I'm not sure after all these years if this really happened or not but it certainly seemed real. It was Christmas week and I was very, very short. I had less than a week left in country. I had given my M-60 to someone else and was biding my time; thinking about that Freedom Bird.

We were getting resupplied and I was on the radio giving an LZ brief to the chopper pilot. I popped a smoke and the CH-46 landed in front of me. Suddenly Santa Claus came out of the chopper carrying our mail and other supplies; I can't remember now exactly what else he had. The shock of seeing him was strong-that red outfit in the middle of all that green.

But the best was yet to come. Right behind Santa came one of his helpers. It was an American woman also dressed in red and white with a VERY short skirt on. She was only the second American lady I had seen in my year over there. Of course the chopper couldn't stay long on the ground. It seemed as if they were there just a few seconds. Santa's helper kissed me on the cheek and then Santa, his helper, and the chopper were gone.

As I said I'm still not sure if it all happened. It reminds me now of something out of a bad Vietnam movie. Maybe something made by Francis Ford Coppola. If it was a dream it's stayed crystal clear in my mind for 30 years.

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