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To Saigon via Summit
Wow! What a story.
In a real sense, the Trains and Classic Trains Forums, help hold me together. Living in Jerusalem, with my support system consisting almost entirely of my new friends here, with knowledge that any regular sibling help is gone, these Forums say that I am indeed the same person I always was and can handle the unexpected challenges that have arrived and may arrive again. They are my equivalent of your Summit.
Beautifully done. Very poignant. I was just in and out of SEA on C-130 crew in the USCG. Big difference.
Thanks for serving. I hope your return from the Nam was a pleasant one. Those were some tough years.
This interesting article reminds me of my time in the Navy during the Korean War. At age 24, I was a graduate of the NROTC program at Princeton, had served on a destroyer and a destroyer escort in the Atlantic for two-and-a half years and was frustrated that I was not in the war zone. Finally, in early 1953, in the closing months of the war, and at my request, I was sent to a minesweeper then on duty off Wonsan, Korea. On my way there, I had the pleasure of a four-day train trip from South Carolina to San Francisco and reveled in the comfort of a Pullman car. I returned from Korea without harm and will always be grateful for the calming effect of that marvelous train ride.
I remember the by-line of Ensign Jay Potter like it was yesterday. Usually in Extra 2200 South reporting on exotic engine movements but occasionally on certain more mundane subjects. Hey Jay, make the visit to Summit today. It can make a real difference in your life! From a ROTC Shavetail Army 2LT to an Annapolis Graduate!
I thought i had read every story published in my favorite magazine, Classic Trains.
Somehow I missed this one.
Thank you for the replay.
Willing to bet most of us train nuts have a favorite spot that we hold “sacred”(for lack of other words).
The Vietnam years were some strange times.
It could only have been tougher if the writer had been in country with a wife and children back home, as was the case for many of the vets.
This a great piece and I thank both the author for penning it and for Classic Trains for the repeat publication.