Born and raised in Billings, Montana, John Okerman was 24-years-old when he arrived in South Vietnam in October 1968. He received a Marine Corps commission on January 1, 1968 via Officer Candidate School and was assigned and trained as an artillery officer. He describes the daily routine and living conditions of Marines on an artillery firebase and the inner workings of a fire direction center. His most vivid memories of his time in Vietnam were about his time in the jungle as a forward observer. His worst day was a friendly fire incident that killed a Marine and wounded two others. He describes a two-day in-country R&R on Cua Viet River, and meeting his fiancé, her mother, and her aunt in Hawaii for a week. Colonel Okerman is proud of his service in Vietnam. He says, “It’s not something I’d want to do on a regular basis, but I take a lot of pride in that. I think it’s the people I worked with over there. It’s being in a combat support unit and being out in the bush. I think I take a lot of pride in that. And I felt like I did a good job and made my contributions. A lot of people did a lot more, but others did a lot less, too.”

Key Words: Officer Candidate School (OCS), Continental Airlines, fire direction center, 105-millimeter howitzers, C-rations, harassing and interdiction fires (H&I), Operation Dewey Canyon, Medal of Honor, Doctor Zhivago, The Odd Couple, M*A*S*H, R&R, Cua Viet River, USO shows, Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Key Names: Lieutenant Wesley Fox, Jacqueline Susann, Carol Burnett, President Richard M. Nixon, Howard Shultz, Capt Michael R. Ross, 1stLt Daniel C. “Dutch” Nichols.