Hey Doc, thank you! The Corpsman were always exposing themselves to fire running around stopping the bleeding first then going to the next Marine. The Corpsman was always the bravest man there. All Marines have a special fondness for you guys, even if you were Navy! Welcome Home and of course-Semper Fi!
I think that most of us just want to leave our late 60s-to-mid-70s memories buried. Yes, I can "just turn the dial" but it ain't that easy. Forty years of nightmares and night terrors from those days, and days of the last few decades, don't turn off easily. I left old memories buried and calloused-over for decades. They unfortunately crawled out of their shells to bite me very hard about four years ago, as I continued to support our ever-continuous war machines through my chosen career. The bad days only kindled/grew/subsided/morphed/grew more, etc., in our long lasting battles of the recent decades. The last decade, or so, has been a very difficult time for my brain. For me, it hit a crippling peak about four years ago when my brain forced me to retire from a job I loved and still strongly believe in. As I look back, I grew up sharing the non-forgiving lives of three great-uncles who came back "shell-shocked" from WW-1. They were always included in family gatherings, but they led very solitary lives. They never married. They had few friends. Yet, they were very kind, gentle and generous to those of my generation. They had little to say, whether we were fishing, making hay, or picnicking on the family farm. They had a lot of demons to deal with. One of my dad's first-cousins , who was about 6 months older than my dad, and whose parents didn't emigrate, became a Catholic priest serving in eastern Europe. Because he was educated, he was taken in 1940 to become a slave supervisor helping oversee the building of Dachau, only to become a of victim of his success in 1942. Many of my mother's and my dad's brothers came back physically and mentally scarred from WWII. Uncles and cousins came back from Korea the same way. I don't even want to think about Viet Nam. My friends ... I apologize for being so negative. I, like so many others, have no desire to be honored for our duty and our careers. We have done what we thought was right. Yet, how does one atone for doing the "right thing" when it involves things like like directing napalm and agent orange strikes? How many did I help annihilate in my career? I don't have any good answers. I'm glad I have good therapy. I'm also glad I still have non-verbal amateur radio, like CW, and especially all the great new digital modes, to let me communicate around the world without talking. U.S. Navy 1969-1975 U.S. Gov't Contractor 1975 - 2014 Licensed Amateur Radio Dude since 1962
I see that I got a "like" from W5BIB about my post above. I don't know the others who "liked" what I posted, but I know that BIB knows what it is like to make a call for annihilation. At the time we did these things, they seemed like the right thing to do. Ten, twenty, thirty, forty years later??? It can really affect your brain and conscience. We ain't right in our brains. If you have a friend or relative who served during Viet Nam, you probably have a friend or relative who has diabetes, and other maladies from Agent Orange. Most everyone I knew who was in anyway involved with Agent Orange either has diabetes, or has died from the effects of it. I have one cousin left who was directly sprayed, who is still alive. His brother, and a whole bunch of other SeaBees from our small community died in their 30s and 40s after being sprayed while building runways in their 20s. The horrors of calling in a napalm spray cannot be erased. Napalm has the consistency of warm honey or liquid hot glue. It sticks to everything it touches. Once it touches a body, it cannot be removed. It ignites and burns at a moderately high temperature that slowly burns a person to death. Communities sprayed with it were cremated alive. It is not a fast death. Today, we face some real nasty groups. It is far different from Viet Nam. From my involvement until retirement, I feel that we at least made great strides to only exterminate very targeted subjects, much faster, and with a lot less human suffering. Unfortunately, war and conflict never stop. I'm sorry for these vivid descriptions, especially for those who may never have had to be part of the devastation, or who had to try and identify still-warm parts of friends in body bags. Maybe before this thread gets too gruesome, it should be erased. PTSD Ken/K8KJG
I remember talking to my parents via the MARS station at Da Nang Airbase where I served in the 1st Marine Air Wing in 1970-1971. That was a great service to all of use who were fortunate enough to be able to take advantage of it. I'd like to express my gratitude to whomever these ham radio folks were. Thank you so much!! No need for the welcome home. We did what was asked of us. I was drafted into the Marine Corps in January of 1970. And yes we were warned not to fly home in uniform because we may not be well received by everyone here stateside. I flew home in dress blues because the airlines gave us a discount for flying standby and for being in uniform. I got some dirty looks but nothing serious. I wasn't ashamed of my military service then and I'm not ashamed of it today. We did what we thought was right. Americans were PO'd because we didn't win the war like in WWI & WWII. Those few Americans will have to look to the bureaucrats of the day and ask them why they intended for us to lose the Viet Nam war. It wasn't because of a military decision, believe me. Anyway enough of that. Thanks to all who faithfully served and Semper Fi to all my Marine brothers!! Best 73, Bob
Bob, I really appreciate everything in your post. My cousin ( a month younger than me) and I were drafted into the Marine Corps in January 1969. It wasn't something we were very happy about. We lived near the Candian border, with lots of friends and relatives on the other side. We were both juniors in college and were allowed to put off our induction until May 28, 1969. At the time, we were both sworn into the USMC on March 18, 1969. On the Memorial Day 1969 flight from Minneapolis to San Diego, we both found out that we had been selected to go into the Naval Security Group. It was a long night when we got there. There was a third fellow in our group, who was a cousin of one of my cousins, who got chosen for some other special Navy duties. They didn't know what to do with us when we got on the ground at the airport in San Diego. After several hours of serious confusion, the three of us eventually got put on a Navy bus with a bunch of other recruits that thankfully took us to the Navy side of the MCRD fence. This is not meant as any offense to my many Semper Fi comrades, but ... ... I figure my cousin and I would have been in the brig early into our first day, had we become Marines. For me at least, I mostly appreciated and enjoyed my six years of Navy days. Even on the day when we went over the equator and over the International date line nearly simultaneously, and I got to slurp up a sardine and a black olive from two different Navy chief's belly button holes. Best of all, we had two Marine linguists aboard in our group, who got to enjoy it with us. We had a guarded swim time afterwards to get cleaned up. I too, very seldom ever wore a uniform except during boot camp, school, and shipboard duty. In 1970, while at NSA, the Navy chief (in uniform) that I reported to, had his car rolled over on the 14th street bridge going into Washington DC when he was going to get our paychecks. Although we were already restricted for wearing uniforms off base, most of us in the Naval Security Group never again wore uniforms in public after that day. I got it trouble more than once for running phone patches though URC-32 HF transceivers aboard ship, while tied up in ports like Midway, Yokuska, and Sasebo. From 1971 to 1975, I spent a lot of time on special ships like the DE1033-1036s (Jones, Perry, Berry, McMorris), the "white ships", plus all of the Pacific-assigned aircraft carriers and other big ships, like the Blue Ridge. Thanks for sharing.
My father was a Vietnam vet. Air Force. He commanded teams downwind from those loading Agent Orange onto the aircraft. He rarely spoke of the rougher times, only those 'acceptable' for the folks back home. Anyway, a week after he died, the VA finally approved his claim ( restrictive cardiomyopathy due to exposure to AO). I appreciate every sacrifice made, and I thank you for your service. weekleyj, USCG TT2, (passed my general exam last week, waiting for my ticket!) Thank you to all of our veterans.
Ken, What an interesting story. Hey you guys were still under the big Navy umbrella of both the regular Navy and the USMC. It sounds like you guys were lucky to serve where you did. A Navy friend of mine always reminded me that I was a member of the Navy also because the Marine Corps Seal says U.S. Marine Corps, Department of the Navy. LOL I tell him I was in the Navy's Elite!! LOL No mater what, thank you all for your service. I did forget to mention that I have a disease called Sarcoidosis. Just recently I read some V.A. articles about fellow vets who have Sarcoidosis and it is believed to be caused by Agent Orange they came in contact with in RVN. From what I understand, everyone who served in RVN has been exposed to Agent Orange to some degree. Best 73, Bob
I want to share a story that might be of interest to other Nam vets. Recently I was in a restaurant wearing a jacket my sister got for me that said Marine Corps and Viet Nam etc. A waitress who was obviously Asian approached me and asked if I had been in Nam. I said yes and she said she was Vietnamese and had left the country after the war when she was a teenager. We talked for several minutes and then she stuck out her hand which I took and as we shook hands she said "Thank you". Maybe it will mean as much to you as it did to me. Semper Fi!
Ken, If you dont remember, then others quickly forget. Thats a tough, tough, burden on you, but the alternative is pure horror on the naive of today. They are clueless. Thanks for your service. 73 Chip W1YW
I was active duty 1959-63 as an ET in the USN and then until 1987 in the Reserves; most of the action I saw was in the bars with a few tense moments at the Bay of Pigs and Grenada and again when called back during GW1 but didnt get further than the base at Rota Spain. During your years you had CNO approval to run phone patches if the ships skipper approved. I bootlegged our URC-32 several times on 20M with the skipper doing a Sgt Schultz in the early 60's and in later years on my yearly sea cruise there was no issues. Carl USN/USNR 1959-87 CWO4 ret.
I felt very privileged to serve while Admiral Zumwalt was CNO. I believe it was October 1, 1969 that I started growing a beard, thanks to him. I was in ET school at Treasure Island at the time. I remember a crusty old ET chief telling me that if I stuck out my tongue, I'd look like a hemorrhoid. A lot of the senior enlisted didn't particularly like some of the things Zumwalt did. Us newbies sure did. Anyway, they made me a CTM (an electronics technician with special background investigations and lie detector tests), and I made it to CTM-1 in 4 years. I put in six years. The cousin I mentioned above, was made a CTI (interpreter) because he was "natively" fluent in several languages. We both had several other special skills that the government also apparently felt would be more useful to the cause if they didn't use us for enemy fire and grenade targets. Instead, we got to do other interesting things, that weren't always safe. When we would embark on ships for duty into SUPRAD (Supplementary Radio) or the SSES (Ship's Signal Exploitation Space) we usually had a Marine or two with us. Most of the crew had no real idea of why we were there. We always told them that we had the Marines with us to shoot us if we should be in danger of getting captured. Remember the Pueblo!
Ken, I'll never forget an incident that occurred when I was stationed at MCAS El Toro in Santa Ana, CA. after returning from RVN. As you mentioned, Admiral Zumwalt was the CNO and the USMC "5 star General" if you will. The Marine Corps 5 star General is the CNO. As you mentioned Admiral Zumwalt allowed Navy men the option of having a beard. He also allowed regular Navy personnel, stationed on USMC bases, the option of wearing Marine Corps uniforms. I kid you not!! I worked in separations where we had both Navy and Marine personnel. Some of the Navy Corpsman decided to wear Marine uniforms. No problem except for a few of them had beards. As you can imagine, the SHTF when these guys were spotted. That was the end of that on MCAS El Toro. Zumwalt quickly added that if the Navy personnel wanted to wear Marine uniforms then they had to adhere to Marine Corps grooming standards. I don't recall any of them who went that far!! Admiral Z didn't think that one through. LOL Best 73 Bob
Wow. That sends chills up and down my spine. I did not know W1ZK, but we would have known a number of people in common. One of my jobs while at electronics school at Ft. Meade was to help decommission the Banner and the Palm Beach after the USS Pueblo was captured. In the sadness, there was some humor. Another ham and I were sent on the decommissioning details for the two ships. On the first one, the CWO4 we reported to said it would take about a day. Well, it took about four days. I purchased clean clothes before flying back. I sent my stinky/nasty clothes back to the Fort Meade Navy Barracks (at NSA). They somehow ended up inside NSA. I had to claim them. I felt sorry for the Marine who had to dig through my stinky underwear before releasing it back to me. I was friends with many involved with the Pueblo, from Dan Priese, on down. Dan was the NavShips program manager at PME-107. I was sent to school at F&M systems in Carrolton, TX, which outfitted the ships. That is how I met and befriended the famous Ted Hart, W5QJR. He was at a new receiver company (Scientific Communications, Inc/SciComm) in Garland, TX. When I got sent to Pearl Harbor, I became the "crypto custodian" of the Pueblo. It was shortly after that that Master Chief Ralph Bouden and Senior Chief Jim Kell were released after their final torture by OUR US NAVY when they were released back to active duty. Ralph was the senior enlisted man on the Pueblo, and was a CTM. Jim Kell was the Senior Chief who mostly oversaw operation of the group. He was a CTT. They ended up at NAVSECGRUDET CINPACFLT with little old me. I think I was an E-5 at that time. Chief Bouden became my intermediate boss. I helped him get his ham license around 1971-72. He was an incredibly warm and loving person. For our shop of about 75, he was very loved and an incredible influence. When I say that Ralph Boudan was my intermediate boss, I also became close friends with our next higher up boss -- Cmdr Richard Henry Lee. He was one of the few LDOs (Limited Duty Officers) to make Cmdr in those days. He started as an enlisted navy CTM. He arrived at Pearl Harbor shortly after I got there. One of his assignments before coming to us, had been as part of the initial boarding party after the USS Liberty was destroyed when the Israelis attacked it. They killed about 35, and about another 175 were seriously wounded. He told some gruesome stories about it. He and his wife Bonnie were incredible roll models and friends, who befriended everyone, no matter their rank. Rich died about a year ago. Enough. I'll have nightmares tonight.
