The Aviation Section Crew

 

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On Artillery Hill near Pleiku, Vietnam, was the 52nd Artillery Group,
The Aviation Section there was part of that very fine Army troop.
The soldiers who ran it were a very special group of Army men.
From all over the United States working hard in that foreign land.

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This is the picture of our aviation section crew used for reference in the poem below.

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The Aviation Section Crew

 

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The first guy on the left on the front row was Greg Mathews,
We called him “Shadow” as he was so quiet as he did choose.
He was the newest guy there that I was training to replace me.
He was coming around to be one of us, that was easy to see.

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To his right was a guy named Jerry Warren who was just a kid.
We called him “Cherry Boy” as he was as naive as a red squid.
Every one teased Cherry Boy about his lack of worldly knowledge,
Putting him through U. S. Army classes at the hard knock college,

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To his right was James Hill who fancied himself a ladies man
We called him “Lover Boy” as he told a story in Vietnam land.
He was a pretty good looking man, at least according to him.
But there just weren’t too many girls there to be his girl friend.

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To his right is Tom Stong who thought he was a real cool dude,
We called him “Little Bro” as he hung with another guy so crude.
He made up a term called “Sham” as he strutted his cool stuff,
That meant “screw off all day in the truck” when things got tough.

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To his right is guy named Linville Graham who was my friend,
We Called him “Curly Jack” because his hair was so curly then.
Curly Jack was a poet and he wrote poems in the shade of a tree,
He read some of them out loud, and they sounded good to me.

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To his right was a guy named David Stevens who read the books,
We called him “Four Eyes” as he had that thick glasses look.
He seemed to be an intelligent man as most heavy readers are,
So I’m sure after his Army service, in life he probably went far.

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The guy on the far right was named Larry Stevens, a real dude,
We called him “Sugar Bear” because he was so sweet and cute.
Sugar Bear wore fatigues that were pressed looking very good.
Trying to look his best on Artillery Hill to impress who he could.

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To the left on the back row was Joseph Mikalas a real big man,
We called him “Mountain” because he was tall and round then.
He kept the records for the helicopters up to date for all to see,
He was always smiling and joking around with everyone happily.

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To his right is a guy named Larry Spencer, a real straight arrow,
We called him “Spence”  always on the straight and narrow.
He was a helicopter mechanic that repaired and maintained,
Those choppers we had there at the Aviation Section to retain.

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To his right was a man named Kim Gordon looking a bit crazy,
We called him “Rag” because he wore dirty fatigues and was lazy
I was at the dump with him when he gave the people a spray,
With his M 16 rifle on automatic, fortunately no one died that day.

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To his right is a man named Donald Fisher who had a sharp mouth,
We called him “Big Bro” as he hung with Little Bro from the south,
He had a bit of a temper and often talked before he thought.
Sometimes his very sharp quick tongue big trouble to him brought.

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To his right is me named, Bill Low, with those muscles galore.
They called me “Old Man” because I was drafted at the age 24,
While they were all 18 or 19, so young answering the Army call.
But I was still young enough that I could keep up with them all.

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At the end of the back row was a man called Chris Seranno,
We called hm “Shark” with his poker skills we all came to know.
Shark was a buddy of mine as we roomed in the same hootch,
We had a dog named Ajax we called The White Tornado” pooch.

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We all came together there in Vietnam and did our jobs well,
From different cultures and areas of the USA, and none of us fell.
We had a purple heart or two from ground fire at our choppers,
Just lucky shots from those Vietnam Cong jungle rifle poppers.

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By Bill

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Thanks for reading The Aviation Section Crew,
Bill