I know exactly where I was on my 21st birthday; where were you?

To the editor,

This a memorial letter to all the fine men and woman that have lost lives for the American political agenda.

It was a beautiful sunny day in south Vietnam, May 10 1972. I was on fire base Melanie, somewhere between Saigon and the Cambodian border. I somehow had become friends with the grunt captain and some of his guys on the fire base. Captain Rosenburg, he took a liking to me maybe because I was a pathfinder and worked with the helicopters to get their one hot meal a week to them while they were out in the bush. I'm not sure why, but I liked him also. He invited me to go with him and his boys on a 3-day R&R to Vung Tau. I told him, sure I would like to, it is a beautiful seacoast town. I radioed back to the rear to get permission to go and my lieutenant said no. I thought my lieutenant as just being a hard nose. It would be years later I would find out me and my guys were on standby for something. Captain Rosey and the boys left on a Chinook for Bein Hoa to get cleaned up and head to Vung Tau. About 10;30 am on the morning of May 10 a column of smoke appeared to the east of where I was. A helicopter radioed in to say that there had been a crash. It turned out the crash was the Chinook that was on its way to Vung Tau with Captain Rosey and the boys. To all you guys, Happy Trails. I was born on May 10, 1951, this was my 21st birthday.

If you never served, what were you doing when you turned 21?

Dean Tappan

Center Harbor