Official blog
TWS Website
TWS Website
U

MENU

Vietnam War

LCDR Curtis Smothers, U.S. Navy (1962-1986)

LCDR Curtis Smothers, U.S. Navy (1962-1986)

,

What personal and professional achievements from your Military service are you most proud of and why?:

My proudest achievement during my 24 years’ and 6 months’ service in the U.S. Navy was my Presidential Meritorious Service Medal award. The award recognizes my performance as an Administrative Officer on the USS Coral Sea (CV-43) before and during the 1983 change of home port and around-the-world cruise. The Coral Sea was an older aircraft carrier dating back to about 1948. Duty on this proud ship could best be characterized as arduous and challenging. We had a fully deployed complement of the ship’s company and embarked squadrons consisting of about 5,000 officers and men. This was before the age of computers, email, and social media, so we had to do everything on paper and mostly by the seat of our pants.

read more
Cpl David Mulldune, U.S. Marine Corps (1967-1969)

Cpl David Mulldune, U.S. Marine Corps (1967-1969)

,

What personal and professional achievements from your Military service are you most proud of and why?:

Military Training Develops Life Skills. The day before graduation from boot camp at MCRD (Marine Corps Recruit Depot) San Diego, all the platoons gathered on the parade deck to do final drills in front of Major General English, CO of MCRD, and Colonel Boress, CO of the Recruit Training Regiment. We wanted to look sharp and make our DIs proud. Did we ever! Everyone performed flawlessly. Our boots all struck the deck at the same time. It was amazing that so many guys were in complete unison and moving as one. I was feeling so much pride when we did an “eyes right” as we passed General English’s stand and the Marine Corps Hymn started playing. Chills went down my spine, and I felt like my chest was going to pop the buttons off my shirt! I will never forget it.

read more
Col. Robert Lewis Howard, U.S. Army (1956-1992)

Col. Robert Lewis Howard, U.S. Army (1956-1992)

,

The last time someone received a second Medal of Honor was in World War I, and it's unlikely we'll ever see another two-time recipient in our lifetime. But if anyone were going to come close to receiving multiple Medals of Honor, it would have been U.S. Army Col. Robert Lewis Howard. During his 54 months of active combat service in Vietnam, he was wounded an astonishing 14 times and received eight Purple Hearts and four Bronze Stars. He was also nominated for the Medal of Honor three times in 13 months, the only soldier ever to receive three nominations. Two of those were downgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star because his actions took place in Cambodia, where the United States wasn't technically at war. He would be awarded the medal on his third nomination, forever changing his life and career.  Robert L. Howard's Service in Vietnam Alabama-born Howard enlisted in the Army in 1956 and would spend the rest of his working life serving his country. Some 36 of...

read more
Rockets, Sand and Amalgam by Robert Engelmeier

Rockets, Sand and Amalgam by Robert Engelmeier

,

Webster's Dictionary defines amalgam as "a mixture or blend", making it the perfect word to describe Vietnam veteran Robert Engelmeier's experience in country, as well as his 2023 memoir of it.  The author has written countless academic articles about his chosen career in dentistry and prosthetics as a retired professor who directed the graduate program at the University of Texas Houston Dental Branch for 14 years and served as Prosthodontic Department chair at the University of Pittsburgh and is still a visiting Professor at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Simply put, he knows dentistry well.  What he didn't know when he arrived in Vietnam was life in the U.S. military. As a result, the recollections in his memoirs are filled with stories and incidents from his time there, where his ignorance of military protocol occasionally got him into a bit of trouble. Engelmeier was a young dentist when he deployed to South Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay. He was a fresh graduate of the University...

read more
Unforgotten in the Gulf of Tonkin by Eileen A. Bjorkman

Unforgotten in the Gulf of Tonkin by Eileen A. Bjorkman

,

When Air Force Maj. Alan Saunders arrived in Vietnam in June 1963; true combat search and rescue (CSAR) as we know it today was just beginning to form. Saunders was bringing his experience fighting World War II in the jungles of Burma to Det. 3, Pacific Air Rescue Center in Tan Son Nhut. Maj. Alan Saunders and His Experience Fighting World War II Saunders knew that the jungle didn't burn and create smoke around the wreckage of a downed aircraft. Nor did it easily cough up a surviving pilot, soldier, or Marines separated from their units or anyone else unlucky enough to be in the jungle alone and among the enemy. Instead, the dense jungles of Southeast Asia swallowed aircraft whole. When it went in, the trees opened up, and the canopy quickly closed around it. Finding a downed aircraft, even a flaming one, was difficult if not impossible, Sanders said. It was the beginning of a sea change in how the United States military treated its missing in action. Before Vietnam, the U.S. was...

read more
Sgt Jack Riley, U.S. Marine Corps (1966-1972)

Sgt Jack Riley, U.S. Marine Corps (1966-1972)

,

What do you miss most about your time in the service and what made this especially significant to you?:

Marines are brothers for life. We each grew up in neighborhoods or farming communities where life centered around family, church, and school. We developed friendships we thought would last forever, but everyone scattered all over the country after high school graduation. Some of us could not afford college away from home, so we went to work and attended local university centers. I completed my first two years of college and married my high school sweetheart.

read more
Cpl Daniel Crispell, U.S. Marine Corps (1966-1968)

Cpl Daniel Crispell, U.S. Marine Corps (1966-1968)

,

What do you miss most about your time in the service and what made this especially significant to you?:

The bond of Friendship. My Marine Friend Bob born 04-06-1946 . We met in Vietnam and were both Dump Truck drivers leading convoys and building roads into the jungle. While at Hill-55 we worked on Liberty Road and camped in a tent over looking the river and our bunkers below. Everynight after 8 pm we were attacked bullets whizzing through our tent. While working on this road I had a bulldozer track blown up in front of me. During the day working I had another Marine’s truck reared blew up by a landmine.

read more
SGT John Podlaski, U.S. Army (1970-1971)

SGT John Podlaski, U.S. Army (1970-1971)

,

What do you miss most about your time in the service and what made this especially significant to you?:

What I miss from my time in the service. Remember when we were younger, we had lots of friends. Although we had our favorites and best friend – it was a crushing blow when our family had to move to another location. We lost that best friend – never to be seen again. However, we met new friends, and with some, a lasting relationship. When I was in Vietnam, I was assigned to a squad of soldiers in one of the infantry platoons. Although the size should be a dozen or so soldiers, we generally ran with eight soldiers. We spent 24 hours a day with one another and got to know each other rather well. Oftentimes, we shared intricate secrets that we kept to ourselves for many years. Trust was never questioned. Was it possible to have eight besties?

read more
LtCol Gene Hambleton, U.S. Air Force (1943-1972)

LtCol Gene Hambleton, U.S. Air Force (1943-1972)

,

On April 2, 1972, the third day of the Easter Offensive, the largest combined arms operation of the entire Vietnam War, 53-year-old Air Force Lt. Col. Iceal 'Gene' Hambleton was a navigator aboard one of two United States Air Force EB-66 aircraft escorting three B-52s. Bat 21, the call sign for Hambleton's aircraft, was configured to gather signals intelligence, including identifying North Vietnamese anti-aircraft radar installations to enable jamming. (Photo is Bat 21 in Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand.) During Bat 21 Gene Hambleton was the Only Survivor Midway through the operation, Bat 21 was destroyed by an SA-2 surface-to-air missile, and Hambleton was the only survivor, parachuting behind the front lines into a battlefield filled with thousands of North Vietnamese Army soldiers. The bodies of the aircrew were never found. Because of Hambleton's knowledge of Top Secret Strategic Air Command operations and an expert in surface-to-air missile countermeasures, his rescue...

read more
Service Reflections of MSgt John Bradley, U.S. Marine Corps (1968-1989)

Service Reflections of MSgt John Bradley, U.S. Marine Corps (1968-1989)

,

I was named after my Great Uncle John Vander Schaff, who was in the Army from 1907-1911, serving in the Philippine Insurrection, Cuban Insurrection and Mexican Border Campaign; he then joined the US Marine Corps serving from 1911-1919. He served in the Peking Legation Guard and later was Marine Barracks Manilla, Mare Island and Marine Guard at Portsmouth Naval Prison. He was transferred Sea Duty in WWI, although he did not serve in combat as he was reassigned to escort military prisoners from France back to the US. He was discharged in 1919. I grew up with his often hilarious stories of his time overseas. I also come from a family where every male had served in the USA or Navy since the American Revolution, and on both sides during the Civil War, it was expected I would put in a hitch during the Vietnam War, as did all of my cousins. The big difference was I stayed in for 20 years.

read more
USS Midway Historic Aircraft Carrier & Naval Museum

USS Midway Historic Aircraft Carrier & Naval Museum

, , ,

The USS Midway aircraft carrier is America’s most popular naval warship museum. Located in downtown San Diego, the museum is open 10am to 5pm 7 days a week, closing only for Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. The museum holds over 700 events a year, from Navy retirements and re-enlistments to changes of command. What is the USS Midway Known For? Commissioned after the culmination of World War II, the USS Midway was one of the longest-serving aircraft carriers of the 20th century. The United States Navy used the Midway throughout the Cold War, until the carrier was decommissioned in 1992. Midway was an important contributor to the US war effort in Vietnam.  During Operation Frequent Wind, known by civilians as the evacuation of Saigon, the Midway was the scene of a heroic rescue. Major Buang-Ly of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force loaded his family of seven onto a 2-seat Cessna O-1, evaded enemy ground fire while fleeing occupied Côn Sơn, and pleaded with Midway to let him land. After...

read more
Missions of Fire and Mercy: Until Death Do Us Part by William E. Peterson

Missions of Fire and Mercy: Until Death Do Us Part by William E. Peterson

,

At the age of 19, William E. Peterson embarked upon a life mission which many would gladly have missed. He went to war in Vietnam! In this 302 page book he brings to life his journey from his decision to enlist in the Army, through twelve months of helicopter combat, to his return home. It takes the reader on a wild ride with a helicopter crew chief and door gunner with the First Air Cavalry, C/227th Assault Helicopter Battalion. The typical memoir written by a Vietnam veteran begins with a short accounting of his youth and ends with his homecoming. Sandwich between is a detailed rendering of the serious, heartbreaking nature of war: fear, tragedy, loss, sorrow, growth, and relief interlaced with nature's emotional shutoff valve, humor. While Peterson's Mission of Fire and Percy does much of the same things, his writing has much greater clarity since it is drawn from scores of letters he send home to his family, friends and girlfriend Cindi. He adds anecdotal recollections to what he...

read more