Fate is a fickle thing and when I was stationed in Viet Nam in 1966 I experienced a rather interesting event. I worked across the river from the sprawling capital city of DaNang on a small base that was formerly a headquarter base for the French troops that had been ousted by the insurgents back a few years. I was in the United States Navy, but had volunteered for duty in country after my Class A School graduation in Newport , Rhode Island. While I certainly had no illusions of being a “ Gung Ho “ John Wayne type of combat soldier I did believe that it was just something that I had to do. Part of our daily duties were keeping the records for the subsistence office, which dealt with most of the food supplies for our base and the smaller ships that were billeted nearby. It was a great job and we had a nice office , great food and a lot of very capable and well trained soldiers guarding our encampment 24/7. Thank god for them. From time to time there would be a celebrity of one type or the other that would come over to spend some time with the troops and share some meals and general downtime with the “ dog-faces “. One morning our Lieutenant Collins came in the office and calmly announced that we would be hosting a visit from an actor from the states. ROBERT MITCHUM was in country and would be on our little base in an hour or so. I just could not believe my ears , Robert Mitchum was my mothers very favorite actor and here I was going to get to meet him and spend time with him. My heart raced as I tried to formulate what I would say, what would we do and on and on it went until I was sure that I would probably just faint dead away when he arrived. Around 12:30 p.m. he came into the mess hall to a rousing chorus of applause and much fanfare. He ate and said a few words to the men and then he was on his way across the small walkway that separated the mess hall from our office. Of course he had several high ranking officers with him and as the word spread we were soon an office of around thirty people instead of the more normal nine. The booze flowed freely and good old “ Bob “ was swilling his share and a few others as well. I am certain that he was just as nervous to be there as we were to be saddled with his safety. It was a super great time and went on for at least an hour or so. Soon one of the officers charged with his safety, jumped up and said “ where is he? “ About that time there was a screaming of sirens and horns and all kinds of commotion outside. Here good old Bob had stolen the only fire truck and was driving it around the base with the horns and sirens fully engaged. What a hoot ! Soon they managed to get him down off of the truck and whisked him away. I had already gotten his autograph from him addressed to my mother Pauline. When I told her she was very pleased and surprised . I ended up meeting Johnny Rivers and Ann Margaret as well, but not on as personal a session as Mr. Mitchum. It was a personal highlight of my life up until that point. I can tell you that he was truly both a massive man and a world class drinker as well. Those who served in country will appreciate that story and it is one that I will never forget.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 06:05:30 +0000
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