It’s official. Cupcake has spoken. I am leaving the Nod command post and transferring my flag to the Castle cabin Sunday to Thursday. As some may know. the reason I survived to mature my hepatitis C virus stateside is due solely to one person in my mind. But for the artful and speedy return to the USAID hospital at LS-20 Sam Thong, I would have bled out. The pilot to whom I owe so much augured in the day after I was released from the hospital for hepatitis on 22 February 1971. I never got a chance to say thank you.

I discovered his demise while working on my claim in 2008. He’s buried in Winchester , Indiana at Fountain Park Cemetery  several miles up the road from his homestead in Carlos. A last salute to an old, long-lost friend will fit in nicely with my to-do list before I punch out. I’ll probably need to refuel the Chivas bottle and add a Singha, too. Join me in Magnet, Indiana for what will probably be a memorable occasion.