We had graduated from different high schools in 1969.
We found out we knew many of the same people back home.
After describing our cars (imagine two 19 year olds
talking about cars) we realized that we had even drag
raced each other a few times during the summer before
enlistment. It relieved so much of the boredom having
someone to talk to from your home town. I'm sure it
happened occasionally in Nam but couldn't have been
common. We had some really good times together but
our name created problems. We had to figure out a way
for the villagers and particularly our baby- sans to
tell us apart. Someone decided to number us.
Since Sandy had been there first he became Sandy "mot".
I was Sandy "hai". To any civilians who happen to
read this that's "one" and "two".
Thinking about those days after all these years I
believe Sandy probably helped save my life. Rick's
death affected me as nothing else ever has. I'll never
be completely over it of course but becoming such good
friends with Sandy made the rest of my tour that much
easier to endure. Being the macho Marine I was I
could never tell him how much his friendship meant to
me. I last saw Sandy Norton December 31, 1970. That's
the day I was pulled out of the bush to rotate back to
the world. It was hard to say goodbye to those guys
but especially to Sandy.
I've tried for years to find Sandy but have not been
able to locate him or even anyone who knew him or knows
what happened to him after I left. If I remember
correctly he was due to rotate in March or April of
1971. His name is not on the Wall so I assume he
survived. If anyone reading this knows his present
location or anything at all about him I would appreciate
even the tiniest tidbit of information.
