On my last day in Vietnam, I signed out at 45th engineer Group Headquarters, sent my trunk of whatever possessions I had to be shipped to my home of record in Ohio and went to an out-processing center in Danang to be tested for illegal substances and sent home, if I passed the urine test. The DC 10 jet was packed with 210 people in Danang. After taxiing onto the runway, most of us seemed to be quiet or engaged in conversation with our seat neighbor. Going down the runway with increasing speed the jet seemed to generate total silence in the plane, until we broke ground and, suddenly, there was a spontaneous roar of 210 new Vietnam Veterans with more enthusiasm than the best sports victory we had ever seen. Incredible feelings of intense relief poured through all of us at the same moment.
We made it!
