Boy did I miss a lot of big news while I was away in Vietnam. Fifty years ago this summer, I left the good old USA for a year-long commitment in Saigon. I wouldn’t return to the World (a G.I. reference to the states) for 365 days, provided of course that I lived through the entire experience.
The moment I heard the song, I knew that the summer of 1967 in my hometown of San Francisco would be unlike that of any other.
It was April. I was in Portland at the time, finishing up my junior year in college. Scott McKenzie came over my car radio singing, “If you’re goin’ to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair, summertime will be a love-in there.”
Thank God. The 50th anniversary Woodstock festival in Watkins Glen has been canceled. Like we ever needed another one.