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Vietnam War

Service Reflections of SMSgt Theodore Fafinski, U.S. Air Force (1958-1980)

Service Reflections of SMSgt Theodore Fafinski, U.S. Air Force (1958-1980)

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I always wanted to join the Military. My high school friend joined the Naval Reserve while in school. I joined the local Civil Air Patrol (CAP) Composite Squadron while in High School. In the summer of my Junior year, I went to the NY Wing CAP Encampment at Plattsburgh AFB.

I enjoyed the military discipline and military training. While there, I participated in an actual Search and Rescue Mission when a KC-97 crashed near Lake Champlain. The adventure happened because of the opportunity to travel without worrying about a place to stay, food, medical care, and a paycheck. I made up my mind to enlist after High School. The following year after graduating, as many of my classmates left for college in September, I left for Lackland AFB in mid-September for basic training.

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Service Reflections of LCPL Nick Loye, U.S. Marine Corps (1974-1976)

Service Reflections of LCPL Nick Loye, U.S. Marine Corps (1974-1976)

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At the time of my decision, I tried college that did not work. I was not ready for more schooling just out of HS. My dad was in the Coast Guard, I was in the Boy Scouts, I always felt patriotic, and it seemed to lurk in my mind to serve. I found my life stagnant after two years out of HS my buddy at the time mentioned he and his brother were joining the Marine Corps. He mentioned his recruiter, and I should talk with him if I was interested. I did, and he explained to me there was a new enlistment experiment for a two-year commitment, and then if it worked out and I thought this was my groove, then I could do a re-enlist. The rest was history. I joined 1974.

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Famous Marine Corps Unit: 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines

Famous Marine Corps Unit: 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines

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Approximately 800 Marines and Sailors of the "Two Five" comprised of H&S Co, Echo Co, Fox Co, Golf Co, and Weapons Co. are based at MCB Camp Pendleton, California under command of the 1st Marine Division. The 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines is a battalion-level infantry unit composed of Marines and support personnel. Infantry battalions are the basic tactical units that the regiment uses to accomplish its mission of locating, closing with and destroying the enemy by fire and close combat. 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines: Rich History and Service Marines: Together We Served lists 3,104 registered members who had been assigned to this unit as of August 2023, from Col. Abbink to Sgt Zwarka. A superior and reliable summary of the 2/5 from its own lineage history and Marines TWS reads: "The 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines was initially formed in July 1914 and immediately sailed to the Caribbean due to political turmoil in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The battalion returned to the United States...

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Service Reflections of CAPT Rex Conger, U.S. Navy (1966-2008)

Service Reflections of CAPT Rex Conger, U.S. Navy (1966-2008)

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It was my Senior Year in high school. My dad was a history teacher and the Vice-Principal at my high school, so I didn’t get away with much.

I worked in a Grocery Store and delivered Sealtest Milk door to door on Saturdays and during school breaks. I also played the organ in a rock band most Saturday nights. I had no idea what I wanted to do for a career, and I knew that we could not afford college, so I was trying to decide what I would do.

There was a footlocker in one of our closets that had my dad’s old uniforms in it, and I had played “dress up” years ago with those uniforms. My dad had served during WWII in the Navy as an officer – and I began to think that the Navy could give me a way to get away from home and perhaps provide me with a “Career” – little did I know!

Vietnam was going on – but I, and the guys I hung around with, really didn’t pay a lot of attention to it. And I was still too young to be “Drafted!” So I talked to my dad and found him “more patriotic than I ever realized.” He said it was my choice – but – he thought it would be good for me to “mature” and perhaps I would find my career choice. I didn’t talk much to my buddies – but I did talk to the Navy Recruiter. As I remember, the recruiter had me on a Bus shortly after that – I passed the Physical and was on my way to Great Lakes Naval Training Center, two hours from home.

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Sgt Peter Lemon, U. S. Army (1968-1972)

Sgt Peter Lemon, U. S. Army (1968-1972)

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The tall man in an immaculate business suit looked across the crowded classroom at more than a hundred young faces. He was an imposing figure, over six feet tall and broad of shoulder. Yet he spoke with a quiet gentleness that captivated the children. At the back of the room stood an impatient cameraman from the local TV station. He had come to interview a rare hero, a living Medal of Honor recipient. It seemed, however, that Peter Lemon was more interested in talking to the children than in talking to the camera. And he wasn't even talking about himself or his own heroic actions decades earlier. Instead, the hero, pausing from time to time to compose himself, talked of three friends who had died the night of his action. Peter Lemon: the Heroic Night and the Price of Sacrifice On that spring day in 1993, there were only 204 living Americans authorized to wear the Medal of Honor. Mr. Lemon was one of them, yet he had shown up in business attire, no Medal draped around his neck. The...

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Five Years to Freedom: The True Story of a Vietnam POW by James N. Rowe

Five Years to Freedom: The True Story of a Vietnam POW by James N. Rowe

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When Green Beret Lieutenant James N. Rowe was captured in 1963 in Vietnam, his life became an intensely grueling endeavor that few could have survived. Rowe had been in Vietnam for only three months when he was captured. Imprisoned in a Viet Cong POW camp in an area known as the Forest of Darkness, Rowe endured beri-beri, dysentery, and tropical fungus diseases. He suffered demoralizing psychological and physical torment. He experienced the loneliness and frustration of watching his friends die. And he struggled every day to maintain faith in himself as a soldier and in his country as it appeared to be turning against him. However, he cunningly obfuscated his true status as an intelligence officer from the enemy, claiming to be a draftee engineer responsible for building schools and civic works projects. His training at West Point enabled him to keep up this pretense, until the Viet Cong learned of the deception by obtaining a American list of high-value POWs in which he was listed....

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SGT William Upton, U.S. Army (1963-1968)

SGT William Upton, U.S. Army (1963-1968)

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Which song do you connect most to your time in Military service? What specific memories does this song bring back for you?:

The Ballad of the Green Berets by SSG Barry Sadler – 1966. Captain Bracey, Mr. Stephens, and I were headed home to Vung Tau after a day-long parts route or “milk run.” The deHavilland Caribou was empty. Deadheading back. It had been a long day, and I was tired. I laid down on the empty troop seats and put my flak jacket under my head. As I reread my latest “Dear Bill” letter from Myra Faye, I hummed words from a recent Righteous Brothers song: You’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’, oh-oh that lovin’ fe-e-elin’. . .

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Maj Joseph Jennings, U.S. Marine Corps (1964-1988)

Maj Joseph Jennings, U.S. Marine Corps (1964-1988)

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Which song do you connect most to your time in Military service? What specific memories does this song bring back for you?:

We Gotta Get Outta This Place was released by The Animals in the summer of 1965. The Animals were a British pop group, and the song’s lyrics talked about escaping from inner-city poverty in England. It had nothing to do with the war in Vietnam, but that didn’t matter. It was the chorus, sung— almost screamed— by Eric Burdon, that hit home.

We gotta get out of this place
If it’s the last thing we ever do
We gotta get out of this place
‘Cause girl, there’s a better life for me and you

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CPT Leonard Crosby, U.S. Army (1964-1970)

CPT Leonard Crosby, U.S. Army (1964-1970)

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Which song do you connect most to your time in Military service? What specific memories does this song bring back for you?:

The Song “We gotta get out of this place” by the Animals! We used to sing it all the time in the field in Vietnam. It also applies to the year I took stateside between deployments in Vietnam. I was assigned to Fort Lewis, WA, as a training officer for reserve and national guard units sent to Vietnam while awaiting my orders to join the 101st. One of those units was a MASH hospital. They arrived without their contingent of doctors and nurses but with a Major in charge. We were told to take them out to the field and set themselves up under simulated combat conditions. I had a small group that I was to take out to secure the site from the “aggressor” troops before bringing the full outfit. As we were preparing to leave, and I was issuing weapons and blanks, the Major came down to the supply room and pulled out a crate of tear gas grenades that they had been given in the event that they were called out for crowd control. I told him we would not be needing those and suggested that he put them away. Once we left, he apparently grabbed two and hung them from his web gear.

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SSG James Walker, U.S. Army (1966-1991)

SSG James Walker, U.S. Army (1966-1991)

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Which song do you connect most to your time in Military service? What specific memories does this song bring back for you?:

Detroit City (I Wanna Go Home) by Bobby Bare. After AIT in November of 1966, we all just knew we were headed to Vietnam. It was a great surprise when 32 of us came down on orders for Korea. Our first reaction was: “Where the hell is Korea?” Korea in 1966 is not like you see today. The 14 months I spent there turned a boy into a man, with increased responsibility coming as the months trudged by. I spent 3 months in the field giving communications support to the ROK army that were looking for North Korean infiltrators. The song “I Wanna Go Home” became our theme song played in every bar and club we went to.

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Service Reflections of 1stSgt James Closs, U.S. Air Force (1969-1994)

Service Reflections of 1stSgt James Closs, U.S. Air Force (1969-1994)

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In July 1955, the day after my 17th birthday, a long-time friend, Mac Viars, and I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, and before the day was over, we were on a train headed for Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas.

Our original plan was to enlist in the Navy, but the Navy recruiter told us we couldn’t go until later. The Air Force recruiter said we could leave “today,” so that was decided. We needed a parent’s signature on an Air Force form when we enlisted. At that time, my mother was living in Baxter Springs, Kansas. So, Mac’s mother signed my mother’s name on my form.

After completing a physical exam, swearing in, and some paperwork, we boarded a train at Union Station in St. Louis wearing jeans, white T-shirts, “throw-away” shoes, and a few packs of cigarettes. We counted on getting all new clothes when we got there, and that did come true.

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Service Reflections of CPL George Wick, U.S. Marine Corps (1965-1969)

Service Reflections of CPL George Wick, U.S. Marine Corps (1965-1969)

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The primary influences were Uncle Sam’s draft notice and my older brother Dave. My older brother Dave was serving in the Marine Corps at the time. So, I asked him how the Marines were, and he said, “it is not too bad.” I knew nothing about any of the service branches at the time. Therefore, his opinion meant a lot to me. Thus, the decision to join the Marine Corps came from my older brother Dave and Uncle Sam. I remember many times in boot camp thinking; if this is not too bad, it must be going to get a lot worse.

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