Diary of John Grant Company C 1-22 Infantry

In the foreground is John A. Grant. At the time of the photo John was the RTO (Radio Operator)
for Captain Joe Cinquino, who was Commanding Officer of Company C 1/22 Infantry.
In the background on the left is Jeff VanArsdale, another RTO in Headquarters Platoon Company C.
Photo taken at LZ Niagara August 1970.

John A. Grant arrived in Vietnam December 31, 1969, and was assigned to Company C 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry
in January 1970. He performed duties with 1st Platoon (Roadrunner) as a rifleman, walking point for a long time,
and then became RTO (Radio Operator) for the Commander of Company C.

His brother in law suggested John keep a diary, and sent him a diary which John carried with him, all through operations
in the mountains and jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia.

My name is John A. Grant. I was drafted into the Army in 1969. I was married to Ramona/Monie at the time. We were pregnant with a child
and that child died at birth in November 1968. Shortly after the death of our child I was reclassified 1-A, which meant I was available
for the draft. I was in fact drafted to serve. In the interim my wife again became pregnant, but there was no change in my status.
There was no deferment from serving.

Quite honestly, I was ready to serve and I am proud that I did so. My basic training and advanced individual training took place
at Fort Ord in California. My home, at the time, was in Chino, California. I had lived my entire life in Chino.

On December 31st, 1969 I entered Cam Rahn Bay, Vietnam. After pulling guard duty on the bay for two weeks, I was transferred
to An Khe, Camp Radcliff, where I was given my assignment;
Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry, 4th Infantry Division.

At the time of this writing, I am 73 years old. I had not read my own diary for 52 years after I had returned home.
I had only briefly read passages in the diary on occasion which always affected me emotionally. It was too hard for me to read.

I was curious, recently, to see if there was any information at all on some of the locations I had served in Vietnam.
Firebases like LZ Terrace. I found photos of that LZ and someone had been doing historical documentations on LZ Terrace
and many others. I thought the end date for LZ Terrace was incorrect (It wasn’t) but I saw a place to reach out to the creator. (Michael Belis)
You see, I had kept a diary while in country from March 8th until I left country. I had a friend shot and killed off of LZ Terrace
on August 11th, 1970, so I knew the LZ was still utilized. Michael informed me that his end date in April 1970 was when
the Command Center was moved from there to another location. The LZ itself was still active.

Because I had written documentation on my time there, Michael wanted to know if I had interest in writing a book. I said, at one point,
I thought about it but let him know I didn’t have photos any more as I had gone through a divorce and those images were discarded.

By the way, it turns out that Michael Belis was in the same company as myself, at the same time. He joined Charlie Company
in September 1970 and was in a different platoon, Sidewinder. (Roadrunner, Panther, Sidewinder).

At the time of his entry to Charlie company I was in Headquarters Platoon with the Commanding Officer, Captain Joe Cinquino
as an RTO (Radio Telephone Operator).

Michael asked if I would be interested in corroborating with him on posting my written entries to his historical pages,
which have been active for many years now. I agreed and the rest is for you to read, word for word, as I had written it
52 years ago, with comments below many entries. Michael has added images and military records as well.

I would like to dedicate this to all those who served in Vietnam. Everyone has their own stories and experiences.
All jobs there were important, regardless of their MOS designations.

Most of us made it home. Thousands did not. That is the sadness in me and for many of us.
Thank you, Michael Belis, for encouraging me to let go of those demons and share my experiences, bad or good, easy or hard.

Left:

The first entry in the diary of John A. Grant.

The entry relates how John found out
he had become a father.

In the following pages John's diary is transcribed, with additional comments and explanations by him.

The pages are linked together for continuity. By clicking on the "Next Page" link at the bottom
of each page, the viewer will be taken to each successive page in the diary.