Soon the days remaining in my two tours in South Korea drew near to the end. I stayed on my site at Tacoma as long as I could but time came when I had to leave and make my way north to Seoul and my Freedom Flight home. I cleared out (processed) of my company at Taejon, turned in my M-16 which replaced our old M-14, some other field gear and said my good byes at base camp and Richmond Site.

I was also able to stop off at my old site Bucket and visit friends including Jim Hinkle. They threw me a couple of going away parties in the "Vill" and drove me the rest of the way to Kimpo Air Base near Seoul when it came time to depart for the U.S. While I was at the air terminal waiting for my flight I met up with my old friend Val Buchanan from Salem Site. We had also gone to Basic Training together at Ft Ord and then on to school at Ft. Monmouth.

While we were talking we met two guys from the 38th Artillery Brigade that went to Basic Training with us. Their names are Sp/4 Ron Eide and Sp/5 Bill Worley. Between Feb. and May 1968 we were all in Co B, 2nd BN, 3rd BDG and went through Basic Training together at Ft Ord, CA. It was a short but nice reunion but we had no idea we had been stationed on artillery and radio sites next to each other all this time.

That is the way it was though. You never knew who you were talking to on the radio, phones or who you were providing signal services to except in a general way at best. Circuits were numbered, locations were code named and the directions the antennas faced were about all you knew about the system. Many circuits were Data or Tone Pac's and not voice so you could not understand them anyhow. The only other thing you needed to know was how to keep the radios operating "5x5" (loud and strong) and stay on-line (operating) all the time.

The Freedom Bird left Korea Oct 2nd at 11:00 a.m. 1970 and flew to McChord A.F.B. in Tacoma Washington. From here we were taken to Ft. Lewis for our final processing out of the Army. I think it took two days (one night) for everything to be completed including turning in certain issued clothing including my bleached and broken-in field jacket but then it was all over. Suddenly I was out the gate and out of the Army and waiting at the SEA-TAC Airport for my plane ride home. I just had to make it through the night waiting for my flight to Ontario, CA then I would be home again. It was a long, long night but was worth the waiting as I had completed My Two Tours in South Korea.