Medal of Honor (Undaunted Valor 2)

Chapter 21

Nothing Changes

“Wake up, Lieutenant Cory. You have a zero-six-hundred-hours takeoff. It’s zero five hundred hours now.” Different Ops clerk, but same wakeup announcement as the last time. Cory just needed to figure out a way to get them to bring him a cup of coffee when they came to wake him.

“Okay, I’m awake. Who am I flying with today?” Cory asked. It was his first time back in the air since returning to Nam. He wasn’t getting the usual orientation flight as he was very familiar with the area.

“You’re flying with Mr. Sinkey,” the clerk responded before heading to the next room to wake another pilot.

Great, I taught Sinkey how to fly. Let’s see if he remembers anything I taught him, Cory thought as he put on his pants. Strolling out of the hooch and approaching the piss tubes, Cory was met by none other than Sinkey.

“You going to breakfast?” Sinkey asked.

“Yeah, are you?”

“I’ll meet you over there.” Sinkey headed back to his hooch to finish dressing.

When Cory arrived in the mess hall, his nostrils flared as the smells were much better than he’d expected. Fresh-baked cinnamon rolls, cooked bacon, real eggs cooked to order, coffee that wasn’t burnt. As he moved down the serving line, it all appeared appetizing even. Standing behind the cooks, an unfamiliar mess sergeant was observing and supervising the actions on the steam line. This was a definite improvement over Cory’s previous experience.

“Good morning, Lieutenant,” the mess sergeant said, observing this fresh-faced officer.

“Good morning, Sergeant. I must say this certainly looks like an improvement over what was here three months ago. Where’s the roast beef?”

“Sir, roast beef is for dinner or lunch but has no place in breakfast. Not on my serving line. You’re that new pilot that was here before, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Yeah, Lieutenant Cory. I was here for eighteen months and just came back. You’re new here, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sir, got here about two months ago and have been working to get this place squared away. First thing I needed to do was get this mess hall cleaned up. Now that that’s done, I can concentrate on serving some decent food. We’ll have cinnamon rolls each morning, and if you can give us a heads-up, we’ll fix a sack lunch for your crew to pick up in the morning if you want.”

“Oh my God, this is an improvement. For now we can stick with C-rations at lunch. That way we can appreciate your dinner cooking more. But thanks,” Cory added before he moved down the line with a Western omelet, crisp bacon, two link sausages, and hash browns cooked with bits of onion and green peppers. Can’t pass up a cinnamon bun. Keep eating like this I’ll have to start running again.

After he poured a mug of coffee, he saw Sinkey sitting at a table with two other pilots he hadn’t met yet. He approached them.

“Mind if I join you?” Cory asked.

“No, sit down. I’m Frank.” Frank was a lieutenant who had arrived just after Cory had left in August. He was still a right-seat pilot but was coming up on his fourth month, so he’d be making aircraft commander soon. Cory set his tray down and shook Frank’s hand.

“I’m Bob,” the other officer said, also extending his hand. Cory noticed that Bob was a warrant officer. He’d arrived about the same time as Frank, so he was also a right-seat pilot. Sitting down, Cory looked at both officers and noticed their name tags.

“Wait one, are you two brothers?” Cory asked.

“No, why do you ask?” Frank asked with a smile.

“You both have the same last name—Zuccardi. Hell, we’ve never even had two Smiths at the same time. You’ve got to be related.”

“Truth be told, we’re not related and didn’t know each other until we arrived here. We were in the same flight class but never ran into each other. We aren’t even from the same part of the country. Maybe our ancestors were from the same village in Italy, but who knows?” Bob answered.

“Well, nice to know I’m in the company of fellow Italians. My ancestors came from Poggi, Italy, at the turn of the century.”

Sinkey had been taking this love fest in. “Okay, you guys. Are y

ou going to start swapping recipes for spaghetti sauce? What are you guys flying today and who with?”

“I’m flying with Captain Beauchamp and it’s an ash and trash mission for the ARVNs,” Frank answered.

“And I’m flying with Mr. George, on what I don’t know,” Bob answered.

“Well, you both be careful. Mike just came back from his extension leave and may be a bit rusty. Captain Beauchamp is getting short, so I doubt he’ll be taking any unnecessary chances,” Sinkey added.