Michael Thomas Ford - Full Circle by Michael Thomas Ford

Author:Michael Thomas Ford [Ford, Michael Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-05-14T06:55:11+00:00

CHAPTER 30

In April of 1972, giant pandas Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling arrived at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., a gift from China's Chairman Mao to commemorate the recent diplomatic thaw between our two countries after a visit by President Nixon in February. Excited zoo-goers waited hours in line for a glimpse of the black-and-white bears, while Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling, oblivious to their role as goodwill ambassadors, sat in their bamboo-filled enclosure and peered back at their visitors with the inscrutability for which their countrymen are famed.

The same week the pandas came to Washington, I left Vietnam bound for San Francisco. I was a few months shy of both my second anniversary at Quan Loi and my twenty-second birthday. I felt much older than I was, because of what I'd seen during the past twenty-two months, but also because of my health. In January, I'd contracted a gastrointestinal parasite, and ever since I'd been fighting a running battle with my bowels. It was this that had earned me a premature release from duty and a seat on the Continental Airlines Freedom Bird that lifted me from the airstrip at Bien Hoa and carried me across the Pacific Ocean.

My new assignment was to be at the Presidio, the military base on San Francisco Bay. Built by the Spanish in 1776, it had subsequently been a Mexican garrison until it was taken over yet again in 1846, this time by U.S. Army troops, who repaired the fort's adobe walls, which had gradually washed away during years of winter rains, and established it as a key military outpost on the West Coast. It would remain so for the next 148 years, changing and growing continuously as army soldiers used it first as a base of operations in campaigns against the Modoc and Apache Indians in the U.S. and Pancho Villa in Mexico, then as a coastal defense site in World War I, and later as a point of embarkation for the Pacific Theater during World War II.

It was also home to Letterman Hospital, which had cared for sick and injured soldiers during every military conflict since the Spanish American War. The largest facility of its kind, Letterman had seen many cases of men returning home from tours abroad with all manner of exotic flora and fauna inhabiting their innards, and it was to be my first stop upon arrival. Following the eradication of the bacteria currently using my intestines as a Slip 'N' Slide, I was to report for duty in the quartermaster unit, where I would serve out the remaining months of my enlistment.

I was thrilled to be in San Francisco. My enthusiasm for the city hadn't died since I'd first seen it during my layover on the way to Vietnam, and I'd specifically requested to be stationed there. But I wasn't excited about the city just because it was beautiful. I was excited because Andy was there. He'd survived the surgery and had, in fact, been far luckier than the pessimistic medic had supposed he might be.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.