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Introduction: Like many others, I was drafted on May 17th,
1966, out of North Hollywood in the San Fernando Valley near LA, California. The Army had a need to fill up the ranks of the 9th Infantry Division which they planned to deploy to South Vietnam in 1967. I was a full time student at Valley College and had a job delivering kegs of beer to thirsty people throughout Southern California. Although I started out with a full student deferral, I dropped a couple of classes to better balance out my work schedule with my school schedule. That's all it took, the draft notice came within a couple of weeks.
As one of the originals, I fell into the Army training routine in Ft Riley KS. After basic training I was able to bring a 1956 Chevy back to Ft. Riley from my home in North Hollywood.
Many friends and I enjoyed exploring the Kansas countryside in that old car. It never failed us and was part of some of our better times.
Later, I proposed, by mail, to a girl I left
behind, Deanna Scarborough.
She accepted and I brought my bride to Kansas near the end of November 1966. We rented an apartment about 20 miles east of Junction City in Manhattan KS, just off the campus of Kansas State University, A couple of weeks before deployment, I sold the '56 Chevy to a local Kansas boy and bought an ancient '48 Chevy for $50. It never failed to get me through the deep snow from Manhattan to Fort Riley. On our last day at Fort Riley, I sold the '48 to a couple of NCO's who needed a ride into Junction City and didn't want to wait for the bus. I got $20.
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