I too lost close friends aboard Liberty & was in "B" school in Pensacola when it was attacked. I lost two friends in Kami Seya during the fire. We're coming up on the 47th anniversary of the shoot-down of the Navy EC-121 (PR-21) by DPRK in the Sea-of-Japan on April 15th, 1969. I had flown on PR-21 with VQ-1 when it rotated to Danang. in fact, I re-enlisted sitting in the co-pilots seat @ about 8,000 ft.up, in the Northern Gulf-of-Tonkin off of Haiphong harbor on Sept. 13th, 1966. I lost 31 crew-mates when the DPRK shot it down. I flew 72 combat support missions in 1966 as an airborne Morse intercept operator. I'll never forget my 13th mission. Each mission was a round-robin 8-14 hour flight. We had already been relieved by another EC-121 (PR-23) & were gradually letting down for Danang. Our "cover" aircraft (F-4) had already left us to return to the carrier, so, we were alone. We were conducting "field-day" (clean-up) when the bells started ringing !!! "Cross-up radar" had detected two Migs breaking water out of Hue N. Vietnam. Our pilot, LCDR OVERSTREET, cut the power & we dropped like a rock !! We had been at about 5,000 ft & he needed us to be clipping the wave-tops ASAP. The Migs broke off when they were 2 nm from us & we made it on back to Danang. We all cleaned out our shorts & were debriefed. whew! I went on to fly another 59 missions knowing what it felt like to fall from 5,000 ft while being chased by 2 migs. April 15th, 1969, LCDR OVERSTREET & 30 other crew-members on-board the same plane weren't so lucky. (RIP) (The whole story is on my QRZ bio page, The URL/link is near the bottom) To this day I don't fly, & when I hear/read about an aircraft crashing, I know what those on-board felt like for those last few seconds/minutes. In 1971 I was instructing "A" school in Pensacola & one of my students was RON BERENS - BM2. Ron was the helmsman on Pueblo when it was captured. He & CDR BUCHER(R.I.P.) remained on the bridge while they were escorted to port. Ron successfully converted to "CTR" & retired as a CTR1. We stay in touch to this day, but avoid talking about Pueblo or his "shore-duty" in North Korea. Side-note: Upon graduating from "B" school in July, 1967, I received orders to Pueblo & was to join her in Bremerton, Wash. Since I had just served 3 years of sea-duty in the Far-East, BUPERS changed my orders & sent me to Turkey for two years!! whew. That was close. After returning from Turkey in late '69, I did 3 years of instructor duty in Pensacola & got the hell out in Sept. 13, 1972 !!! Just felt like sharing with those that went "in-harms way" once-upon-a-time. If you read my bio, maybe you'll understand why I worked so many jobs for so many years. Ya gotta keep the mind busy ya know !! I've been retired since 2009 & sometimes I think I'd be crazier if it weren't for ham radio !! I'm gonna have to double-up on my meds tonight - Thanks for listening. P.s, Everything you read here was De-classified decades ago Steve / W5BIB ex-CTR1(AC)
Frankly, I'd rather forget most if not all I saw and did over there. In view of the events of 1975 that, to me, made our efforts a wasteful pedantic exercise of the worst order. I have to admit I can't forget Jan 31 1968 or May 24, '68 but I try to. RIP to all our fallen brothers and Welcome Home to those who served. re: Radio: I was an advisor to the ARVN and we had an AF FAC with us who let us use the 618T on his jeep to make MARS calls (bootlegged, of course) with a whip. Propagation in 1968 was unbelievable.
Dr OM:Tnx fer sharing a few memories from that terrible time in most of our lives.Some much more so than others.It may be easy fer me to sit here and say do not feel guilty or depressed for your service to your country as you did what you were instructed to do.However unpleasant looking back from today's point of view.It will only destroy you if you do.The fact that you are able to share those experiences, however unpleasant,is a healthy sign.Talk it out,communicate and it will give you strength to see just how many more veterans and civilian contractors there are just like you.The way to help rid oneself of these memories are by sharing with many that never had or never will know what so many men such as yourself were exposed too.I have great sympathy while reading your two great letters,perhaps they will also give many others the strength to know that they are not alone-believe me,there are many suffering with PTSD.It will however get better as time passes.Again allow me to thank you for sharing your story and good luck and God bless. Respectfully,Gregory L. Mitchell-W2MYA West Caldwell,N.J.
I'd like to forget it too and I thought I did but I only covered it up. It keeps oozing up through the cracks in my soul. I'm there every day, in spite of myself. Semper Fi!
Vets from all branches:Firstly,Thank You es Welcome Home!!! I was shooting on our unit's rifle team when the Israelis attacked the USS Liberty. To this day it has never been explained to me as to why our friends es allies would attack a clearly marked,identified U.S. vessel???Does anyone really know?What have I missed somewhere??Perhaps someone has a theory.Also,if my memory doesn't fail me,there was no outcry from members of Congress as well!!They should have brought the house down!In fact I would like to bet that our foreign aid continued to flow to their government after this terrible attack as well. Respectfully, (Former) Gy Sgt Gregory L. Mitchell-W2MYA, West Caldwell,N.J. "SEMPER FI"
correct to read: "Two Migs out of VINH, N. Vietnam" (HUE, of course is in S. Vietnam , & has it's own history) SORRY 'BOUT THAT ! WELCOME HOME TO ALL WHO SERVED ANYWHERE & THANK YOU.
That is an excellent description of what so many have experienced. Using your great description, my mind also oozed into the cracks of my soul for many years. It started during the Viet Nam era. Just about the time that the nasty scabs started to heal, they got ripped off because of many projects I was involved in. Way too many of my friends became the unreported guests of foreign governments. More than once, it was close for me. For many of us it it was Evade, Captured, Escape, or Death. Thankfully, I somehow missed the last one. The first three were minimal compared to so many friends. The military still thinks in terms of SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape). To the best of my knowledge, the US Government still doesn't provide much assistance for the aftermath of these experiences. They still don't teach about looking in warm body bags, except maybe for the coroners and morticians. They don't teach about calling family members, except maybe for the chaplains. I started to write about friends lost, captured, mutilated, or killed but ... There are just way too many gruesome and horrific stories to relate. Instead, I look back to a long time friend, neighbor, and colleague Joe Galloway -- whose two boys went to school with my boys, and who co-wrote a book called "We Were Soldiers". It got turned into a movie starring Mel Gibson. Joe's first wife (who died of cancer way too young) and I were very close friends, and definitely were "no-that-ain't right" people throughout the 1980s and 1990s, until just before she passed away. She and I shared front page photos in a number newspaper articles when we were younger. For me, by 2001, it had restarted again, but at a highly accelerated rate. It finally hit a horrible peak 5-6 years ago. During those last years on the job, I was fortunate enough to work for a big defense company where I had good insurance and good help programs. I also had taken out a long term disability policy when my wife and I got married in 1976. Thankfully, since then, I've had good civilian mental health treatment, proper drugs, and excellent counseling. I was 63 when I finally really crashed. Things got me stretched into retirement. Without it all, my family would probably be bankrupt, and I'd probably dead from my own actions. To this day, going through security, so I can fly on a commercial air flight to see my grandkids, is at least a three-Xanax experience. I'f you've ever been pulled over at a foreign airport, with automatic rifles behind each ear, then strip and cavity searched, you can identify with my feeling of getting a near-instant case serious food poisoning -- while some "retired military TSA dude says he understands, and tells you that you ain't no ..." I know they are doing their job. I just don't know how I've never puked on one of them. I think it is probably best if I don't recheck this thread for a while. I don't get to see my wonderful shrink for another two weeks. Crazy Ken
I DO NOT WANT TO REMEMBER ANY OF CAOS I TRY TO FORGET DAILY... I REMEMBER MY FALLEN BROTHERS AND SISTERS WHO GAVE ALL... NOT THE HORROR...
I'm thinking maybe this thread should be put into a cocoon. I'm not sorry that it has been here. As has been said by many, we are not looking for any thanks. I'm just hoping it can be something uplifting, especially for so many of our veterans of the last 20 years. I've been doing pretty well for the last several years, since my major crash, thanks to lots of good treatment and proper drugs. Unfortunately, this thread has opened a lot of forgotten scars -- like KO2LA said "I'd like to forget it too and I thought I did but I only covered it up. It keeps oozing up through the cracks in my soul. I'm there every day, in spite of myself. " My night terrors and nightmares have mostly gone into remission. I don't want them back. I joke about my wonderful wife of 40 years, and the consistent black-and-blue marks on my rib cages. They have been the result of her elbow jabs while I was experiencing a nightmare or night terror. I've been free from of them for at least the last two years. I'm now 68 years old.
MARS station N0EFA, Dong Ha, early 1968. Operators Ray Gross, Barry Weathersby, Harry Boggs, Bill Biggs & Jim Elshoff.
Ken, Welcome Home. Thankfully, I never or rarely suffered anything remotely resembling your experiences with PTSD. Not that I am strong but despite my shrapnel wound, I tried to not dwell on anything. I hope and pray I don't have anything like your experiences in my old age. (I am 78 now). I was a lifer (22 years, nine months and 13 days not that I counted) and managed to talk with others with problems such as yours. My wife has ovarian cancer and I have been totally immersed and involved with her condition and the likelihood of her early demise has me upset and until I saw something in the newspaper about observing the 50th Annimisery of Vietnam, I hadn't thought about it for a few years except for Jan 31 which still haunts me but I can put it behind me. Best of luck to you and yours. Weird Richard WB5GSA
