I wrote these stories in my spare time shortly after I returned from Udorn in 1974, my second Southeast-Asian tour. They're pure fiction, though I've certainly drawn from things I observed both at Udon Thani and at Ubon Rachthani.
The Klong is based on a long boat ride through the Bangkok klongs to which I was treated by the owner of the Nana hotel. The Nana was the R and R (rest and recuperation) hotel of choice for members of the 505th Tactical Control Group, and, of course, for the members of the 621st Tactical Control Squadron, which incorporated the remnants of the 505th. Several of us were invited to spend three days at the Nana. We were paying guests, but the owner took us to lunch and took us on the klong tour. Since we weren't ordinary tourists the tour was one to remember.
One More For The Ditch is pure fiction, but one night in the Udorn officers' club I heard a guy at a nearby table say almost exactly what Palmer said just before Burdick got up and stumbled out of the bar.
Nothing like the story in The Monsoon Season actually happened, at least while I was at Udon Thani, but the sights and sounds are the sights and sounds of nighttime downtown Udon Thani in the early 70's. I actually was in a samblao race or two with other members of the outfit, so that part is based on real recollections.
The Island Paradise is pure fiction too, but once the idea that the war was over really sank in some people began finding unusual diversions to kill time until their tours ended and they could go home. We still trained and worked hard to stay combat ready but the life and death urgency of day-to-day combat in Cambodia gradually slipped away, leaving thousands of people eleven thousand miles from their families with too much spare time on their hands. Some took it more or less in stride. Others frayed a little at the edges.
Russ Lewis
May 17, 2004