August
29, 2018 I write--
John
McCain left North Vietnam prison camp in May of 1973.
I
found but did not write the story below about Quan Loi in the same time frame.
He was still in North Vietnam when this piece below recounts. I was in 1967 at
Quan Loi, or An Loc, or Loc Ninh when John McCain was shot down in North
Vietnam.
Nothing
I can say will change what happened but I remember and hold John McCain at my
highest esteem and honor.
Saturday
he will be with 50 some odd thousand on the Wall. I remember seeing my
reflection in the Wall in 1991 and still wonder why I am on the reflection side
of the wall.
I
suspect Saturday will be a hard day for Vietnam veterans. People say we came
home changed and I reluctantly agree.
By
Rick Harris
The rest of Quan Loi was
quite desolate in this timeframe. The Helicopter Assault company had left
(summer of 1971, I think); I believe there were a few advisors with the ARVN
units on the south side of the runway. Other than that, we felt very alone. We
were mortared and rocketed occasionally, and were attacked by sappers.
As we got into the first
months of 1972 we found our teams getting into more and more contacts. We found
increased activity of bad guys, and our compound was being attacked by sappers
at night. The 74th was about to stand down and my extra 6 months was about to
come to an end. I can honestly say that I was "over" being involved
with the exciting part - these guys were trying to kill me!!. I left Quan Loi
at the end of February, 1972 just in time to escape the Easter Offensive at An Loc when the area was overrun
by the NVA. Quan Loi, itself, was overrun on
April 7, 1972.
I got home in March and I
will always remember getting my local newspaper one day in April of 1972 and on
the cover was a photo of An Loc with the caption: "The Battle of An Loc". I
think I got home right in the Nick of time.
