 |
| Sailors from aircraft squadron VAQ 130 aboard the USS America enjoy liberty in Hong Kong in 1968 during a break in action from the Vietnam War. Ken Palke is third from right. |
Whenever I hear The Animals' song "We Gotta Get Out
of This Place," it reminds me of the 1960s, the Vietnam War and being
homesick. Sometimes thinking about it still gives me a little knot in the
stomach.
In 1968, I was a 19-year-old sailor in the Navy. My ship,
the aircraft carrier USS America, had
recently docked at Subic Bay Naval Base on a deployment to Yankee Station in
the South China Sea off Vietnam. The ship had stopped at The Philippines port
to replenish food stores, ammunition and other supplies. When the new airplanes
were hoisted aboard the 1,000-foot carrier, we knew we were bound for the war
and round-the-clock air operations.
Meanwhile, the crew had liberty every other day during
the five-day port call. On my first liberty, a couple of saltier (experienced)
shipmates took me to Olongapo, a city adjacent to the base known for its
raucous bars, restaurants and hotels . . . and for its anything goes attitude.
On the next liberty, we traveled by landing craft to
Grande Island, a Navy recreational center in the middle of Subic Bay with
hiking trails, ball fields, coral beaches, swimming and a huge enlisted
sailors' club with plenty of food and drink.
We spent the last few hours of our liberty at that club
sipping San Miguel beer and listening to a small rock band. As the musicians
broke into "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," dozens and dozens of
sailors and Marines stood up and began cheering and singing along. Soon
everyone in the place (200-300 people) jumped up and joined in singing "we gotta get out of this place, if
it's the last thing we ever do. 'Cause, girl, there's a better life for me and
you." It was a thrilling moment and sent shivers down my spine.
We soon learned that most of the singers were from the
carrier USS Enterprise and were sailing
home after a 10-month Vietnam deployment. I was happy for those guys, but felt
pangs of homesickness as I knew we had many months left to go before returning
to the U.S. Our war was ahead of us.
I was reminded of that day in Subic Bay recently when
reading Dean Ellis Kohler's enjoyable memoir, "Rock 'N' Roll Soldier"
(HarperCollins, 2009). Kohler was an Army military policeman serving in Qui
Nhon, Vietnam, in 1967. He was a guitarist and formed a rock band with fellow
soldiers to pass the time during off-duty hours.
With encouragement from his commanding officer, Kohler's
band began entertaining troops at Army clubs and remote fire bases to help buoy
morale. He describes one particularly harrowing truck trip to an outpost near
Pleiku. The mountainous area had been infiltrated by enemy soldiers, that fact
brought home by the "unmistakable clatter of machine guns strafing a
mountainside nearby and the echoing explosions of air-to-ground rockets."
The music at that remote fire base that day brought the
soldiers closer together, "trumping everything . . . doubt, fear and death"
. . . at least for those few hours, writes Kohler. When the band began playing
the soldiers anthem, "we were all on our feet, singing at the top of our
lungs: "We gotta get out of this
place. 'Cause, man, there's a better life for me and you."
As those song lyrics so aptly illustrate, soldiers and
sailors would rather be anyplace else than fighting a war, whether it be in Vietnam,
Iraq or Afghanistan
(Note: More
information about Kohler's book is available at www.deankohler.com. Co-author
of the book is Susan VanHecke).
 |
| Ken Palke on USS America's flight deck during 1968 port call in Hong Kong. |
