On graduation day in 1968 at UNT, there were only three of us in our Marine dress whites as we stood on a platform to take the oath of office. I was soon leading convoys from the DMZ to Danang. I remember the North Vietnamese rockets sounded like loud freight trains before exploding. The temperature outside would get up to 120 degrees, the dirt was brown, and the wind blew most of the time.

Eventually I was promoted to company commander and led one final convoy before we were pulled out of Vietnam and went to Okinawa, where the high was 60 degrees and I thought I would freeze.

 

 

I still have the original spring 1969 issue of The North Texan with an article about my request for Mean Green bumper stickers to put on our trucks. Sigma Nu fraternity sent 100 stickers over and I put them in the windshields for all to see. The article was titled "Erickson Trades Army Green for Mean Green in Viet Nam."

I pardoned the writer many years ago for the unfortunate mistake. There is the Army, but I am a United States Marine.

Brent Erickson ('68)
Royse City