Some of the Hawaiins we picked up right after Oklahoma Hills, about the first of May. Seems like there were about 14 or so of them altogether. What a great bunch of guys. But they sure didn't have much luck. By the end August they were all gone but one or two.
Tom "Pineapple" Root is, I think, the second guy on the left in profile. He was also from Hawaii though he had been with the company for awhile. Tom would be killed by a booby trap in July.
The following is from John Domingo who went to boot camp with these men.
"In October 1968 we all went to boot camp as a Hawaiian Platoon, 80 strong. After boot camp we all went straight to infrantry training, then to staging. We went back to Hawaii, then to Nam. So, as you can see we were a pretty tight bunch. We trained together for six months. We all landed in Nam together and from there we were split up. I went up north with Echo 2/3 than to Golf on September 29, 1969 and got wounded on December 4, 1969. So I didn't last long with Golf." |
