Trip to Hue
By John 'Z' Zimmerman
Radio Relay Maintenance
1965-1967
Just after I arrived in Phu Bia, Viet Nam I got a call from the Marine MP’s in Hue saying that they had one of the airman from our unit under arrest for drinking in a off limits bar. They were going to hold him in jail until someone from our unit came to take custody of him. I asked where they were located and that I would be there in an hour. Hue was about 10 kilometers north of Phu Bai. I would just follow highway 1 north for 10 kilometers. I don’t think there was a highway 2, so I could not get lost. Highway 1 within Phu Bai was just like the highway between Bien Hoa and Saigon; it was filled with military vehicles. I grabbed my M-16, jumped in the truck and headed north on highway 1. It took less than 3 kilometers for me to realize that highway 1 outside of Phu Bai was not the same as the highway between Bien Hoa and Saigon because I was the ONLY military vehicle on the road. The road was full of traffic, but they were all Vietnamese. I picked up a Marine hitchhiker in hopes that he would be going to Hue, but he was only going a few kilometers down the road. When the Marine got out, I put a round in the chamber of my M-16, engaged the safety and laid it in the seat beside me as I still had 5 kilometers to go…
I found the MP station, picked up the wayward airman, gave him my M-16 and headed back to Phu Bai. The rest of the trip was uneventful, with the exception of being scared as hell.
This adventure leads into my birthday adventure.
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John 'Z' Zimmerman
Radio Relay Maintenance
1965-1967
(For John's contact information email Don)
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