A some what amusing story from a Vietnam vet.
While growing up we had a small cottage in our backyard that my folks rented out.
One day a young 6' skinny (and I mean skinny) Chinese kid wearing an army uniform, just back from Vietnam knocked on our door asking to rent the cottage for he and his wife. (We lived in a predominantly white neighborhood and the year was about 1970. A Chinese kid, and Vietnam vet in our town was a head turner.)
My mom took one look at the kid and rented the cottage to him. Being 10 years old at the time i didn't see or understand the significant of my moms act.
Lenny Wong, his wife and two kids that followed became part of our family. (or we became part of his family)
Lenny was a musician who gave me music lessons, taught me about working on cars, and I even helped him prepare re-loads for his guns. Just a great guy.
One day we were talking about the war and what he did.
He told me that as a musician his job was to entertain the troops. He started to laugh while remembering a story about one of his trips to entertain the troops. He said one day their bus came under fire from an ambush. (The musicians being musicians were not given weapons as they were not to be fighting and were told not to carry weapons.)
He said the musicians opened up their instrument cases and took out hand-grenades, 45 cal. handguns. a few rifles, and if memory serves, I believe he said there was at least one M16 or such. They started tossing the hand-grenades out the windows, and fired into the brush. Nobody on the bus got hit or hurt and the ambush failed miserably. Their escorts a few regular army guys and their commander said nothing. They went on their merry way to their next gig.
And yes they continued to carry weapons.
If I can find the picture I'll post it. Its of Lenny and I in our backyard playing the Trumpet.
Dan
