Letter To The Editor of ‘Call Sign Vampire’
From Bruce Nelson San Antonio, TEXAS, USA

 Dustoff  159

In today's mail, I received a copy of the July 97 Edition of "Call Sign VAMPIRE" sent to me by my good friend Brian Hansson, from Queensland. Looking at the photos and reading the articles took me back to SVN in 1970-71 and a lot of great memories.

I was the Flt Operations Officer and Standardization Instructor Pilot for the 159th DUSTOFF in Long Binh and I was fortunate enough to get to know 1AFH people through Brian, who I first met in Long Binh. When we moved our Unit from Cu Chi to Long Binh, in Nov of '70, I started flying missions down to the 1st Australian Field Hospital at Vung Tau, usually transporting oxygen tanks. I also started taking new-in-country pilots down to VAMPIRE Pad as part of their orientation ride. Sitting back and watching them make the short final approach over the wires to the PSP on a windy day was a real experience. The SGT's Mess celebrated my graduation from Instructor Pilot Training with a party the likes of which I will NEVER forget ......I found out what a Jolly Green Giant was, how good they tasted, and what they can do to your head the next morning. In August of  '71, they threw me a farewell party that required that my co-pilot fly us back to Long Binh...the junior enlisted folks invited me over to their club for the traditional chug-a-lug of a Fosters.... the result was another night at 1AFH that I won't forget.

To make a long story short, I was lucky enough to establish a lot of good friendships that have endured to this day. Looking at the group picture that accompanied the "An Ex-Medic" article in the July Edition, I recognized several familiar faces. I still stay in touch with many of these good friends I made in SVN.

I have just read over what I have written so far. I sound like an old guy reminiscing with some war stories, and I guess I am. The point is that of all the friends I made while I was in Vietnam, I feel closer to the people of 1st Australian Field Hospital than anyone else.