Veterans Month
November 2003
NS Veterans Remember
Jeff Jordan
Special Agent
Chicago, IL
Thirty three years ago, I was a young man stationed at Nha Be, South Vietnam. The base was one of the homeports for the Brown Water Navy which patrolled the Mekong Delta.
At the same time my brother Jim, and only sibling, was stationed with the 1st Marines on the outskirts of DaNang. Through numerous correspondence we were able to schedule our In Country R&R in sequence. My brother caught a hop on a C130 and stayed with me for three days. As his time ended, mine began, and together Jim and I traveled to DaNang, bypassing China Beach. I chose to stay with his squadron.
On the evening of 11/26/1970, after returning from a scouting patrol near Marble Mountain, we sat down in his quarters and discussed what we wanted to eat. When it dawned on both of us that today was Thanksgiving. Dinner was an easy choice - Turkey loaf C-ration. We toasted each other and pondered why eighteen- and nineteen-year-old brothers were 8,300 miles from Chicago.
Today, there is never a Thanksgiving that I don't reflect on that evening so long ago. Especially in light of my brother passing away from a brain tumor three days shy of Thanksgiving 1994. This was his favorite time of the year - Nov. 10th Marine Corp Birthday, Nov. 11th Veterans Day and of course, that special day of all - Thanksgiving Nov. 27th.
Semper Fi.