I am a random Bible reader and I write all over the pages.  Down the margins and the space between chapters.  It is rather like a diary.  I found a note in my Bible that I wrote to Ken while he was in Viet Nam concerning a certain scripture that applied to a problem Ken was having.

Ken had been given command of VMA 311 in Viet Nam--an A-4 squadron.  (He had been the commanding officer of another A-4 squadron for two years in Laurel Bay, S.C.  So when he went to Nam, he had a lot of hours in the A-4.)   Getting a squadron of your own during conflict, well, that was as good as it gets for a fighter pilot.  The highlight of his 21 year career.  He was ecstatic.

Two weeks later, he had to take a damaged plane to Japan and was gone from his squadron for a couple of days.  During that two days, the Commanding Officer of the group transferred the squadron a old buddy who had just checked in.  Ken was furious.  Raging mad.  The CO told Ken--when he returned from Japan--that the general had approved the change, which turned out to be a lie.

A couple of days later, General Anderson had Ken to dinner at the O-Club and asked him what he was doing in Saigon.  "I'm here by your directive, sir."  To which the General said, "What do you mean?  I thought you were at Chu Lai commanding 311."  The General knew nothing at all about it.  Heads rolled.  But it was too late because that week, the replacement CO for VMA 311--who had been given the squadron by his old pal (even though he had no experience in the airplane), killed 52 friendlies.  He and his buddy who lied were to blame for the lives of 52 Americans.  I thought Ken was going to implode.  He had spent three years commanding an A-4 squadron stateside and had over a hundred missions in Korea.  The deaths of our ground troops was unbearable to him.  The fact that a Marine Colonel had lied was unforgivable.  He was angry, beyond consolation, and his letters home were full of it. 

Continued.........