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Vietnam War

From Mess Decks to Wardroom by CDR Lee Foley

From Mess Decks to Wardroom by CDR Lee Foley

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Enlisted people definitely have their favorite officers, and usually, the most popular officers are the "Mustangs", which is military slang for those who began their military careers as enlisted. It's not just that they're older and wiser, as most make the jump from a non-commissioned officer rank – it's just that they still feel like one of us. The Rise of CDR Lee M. Foley in the U.S. Navy That's the kind of officer U.S. Navy CDR. Lee M. Foley was. His memoir, "Mustang: From Mess Decks to Wardroom," documents his 32 years of naval service. Born in landlocked Arkansas, he somehow grew up loving the Navy and enlisted in 1961 as a signalman. Over the next three decades, he would rise in rank to Master Chief Petty Officer, then jump to Warrant Officer. After making Chief Warrant Officer 4, he earned a commission, rising to the rank of Commander and Captain of his own ship, the Agile-class minesweeper USS Excel, and finally, his last posting as Executive Officer aboard the USS Kansas...

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Service Reflections of PNCM Rene LaMarche, U.S. Navy (1961-1980)

Service Reflections of PNCM Rene LaMarche, U.S. Navy (1961-1980)

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My father, Rene A. LaMarche, Sr., and his brother, Raymond LaMarche, were probably the most influential in my decision to join the Navy. My Dad served on board the USS HEALY from the time it was commissioned in 1943 until it was decommissioned in 1946. He was a second-class carpenter’s mate and ship’s diver. He and my uncle Raymond would tell hours of stories about what they did in the Navy. In later years, I would learn that my Dad blocked out some of the terrible ordeals he went through on the Island of Saipan during that action. My Uncle Raymond was a YN1 assigned to the European Central Command as a fingerprint expert. He worked to help identify the war criminals that were later charged at Nuremberg.
The stories from those early years led me toward joining the Navy as I approached high school graduation. However – I blew it in a way. I was 17 years old and had a Forest Service 4-year Scholarship in my Senior Year when I got in trouble. I got involved with a gang shooting and was placed in Juvenile Confinement. A Superior Court Judge gave me a choice of joining the Armed Forces or spending some time in the pokey (until I was 21). I had previously investigated the Navy and had taken the basic battery tests. GMCA Tom Eagling, Navy Recruiting Office, Seattle, WA, spoke up for me, and the next day, I was on my way to San Diego, CA, on what was called a Kiddy Cruise enlistment. I would serve until I was 21 years old – a period of 3-years and two months; but got credit for 4 years for retirement, A thing called constructive time.

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Famous Air Force Unit – 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (37th ARRS)

Famous Air Force Unit – 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (37th ARRS)

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"There was only one man on the ground that day that would have turned down a ride out of that hellhole - and that man was Pitsenbarger." - F. David Peters, C Co, 2nd Btn, 16th Inf, 1st ID 37th ARRS: A Legacy of Courage in Air Rescue Operations The Air Rescue Service (later the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service) first used Kaman HH-43 Huskie helicopters, unofficially known as "Pedro" from their radio call sign. They later added larger Sikorsky H-3 helicopters, nicknamed "Jolly Green Giants," with greater range. The 37th ARRS was activated initially during the Korean War when helicopters were first used for medical evacuation. The Jolly Green most notably served during the Vietnam War, during which, in addition to their helicopters, they also flew the Grumman HU-16 Albatross amphibious flying boat and the HC-130 specialized variant of the Hercules transport. They carried out numerous search and rescue operations in combat areas, including the evacuations of Phnom Penh and Saigon...

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Service Reflections of SSgt Tom Bauman, U.S. Air Force (1966-1970)

Service Reflections of SSgt Tom Bauman, U.S. Air Force (1966-1970)

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I was attending Junior College part-time and working. In October 1965 I received my notice to appear for my pre-induction draft physical. To be honest, in spite of the fact that the Vietnam conflict was going on, I really had not given much thought to the military other than registering for the draft. I was in a fraternity and several of my friends had joined the Marine Reserves. This was just before things heated up and the first group of combat Marines landed in Da Nang. So I went down to sign up. The Marine recruiter told me that they were full up. So I decided to talk with the Navy recruiter. They had a delayed enlistment program. Meaning you could defer going on active duty for up to one year. So I decided to sign up.
In December 1965 I went to Navy Basic Training in San Diego. I was also required to attend weekend drills. After several months I was having second thoughts about serving Active Duty in the Navy. My best friend had joined the Air Force six months prior to my enlisting and liked it. He suggested that I see an Air Force recruiter. I took the AFQT and got 95 percentile across the board. The recruiter said that ALL technical training areas would be open to me. The only rub was that I had to be formally released from the Navy so I could join the Air Force. I got a release and I enlisted in August 1966 and went through Basic Training at Amarillo AFB.

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Vietnam War – Operation Ivory Coast – The Son Tay Raid

Vietnam War – Operation Ivory Coast – The Son Tay Raid

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The Operation Ivory Coast has been called the most daring raid of the Vietnam War; Operation Ivory Coast was an effort to rescue prisoners of war who had been held by North Vietnam for years. It did not rescue any of the prisoners, but it did change the way U.S. Special Operations planned and executed its missions.  By 1970, the United States not only knew that hundreds of American POWs were being held by the communist North Vietnamese, but they also knew those prisoners were being subjected to torture and mistreatment - and many had been suffering for years on end.  Special operations planners knew the location of where at least 61 of them were being held, a camp near the North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi known as Son Tay. The United States designed a plan to rescue them right out from under the communists' noses.  The mission would not be an easy one. At least six of the prisoners were believed to be near death, and the Son Tay prison was in an area where intelligence...

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Service Reflections of CPT Sam Carlson, U.S. Army (1967-2010)

Service Reflections of CPT Sam Carlson, U.S. Army (1967-2010)

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My father was a career soldier, enlisting as an Infantry Private in 1937 and retiring as a LtCol in 1963.
As an Army Brat and as far back as I can remember, joining the military was always something I had in my mind to do.
For a while, I thought that goal was out of reach since I married and had a child and was not eligible under the enlistment criteria in place at the time. With the helpful advice of an Army Recruiter in Tacoma, Washington, I found two ways to enlist. The first was to join the National Guard and, while in Basic Training, I could transfer to the Regular Army. The only other alternative was to volunteer for the draft and reclassification to 1A. Upon reclassification to 1A, I would be allowed to enlist. I visited the National Guard Armory in downtown Tacoma, Washington, and spoke with a CWO and told him what I was trying to do. He showed me his status board and advised that there was a six-month waiting list to enlist in the Guard. I opted for the Draft reclassification and wound up in Basic Combat Training about two weeks later. During my second or third week of Basic, I received a draft notice and a letter of acceptance from the CWO for enlistment in the National Guard. From the recruiter and the CWO, I learned that there is always a way to make things happen.

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Service Reflections of TSgt Harry Walker, U.S. Air Force (1956 – 1976)

Service Reflections of TSgt Harry Walker, U.S. Air Force (1956 – 1976)

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I came from a small textile town in North Carolina, and being poor, once a young person finishes school, the only work in that county is mostly the textile plants, and that is a dead-end job. I wanted to get away from that type of future. One day, I happened to be in town at the bus station, and I happened to notice an Air Force sergeant dressed in blues waiting for a bus. He was sharp-looking, and it made an impression on me that lasted. I lived pretty far from town and school, and I missed quite a lot of school days, which put me behind in my high school grades. Fortunately, my school had a counselor who had taken an interest in my situation and felt that my best option was the military. So, at 17, I talked my mother, who was a single mom raising a large family, into signing up for me to join the Air Force. That most certainly was the best decision I could have made. On January 3rd, 1956, I was on my way to Lackland for my basic training. I was a high school dropout, and my future looked bleak had I stayed in that town, but I was not sure it would have been much better to be uneducated in the military.In December 1965 I went to Navy Basic Training in San Diego. I was also required to attend weekend drills. After several months I was having second thoughts about serving Active Duty in the Navy. My best friend had joined the Air Force six months prior to my enlisting and liked it. He suggested that I see an Air Force recruiter. I took the AFQT and got 95 percentile across the board. The recruiter said that ALL technical training areas would be open to me. The only rub was that I had to be formally released from the Navy so I could join the Air Force. I got a release and I enlisted in August 1966 and went through Basic Training at Amarillo AFB.

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Service Reflections of COL Robert DeCubellis, U.S. Air Force (1968-2006)

Service Reflections of COL Robert DeCubellis, U.S. Air Force (1968-2006)

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I had several friends who served in the Air Force, including Dick Berghorn and his K-9 Rommel at Pleiku AB. My uncle Ed served in the Air Corps in England in WW II, and my uncle Art served in the US Navy but didn’t get overseas before VJ Day.
As the Vietnam War began to spool up in the mid-’60s, I knew the draft would be hot on my tail as I was graduating college, so I decided to pick my own destiny versus being drafted. I also came from the baby boomer generation following WW II and knew the value of serving. When my grades slipped in 1966, I got tapped for a pre-induction physical in Minneapolis. It was right out of a scene from Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant,” that’s popular every Thanksgiving….). I actually witnessed the USMC take inductees that day to fill their shortfall in enlistees.

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Condemned Property by “Dusty” Trimmer

Condemned Property by “Dusty” Trimmer

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"Dusty" Trimmer served one year of combat infantry duty with the 25th Infantry Division. In this, his first book, he presents a staggering description that cut to the heart of the combat experience: the fear and belligerence, the quiet insights and raging madness, the lasting friendships and sudden deaths. Yet it is much, much more. It is an account of veterans long after leaving the battlefield as they struggle with physical and emotional damage in a world that seems indifferent to their plight. The book differs from most Vietnam War tomes. It is a collection of interrelated short, seemingly disparate pieces. It jumps around a lot. It does not have a plot. There is no moral to the story. However, what it does more importantly is bear witness to the things men do in war and the things war does to men. Horrible things that scar many, if not all, for the rest of their lives. To dramatize this point, Trimmer personalizes much of it by writing about his experience, observations,...

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The Amazing Story of the USS Kirk

The Amazing Story of the USS Kirk

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Launched in September 1971, the destroyer escort USS Kirk (FF-1087), with a compliment of 18 Officers and 267 Enlisted, sailed the high seas of the Indian Ocean, South America and much of the Pacific Ocean, including the waters off Vietnam. USS Kirk's Unexpected Humanitarian Mission She was a warship in every sense: an efficient, deadly fighting machine with the mission of hunting down, pursuing and destroying her submarine prey. Yet her finest hours were spent tending pregnant women, soothing terrified little children, and saving the lives of tens of thousands. This is the incredible story of a brief episode in the early years of the long life of USS Kirk. Decades of American involvement in South Vietnam came to an end on April 30, 1975 when North Vietnamese troops entered the deserted streets of Saigon on foot, trucks and fighting vehicles. North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gates of the presidential palace and soldiers hoisted the yellow and red flag of the Viet Cong. USS...

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Famous Army Unit: Project Delta

Famous Army Unit: Project Delta

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Since the beginning of warfare military leaders knew their greatest chance of winning on the battlefield is to know where the enemy is, how great in strength and what they were planning to do. It was certainly no different with Vietnam commanders. To gain useable and timely intelligence on local enemy forces, Vietnam infantry commanders created "unauthorized" or off the book reconnaissance units to penetrated deep into enemy-held territory. So successful were these forays by these small, well-armed Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols (LRRPs) that General William Westmoreland approved the formation of a LRRP unit in each infantry brigade or division. Origins and Mission of Project Delta But there was one reconnaissance unit operating in Vietnam several years before LLRP units existed. It was Project Delta, a clandestine special reconnaissance operations considered the most successful Special Operation units of the Vietnam War, yet few Americans have ever heard of them, or know that this...

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Service Reflections of SMSGT Ronald Radliff, U.S. Air Force (1964-1991)

Service Reflections of SMSGT Ronald Radliff, U.S. Air Force (1964-1991)

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I grew up as an Air Force brat. Our travels took us to Germany shortly after WW-II, France in the mid-50s, and a number of states here and there. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t until I was in college that I actually started and completed two consecutive years in the same school.
The college I attended was a junior college. I was studying to be an electronics technician but didn’t graduate as I hadn’t taken all the required courses. I soon found that there was a recession going on and not a job of any kind to be found and the reality of the draft was a very serious part of every young man’s life. Volunteering for the military became the obvious next step, but which one?
I was hoping to get into a technical career field in the military. The Army and Marines seemed like I would have only two chances of a technical field. Slim and None. This left the Navy and Air Force as the obvious choices. I ruled out the Navy as I had no desire to spend any time at sea, let alone extended periods, so the Air Force was my choice.
At that time, my younger brother was out of high school and going nowhere with prospects that looked even less optimistic. I convinced him to go talk to the Air Force recruiter with me. After all the necessary paperwork, the recruiter told us we’d have to come back to take the AFQT (Armed Forces Qualification Test). He scheduled us for the afternoon of November 22, 1963. A historic date indeed. President Kennedy was assassinated that day in Dallas. The recruiters were all gathered around the TV which was playing quite loudly in the next room to where we were taking our tests. The glass partition between the test room and the TV didn’t muffle the sound at all. What a stressful afternoon that was.

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