Pause and Remember

In the beginning of 1971, the enemy attempted another nation-wide Tet offensive in South Vietnam. Through the night at DaNang we were hit several times by alternating rocket and mortar attacks, and there was a lot of action at the gates. The same was happening at most bases all night. Chu Lai, south of us, was almost overrun. The enemy's effort failed and everything went back to normal operations by the next morning. A couple of days later I was driving my jeep around the north end of the runways, past an isolated area where the morgue was located. They were stacking steel caskets 4-high on a 40 ft flatbed truck, to be taken to the aircraft for the trip home. Even after this many years I am sometimes given pause to recall that moment and wonder about their moms, dads, brothers, sisters, sweethearts, children, friends...