See, my honey and I inspired that song the Monkeys recorded back then. I’ll never forget the sweet words that tumbled from her lovely mouth when she said, “I’ll take the last train to Clarksville.” I think it was September of 1965 when I called my honey from a phone booth and told her the division was shipping out for Viet Nam in five days. They had a train station there in Clarksville, where you could arrive from most anyplace. Remember that song by the Monkeys, “Last Train To Clarksville?”Ĭlarksville, Tennessee is just across the Tennessee state line, a 10-minute ride from the front gate of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, home of the Screaming Eagles, the 101st Airborne Division. Wars inspire a lot of things, even music. That was the Division Slogan-Rendezvous With Destiny.Īnd the Screaming Eagles did have their rendezvous with destiny in Normandy, Bastogne, Holland, Berchtesgarden and Viet Nam, not to mention these modern day wars.
Funny, how we associate eras of time with wars. I did serve in the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. It’s not anything to do with the military, but then it is. I’m fixing to have a rendezvous with Destiny.
