After three glorious weeks of in-country rest and recuperation (R&R) courtest of the Navy admin types at Naval Spercial Warfare Group, Pacific, in Saigon, we finally received word that we had a flight! 

The Navy had made arrangements for us to catch a C-118 four-engine (prop) transport from Ton Sun Nhut to NAS North Island in San Diego, California.  Unlike the USAF, the Navy's organic airlift was still making due with piston engined relics from the 1950's -- in this case the Douglas DC-6 (or C-118 in its military paint job).

On or about 1700 we all mustered at the TSN Operations (Navy) for our flight.  We were all checked in by the petty officers and put on the manifest for the flight.  It was then that we found out that the in-bound flight was not scheduled to arrive until 2230.  So, while most of the enlisted types hung around the ops shack, our officers decided to adjourn to the Officer's Club nearby to down a quantity of "adult beverages."

We were all ready to go.  The problem was the arrival of our aircraft was delayed.  About 2100 we received word that the arrival time had been moved back to midnight.  I got the duty driver to take me over to the O-Club to update our officers of the change in plan.  Since the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) required all passengers to be in operations at least an hour before the flight, I told my OIC that I would be back for everyone not later than 2230.  He said he'd have everyone tracked down.

Well, 2230 arrived and our slightly tipsy group boarded the pickup.  However, we were short a couple of people when we got back to ops and counted noses.  So, it was back to the club in the pickup to corral our wayward charges.  We finally tracked them down and it was now about 2315 when we got back.  Then we were told that the aircraft's arrival time had been pushed back to 0100.  Everyone was in a pretty sour mood by this time, but there was nothing that anyone could do except sit and stew.

About 0115 on 29 November 1970, our C-118 drew up to the ramp before operations.  All of us lined up in the order specified on the manifest to board the flight.  One of the rules was that you had to make the climb up the boarding ladder on your own; you could not be helped if you were intoxicated.  Some of us were feeling very little pain at this time, but everyone was resolved to get aboard the aircraft if they had to crawl up the ladder.

We all entered through the huge cargo door just behind the cockpit on the left side of the aircraft.  We all found our seats and since this was a combination passenger/cargo flight, the two rows of seats all facing aft (military seating is the opposite of commercial aircraft) extened about half way down the fuselage.  The remainder of the interior was filled with cargo and a couple pallets of box lunches tied down by cargo nets.

After we'd taken on fuel, the cargo door was closed and latched.  The engines were fired up one by one and the pilots and flight engineer completed their pre-takeoff checks.  By 0220 the brakes were released and we began out taxi to the main runway.  At 0230 we were wheels-up and on our way to NAS Atsugi, Japan.

About 1730 that day we dropped in at NAS Atsugi to overcast, drizzle, and 35 degrees.  Quite a change from the high 80's degrees and 90 percent humidity we left in Saigon.  It was night at Atsugi and our turn around time was just long enough to grab chow, refuel, and be on our way.  That is, after we observed arrival protocol.

Arrival protocol at Atsugi consisted of two hospital corpsman in heavy Navy peacoats with clipboards standing at the entrance of the open cargo door asking all of us to show them our yellow shot (innoculation) cards.  There was a lot of grumbling as people rummaged about for their cards while we all slowly froze in the cold, damp air that howled in through the open cargo door.  Most of us had left our foul weather jackets or field jackets packing in our seabags; the seabags were in the cargo hold beneath our feet. 

As we cleared the health inspection we made our way down the boarding ladder to the chow hall.  The only thing that I remember about the food was that it was hot.  Hot food was certainly appreciated after that cold, rainy walk to the terminal.  While we were being fed, we changed flight crews.  The ground crews serviced the aircraft and loaded more box lunches for the next leg of the flight that would take us to Wake Island.  About an hour an a half after our arrival at NAS Atsugi, we were on our way to senic Wake Island.  Most of the flight between Atsugi and Wake was a total loss for me; I did my best to catch up on my sleep.