Hitch-hike to Saigon

by Phil Rowe
I'd recovered from knee surgery in Japan and was anxious to get back to my outfit in Vietnam. It wasn't going to be easy, not for anything wrong with my knee or the availability of flights to Saigon. No, it wasn't easy because of administrative snafu's.

My travel orders sending me from Vietnam to Japan expired with the change of the fiscal year. After July first the old orders, especially the funding citations, were no longer valid. And for certain the Tachikawa Hospital wasn't going to spring for airline fare. I had a dilemma.

Fortunately, my hospital room mate was the Commanding Officer of a C-130 squadron. He came to my rescue, orders or no orders. I was simply put on the flight order as navigator and so hitch-hiked back to Saigon, in a round about way.

The round about route went from Tachikawa Air Base to Kadena, down in Okinawa, and then across the China Sea to South Vietnam. We were carrying cases of fresh vegetables, fruits and other goodies for various outfits in the combat zone. We also carried bales and bales of the "Stars and Stripes" newspapers, daily editions published in Japan. This was vital wartime cargo.

There were five or six stops along the way, including Danang, Phu Cat, Phan Rang and eventually Saigon. I was able to log several combat zone missions on the way back to my RF-4C squadron in Saigon. And I got to see quite a few places I would not have otherwise.

My arrival back at the squadron was quite a surprise, especially to those who worried about the niceties of travel authorizations, funding citations and published orders.