Michael Francis Trochan - You Just Had to Be There

You Just Had To Be There

By Michael F. Trochan

I have been watching The Bob Hope United Service Organizations (U.S.O.) Christmas Shows with the Troops with my family, since I was about 4 years old.

Bobs loyalty to the Troops was at the highest level. He went where the Troops were and if there was a war going on, Bob became more determined to see us.

Bob made the Troops the stars, the audience was the Show.

It was inspirational for me to see and hear the people singing Silent Night together at the end of the Show.

Bobs U.S.O. Christmas Shows with the Troops had meaning and is now History.

I wrote about my particular set of circumstances: leading up to the Show, at the Show and then after the Show.

Copyright 2005 Michael F. Trochan.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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Note for Librarians: A cataloguing record for this book is available from Library and Archives Canada at www.collectionscanada.ca/amicus/index-e.html

ISBN 1-4120-6102-4

ISBN 978-1-4122-3694-2 (ebk)

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This book is dedicated to the Troops!

Contents

Chapter 1
Camp Eagle

Chapter 2
The Tower

Chapter 3
After Guard Duty

Chapter 4
Permission To Go To Da Nang

Chapter 5
Going To Da Nang

Chapter 6
Freedom Hill

Chapter 7
The Bob Hope Christmas Show

Chapter 8
Going Back To My Company

Chapter 9
Camp Eagle

Chapter 10
Memories

Chapter 1 Camp Eagle

I arrived in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam on 9-14-70. After about 3 days of processing in, I was given orders to go North to Camp Eagle located near Hue and Phu Bai. It was the Headquarters of the 101 st Airborne Division (Airmobile). Airmobile is moving Troops by air; in Vietnam usually by helicopters. I was going to be a Screaming Eagle, which was the name given to a member of the Division.

At Cam Ranh Bay, about 20 more names were selected, mine included, for the next flight going North to Da Nang. Occasionally, I would see G.I.s walking in the opposite direction, all dressed up in their uniforms, getting ready for their flight to go back Home. I was very happy for them and they all had various ribbons and medals on their uniforms that they received. They all finished their tour of duty and I was just beginning to do mine. The group that I was with took the next step into the unknown and boarded a C-130. A C-130 is a plane with 4 large propellers and can carry a lot of Troops and cargo. After we landed at Da Nang, we were given some free time before our next flight to go further North to Hue and Phu Bai. I took this opportunity to walk out of the airport to do a little exploring. I discovered a mess hall that served ice cream. A mess hall is a place where Troops have meals. I had 2 or 3 dishes of vanilla ice cream. This was a big treat for me in about 90 degree temperature and I didnt know when I was going to get my next ice cream.

It was beginning to get dark and time for me to get back to the airport. We all boarded another C-130 for a flight to Camp Eagle and Camp Evans areas located near Hue and Phu Bai. I was 22 years old at that time and noticed something very real. Most of the guys that I was with were 18, 19, 20, 21 years old and I was considered, by some G.I.s, a little old at 22. I believed that most of us wished; we were back Home, going to school, working or just going to the beach. When we landed at the airport at Camp Eagle and Camp Evans areas, it was about 10 P.M. and we were all taken to a training area and assigned to a temporary hooch. A hooch is a small house. We were told; that this was going to be our Home for about a week, while we went through training on a variety of things that we needed to get familiar with, for the war in Vietnam.

My favorite training was rappelling out of a tower about 40 feet high. Rappelling is when someone throws a rope out of the top floor of the tower; then you are hooked up to the rope in a harness and given a pair of gloves. Next, someone asks you to grab the rope with your hands and then asks you to jump out of the tower. We were taught how to slide down the rope to the ground. I was really feeling good at that time and asked one of my training instructors, if I could get some parachute training and make a couple of jumps out of a plane. He smiled and said no, that it wasnt part of our training in Vietnam. My Dad was a paratrooper in World War II and I thought it would be nice to follow in his footsteps a little.

We had some funny moments in training. One time, about 50 of us, went out on patrolling exercises on base. While walking down this road, we came across a puddle of water on the road. All the guys in front of me walked to the left side of the road and up a small hill to bypass the water. I wanted to show all the guys that I didnt mind getting my boots wet. I walked through the water like I did when I was a little boy and before I knew what happened, I found myself literally up to my neck in water. I was standing on my toes with my rifle above my head, then I turned around to go back but there was one of our dedicated training instructors about 2 feet behind me up to his neck in water, ordering me to go forward. I went forward and fortunately the water wasnt any deeper and we both got out of there. The training instructor was determined to teach me to stay with the group the next time and believe me, I did.

After our training, we were driven in trucks to the different companies that we were assigned to. I went to a Company at Camp Eagle. At about 9 P.M. I was given a cot, air mattress and blankets. Next, I was assigned to a hooch to live in.

In October, I talked to a few Troops about The Bob Hope Christmas Show that they saw in December 1969 at Camp Eagle. That was about 10 months earlier and 1 guy in particular was still talking about Connie Stevens, while praising Bobs Christmas Show. He said to me, that you just had to be there. Lucky for some of them, they were going through processing out to fly South, back to Cam Ranh Bay. Their tour of duty was almost up and were getting ready to go back Home.

We all had our jobs to do. My job was Avionics, repairing radios on aircraft. At Camp Eagle, it was mostly radios on helicopters. After breakfast, our daily routine was morning formation, where we were given up to date news and work assignments. When we got dismissed from formation, we walked and policed our Company area. Thats when we checked things out and picked up trash that was on the ground. Occasionally, a C-130 would fly overhead, about 250 feet off the ground. It would fly back and forth over Camp Eagle appearing to be letting us know; that they knew, we were still there.