Glen Dingman maintained the Army’s communications systems in Vietnam. Dingman jumped at the chance to see Bob Hope, and his entourage, perform in Long Binh on Christmas Day, 1970.

His story:

My regular duty station was Long Binh, South Vietnam. It was a huge, huge place. There were roughly 40,000 people on the base. It was very secure and I did not have to worry about security. When off duty I had my choice of three or four Enlisted Men’s clubs and within walking distance there were maybe half a dozen movie theaters. There was even an ice cream store on the other side of the base.

 Sunburn 

Bob Hope performed at Long Binh during my tour. He had the Golddiggers, Lola Falana, and Johnny Bench as part of his show. He also brought Miss World, I don’t remember her name but I think she was from Brazil, I have pictures of her. The entertainment department made an amphitheater out of the side of a valley or something. They had seating using bricks and I got a seat in the front row, center. I had a good seat until Bob’s people showed up and moved me a little bit to the side so they could build up a camera platform and a place for his cue cards. Everything he said was on cue cards. The show was two and a half hours of general variety show acts. It was very hot and all the troops cooked in the sun. We were in uniform but with our sleeves rolled up. I got sunburned with blisters from my elbows down. I was in the hospital for three days.

Sniper fire

I did go TDY (temporary duty) to Phnom Penh, Cambodia for a few days. A group of us were putting in a communications link for the American ambassador in Phnom Penh so he could have alternate communications. The other end of the communication link was in Long Binh. That was fun. We were there specifically for this task. We were told not to wear military uniforms and not to bring any weapons. There were four antennas, all about 12 to 18 feet in diameter, at the Phnom Penh Airport. You were able to bounce radio beams off the troposphere for long range communications.

I was up between the antennas when I got shot at. I heard [the bullets] pinging off the antennas. I was in between the four antennas and I jumped down from about 12 feet. I don’t know if they (the snipers) saw me or not. All I know is, when I hit the ground my toes came out and grabbed the grass. That was the first time I was shot at. I was just thinking I want to go home. At the time, the United States did not officially have military personnel in Cambodia. My daughter was 16 years old before I told anybody that story.

Hives

Near the end of my first tour, [President] Nixon and company came out with a program that said if you extend your tour six months in Vietnam you will get up to 278 days early release from your military contract. It was damn well worth it. My parents didn’t agree, but that’s okay. It also gave me 30 days of leave to go home. Just before that special leave started I got sick. I got the hives, and back to the hospital I went. The doctors could not figure out what was going on. Finally, a doctor asked me when my tour was over. I said I just extended. He asked when was I going home on leave. When I told him in three days he gave me some tranquilizers. I was so nervous about going home I got the hives. He told me to take one just before I got on the plane. When the plane landed in Japan, I took another pill and I woke up in Anchorage. Just before the flight left Anchorage I took another one, and when I woke up I was in New Jersey. The pills were great. Knocked me right out. Maybe the hives were caused by my nervousness and excitement of going back home and seeing all my friends.

Returning from leave to serve my additional six month tour extension, the flight from Travis Air Force Base in California to Hawaii was on American Airlines. The stewardesses were gorgeous. On the next leg of the trip to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines the stewardesses were a little bit older, but still pretty good looking.  From Clark to Long Binh the stewardesses were grandmothers. Not only were they grandmothers, they were mean grandmothers.

Night shift

Toward the end of my tour I had the 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. shift because I could not sleep at night. The base had what the troops called the roving howitzer. The gunners would fire it all night long. It was just harassing fire to keep the enemy away. The artillery unit would just fire random shots to keep the enemy pushed back away from the base perimeter. When I first arrived in Long Binh, the man I was replacing told me that if the roving howitzer stops firing there is trouble. About nine months into my tour they stopped firing the roving howitzer at night. I took the man’s warning very seriously, and I could not sleep at night after that.