At Fort Lewis, Washington, in December of 1969, the day before I left for Viet Nam, I had KP duty for TWENTY-FOUR straight hours, scrubbing pots and pans.
No, I wasn't being punished for anything.
It was just my plain bad luck.
They wanted to give as many guys as possible a final pass before leaving for Viet Nam, which meant that a few of us would pull more than our normally allotted fair share of duty.
As I scrubbed those pots and pans, the local radio station played, "THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OL' DIXIE DOWN", recorded by Joan Baez, over and over and over and over and - - - .
I sure was glad when, years later, I finally learned to strum a guitar, and memorized the lyrics, so I could sing it.
Thank you.
John Robert Mallernee Armed Forces Retirement Home Gulfport, Mississippi 39507
Brock, Et Alii:
ReplyDeleteBoy, does THIS song bring back memories!!!
But, first, here's the URL for a video playlist of ME(!) singing that same song:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?p=PL3AB7EF519F37A7D2
At Fort Lewis, Washington, in December of 1969, the day before I left for Viet Nam, I had KP duty for TWENTY-FOUR straight hours, scrubbing pots and pans.
No, I wasn't being punished for anything.
It was just my plain bad luck.
They wanted to give as many guys as possible a final pass before leaving for Viet Nam, which meant that a few of us would pull more than our normally allotted fair share of duty.
As I scrubbed those pots and pans, the local radio station played, "THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OL' DIXIE DOWN", recorded by Joan Baez, over and over and over and over and - - - .
I sure was glad when, years later, I finally learned to strum a guitar, and memorized the lyrics, so I could sing it.
Thank you.
John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Gulfport, Mississippi 39507
You did a good job and a great story!
ReplyDeleteJohn Congrats, on your rendition, I wish I could sing as well as you do. I enjoyed your KP stoty as well
ReplyDeleteT