Posted 14 years ago
VikingFan82
(373 items)
My parents have this big hope chest where they keep old photo albums and family heirlooms. My mother's wedding dress and my father's army uniform are stored in it. This item I have seen many times and always wondered about it. I have always thought of it as a cross between a chopstick and a bullet...haha. For whatever reason I had never asked my father about it until a week ago. It is his short timer's stick from when he was stationed in Korea during the Vietnam War. Some of you vets will better be able to explain what they are.
KAL 007...The plane that was shot down by the Soviets in the 80s?
My father had his orders to go to Vietnam in late 1967 and was waiting to ship out when the USS Pueblo was taken. He was instead shipped to South Korea near the DMZ where he stayed for 13 months.
Someone must have had a production going. My father received the same exact style stick during his time in Korea. There was a small base on Wolmi-do Island (peninsula now) near Incheon.
A short timer is someone with under 90 days left before they get on the freedom bird and go home. I got mine in Vietnam in 68. When we got down to 52 days we opened a deck of cards sorted them and threw one card away every day. We also crossed off the days on a short timer calendar.