Seabee71.com

Wednesday, March 11, 2020


Hello David,

Let me identify myself: I am John Dice and I served in MCB 71 for the 2 tours in Vietnam. I was a construction electrician in Bravo company.

I just finished your book and wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed it. I have one very good friend left from the in- country days and we exchange a Christmas card every year.


My wife also was in the Navy and served during the Cuban missile crisis. We have 3 boys which are grown and live near us.

Our family is close by. My wife has Parkinson and I am her caregiver.

 

Your book: It really brought back memories. When the A6 fighter dropped the 500 pound bomb, we thought the mess hall was coming down on us.

Also, you described the malaria pill so that if a person was not there they would understand what it would do to you.

We did a lot of work around Chu Lai and I was proud to be part of it. 


Dave, there is no need to answer this as I know that you are busy.

I hope that you get this. Please take care and thanks again for writing this book.   

Good health and best regards, John Dice, CE2

Letters From The Crew

A few readers have sent in their stories and response after reading Seabee71 in Chu Lai. Send me yours and I'll include them here. Or, let me know if you'd rather have your comments includsed.

This from Craig Wood, EO2

   Dave, just a few notes for starters in case no one has pointed them out.

     Page v bottom of page Cupo was an EO2 not BU2.

     Page 83 we used diesel fuel not gasoline on the waste drums. Gasoline probably would have sent a few home with burns.

     Page 88 & 215 according to his daughter Brown passed away in 1974.

     Page 88, I started the softball team - so if Conroy was the coach I let him be. I was playing hi caliber fast pitch at Whiting Field, FL before I left for heavy equipment operator school in 1966. I was always giving it to Conroy because he was so green.

     Page 90 Tom Wyckoff and I were good friends, so we played a lot of basketball together. I don't remember the game, but Tom was probably sweating so much he couldn't hang on to the ball to score.

     Page 220 Bill Sipple - fifth line from the bottom- word should be when instead of went he got back.

     Good book for a dyslexic person - not easy to overcome.


We lived in the cottages mentioned on page 63 also. I was an EO3 at the start of 1967 and was an EO2 in November. I was on the rock crushing crew for most of the tour. I had never done anything like that before, but I was put in charge of the day crushing crew sooner than I wanted. In 1968, I was sent to Phu Loc to run the night rock crushing crew. 500 watt lights lit the place up, so that people in Phu Bai saw the lights. Amazingly we only got hit once between May and December. About 7 of us managed to get nailed by the first mortar round that landed. Lots of stories about that deployment could be told. I was a total misfit for the Seabees - don't smoke, drink coffee or alcohol. 

     When I got home in December of 68, I got out 10 months early due to the fact that I served 2 full tours and they couldn't send me back. I was an air traffic controller at Chicago Center after that for 9 years. 3 years later when I was working at O'Hare we went on strike. Best job I ever had, but the government wouldn't stop playing stupid games. I was a nuclear power operator for 15 years when I retired from that. I went back to work for the government as a hydro power plant operator out west and ended up with over 29 years working for them total at different dams. I retired last June maybe for the last time, cause no one will hire a 73 year old. 

     Enjoyed the book more than the tours. Our oldest daughter was born during our first tour, so 53 years later we are still married. 


Excellent book to read: www.alfredthebook.com

Thanks, Craig Wood