I was originally assigned to Ft. Lawton in Seattle. When I went to Ft. Lawton to report for duty I found that my orders had been changed to go to Ft. Lewis.

So I reported to the 80th Ordnance Battalion at Ft. Lewis. I was assigned to lead a laundry platoon.

We were not able to get base housing for quite a while. For a short term we stayed with Louise's parents in Seattle. I drove to Ft. Lewis to work. Very soon we got a room at the Rose Garden Motel in Tacoma. It was an absolute pit.

So I worked at the 80th Ordnance Battalion for a while. My platoon and I operated a field laundry on Ft. Lewis. We washed wool blankets for units stationed at Ft. Lewis.

Finally, we got base housing. The base housing was much better. Our neighbors were pretty much people in the same boat as us - young officers and their families.

After I had been with the 80th Ordnance Battalion for a while I was transferred to the U.S. Army Dispensary at Ft. Lewis. It was actually a part of Madigan Hospital.

While we were at Ft. Lewis trouble erupted in the political life of the United States.

First, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. All personnel on Ft. Lewis were alerted to be prepared for action in Seattle. All personnel on Ft. Lewis had to stay on base.

Then on June 5, 1968 Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated.

These two events together had a major impact on the United States.

On July 2, 1968, our son, Todd, was born. He was born in Madigan hospital. Louise had to stay in the hospital. I was not even allowed to visit Louise before the birth. We moved to a bigger apartment on base after Todd was born. We moved from a one-bedroom apartment to a two-bedroom apartment.

Here is a picture of Louise, Todd, and Barb and Al Zapalo (neighbors of ours at Ft. Lewis).

Al is wearing his dress blues for the occasion. We did a pretend christening of Todd that day. Louise's grandmother had made a christening gown for Todd. We were not and are not religious. But we did not want to offend Louise's grandmother in Scotland. So we all dressed up (Al and I in our dress blues) to take some pictures of the christening.

During February the Tet Offensive occurred. Click here and here to see a couple web sites about the Tet Offensive. That set in motion the need for more officers and troops in Vietnam. Sometime in August or September I was alerted for deployment to Vietnam.

Before I went to Vietnam we went back to Fargo. While I was in Vietnam Louise lived with her parents.