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0689-VTN-062014
David A. Flynn
E-5
U. S. Army
Vietnam
Dates of Service: 01/08/1969 - 10/23/1970
Radio Telephone Operator, 4th BN, 31st Inf Reg, 196th Light Inf Bde, Americal Division
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David A. Flynn was born in Stearns, Kentucky in 1948 to James L. and Margaret Walls Flynn. James was a coal miner at the time and Margaret was a stay-at-home mom. David has one brother and two sisters. After moving to Muncie, Indiana, David attended Jefferson Elementary School where he played baseball and basketball. He was . credit away from graduating from Muncie Central High School when he left in 1966 but he received his GED in 1992. In December 1968, he was drafted and reported to Fort Knox, Kentucky for basic training. After Advanced Individual Training at Fort Lewis, Washington he was sent to Vietnam arriving in Cam Ranh Bay in October 1969 then on to Chu Lai and Landing Zone West where he was made one of three Radio Telephone Operators (RTO). In his opinion, rotating soldiers in and out like they did in Vietnam made the unit stronger because the guys who had been there the longest could teach what they had learned and then pass it on to the next guys as opposed to a whole unit coming in and then leaving with their experience and knowledge. David was given the name "Wrapo" because he was always talking on the radio, rapping. He remembers that on Christmas day the Army was determined to give every soldier a hot meal. Since Ho Chi Minh declared a cease fire day so choppers brought the food to Million Dollar Hill in Mermite food containers. He will never forget how happy they all were to receive the hot meal. David remembers that although he did not see drugs in the field, he did see it on the LZs, mainly pot, that little kids would bring and trade for cigarettes. He saved over 300 letters he received from his fiancee buying a suitcase in Chu Lai so he could carry them home. He would read five or six at a time and keep them in plastic bags and then take them back on his stand-down to store them. He was in the field for 60 days at a time then went to "Stand-down" where he could take a shower, get a hair cut, clean socks, fatigues and boots if he needed them. He also had time to relax, write letters, and make phone calls on the Wide Area Telephone Service (WATS) line. David spent his R&R in Hawaii with his fiancee and his brother and dad. He was wounded three times receiving two Purple Hearts. David married and had two children and later remarried so he has a blended family with four children. He retired with 39 . years from GM but in 1987 began DJing for parties, weddings and class reunions at his family's restaurant, The Scotch Mist. He learned in Vietnam to enjoy life to its fullest, because it could be gone in two seconds. So he drinks his beer, plays music, and golf, dances, mows his own yard and has a dog.