‘I would do it all over again,’ veteran says

“You don’t realize that you’re there until you actually get off the plane and feel the heat, get your bearings,” Taylor said. “You’re looking around, and I landed in Cameron Bay, and I couldn’t believe how beautiful the country was. I could compare it to Hawaii or any beautiful island that you go to down in the Caribbean. It was just lush, beautiful palm trees and stuff like that, and I was just thinking to myself, ‘how could someplace be so beautiful and be so horrible.’”

Assigned to the 359th Transportation Battalion as a company clerk, Taylor stayed at headquarters doing reports and managing awards for medals. He typed with one finger on each hand the whole time and marked each passing day with a letter X on his hat. “Each day you were just hoping that you make it to the next day,” he said.

He served six months in Pleiku, where he faced a few mortar attacks close to the compound that “put me on edge for a couple of weeks,” and then merged with a bigger company in Charang Valley.

For his 21st birthday he decided to use his rest and relaxation credit the military allows to go to Hawaii for a week. He left on his birthday on July 30, 1970, for Hawaii, first flying to Guam and then crossing the dateline into Hawaii where it was 12 o’clock July 30 still. “So,” he said, “my 21st birthday turned into a 42-hour day.”

In Hawaii Taylor met up with his then girlfriend and a friend stationed on the island who showed them around, and they saw Jimi Hendrix live, a month before the musician died. “I always wanted to see him, and I got to see him. It was just completely mind-blowing.” Taylor reflected

Back in the U.S. he revisited an interest in plumbing supplies, and for 50 years he’s been in the wholesale and retail plumbing business. For the last 17 years he’s been