Larry Livingston was born November 5, 1940 in Defiance, Ohio. After a year playing football at college, he decided he wanted to be a Marine parachutist, enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1960, went to boot camp at Parris Island, then infantry training at Camp Geiger. He was then sent to San Diego to electronics school before returning to Camp Lejeune, initially with a tank battalion, and finally 2d Force Recon. He left the Marines in 1965, did a short stint in the Reserves, and returned to active duty to deploy to Vietnam, where he joined the 1st Force Recon Company at Camp Reasoner in 1967. In 1968, he went to OCS in Quantico, got married, and went to MATA at Fort Bragg. In 1971, he returned for a second tour as an adviser to the South Vietnamese marines. He notes that his radio training served him well throughout his service because communications was key, and that his tank training came in handy later in his career. Livingston recalls Operation UNION I in the Que Son Valley, napalm, CS gas, and learning the valuable lesson that “you have to listen to the people that are in it.” He remembers Hue City, the Tet Offensive, strobe lights in Happy Valley, an MIA corpsman. He comments on Saigon, the Splendide Hotel, tiger stripes, tractors and water buffalo, Leatherneck Square, and the Easter Offensive. And he tells the story of Firebase Pedro, and the actions for which he was awarded the Navy Cross.