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    The China Beach Surfer
    The China Beach Surfer
    The China Beach Surfer
    Ebook48 pages39 minutes

    The China Beach Surfer

    By Robert Reynolds

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Halfway around the world in war torn South Vietnam, a number of American GIs found comfort at a rest and relaxation center on the South China Sea, outside Da Nang.  Many of these men took up the sport of surfing. China Beach Surfer tells of the difficulties a young sailor faced by not fitting in and the exciting do or die conclusion to his tale, in dangerous waters. 

     

    The author is a Vietnam Veterarn who has penned several books. 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherReynoldsInk
    Release dateJan 24, 2021
    ISBN9781393292029
    The China Beach Surfer
    Author

    Robert Reynolds

    Based in Calgary, Robert is an emerging author who spends his days working in the oil and gas industry but has been a big fan of the spy thriller genre ever since his childhood when he read one of his grandfather's original James Bond paperbacks from the late 50's. He is married with a young daughter and when he's not day dreaming about dangerous adventures in exotic locales he enjoys running and other outdoor pursuits.

    Read more from Robert Reynolds

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      Book preview

      The China Beach Surfer - Robert Reynolds

      THE CHINA BEACH SURFER

      Chapter 1

      Seaman Oscar Pratt arrived the morning of Tet—the Vietnamese New Year.  It was his first official day in-country and he was sent to help beef up security at the Bridge Ramp, where US Navy craft took on and offloaded cargo for the war effort.  The Communists Offensive had started the night before with rockets bombarding the airbase and MAG-16.

      Take cover and return fire if you see the enemy, was the order, as unconfirmed reports of sporadic pockets of small arms fighting in the city came in.

      Then as rockets rained down on the airbase, automatic weapon fire swept across the ramp during the early morning hours. Tracer rounds buzzed quick, sharp paths past the Navy security guards, like angry crimson bees.  By morning American aircraft had strafed and napalmed the rice fields south of the city.  Shortly, the gray U.S. Navy Security section bus arrived to drop off Pratt and the rest of the group.  Soon after that ARVN military vehicles began returning from the rice fields and unceremoniously offloading the bodies of their foes by dumping them on the red dirt helipad across the way. He’d been sent to the corner tower to relieve the guard who had become ill from seeing the enemy bodies thump dead on the heliport.  At mid afternoon thirty of the dead lay in a line some forty-yards from his tower. 

      Are you handling it okay? Jonesy can’t hack going back up there, the voice on the field phone said. 

      I saw him puking on his way to the front gate, Pratt said.  This place will smell of death in a few hours, but it’s not bad now.

      By nightfall on that first day of Tet, Seaman Pratt had been thoroughly indoctrinated into Da Nang West Security. 

      ***   

      What does a fellow do for relaxation when he’s not being shot at? Pratt said, after three consecutive days of being doubled up on watch. 

      Do you mean beside sleep? Benny Hargrave replied as they rode the Security bus back to Camp Carter after watch. The men on the bus were bone tired and napping. 

      It can’t always be this way, Oscar said.  Can it?

      There ain’t much relaxing, I can tell you that.

      I saw a lot of ocean on my flight in.  What happened to that?

      The rumble of the bus had begun to lull Hargrave to sleep, also, and he blinked to stay awake. 

      You’re kidding.  You don’t know that our base is practically on the water’s edge?

      I wouldn’t be asking if I knew.

      Well, yeah, the beach is a short walk, if you go for that sort of thing.

      There’s a beach nearby?

      What’d I just say?  China Beach R&R Center.  It’s a closer walk to the beach than to the Navy Hospital.

      I don’t want the hospital; at least not yet.  How far to China Beach?

      Hargrave yawned.

      It’s a ten-minute hike to the east.

      Ten-minutes?

      You’re a bit slow, aren’t you.

      I’m catching on, Oscar said. 

      *** 

      A few days later, Riggs, the mouth of Section One caught up to Pratt as they departed the security bus. I saw you on the beach. You’re a helluva surfer.

      I can hold my own, Pratt boasted.

      Southern Cal?

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