when Howard and I did 11 tours of duty on the ground behind the lines.
Part 1
It started back in 1954 when I first met Howard as my troop carrier landed on the shore of Cambodia. My unit landed in the water about 20 feet from the shore. We were supposed to deboat on the sand, guess nobody told the driver. One second I'm on the carrier and the next I'm over my head in that dirty scummy muck the 'Cong calls the ocean (we call it "the latrine"). A hand reaches down and yanks me out. As I'm gasping for air and puking up that feces laden liquid, some tall, skinny guy is screaming at me "Where are the noses! Where are the ears! I need new noses!" I thought I wasn't hearing right. Maybe I had gook shit in my ears? Then I realized the scarecrow was wearing a bandolier of dried mushrooms! Well I thought they were mushrooms, but they were really petrified noses and ears taken from gook prisoners. The scarecrow was Howie and the mushrooms making up his belts were noses and ears he collected as souvenirs!



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