Interview: Anthony Gale, Vietnam War

Private First Class, Anthony Gale, Vietnam War

Anthony Gale in Vietnam, pictured in the centre-bottom of the above picture.

Here is the transcript of our interview with Anthony Gale, a former Private First Class who served 3 years in the US Army and was deployed during the Vietnam War. He recounted his childhood, what influenced him to join the military, and the biggest lessons from his service experiences. He also explored the lighter moments of serving in the armed forces even during deployment, and his reflections on his time in the US military. This interview couldn’t have been done without the help of his son and my debate coach, Robert Gale, who also took part in the interview. You can view the actual recording at the bottom of the page. Read the transcript of our interview below:

Tanmay: Thank you, Mr. Gale, for taking out time and putting on a shirt for this interview. I know everyone wants to go to sleep. 

Anthony Gale: Hehe - I'm okay. I did okay. 

Tanmay: I just wanted to ask some questions about your time in the military and look at the lighter side of serving. But first of all, could you just tell us a bit about yourself, who you are, where you grew up, and what you're doing now?

Anthony Gale: Well, I'm retired now. I'm 77 years old, so but I joined the army when I was 17. My father had died. When we were 13, we went from upper middle class down to poor. Me, my brother and my sister all dropped out of school in 10th grade to go to work. We didn't have the luxury to stay in there. So I said, when I was 17, I want to join the army, get my GED, maybe go to my high school, if I score high enough, they'll give me my diploma, go to tech school, and that's what I did. So when I first got into the army in 1965, February the eighth, 1965, you never forget dates when you go in the military. I first joined. I go through basic. You take a train to basic training. They run your rampant for about six weeks. Then you go to Alabama for a CBR training. And basically you take a lot of garbage and and pretend you like it. It goes very quick. It happened very fast. Before I knew it. I was at Fort Story, Virginia with amphibs [Amphibian Vehicles]. They were showing us how to how to drive [Amphibian Vehicles]. And then, then we went to, from there, we flew to Okinawa, and from Okinawa, we everybody goes a different way. When we went to Vietnam, we all took a different route. So we went from like Wake Island to Okinawa to to Cameron Bay, Vietnam. It's kind of exciting. We got there. It was very hot, extremely. And what can I say  - has a distinctive odor to it. Once you smelled it, you never forget it. I can't explain it to you, my time went by pretty quick. Next thing you know, you're you're back in the States, but the time that I spent there, I pretty much was a stevedore, so I worked pretty hard. We were unloaded converted tankers and all kinds of cargo ships. And it was an interesting job. I left right before Tet, which was 1967 - I was here from ‘66 to ‘67 - and Tet. Half my outfit during Tet and ‘68 half my outfit got wiped out. We had M14s, which we qualified for, but we never, they never got to them, because they were so far away from where we were when they got mortared. I was very lucky, because they were offering me a lot of money to reenlist, and I didn't want to go back. I figured I was lucky the first time, and that's pretty much my story. And I got hurt. I did get injured on a ship. We had one of the steam wenches. A lot of people scurried. They they heard, they heard noises, and they thought it was incoming or something. But everybody was running, and I was the last one out. I was in the sixth floor under a converted tanker, and I'm climbing up a ladder, and I see everybody take off. And where everybody going? You know, I was a young young man, so I turned 18 in Vietnam. So I ran across a hatch, and as there was this a load swinging, and the cable snap caught me in the leg, in the spine, and that was it. I ended up spending three and a half months in a hospital, because when they cleaned it, cleaned me up. About two months later, I got gangrene, and I spent about three months, three and a half months, and then in the hospital, and then, and then after that, I ETS out for my year. Did one more year at Fort Dix, met my wife. So it all went by very fast. You know, I was young, and it was interesting. You have any questions - fire away.

Tanmay: Yeah, I was just going to go back to your time in training. Do you have any fun memories? Because I know at least for my grandfather, he had the officer who was always on his back, or the friends he made during basic training. Do you have any memories like that? 

Anthony Gale: Oh, yes, of course. I have memories of people that I've worked out with, yeah, of course, like we went through basic together, there was a guy named Gallagher, who I actually met stateside later on, which was a coincidence. We both ended up in the same field, and we just happened to remember each other from basic training, which we didn't even know each other had lived in that state, because we knew each other, but we weren't really friends. I was only close to about maybe three or four guys from my neighborhood, you know, from my area. Of Philadelphia, and he lived upstate, but it was just ironic. Later on, we ran into each other, but I got a good story to tell you. You want to hear a good story? 

Tanmay: Yeah!

Anthony Gale: When I was in Vietnam, even before I went there, I had a friend. I'm not going to mention his name, because without his permission, I won't do that. But anyways, we had a group of guys we used to hang around with. And all guys at that age, of course, were trying to pick up girls all the time. Well, this one particular guy was, he looked like Paul, Paul McCartney. He had the little droopy eyes that, you know, like the, you know, like, like the doggy, real droopy. Anyways, the girls fell in love with him. So he used to be number one guy. I always got he got the best looking girl. I got the second best looking girl, Munson and another guy, two other guys got this third and fourth when we were going out. So we always looked at him as the man. You know he was the man. Well, 45 years later, I meet him, and I find my wife finds his name, guy I went to, I was in Vietnam with, so she finds his name. I don't know where she got him on the internet. She looked it up and she found it, and he only lived maybe a mile, less than a mile from where I was living. Didn't never knew it, so I she gave me the address. I went over, left a note, told him it's the Gale Meister, that's what they called me. And I put it in his mailbox. A note, this is the Gale Meister, if it's who I think it is, could give me a call? Well, he gives me a call. You got to remember this guy was the man. Okay? He comes over with a bottle of Zinfandel wine. Okay? He's got a better rack than my wife, and he's he's wearing daisy dukes and an earring. Obviously, he's had to change. Okay, so this was like, I'm like, looking at him, and this George? little did I know. I don't even think he knew. He told me his story, but I don't even think he knew that he was gay. But here he ends up being gay, and here we thought he was the man. Goes to show you the world's crazy, but that's, that's a funny story. I shocked me. I'll tell you, I was really in shock. But anyways, that's, that's my story.

Tanmay: So you mentioned that you you're in contact with a lot of your friends. Do you still talk about your time in service, or, like, talk about funny things that you did?

Anthony Gale: Not very much. No, you'll find Vietnam veterans don't talk much about Vietnam. We don't talk about Vietnam is kind of, after going to Vietnam, you kind of forget about basic and all that that kind of goes by so fast, but we don't talk a lot about our experiences. Kind of keep it to ourselves. I don't know why that is. It's just the way we are. You know, we weren't treated very nice when we came back to the States. You know, we were spit on and we were looked at the bad guy. So we kind of don't speak about I never even told a lot of people that I was even in the service because of that, because of the problems in the 60s. You know, we were the bad guys, yeah.

Tanmay: But when you were in service, like in Vietnam, do you remember any like fun moments with like friends when you were there? 

Anthony Gale: Of course, oh yeah, we had parties. We had the best, the best of food. You know, the military, I mean T bone steaks. I mean the brothers. They would make the best T bone steaks you ever had. You know, the brothers were the best man, the best cooks. So we had good T bone steaks. We had, we had, we had beer, we had, we had everything you got in the States. You know, we had C rations too. We still had in the 60s, we still had C rations. I know they don't have them anymore, but that we still had some.

Tanmay: Did you ever get bored of the rations?

Anthony Gale: Not really. I thought the food was great. It wasn't like that at all. And we didn't have like you have today. I mean, people I talk to you today in the military, I meet a lot of them at the VA when I go to the hospital. I meet a lot of veterans today, and what they're telling me, they got McDonald's, they got burger king, I mean, it's like a different world. I mean, you know, they're in a different dimension than I I wasn't in the same world. As a matter of fact, you can't even spend 20 years in the military. It's not guaranteed anymore, just because you reenlist if you're not moving up, being grade was always a problem, but now, if your MLS is no longer existing, they just let you get they just get you out. So it's not, it ain't like you're guaranteed a pension anymore in the military. So things have changed drastically. 

Tanmay: Years after the military - you served quite well back. What are your biggest takeaways from your time in service? Like lessons, you think you learned things that you'll always remember?

Anthony Gale: That's a good question. What did I remember? Of all the people didn't treat us the way I anticipated. See I'm from the John Wayne generation, 50s and 60s. And I thought the people would be like cheering us and all when we come in, it wasn't like that at all. In fact, it was the opposite. So we got that, that feeling that they didn't like us very much, which we didn't anticipate. We thought it was going to be the we thought it was like going into going into Paris and all during the Second World War and everybody be like cheering us on, when it was complete opposite. 

Robert Gale: So what about times like when you went to Bangkok with your friends and bonding experience that are or also, how the military experience shaped you like I know when I was growing up with you, you liked things in a certain way. The military teaches you order, and you begin. 

Anthony Gale: Well, I can say things about that. I mean, it changed my life as far as the way I put my the way I line my clothes up. I mean, I mean I fold my socks up neat. I mean, I became my mom. I mean, literally, cleaner than my mom. I mean, everything has to be lined up a certain way. All that discipline stays with you the rest of your life, and it's, I think it's a great thing for any young man to serve at least two or three years. It should be mandatory in every country, because I think it's a great thing, and if it makes you proud of yourself that you've accomplished things, I mean, I was proud. I got my GED. I was proud I went to tech school, military paid for it, but I'm proud that I accomplished something, considering my brother and sister never even did that, you know, like I at least did something with my life. So how do I feel about that? I think it was the best move I ever made, going to Vietnam. I don't look at it as a downer. You know, I can look at it either way, but my feeling is best move I ever made. You know, it changed my life. I grew up, I saw the real world. 

Tanmay: Is there anything funny, something that caught you off guard, that basic training made you do, like I know socks is a funny thing, that they made you fold a particular way. But was there anything funny they made you do in basic training?

Anthony Gale: Um, not really. The only thing we ever did was run. We were always running it, you know, six was Reveley. You know, by 6:10 you were on the road, you know, running. So it's like everything happened. Like, I think the physical part was easy for me. You know, I was only 100 and maybe 60 pounds, and I went right through that. That was easy. I was in good shape. I thought I was indestructible, you know, at that age, you know, when you're when you're 17, when you go I turned 18 in there, but still, I thought I was, you know, at that age, you can do anything, you know, you got no fear. You're not afraid of anything. You know, not until you get older you start wising up and realize these things. But when you're young, you're John Wayne, you have a different mental attitude. And I had a different one when I left, I grew up and realized that, you know, this isn't the way the world really is. Now I know the way it is. I remember when General Westmoreland, you know, had people, you know, where I was, had people dump material out in the, in the South China Sea, you know. So there was a lot of things going on that you you would, you know, make your your hair spin, you know, your eyeballs spin. But it was kind of crazy compared to what you read in the in the in the VA newspaper. It wasn't like that at all. What What was what you were hearing about in the news was nothing like what was going on over there. Even the weaponry, I mean, the M 16 were malfunctioning and all they had a lot of problems with that. And you know, you know, if you don't, you don't use it, you lose it. And for allocations, it's all about allocated in order to get them, in order to go to Congress. And get what you need. You've gotta use the material. If you don't use it, you lose it. So a lot of stuff sitting in the South China Sea, you get the big picture, right? 

Tanmay: Yeah. 

Anthony Gale: But anyways, that's, you know what we learned, things like that, things that you wouldn't even imagine, like little things like that. But as far as I mean fun with my friends and you were talking about Thailand, I went to Bangkok for R and R rest and recuperation. And as all you do is party for two weeks. You know, look for girls get drunk. Oh, you know, what do guys do when they're 18 years old?

Tanmay: How do you say your relationship with other people were in your time in the military? Like you mentioned, everyone is a similar age, everyone had a similar mindset. Do you think that made you bond more together? Or, how is that experience?

Anthony Gale: We bonded it in clicks. I'm from Philadelphia. A lot of guys do the oldies, the goodies, and we used to sing music. And, you know, we, it was a mixed crowd, you know, Hispanic, white, black. And we kind of, we kind of stuck together. I was with three other guys. We, we were always doing we were from Philly, so we're always talking about things not necessarily grew up together. We just knew the same things, the same kind of music, and we were always doing music and stuff like that. In other words, yeah, you find your you find your homeboys. You know, just like in anything else, like the the rebels stay with the rebels. The Yankees stay with the Yankees. I was a Yankee, yeah. So, you know, you develop a click and you look out after each other. It's a brotherhood, but strictly that particular brotherhood, it's not necessarily every veteran gets along with every veteran from different it depends on what area you're from and the guys that you make friends with. And you need, you need friends. Definitely need to make the join some click, believe me, very good idea. So yeah, and it comes natural. It's not like you have to work at it.

Tanmay: So I'm just curious, did were your clicks more related to where you lived, or just like from Philadelphia, or was it just, oh, socially we got along?

Anthony Gale: Yeah, in my case, yes. In other cases, maybe not. I mean, you could have had a mix of people in your outfit. I was just lucky enough that, you know, all three of us are all four of us. I counted myself. We're all from the same, you know, from Philadelphia. It's just, I guess it was just luck in our favor. But, yeah, yeah. But you could be with guys, one guy from Texas another, yeah, we had guys in our barracks that were from other, you know, in our squad that were from other areas too, that we had friendships with. We were just closer. We you'll find that you'll birds of a feather cling together like, you know, it has nothing to do with race. For the first time when I really enjoyed it had nothing to do with race. It was more where you were from.

Tanmay: How did your family feel about you joining the services?

Anthony Gale: They thought I was stupid. I was nuts. They said, you're going to join the army. You know? I also took danger pay - you could take it, if you wanted to. I was going to learn something different. I was basically, I did it because I wanted to learn. I wanted to learn a trade, any trade, you know, because I didn't have any really background in anything. So I wanted to learn a trade. I wanted to get something out of the military that I could use in real life. I didn't ask for that much when I went into the service. Now, a lot of guys have I wasn't that astute about what what my rights were to be honest with you at that age. Be honest, but you don't think I was interested in was girls, hey. I mean, I'm being honest. I mean, I wasn't thinking. Like my dad had already passed. I didn't have anybody to go. Do and say, you know, what should I do? What do you think? Probably, if my father was alive, I probably wouldn't even have joined. He probably would have got me a job with him, in his in his business. He was a truck driver. So, you know, when I lost my dad, it was like I was alone. I was by myself. I had to turn I only had me to rely on. So I didn't have that luxury of having somebody to go to. My brother. He was on he he went his way. He wasn't like a big brother to me. Even though he was older than me, he wasn't really like a big brother. He went on his own way. My sister went. Older sister went her way. My mom could care less what we went or what we did, it's the way it was. So to me, I did it all on my own. I mean, I just, I made my own decisions. It was on me. So anything I did was on me. I thought, I'm going to do I'm going to learn what I can learn get out of it, what I can get out of it. And that's why I had no fear back on the Vietnam really, I was so naive, Rob, I didn't even know where I was going to be honest with you, really. Now, most educated kids with good parents, which, you know, parents that were that would really care about their kids a lot, which I didn't have, so I didn't have a good background, well, parents that really would care that much about me, to tell me all these things, like we did with you. I didn't have that. So I really, like I said, I thought, you know, this is a decision I'm going to make on my own. But I had no fear about it. I mean, I didn't think about it, which is probably a good thing, because a lot of guys that had all this fear were in worse shape than me. I've seen it, you know, they were pulling all kinds of tricks to get out. They couldn't deal with it. Didn't bother me at all. I was used to insanity, so I guess I was a harder. I was harder than they were. I mean, I seen it. Guys were doing all kinds of things to try to get out. 

Tanmay: So, you said your experience in the military shaped you to who you are now, right? And you'd say that you're a better person?

Anthony Gale: Everything I experienced in my life shaped me to who I am now, my childhood, my stepfathers, you know, I mean, all kinds of things shaped me. You know, my my bringing up everything shaped me, but I knew one thing, I wasn't going to be I wasn't going to be a bum, and I wasn't going to be a loser. I wanted to be something more than what I had, which wasn't much. That's pretty much. I consider myself very, very lucky. I went, I picked a lot of good directions. 

Tanmay: Would you recommend someone else to join the services? Like from your experience?

Anthony Gale: Absolutely, Yes! because I It all depends on your situation. If you're educated, you have good parents and you they have good businesses, and they want to get I'd say, Don't join the military. You don't need it. But if you were like me, and you didn't have any background, and, yeah, no, there was really nothing for me out there at home. There was nothing for me to do. I'd say, Yes, join the military is going to it's going to help you grow up. It's going to teach you a lot of things. It's going to benefit you. I mean, it ended up. I mean, I got free health care today. I got, I got, I got disability when I got injured. And, I mean, I got things today I would have never, never had if I didn't join the service. I couldn't even afford to retire if I hadn't joined the service. I mean, I'm very, very fortunate. They've helped me in so many ways. They helped me, gave me they they paid for my tech school. They paid for my tools. I mean, they paid me to go. I mean, they, they made me what I am today, so I owe them a lot, but not everybody is in was in my situation. So I say depends on your situation at home and what other plan, maybe your college material. I knew I wasn't - I was a sweat hog,

Robert Gale: Amongst your friends from like high school and your neighborhood, did you have anyone else at the same time enlisting? Was it just you by yourself, or was it we're gonna hey, let's a couple of us go together. Did you know of any other friends or classmates that also enlisted around the same time?

Anthony Gale: Not at all. No, I did it all on my own.

Tanmay: Do you think your experience would have been better if you knew someone going in? Or do you think it wouldn't have changed it that much? 

Anthony Gale: I wouldn't have. I don't think it would have made a difference. Because once you get into basic your friends ain't going to help you. You're going to do whatever they tell you and keep your mouth shut. That's what I did. I kept my mouth, kept my nose in the grindstone.

Robert Gale: What was the worst, craziest thing they made you doing basic like we see people crawling through mud underneath barbed wire. What was like, I know you had talked about walking through swamp, getting bitten by those green headed mosquito or flies and stuff. What was the worst? Craziest, oh, my god. I can't believe I'm doing this kind of moment?

Anthony Gale: When they were shooting over my head and I'm crawling on the barbed wire. I guess when they were firing tracers over my head, that was nerve wracking.

Tanmay: Wow. Wait, so in basic they're shooting over your head while you guys are crawling?

Anthony Gale: Yeah, showing us what it's like. Yeah.

Tanmay: did you ever think during basic This is too much on a quit, like, maybe before the tracer experience? 

Anthony Gale: No.

Tanmay: No?

Anthony Gale: No. 

Tanmay: In Vietnam, did you have a similar experience or, like, Oh, this is too much. I'm going home. Like, in terms of something wild happening,

Anthony Gale: of course, but not, not like, in other words, there were times, yeah, there were times like, you know, what am I doing here? What am I crazy? But then again, there were times where good times too. There was, like, a little of each, you know, and I will tell you, Vietnam was good and bad, just like everything else, just like stateside, you have a bad experience in the state, you have bad experience in Vietnam. So I had both. But like I said, it's a mixture, you know, hey, you make the best of it. Did I want to get out of there? God damn right I wanted to get out of it! Did I realize that when I went there? Hell no, you know, they take you when you're young and dumb, and that's the way they like it. They don't want you to know about that stuff, so, but I wasn't it didn't bother me that much like some guys, some guys were, you know, cutting themselves. They're doing everything, wounding themselves, everything to get home. I wasn't that crazy, but

there were guys doing stuff. I could tell you stories, but I don't want to get into to get into the a lot of these stories, but, but there's some crazy things people did.

You probably wouldn't believe some of the things. [They did] Stupid things. I mean, really stupid things. But other than that, yeah, that was one thing crazy thing about us, or they are another one guy, another guy used to go around everybody's bunk and do 20 push ups, but people think he was nuts. They go, yeah right, yeah, forget it. They ain't going home. Good try. 

Tanmay: Is there anything like when you were deployed, that you missed from back home, like maybe a type of food or like interactions? Is there anything you missed when you were deployed?

Anthony Gale: Um, good question. It comes to food, I to be honest with you, no, not really. Um, maybe Pizza, 

Tanmay: pizza?

Anthony Gale: A good pizza, maybe. But other than Pizza, pizza was one thing I missed. I didn't miss burgers, but I did miss pizza. We never had pizza. Never had that. Everything they had was basic food. It wasn't, it wasn't like McDonald's, anything that you buy buy in the restaurants today, wasn't something we had there. It was pretty much, you know, like hospital food, but a little better, but the quality was much better. It's like, yeah, the best quality of steaks, the best quality of vegetables, potatoes, everything was like, really well made. The chefs, you know, were really good, you know, the food was well - well made. But it was just, it wasn't the same thing. They pretty much mixed. You know, you got different things and different menus every day. You can get the same food every day.

Tanmay: Do you remember like favorite dish that they gave you in MRE or in the canteen?

Anthony Gale: Um, shit on the shingle was my favorite breakfast. Me they used to call it was kind of like a ground beef gravy. Is what that is, is cream, chipped beef on toast, on toast. But we used, they used to call it shit on the shingle, it's thinly sized, salted beef, like a white gravy. Yeah, ugly crap poured over a ton. We called you, stack up a bunch of toast, and you pour it on top of there, you know. But I we, I actually liked it. Some guys didn't like it, but most, most of us did.

Tanmay: Was there any, was there any like food on the menu when you saw you like, No, I'm never eating that. No, I'd rather like not eat at all?

Anthony Gale: Red beets. I can't stand red beets. And they always had red beets, and I hated red beets. I could never eat them. Cooked carrots and red beets and cooked peas - ugh! I know it’s funny - I like pea soup, but I can’t stand red beets. I like raw carrot,s but I can’t eat a cooked one. Don’t ask my why. My mom had to shove it down my throat when I was a little baby when it was hot. It went by so fast for me - the 3 years was liek lightening fast. 

Tanmay: So when you came back, did you try to re-create those meals or recipes of the food that you liked? 

Anthony Gale: Nah - not at all. My wife did all the cooking. 

Robert Gale: I was about to say - you definitely made mom recreate shit on a shingle because I am intimately familiar with that breakfast. 

Anthony Gale: But it wasn’t the same thing. She used to get the dried beef - it wasn’t the same thing. It didn’t even - it was much saltier than the stuff they used to make. And they used to put a lot of beef - I mean they were much thicker and bigger chunks and gravy, it wasn’t liek the type of dry beef that looks life bacon. It didn’t look like that at all - like she makes now. Looks like little bacon strips in there - it didn’t look like that - it looked like ground beef - bigger chunks, bigger chunks of ground beef. But it was good. Also, on the c-rations, I liked those little cookies in the containers - about the size of a coffee cup, it had 4 big cookies in there. They were good. Some of the things were really good, some weren’t. 

Tanmay: Is there anything you miss from your time in the services? Whether it was friends or food? Anything you miss? 

Anthony Gale: Some friendships - I had a couple of friendships. 

Tanmay: If you were to take away your biggest lesson - I served for 3 years in the armed forces, I went through all this, I met these people, did all these things, what’s the biggest thing you’ve learned as someone who has served?

Anthony Gale: One of the thing’s I’d learned? Well I didn’t even know what Marijulia was when I was, until I got to Vietnam. It was one of the things that stayed with me, I guess, the biggest shock to me, because I knew going into the garage in Philadelphia and stealing your old man’s beer you know and hitting his beers supply. We did that when we were kids - you know, that’s what we did. We were beer [and] liquor drinkers. We didn’t use drugs. I never even knew what Marijulia was until I went to Vietnam, and then I met a friend, somebody there who had it, and then I smoked my first joy, never even knew what it was, in Vietnam, and there it isn’t one guy in Vietnam who never smoked a joint in his life. We were gettiugn it from the officers or in town, in the villages, wherever you wanted to get it, you could get it just about anywhere - you could walk around with a baggie full of Marijulia and use it in a corn-cob pipe. And what you drop on the ground is probably a 50-75 dollar bag today. Every time I filled it, I would drop. It was like that. You can get it for free basically. But that was one thing that I had no idea what it was. And I don’t even use it now - I very seldomly - I think I smoked it 3 times since I’ve been back. Maybe 4. I was never really into that - I am a beer drinker or rum and cook. You know. Makes my throat dry. But other guys, they were, they loved it. But that was one thing. What is this stuff? 

Tanmay: I always remember when I was a kid, when I saw movies and posters about the army and the navy. Was there anything that shocked you about the military when you went into the military - like they made this sound better than it actually is or anything that shocked you in that way? 

Anthony Gale: No, not really - I can’t really think of one thing that actually shocked me, no, not really during training, no. 

Robert Gale: I think what he’s asking is was the military pretty much what you expeted, or was there something like wait I didn’t expect this at all - like all the movies, all the TV shows, this isn’t what I thought or was it pretty much what you thought it would be? 

Anthony Gale: Well, we went to see movies out, and we used to sit out, like the only movies we saw in Vietnam, we would be sitting out on the ground, and they’d be showing a film. And you’d be drinking warm beer or something like that, we didn’t have cold bear, and we’d be sitting there watching a movie on movie night. And it didn’t happen that often. I also went to, I did see a Bob Hope show once. You know - Joey Hetherton. 

Rob Gale: They’d bring in hot women, singers, things like that. Seeing Bob Hope was a pretty big thing, getting to see the Bob Hope USO show. 

Anthony Gale: It was a big deal, you know. That was the only entertainment I can remember. But we did have the USO, I mean, you could go there, and it actually had soft ice cream believe it or not - and custard. At the USO, you could go to the USO when you had the time to do it, and you could get some ice cream. I mean, to be honest with you, most of the time, serving in Vietnam wasn;t all that bad. You spent a lot of time waiting. 

Tanmay: Well, this has been a really insightful conversation for me sir - but the meeting has less than a minute left. Thank you so much for your time. 

Anthony Gale: Oh no problem. 

Tanmay: It taught me a lot and I think it’ll teach a lot of other people as well - like the lighter side of serving was funny - ice cream and movies. 

Anthony Gale: There was a lot of funny things that happened, you know. The thing is, I love people. I love being around people. And the things I saw were funny. No problem. I appreciate it - I had a lot of fun. 

Tanmay: Thank you so much sir for your time. 

Anthony Gale: No problem. 

Robert Gale: Thank you dad! And Tanmay, I’ll see you on Monday. Love you dad.

Everyone: By-bye.