1966 Vietnam
The year I entered the U.S. Air Force and my life changed forever! War Protesters All during the 1960s major changes were taking place the world over. The southeast, where I grew up, was going from segregation to integration in schools, businesses had been forced to remove signs that said "White" and "Colored." Young black southern men who just graduated high school were being sent to die for a country that branded them unjustly. People were protesting the war and shouting at Veitnam veterans. My brother Rick told me how our 1st cousin's husband Ronnie Black and other vets were "greeted" as they arrived at California airport. A war protester threw a tomato at Ronnie. My brother Rick said cousin Ronnie grabbed it as it hit him in the chest, took a bite of it, walked up to the protester and said, "Thanks! That's the first fresh tomato I've had in 18 months." Susie and I Susie and I were very much in love by 1966 and were planning to get married after she graduated. She was worried about my future especially after I graduated high school. My Band "The Huns" Most of my band mates somehow escaped being drafted. Robert became a career college student to avoid the draft. Rick got out of it for medical reasons. Although Phillip Lacy wasn't in our band, he was included in the newspaper photo of "The Strangers" as one of our roadies. Phillip was a neighbor of Robert Owens who made it through the war but was so messed up when he returned 2 years later that he eventually committed suicide. Fellow School Mates All the guys in my high school senior class wondered if they'd still be alive in years to come. Some were very different after the war that life changed our lives forever. Two of them were Ronnie Malone and Rod McFerrin. I met them both after the war. I was surprised when I met them at work. They had both begun working for South Central Bell, same as I. Everyone at work was calling Ronnie Malone "Wayne Metcalf." When he came into my storeroom at work, I asked him about the name change, he said his full name in high school was "Ronald Wayne Malone." He never liked "Ronald" and prefered to be called by his middle name, "Wayne" but the teachers always used students first names. He said "Malone" was the name of his step-father who had adopted him. He hated the man and soon as he reached legal age had his named changed back the surname on his birth certificate -- "Metcalf." Wayne was always telling jokes in high school. He never cracked a smile though, even in high school. Today (June 2021) he is taking chemo treatments for bladder cancer caused by Agent Orange when he was in Vietnam.  Ronnie Malone school photo - 1964 and Wayne Metcalf in Vietnam in the late 1960s |
| Rod McFerrin
was one of the most happy-go-lucky guys I ever met in high
school. He was full of energy, always smiling, and fun to be
with. The war didn't change Rod's pleasant nature. What it changed was his alertness. After the war I never met anyone as nervous as Rod McFerrin. He was always looking around and would never look you straight in the eye for long. Rod had been a "point man" in Vietnam -- the guy who is out front and goes in first in every situation. I'm sure his nervousness and always looking around was something that kept him alive. He carried a B.A.R. (Browning Automatic Rifle) in Vietnam. It's a hand-carried machine gun that shoots .30 caliber bullets 2-1/2 inches long. It can fire single shots from a clip or rapid fire up to 650 rounds per minute from a belt that's 4 feet long. Rod is carrying his cartridge belt in the photo below.  Rod McFerrin - 1964 school photo and Rod in Vietnam |
1966-June I traveled with my parents to Mexico for my 7th and final trip. We went to Veracruz and Villahermosa. While there, some friends took us to a beach that looked as desolate as Gilligan's Ilse. It was deserted and natural looking. Coconut trees grew almost to the water's edge. We had to be careful not to stand beneath them for fear of one hitting us as it fell. Many coconuts had fallen all over the beach so I got one. We didn't get to visit any ancient ruins on that trip but I had stood atop the Pyramid of the Sun in the ancient Aztec city of Teotihuacan in 1956. When the missionaries came to share the gospel with us in 1969, they showed a photo of this same pyramid as they discussed the Nephites and Lamanites. Soon as I saw it, I shouted, "Hey, I've been there, I stood on top of that thing!"  Me & my brother Larry standing in front of the Pyramid of the Sun - 1956 Photo compliments of Judy Abels  This is not related to 1966 but I couldn't resist throwing this one in here. It's a photo of my cousin Judy Abels and I taken by her mother 10 years earlier on our only trip to Mexico together in 1956. Cousin Judy saved all her mother's photos after her mom died and shared them with me. |
The guys in my band needed to replace me as their lead guitarist. They persuaded Steve to return and re-join the band. They only remained together another year, though. The war in Vietnam forced all the 1960s school folk groups and garage bands to break up.  L to R: Rick Jackson, Robert Owen, Steve Hamilton, and Mickey King our drummer. Rick married the girl he dated in high school. He graduated from electronics school and was hired by Sears & Roebuck in Memphis. His wife was unfaithful with the next door neighbor. The neighbor divorced his wife whose name was Rita. Rick divorced his wife and married Rita. Rick's ex-wife died from complications with drug abuse. Robert eventually graduated college with a degree in art history. He was hired as a quality control supervisor in his uncle's steel distribution company. He and his first wife divorced. He raised his 3 boys alone until they were teens then he remarried several times. I attended two of his weddings. Steve joined the U.S. Coast Guard, went to college, became an officer and administrator at a military hospital for the mentally disturbed, then retired after 20 years and taught college for the Alaska State Government. He then retired from teaching school and became an amateur writer and photographer. Mickey later went to Okinawa and became a 7th degree blackbelt in karate. He used his talents to become a contractor for the Alabama Bureau of Investigation. While working with the police, he fingered a drug lord who put out a contract for Mickey's demise. Mickey had to go into a witness protection program. No one has heard from him since 1998. |
Before I had to go into the military I made sure all my hair was cut off as soon as I returned from my last vacation to Mexico. It was my first haircut in a year. My hair had grown 7 inches long and I did not want to give some military barber the pleasure of giving a buzz cut to a guy with a “Beatles” hairdo.  Left: Ron in 1966; Center: Ron, late 1965; Right: (from L to R) Ron, Robert, & Rick, summer of 1966. We had several matching outfits. With the purple shirts we wore naugahyde vests. Rick Jackson said, "There's no telling how many 'Naugas' they had to kill to make these things!" |
That summer Susie wanted some photos of us. I think she got next door neighbor, Brenda Snow to take the photos. I carried the one on the right with me in my wallet for several years.  Ron & Susie in her porch swing. Photo of Susie and I carried with me into the U.S.Air Force. |
1966-08-18 When I entered Air Force basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, I weighed 148 pounds and stood 5 feet 9½ inches tall. By the time I had completed active duty 4 years later I had gained 12 pounds and grew another 1/2 inch. 1966-10-11 I had entered the Air Force with the rank of “Airman Basic” (E1). After Basic Training, I was promoted to what was then called “Airman Third Class” (E2) and received my first pay raise as well as my first stripe. |
1966-11-09 After basic training I was sent to Chanute Air Force Base for technical training. A month after I arrived at Chanute AFB I studied military tech school electronics 8 hours a day for the next several months. They trained me to be an “Automatic Flight Control Systems Specialist” in a field now called “Avionics.”  Chanute sign comliments of Art Burr 1966-12-24 Some kind couple got my name from the USO and invited me to eat a Christmas Eve dinner with them. I had never met them before and did not know their names but it was a very sweet gesture. 1966-12-25 Everyone else got Christmas Holiday leave. I was one of the few who applied for it but didn’t get it. Instead, I sat in my barracks alone, my first Christmas away from home. Having nothing else to do and no one to do it with, I got drunk on cheap liquor someone gave me and cried myself to sleep in my bunk. All I got for Christmas that year was a hangover, however, I was able to persuade my mother to ship me my guitar and amp. I somehow succeeded in keeping it in my barracks until I married and moved off base. Our squadron commander was being transferred and our drill sergeant wanted to throw a party for the C.O. Sarge played the bass guitar. He found out I played lead and another guy in our squadron played rhythm guitar and sang so he formed an impromptu band for the farewell party. The captain loved it and got sloppy drunk at the party. I escorted him back to his bunk in the command center. On the way, he and I got to be good pals. I wished he had remained there because he was a very nice guy. It turned out well for me anyway. From that gig, I got a reputation as a good blues guitar player. One of the student leaders on base was from the south and loved blues guitar. I had never met him but he knew of me and asked me to come play for him. In return, he promised to spit-shine my boots. Later, my roommates in the barracks found out that this same student leader had ordered a surprise inspection and our squadron’s entire shift had to fall out and stand at attention while he went up and down the line gigging troops for little things like unstarched shirts, etc. My roommate told me the guy had a reputation for being especially tough and strict, what we called "spit and polish." My boots looked awful by the time of the surprise inspection because I hadn’t touched them since he shined them. When he got to me, my roommate who was standing next to me heard him whisper, “Vince, what happened to your shoes?” He let me go with the excuse that I was a road guard and that I had “probably stepped in a puddle or something.” My roommate’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t believe that I had gotten off without punishment! Hahaha!  I don't have a '66 photo but here's one of me in khakis in 1967 |
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