westmoreland's headquarters in Vietnam. This assignment came after a memorable first night in-country that included being blown off a latrine commode by a rocket attack – a baptism by fire that fortunately left him uninjured but certainly alert to his new surroundings.
After his military service, Billy returned to his roots in the oil industry before eventually moving to Florida and joining the Division of Forestry. It was in Florida where he met Shirley, his wife of over 30 years, forming a bond built on mutual respect and admiration. An avid runner in his younger days, Billy completed numerous road races, including a memorable marathon across the 26-mile bridge outside New Orleans – a feat he accomplished thanks to the encouragement of a fellow runner who refused to let him quit.
Now enjoying retirement and time with his grandchildren, Billy's message to future generations reflects the wisdom gained through his experiences: "Be calm, go with the flow, and accept what the good old United States will offer you." His story reminds us that through service, perseverance, and maintaining perspective, we can navigate life's challenges while appreciating its blessings.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today is Tuesday, may 13th.
We're here with Billy Adams,who served in the United States
Army.
Good morning, billy, goodmorning.
It's great to see you thismorning.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Nice to see you, sir.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
All right, Now we're going to start out pretty simple
.
When and where were you born?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I was born in Drumright, Oklahoma, August 23,
1948.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
And I think we talked earlier before we started
recording, that you didn'tactually grow up in Oklahoma,
though, did you?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
No.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Because my father was in the oil field business too.
I was in there a long timemyself, but we he got
transferred for interstate oiland pipeline to Louisiana.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
All right, and were you pretty young when you moved
to Louisiana.
Then yeah.
Okay, well, did you havebrothers and sisters?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Three brothers and three sisters.
Oh my gosh Seven kids.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Wow, what was it like growing up in a house with six
brothers and sisters?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Lunacy, yeah, did you have to fight for your meals,
did you?
Yeah, you didn't have to fightfor your meals, did you?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, yeah, and so were you the oldest.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
The youngest Were you in the middle.
Somewhere I was number.
Well, I got a sister older thanme and then I was the second
one, okay, out of seven kids.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So you were the oldest boy then.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, okay, All right Now.
Did you grow up in a city cityor?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
were you out in the country?
Do you recall pretty much?
Uh, we, we were outside of have.
Are you familiar with faradaylouisiana?
Yes, I've heard of it okay, welived outside, uh, faradayay,
not actually on Lake Concordia,but it was across the levee from
(02:09):
us.
Okay, you know, we had a lakethere and everything.
It was pretty neat yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Now, did you growing up?
Were you and your brothers andsisters?
Did you do a lot of thingstogether?
Were you friends or did you dostuff with other people?
Were you?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
friends, or did you do stuff with other people?
Or, uh, I would say we wereeverybody.
We seem to be independent ofeach other.
Okay, uh, because of school andthe, the kids we played with
and all of that kind of stuff,the stuff we did.
(02:47):
I mean, you know, girls aregoing to be different than boys.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
When it comes to that especially.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
But I was into athletics and my brothers, well,
one of them was in athletics.
I had three brothers, and so Iwas different in that I was
(03:16):
always, you know, playingbaseball.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Okay, so baseball was your sport.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Okay, and did you play that all through school?
Yeah, okay.
And how was school for you?
Did you enjoy school?
Uh, were you, or was school away for you to play baseball?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Uh, it was mostly afterschool type stuff, okay.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
The baseball.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
But yeah, I wasn't too smart in school, you know, I
had to ask Mr Quimby to give mea D so I could graduate.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
You know, with my class.
You're right, I didn't stayanother year.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Was he obliging then?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, what do you remember about your parents?
Anything that you recall aboutyour mom and dad that kind of
sticks out in your mind.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Well, my mother used to watch soap operas with the
next-door neighbor.
Uh-huh, let's see.
My father worked for AshlandOil and I eventually worked for
Ashland Oil and worked with himfor many years.
Oh, okay, I would go to workwith him and help him oh.
And all the oil fields aroundthere.
(04:43):
You know there's a lot of oilfields.
I'm not sure what it's like now, though.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, and it's interesting because I think when
I think about Louisiana, Idon't necessarily think about
oil fields, you know, I thinkabout like Texas or someplace
like that, but I guess Oklahoma,Louisiana, all that whole area
right.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Okay, now you eventually graduated from high
school.
You got that D that you neededand you graduated.
Were you drafted into theservice right after that, or was
there?
Do you remember how thathappened?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, the draft lady called and said I was going to
be drafted, but I could.
At the time I was working forHouston Gamma Ray Company.
(05:39):
Do you know what they do?
No, what do they do?
They do X-ray pipelines allover the United States Okay, in
different places.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
All right, and for people who don't know the
pipelines that are made of steel, when those are welded they
X-ray those welds and then theykeep records of it right?
So in case something happens,yes, okay, and so that's what
you did for them.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yes, okay, but, yes, okay, but anyway, let's see, I
used to.
For many years I x-rayed whales.
And where were we before that?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Okay, yeah, no problem.
So we were talking about you.
The lady from the draft boardcalled.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Oh, yes, and said that you were going to get
drafted.
Yes.
And she said but Billy, sinceyou work in pipeline x-ray and
you work out of Houston Texas,you can switch your draft thing
to Texas, houston Texas, and youprobably won't be drafted.
(06:51):
Oh.
You know, because it's a biggerplace.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
You know, a little podunk fair to Louisiana.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Everybody went right.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Okay, so you switched it over to Houston.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
No, I didn't, oh you didn't, you stayed Okay.
I stayed Okay.
I felt that you know that.
What do you call it?
You know, I felt I had to do ityeah.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
You know, yeah, kind of that commitment.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Even though I could have got out of it.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Right, okay, so you ended up.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I wasn't getting along with my wife either.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Oh, so you were married at this time.
Yeah, okay, all right.
Did you have any children?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
One son Uh-huh, jody, okay, he's growing up now yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Doing well.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well good, Did he stay in Louisiana?
Then your son?
He actually moved across thebridge to Natchez, Mississippi.
Okay, so he's lived in Natchezmany years.
He's coming to visit here inabout a week.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Wow, that'll be exciting, Mm-hmm.
Wow, he's got three kids.
Oh, that'll be busy.
Wow, he's got three kids.
Oh, that'll be busy.
So you stayed there and youeventually got drafted right
Into the Army.
Yes, okay, yes, and we weretalking earlier that you went to
(08:19):
basic training at Tiger Land,yeah, which is kind of a
historic place for basictraining.
It was yeah, so tell me whatyou remember about basic
training.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
What was it like when you got there?
You know you learn how to themarksmanship, to shoot and all
the stuff you do low crawl, justexercise.
It was just a whole divvy ofstuff you know, right Running
(09:00):
every day.
You know you didn't rest much.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
No, no.
And so do you think thatworking in the oil fields helped
you when you got to basictraining, or was it kind of a
surprise when you got there?
Speaker 2 (09:21):
No, working in the oil fields with my father
helping him.
That was a good experience forme too.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Because I ended up going to work for Aston Oil
myself and I knew a lot aboutthe oil field.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
All right, well, let's go back a little bit to
basic training then.
So you made it through basictraining.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
And then do you remember where you went from
there.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yes, ait was because I had worked on the river.
I don't know if I told you this.
I worked on the river a year ona tugboat for Ashland Oil.
Know if I told you this, Iworked on the river a year on a
tugboat, okay, for Ashland oil,hauling oil from New Orleans all
the way to Ashland, kentucky,okay, and uh-huh.
(10:15):
So so that helped you pick whatjob you were going to do in the
army then yeah, whenever I gotto fort eustace, when I got
drafted and I went to forteustace, uh, because of my uh
work on the boat yeah they, theyend up putting me in seaman
(10:37):
training okay, all right.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
And then, uh you, you did that for a period of time.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yes, learning how to drive the Mike boats and U-boats
and those are the boats thatcarry equipment.
You've seen them in World WarII and all that.
Yeah when the front of the boatlets down and the troops charge
ashore to fight it.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah, we were doing that?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I ashore to fight it.
Yeah, we were doing that.
I learned how to drive those,but yeah, we weren't in combat
with them.
We hauled equipment in Vietnammostly.
Okay, all right you knowbecause they're.
But yeah, they used them in war, in World War I and II, I think
(11:28):
.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
But you were using them to make sure people got
what they needed.
Yeah, okay, so when youfinished up with AIT, then is
that when you went to Vietnam?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah, whenever they, I got my orders.
Well, I volunteered for Vietnam.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
And so I flew out.
I flew to Alaska, oh, and tothe airport.
I went to the airport and atransport plane landed there and
(12:18):
just picked me up oh, by myself.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Well, you must have been pretty important.
You got your own plane, I feltimportant, I'll bet, I'll bet.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
And so we flew there to Japan and from there to
Vietnam.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Okay, Do you recall what it was like when you first
got there to Vietnam?
Do you remember what that waslike for you?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, because a helicopter took me to a place
out in the middle of, of course,vietnam, mm-hmm.
You know, and she'd never beenthere before and we stopped at
this restaurant it was arestaurant and it was closed and
(13:14):
they dropped me off and said atruck would come and pick me up
there.
And so I, you know, here I wasin the middle of it and all that
you know, waiting on a truck tocome pick me up at night it was
, you know I.
It didn't bother me.
I wasn't as afraid as I thoughtI would be, even though you
(13:36):
could see the bombs going off inthe background.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yeah you must have felt kind of alone, though I
mean.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Alone, yes, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
So I'm assuming the truck finally came there and
picked you up?
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
And took me to a unit 784th Transportation Company
outside of Saigon.
We were about, I think, about20 or 30 miles from Saigon.
(14:13):
But, anyway, Fort, let's see.
And so there, let's see.
Oh, I got to tell you thisstory.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
The first night I got there and they dropped me off
at the unit.
There was a latrine and so Ineeded to use the bathroom.
Real bad, so.
(14:55):
I go in there, you know, and arocket landed outside the train
and blew all the windows out andeverything and blew me off the
commode and, you know, acrossthe floor.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, welcome to Vietnam.
And it didn't hurt me, I mean,it didn't you know across the
floor.
Yeah, welcome to vietnam.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Me I mean, it didn't, you know, I wasn't injured, but
I, yeah, I got christened yeah,yeah, that'll.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
That'll wake you up, won't?
All the windows blew out andeverything oh my gosh yeah did
you kind of wonder what you werehad got myself.
Yeah, yeah, yeah a little bit,a little bit.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
So you got to your unit and then were you driving
boats then at this time?
No, I'd done those mostly inAIT and basic training.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Oh, okay.
So then, when you got toVietnam, what did you do there?
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Well, I went in, the first sergeant was there.
He looked over my thing, hesaid oh, you can type 45 words a
minute, and I said yes, sir.
(16:20):
He said well, welcome, you'remy new company clerk.
So I had it made.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I was the company clerk there at a post office.
Okay, clerk there at a postoffice.
Okay, you know the big postoffice for years of a general
Westmoreland.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yeah, so, so tell this.
So what was that like?
Was that it?
Was sounds like good duty yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Yeah, it was good duty.
It was just probably saferthere than in the States.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
I wouldn't be surprised.
Mail is pretty important.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, so how long were you in Vietnam?
A?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
little over a year.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Okay, any other stories you want to share about
your time there?
Any interesting things thathappened other than the rocket
attack at the latrine?
Oh, anything.
No attacks or anything likethat happened while you were no
not were.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
From then on, we were in a very fortified place.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
You know, around there.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Because General Westmoreland was just up the
road.
Yeah okay In Saigon.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Okay, so pretty, other than when you first got
there.
Then pretty, pretty uneventfultour of duty then.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
As far as fighting and stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Yeah, yeah, did you make some friends while you were
there.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Okay, do you still keep in touch with any of them?
Speaker 2 (18:11):
No.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Oh, okay, all right.
So you were there for a yearand then did you take R&R at any
time during your tour there?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yes, Okay, yes, I met my first wife in Hawaii for R&R
.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
That's where most of the guys went right.
It was Hawaii.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, how was that for you?
Did you enjoy Hawaii?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Oh goodness, yes.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Oh good.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
You ever been there?
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yes, I have.
I went there for my honeymoonactually.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I got to tell you a story about that.
When I went to Hawaii for R&R,I stayed at the tallest hotel on
Waikiki Beach.
When I went back to Hawaii withmy second wife, it was the
(19:09):
shortest hotel on Waikiki Beach.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Things change, don't they, billy?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yeah, I like telling that story because you know it
went from a little hotel to askyscraper hotel.
Oh, yeah, yeah that's wow.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Yep, things do definitely do change.
So you, uh, you, once youfinished up your tour, then you,
you flew back home, did you?
Did you fly through Alaskaagain, or did you?
How'd you get home?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, I went through Alaska.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Okay, all right, and then did you from there?
Did you go back to Louisianathen, mm-hmm, okay, back to
Natchez.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, okay, natchez, natchez, faraday.
Actually, faraday is where Ilived.
Okay, all right, which isacross the bridge from Natchez?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
And so did you go back to work for the oil company
yes, ashland Oil, all right.
And were you working with yourdad at this time?
No, okay, I worked.
I got a job for him.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Okay, I worked, I got a job for them Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
All right.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
And you were still married then yeah.
And you're raising your son andworking, and so do you recall
how long you worked for the oilcompany?
Was it a long time?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Probably a couple of years.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Okay, and then you said that you went to work for
the Forest Service, right?
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yeah, when I moved to Baton Rouge and was living down
there for quite a while and I'dalways heard about Florida.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Uh-huh.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
So you know, I decided to move down here, so
that's what I did, and I've beenhere ever since.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Okay Now.
Were you still married when youmoved to Florida, or were you?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
No, I wasn't.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Okay, so you were a single guy at this time.
You moved to Florida and thenso is this where you went to
work for the Forest Service then?
Or what did you do when?
Speaker 2 (21:27):
you got here, yes.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, the Division of Forestry.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
All right, and what did you do for them?
Speaker 2 (21:34):
I was a company, clerk.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Yeah, a company clerk for forestry.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Okay, so you processed all the paperwork and
all that kind of stuff.
Mm-hmm, all right.
Any highlights from workingthere that you want to talk
about?
Any interesting stories fromthe Forest Service?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
You know, it was just the smoky barrier and all that
kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Doing programs, checking for wildfires, Mm-hmm,
like they're doing now fightingwildfires.
Of course I was working in theoffice, so I didn't have to
actually fight wildfires myself.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Did a lot of coordination for them.
Okay, so there's a bigcontroversy.
You can answer this questionfor me.
So some people say Smokey theBear and some people say Smokey
Bear.
Which is it?
Is it Smokey the Bear or SmokeyBear?
I've always been curious, or isit just one of those things
we'll never know?
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I always say Smokey Bear.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Okay, Myself yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
I've always said Smokey Bear yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Well, and you work for the Forest Service, so I'll
take your word for it on thatone.
So tell me, how'd you meetShirley?
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I was working for Forestry and I had a house.
They gave me a house in SouthOrlando, out there South OVT.
During that time I met her Okayand she actually moved into the
(23:21):
forestry house with me.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Uh-huh, All right.
And now did she have children,or did you guys have children
together?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
We didn't have any together, but she had children
Eric and Jennifer.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Okay, all right, they moved in with you as well.
Mm-hmm.
Okay, all right, so you've beenmarried for a few years now, so
that must have all worked outfor you.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, so what is it?
What was it about Shirley?
Do you recall?
What was it about Shirley thatattracted you to her?
What was?
Speaker 2 (24:08):
She's an incredible.
She's very smart, for one thing, Uh-huh, you know she's a
college grad and everything but,and she's just a good person.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah, very good person.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Yeah, you know, they don't make women like that much.
Don't tell her, I said thatOkay.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
She's behind you.
All right, that'll be betweenus.
We were saying she's a reallygood person and really smart, so
you decided to get married.
Now, how long have you beenmarried?
Do you recall?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Over 30 years.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Okay, All right.
And so you got married, youraised a family and you retired,
and you're enjoying yourretirement now, and we talked
earlier too that you used to doa lot of running.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yeah, when I lived in Baton Rouge before I came to
Florida, I used to run roadraces the 10Ks and 5Ks and I ran
a marathon or two.
In hindsight, I wouldn't haverun as much because I ended up
(25:41):
two knee replacements.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Yeah, that's hard on your body, isn't it?
Yeah, or it can be.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Yeah.
I actually run.
My marathon was across the 26mile bridge in New Orleans.
Oh, are you familiar with thebridge?
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I'm not Outside of New Orleans, I'm not Tell me
about this.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Outside of New Orleans there's a bridge.
It's 26 miles long, I know.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
From the other towns on the other side of the bridge.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
So that whole marathon is just that bridge.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yeah, they did a marathon on there once and I ran
that, wow, how do you?
I'll never forget this.
If you don't mind me, I'llnever forget this, if you don't
mind me, I'll never forget this.
This old black gentleman.
I said I was jogging along byhim and I said, man, this, 26
(26:51):
miles.
I didn't realize that's a longway it is.
And I said, and they had a buson the bridge outside of New
Orleans that would come alongand you know, if you were, you
could get on the bus, Right, youcould quit if you wanted.
(27:12):
You could quit if you wanted,you could quit if you wanted.
And I said, yeah, next time thebus comes by I'm getting on it.
He said, no, you're not, you'regoing to finish.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
So I said okay, so he encouraged you to finish that
race.
Huh, yeah, yeah, did you guysfinish it together?
Yeah, oh, okay, so heencouraged you to finish that
race.
Huh, yeah, yeah, did you guysfinish it together?
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Oh, okay, yeah, Wow, that's a great story.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
He was a big guy too.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Yeah, yeah, you weren't going to tell him no,
huh, no.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
But he was really nice.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, that's fantastic.
Did you do anything afterretirement?
Did you do any work or anythinglike that afterwards, or did
you just enjoy retirement?
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Mostly just retirement.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Yeah, just enjoying the grandkids and all of that.
Yeah, well, very good.
Well, you know I've asked a lotof questions today and I'm just
going to ask you one morequestion.
Well, first, actually, is thereanything that we haven't talked
about that you want to talkabout, that you want to share?
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Did I tell you the story about the rocket landing
outside the Latourian?
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Yes, yes, we did talk about that.
Definitely have to get thatstory in there.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
That's one of my best stories.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
That's a great story.
Lucky that you're here, by theway, yeah, reading.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Stars and Stripes and got blown off the commode.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Oh, no, you should have kept that paper.
That was your lucky newspaper.
That's what that was.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
I probably did keep it and then lost it or something
somewhere along the, you know,in Vietnam.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Oh, yeah, yeah, we do that.
So the only other question Ihave is that you know people are
going to listen to this.
You know years down the roadand I'm just wondering is there
like a message that you wouldlike to leave for people?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
something that you would like to tell people that
are listening to this.
Well, just if I had to saysomething like that, I'd say
(29:44):
just be calm, go with the flowyou know and accept what the
good old United States willoffer you.
Yeah, I guess.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Okay, all right.
Well, thanks for taking timeout today to talk with me.
Yeah, I guess.
Okay, all right.
Well, thanks for taking timeout today to talk with me.
I really appreciate it, andthanks for talking with me.
Today is Tuesday, may 13th.
We're here with Billy Adams,who served in the United States
Army.
Good morning, billy, goodmorning.
It's great to see you thismorning.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Nice to see you, sir.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
All right, Now we're going to start out pretty simple
.
When and where were you born?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I was born in Drumright, Oklahoma, August 23,
1948.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
And I think we talked earlier before we started
recording, that you didn'tactually grow up in Oklahoma,
though, did you?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
No.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Because my father was in the oil field business too.
I was in there a long timemyself, but we he got
transferred for interstate oiland pipeline to Louisiana.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
All right, and were you pretty young when you moved
to Louisiana.
Then yeah.
Okay, well, did you havebrothers and sisters?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Three brothers and three sisters.
Oh my gosh Seven kids.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Wow, what was it like growing up in a house with six
brothers and sisters?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Lunacy, yeah, did you have to fight for your meals,
did you?
Yeah, you didn't have to fightfor your meals, did you?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, yeah, and so were you the oldest.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
The youngest Were you in the middle.
Somewhere I was number.
Well, I got a sister older thanme and then I was the second
one, okay, out of seven kids.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So you were the oldest boy then.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, okay, All right Now.
Did you grow up in a city cityor?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
were you out in the country?
Do you recall pretty much?
Uh, we, we were outside of have.
Are you familiar with faradaylouisiana?
Yes, I've heard of it okay, welived outside, uh, faradayay,
not actually on Lake Concordia,but it was across the levee from
(02:09):
us.
Okay, you know, we had a lakethere and everything.
It was pretty neat yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Now, did you growing up?
Were you and your brothers andsisters?
Did you do a lot of thingstogether?
Were you friends or did you dostuff with other people?
Were you?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
friends, or did you do stuff with other people?
Or, uh, I would say we wereeverybody.
We seem to be independent ofeach other.
Okay, uh, because of school andthe, the kids we played with
and all of that kind of stuff,the stuff we did.
(02:47):
I mean, you know, girls aregoing to be different than boys.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
When it comes to that especially.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
But I was into athletics and my brothers, well,
one of them was in athletics.
I had three brothers, and so Iwas different in that I was
(03:16):
always, you know, playingbaseball.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Okay, so baseball was your sport.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Okay, and did you play that all through school?
Yeah, okay.
And how was school for you?
Did you enjoy school?
Uh, were you, or was school away for you to play baseball?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Uh, it was mostly afterschool type stuff, okay.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
The baseball.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
But yeah, I wasn't too smart in school, you know, I
had to ask Mr Quimby to give mea D so I could graduate.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
You know, with my class.
You're right, I didn't stayanother year.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Was he obliging then?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, what do you remember about your parents?
Anything that you recall aboutyour mom and dad that kind of
sticks out in your mind.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Well, my mother used to watch soap operas with the
next-door neighbor.
Uh-huh, let's see.
My father worked for AshlandOil and I eventually worked for
Ashland Oil and worked with himfor many years.
Oh, okay, I would go to workwith him and help him oh.
And all the oil fields aroundthere.
(04:43):
You know there's a lot of oilfields.
I'm not sure what it's like now, though.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, and it's interesting because I think when
I think about Louisiana, Idon't necessarily think about
oil fields, you know, I thinkabout like Texas or someplace
like that, but I guess Oklahoma,Louisiana, all that whole area
right.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Okay, now you eventually graduated from high
school.
You got that D that you neededand you graduated.
Were you drafted into theservice right after that, or was
there?
Do you remember how thathappened?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, the draft lady called and said I was going to
be drafted, but I could.
At the time I was working forHouston Gamma Ray Company.
(05:39):
Do you know what they do?
No, what do they do?
They do X-ray pipelines allover the United States Okay, in
different places.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
All right, and for people who don't know the
pipelines that are made of steel, when those are welded they
X-ray those welds and then theykeep records of it right?
So in case something happens,yes, okay, and so that's what
you did for them.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yes, okay, but, yes, okay, but anyway, let's see, I
used to.
For many years I x-rayed whales.
And where were we before that?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Okay, yeah, no problem.
So we were talking about you.
The lady from the draft boardcalled.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Oh, yes, and said that you were going to get
drafted.
Yes.
And she said but Billy, sinceyou work in pipeline x-ray and
you work out of Houston Texas,you can switch your draft thing
to Texas, houston Texas, and youprobably won't be drafted.
(06:51):
Oh.
You know, because it's a biggerplace.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
You know, a little podunk fair to Louisiana.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Everybody went right.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Okay, so you switched it over to Houston.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
No, I didn't, oh you didn't, you stayed Okay.
I stayed Okay.
I felt that you know that.
What do you call it?
You know, I felt I had to do ityeah.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
You know, yeah, kind of that commitment.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Even though I could have got out of it.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Right, okay, so you ended up.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I wasn't getting along with my wife either.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Oh, so you were married at this time.
Yeah, okay, all right.
Did you have any children?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
One son Uh-huh, jody, okay, he's growing up now yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Doing well.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well good, Did he stay in Louisiana?
Then your son?
He actually moved across thebridge to Natchez, Mississippi.
Okay, so he's lived in Natchezmany years.
He's coming to visit here inabout a week.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Wow, that'll be exciting, Mm-hmm.
Wow, he's got three kids.
Oh, that'll be busy.
Wow, he's got three kids.
Oh, that'll be busy.
So you stayed there and youeventually got drafted right
Into the Army.
Yes, okay, yes, and we weretalking earlier that you went to
(08:19):
basic training at Tiger Land,yeah, which is kind of a
historic place for basictraining.
It was yeah, so tell me whatyou remember about basic
training.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
What was it like when you got there?
You know you learn how to themarksmanship, to shoot and all
the stuff you do low crawl, justexercise.
It was just a whole divvy ofstuff you know, right Running
(09:00):
every day.
You know you didn't rest much.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
No, no.
And so do you think thatworking in the oil fields helped
you when you got to basictraining, or was it kind of a
surprise when you got there?
Speaker 2 (09:21):
No, working in the oil fields with my father
helping him.
That was a good experience forme too.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Because I ended up going to work for Aston Oil
myself and I knew a lot aboutthe oil field.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
All right, well, let's go back a little bit to
basic training then.
So you made it through basictraining.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
And then do you remember where you went from
there.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yes, ait was because I had worked on the river.
I don't know if I told you this.
I worked on the river a year ona tugboat for Ashland Oil.
Know if I told you this, Iworked on the river a year on a
tugboat, okay, for Ashland oil,hauling oil from New Orleans all
the way to Ashland, kentucky,okay, and uh-huh.
(10:15):
So so that helped you pick whatjob you were going to do in the
army then yeah, whenever I gotto fort eustace, when I got
drafted and I went to forteustace, uh, because of my uh
work on the boat yeah they, theyend up putting me in seaman
(10:37):
training okay, all right.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
And then, uh you, you did that for a period of time.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yes, learning how to drive the Mike boats and U-boats
and those are the boats thatcarry equipment.
You've seen them in World WarII and all that.
Yeah when the front of the boatlets down and the troops charge
ashore to fight it.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah, we were doing that?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I ashore to fight it.
Yeah, we were doing that.
I learned how to drive those,but yeah, we weren't in combat
with them.
We hauled equipment in Vietnammostly.
Okay, all right you knowbecause they're.
But yeah, they used them in war, in World War I and II, I think
(11:28):
.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
But you were using them to make sure people got
what they needed.
Yeah, okay, so when youfinished up with AIT, then is
that when you went to Vietnam?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah, whenever they, I got my orders.
Well, I volunteered for Vietnam.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
And so I flew out.
I flew to Alaska, oh, and tothe airport.
I went to the airport and atransport plane landed there and
(12:18):
just picked me up oh, by myself.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Well, you must have been pretty important.
You got your own plane, I feltimportant, I'll bet, I'll bet.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
And so we flew there to Japan and from there to
Vietnam.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Okay, Do you recall what it was like when you first
got there to Vietnam?
Do you remember what that waslike for you?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, because a helicopter took me to a place
out in the middle of, of course,vietnam, mm-hmm.
You know, and she'd never beenthere before and we stopped at
this restaurant it was arestaurant and it was closed and
(13:14):
they dropped me off and said atruck would come and pick me up
there.
And so I, you know, here I wasin the middle of it and all that
you know, waiting on a truck tocome pick me up at night it was
, you know I.
It didn't bother me.
I wasn't as afraid as I thoughtI would be, even though you
(13:36):
could see the bombs going off inthe background.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yeah you must have felt kind of alone, though I
mean.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Alone, yes, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
So I'm assuming the truck finally came there and
picked you up?
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
And took me to a unit 784th Transportation Company
outside of Saigon.
We were about, I think, about20 or 30 miles from Saigon.
(14:13):
But, anyway, Fort, let's see.
And so there, let's see.
Oh, I got to tell you thisstory.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
The first night I got there and they dropped me off
at the unit.
There was a latrine and so Ineeded to use the bathroom.
Real bad, so.
(14:55):
I go in there, you know, and arocket landed outside the train
and blew all the windows out andeverything and blew me off the
commode and, you know, acrossthe floor.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, welcome to Vietnam.
And it didn't hurt me, I mean,it didn't you know across the
floor.
Yeah, welcome to vietnam.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Me I mean, it didn't, you know, I wasn't injured, but
I, yeah, I got christened yeah,yeah, that'll.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
That'll wake you up, won't?
All the windows blew out andeverything oh my gosh yeah did
you kind of wonder what you werehad got myself.
Yeah, yeah, yeah a little bit,a little bit.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
So you got to your unit and then were you driving
boats then at this time?
No, I'd done those mostly inAIT and basic training.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Oh, okay.
So then, when you got toVietnam, what did you do there?
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Well, I went in, the first sergeant was there.
He looked over my thing, hesaid oh, you can type 45 words a
minute, and I said yes, sir.
(16:20):
He said well, welcome, you'remy new company clerk.
So I had it made.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
I was the company clerk there at a post office.
Okay, clerk there at a postoffice.
Okay, you know the big postoffice for years of a general
Westmoreland.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yeah, so, so tell this.
So what was that like?
Was that it?
Was sounds like good duty yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Yeah, it was good duty.
It was just probably saferthere than in the States.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
I wouldn't be surprised.
Mail is pretty important.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, so how long were you in Vietnam?
A?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
little over a year.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Okay, any other stories you want to share about
your time there?
Any interesting things thathappened other than the rocket
attack at the latrine?
Oh, anything.
No attacks or anything likethat happened while you were no
not were.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
From then on, we were in a very fortified place.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
You know, around there.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Because General Westmoreland was just up the
road.
Yeah okay In Saigon.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Okay, so pretty, other than when you first got
there.
Then pretty, pretty uneventfultour of duty then.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
As far as fighting and stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Yeah, yeah, did you make some friends while you were
there.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Okay, do you still keep in touch with any of them?
Speaker 2 (18:11):
No.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Oh, okay, all right.
So you were there for a yearand then did you take R&R at any
time during your tour there?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yes, Okay, yes, I met my first wife in Hawaii for R&R
.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
That's where most of the guys went right.
It was Hawaii.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, how was that for you?
Did you enjoy Hawaii?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Oh goodness, yes.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Oh good.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
You ever been there?
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yes, I have.
I went there for my honeymoonactually.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I got to tell you a story about that.
When I went to Hawaii for R&R,I stayed at the tallest hotel on
Waikiki Beach.
When I went back to Hawaii withmy second wife, it was the
(19:09):
shortest hotel on Waikiki Beach.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Things change, don't they, billy?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yeah, I like telling that story because you know it
went from a little hotel to askyscraper hotel.
Oh, yeah, yeah that's wow.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Yep, things do definitely do change.
So you, uh, you, once youfinished up your tour, then you,
you flew back home, did you?
Did you fly through Alaskaagain, or did you?
How'd you get home?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, I went through Alaska.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Okay, all right, and then did you from there?
Did you go back to Louisianathen, mm-hmm, okay, back to
Natchez.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, okay, natchez, natchez, faraday.
Actually, faraday is where Ilived.
Okay, all right, which isacross the bridge from Natchez?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
And so did you go back to work for the oil company
yes, ashland Oil, all right.
And were you working with yourdad at this time?
No, okay, I worked.
I got a job for him.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Okay, I worked, I got a job for them Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
All right.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
And you were still married then yeah.
And you're raising your son andworking, and so do you recall
how long you worked for the oilcompany?
Was it a long time?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Probably a couple of years.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Okay, and then you said that you went to work for
the Forest Service, right?
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Yeah, when I moved to Baton Rouge and was living down
there for quite a while and I'dalways heard about Florida.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Uh-huh.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
So you know, I decided to move down here, so
that's what I did, and I've beenhere ever since.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Okay Now.
Were you still married when youmoved to Florida, or were you?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
No, I wasn't.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Okay, so you were a single guy at this time.
You moved to Florida and thenso is this where you went to
work for the Forest Service then?
Or what did you do when?
Speaker 2 (21:27):
you got here, yes.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, the Division of Forestry.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
All right, and what did you do for them?
Speaker 2 (21:34):
I was a company, clerk.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Yeah, a company clerk for forestry.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Okay, so you processed all the paperwork and
all that kind of stuff.
Mm-hmm, all right.
Any highlights from workingthere that you want to talk
about?
Any interesting stories fromthe Forest Service?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
You know, it was just the smoky barrier and all that
kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Doing programs, checking for wildfires, Mm-hmm,
like they're doing now fightingwildfires.
Of course I was working in theoffice, so I didn't have to
actually fight wildfires myself.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Did a lot of coordination for them.
Okay, so there's a bigcontroversy.
You can answer this questionfor me.
So some people say Smokey theBear and some people say Smokey
Bear.
Which is it?
Is it Smokey the Bear or SmokeyBear?
I've always been curious, or isit just one of those things
we'll never know?
Speaker 2 (22:41):
I always say Smokey Bear.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Okay, Myself yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
I've always said Smokey Bear yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Well, and you work for the Forest Service, so I'll
take your word for it on thatone.
So tell me, how'd you meetShirley?
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I was working for Forestry and I had a house.
They gave me a house in SouthOrlando, out there South OVT.
During that time I met her Okayand she actually moved into the
(23:21):
forestry house with me.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Uh-huh, All right.
And now did she have children,or did you guys have children
together?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
We didn't have any together, but she had children
Eric and Jennifer.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Okay, all right, they moved in with you as well.
Mm-hmm.
Okay, all right, so you've beenmarried for a few years now, so
that must have all worked outfor you.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, so what is it?
What was it about Shirley?
Do you recall?
What was it about Shirley thatattracted you to her?
What was?
Speaker 2 (24:08):
She's an incredible.
She's very smart, for one thing, Uh-huh, you know she's a
college grad and everything but,and she's just a good person.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah, very good person.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Yeah, you know, they don't make women like that much.
Don't tell her, I said thatOkay.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
She's behind you.
All right, that'll be betweenus.
We were saying she's a reallygood person and really smart, so
you decided to get married.
Now, how long have you beenmarried?
Do you recall?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Over 30 years.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Okay, All right.
And so you got married, youraised a family and you retired,
and you're enjoying yourretirement now, and we talked
earlier too that you used to doa lot of running.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yeah, when I lived in Baton Rouge before I came to
Florida, I used to run roadraces the 10Ks and 5Ks and I ran
a marathon or two.
In hindsight, I wouldn't haverun as much because I ended up
(25:41):
two knee replacements.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Yeah, that's hard on your body, isn't it?
Yeah, or it can be.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Yeah.
I actually run.
My marathon was across the 26mile bridge in New Orleans.
Oh, are you familiar with thebridge?
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I'm not Outside of New Orleans, I'm not Tell me
about this.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Outside of New Orleans there's a bridge.
It's 26 miles long, I know.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
From the other towns on the other side of the bridge.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
So that whole marathon is just that bridge.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Yeah, they did a marathon on there once and I ran
that, wow, how do you?
I'll never forget this.
If you don't mind me, I'llnever forget this, if you don't
mind me, I'll never forget this.
This old black gentleman.
I said I was jogging along byhim and I said, man, this, 26
(26:51):
miles.
I didn't realize that's a longway it is.
And I said, and they had a buson the bridge outside of New
Orleans that would come alongand you know, if you were, you
could get on the bus, Right, youcould quit if you wanted.
(27:12):
You could quit if you wanted,you could quit if you wanted.
And I said, yeah, next time thebus comes by I'm getting on it.
He said, no, you're not, you'regoing to finish.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
So I said okay, so he encouraged you to finish that
race.
Huh, yeah, yeah, did you guysfinish it together?
Yeah, oh, okay, so heencouraged you to finish that
race.
Huh, yeah, yeah, did you guysfinish it together?
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Oh, okay, yeah, Wow, that's a great story.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
He was a big guy too.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Yeah, yeah, you weren't going to tell him no,
huh, no.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
But he was really nice.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, that's fantastic.
Did you do anything afterretirement?
Did you do any work or anythinglike that afterwards, or did
you just enjoy retirement?
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Mostly just retirement.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Yeah, just enjoying the grandkids and all of that.
Yeah, well, very good.
Well, you know I've asked a lotof questions today and I'm just
going to ask you one morequestion.
Well, first, actually, is thereanything that we haven't talked
about that you want to talkabout, that you want to share?
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Did I tell you the story about the rocket landing
outside the Latourian?
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Yes, yes, we did talk about that.
Definitely have to get thatstory in there.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
That's one of my best stories.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
That's a great story.
Lucky that you're here, by theway, yeah, reading.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Stars and Stripes and got blown off the commode.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Oh, no, you should have kept that paper.
That was your lucky newspaper.
That's what that was.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
I probably did keep it and then lost it or something
somewhere along the, you know,in Vietnam.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Oh, yeah, yeah, we do that.
So the only other question Ihave is that you know people are
going to listen to this.
You know years down the roadand I'm just wondering is there
like a message that you wouldlike to leave for people?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
something that you would like to tell people that
are listening to this.
Well, just if I had to saysomething like that, I'd say
(29:44):
just be calm, go with the flowyou know and accept what the
good old United States willoffer you.
Yeah, I guess.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Okay, all right.
Well, thanks for taking timeout today to talk with me.
Yeah, I guess.
Okay, all right.
Well, thanks for taking timeout today to talk with me.
I really appreciate it, andthanks for talking with me.
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