This memoir is not always accurate, but it is truthful, which is to say that names have been changed, details have been forgotten, real conversations have been recalled as accurately as possible, but events have been rearranged in time and space. Life does not proceed in an orderly way and can be confusing as it is experienced. In time, a deeper meaning emerges. If it were possible to present events 40 odd years ago exactly as they occurred, it would be a long and confusing account. So the memoirist uses some of the writing tools of fiction to make the experience more meaningful for the listener. I have checked what facts I could and have seen how memory can be at once unreliable, but honest.

I had a memory of wearing a sidearm when I escorted Miss Missouri in Viet Nam. Upon examining photographs of that occasion, I found no evidence of a pistol. This memory of taking a sidearm, I think, was a memory that drifted in from a later event. Nevertheless, this “false” memory carries the truth of how important the safety of Miss Missouri meant at the time. On the other hand, my memory, tested against other evidence like photographs or other accounts, has often proven more accurate than some written records.