Military Stories

[Jasonanddeonna]

Dec 31, 1965 I was at my Brother's house in SE Portland getting ready to celebrate the New Year..
Even had images in my mind of a couple of chicks that were there.
The Phone rings, it's my Father.
He was a WWII Vet from the ETO. He ran the Crypto Plt in the 563rd Sig Co, 63RD ID.
Signal Corps, trained at Ft Monmouth in 1943.

So I Says "Whaasssup Pops? Happy New Year."
"Well, you too..... [pause....] Well, this letter came in the mail today. Want me to open it?"
"Uh..."
"The Sons a Blitches don't even have the COMMON DECENCY to say
GREETINGS FROM THE PRESIDENT. YOU ARE HEREBY HONORED TO SERVE...."
"Just You are hereby ordered to report for preinduction blah blah bah...."

Monday I went down to Portland State but couldn't afford the out of state tuition, so PCC was next door.
I stalled and delayed and lived on coffee , cigarettes, wine, beer, all night Poker,
etc hoping to be a big enuf Failure to NOT
have to go to an exotic land w/ leaches and diseases they didn't know existed,
and shoot people, or get shot. Not appealing at all.

Now I was no different than anybody else at the top tier of the WWII Baby Boomers..
Our Dads had all Been There Done that. Seen that Fn Elephant....
I had grown up like most of my Buds having that Male Thingy abt being a War Hero,
maybe 3 bullet holes, nothing really damaged, but the chicks would, uh well, ....

But the Problem w/ this War/ Non War was that it was based on
ALL LIES, DECEIT, POLITICS, ETC...

Which ALL = EVIL INTENT.

I was still 18, they just needed more bodies so more body bags could be purchased.
When Lyndon Baines Johnson came on TV w/ his Mah Fello Mericans, lie lie lie...etc...!!
I knew he was Lying. That was 5 or 6 Aug 1964.

The following Spring I found out from a classmate a year older than I that had Witnessed
theTonkin Gulf Attack.
He was on Deck Watch "THAT NIGHT" and told of how they had Shot the Shyte out of the water,
killed a lot of fish, but before morning
"EVERYBODY ON BOARD SHIP KNEW NO ATTACK HAPPENED."
That was late evening of 4 Aug 1964... event #2.
Event #1 was 2 Aug Sunday afternoon when the Ticonderoga had 4 Crusaders flying
training a Newbie pilot and their "Skipper" was called in before for an Improptu Intelligence Briefing.
He later stated that the Only thing of note was that
"The USS Maddox would be steaming up the NV Coast."
So What...???

While in the air they were ordered to got to Her Aid. When they got there the Maddox was going 1 way,
the NV Torpedo boats were headed opposite, so they shot up the small boats.
US Radio Traffic was recorded by the NVA and later IT was used by Rbt STRANGE McNamara to
sustain the Aug 4 NO ATTACK... LIES upon MORE LIES...
All this can be found in "IN LOVE AND WAR " by Jim and Sybil Stockdale.
That's JAMES BOND Stockdale, CALL SIGN "007" [can't make this stuff up]

So I was able to stall the process till the end of summer. I figured if I HAD to go in,
I might as well do something fun, like fly Choppers...
The Army had its way, and I needed to meet before a Board of A.R. Officers to get the final OK,
but they only did this 2 times a year. [perfect Army logic].
So the Recruiter told me I had to join or get drafted, and the 4th ID was up at Ft Lewis getting ready
to go to Viet Fn Nam....
He said I could sign up for OCS and then go to Flight School and being an Officer they couldn't harass me. More Lies.
And that I could get it all done and still be out after 3 yrs. LIES LIES....
5 1/2 yrs and probly 2 tours across the pond, if lucky.



So I enlisted 28 OCT 1966. Ft Lewis basic. 2 wks in All trainees were at the parade field for some reason,
and while I was watching a Huey landing and getting wood, my hunting buddy walked up. He had been drafted 6 weeks ahead of me. He said "Did you hear abt Lowell Schultz?"
He was a nice guy a yr older. I didn't even know he was in country.
"Huh? No." "He got Zapped. Stitched him across the chest.
Yea man, it's true The're shootin real bullets over there."
THE WALL OF FACES - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund

Ft "Lost in the Woods" Mo fer Field Wireman School AIT.
Learned abt Cold Weather, Army Towns w/ too many jewelry stores....
and Got to Climb Telephone Poles w/ Gear...and I had to re apply for OCS since they didn't trust "Trainees" to personnally carry their papers n orders, so the US ARMY lost them for me.
Also I witnessed the 1st Real incident of Unmitigated Racism, but that is a Happy Ending story
for another time [The Oppressed guy won, the uppity middle class NGs lost.]

That delay put me into a "Hold Over Co." All 20 of us waiting for Class Dates for OCS.
I was there for 6 weeks assigned to the Supply Room. The XO was a Butter bar who had finished
a 6 yr hitch getting to SSG E6 Supply Sgt, then OCS.
He was married, lived on Post w/ wife n kids, and abt every other day would load the big 20 gal Milk Containers into the back of his Station Wagon. In the back room he had abt 6 Matress Covers stuffed full of Wool OGs, a Highly marketable commodity fer trading. And Lots of Cans of Coffee.
13 Lawnmowers issued to the unit, 3 in the store room, no grass to mow anywhere.....

I got to go on a clean up detail. Seemed that the CG liked horses, so I got to go shovel horse pucky for an afternoon. There was a Spc4 there kinda running this. He was from a Ky Race Horse family.
He was perfect to take care of the Geneal's horses.

I saw the CO, a short ROTC Butter Bar who thought mucho abt his position, and his Bulbos Red nosed Lifer 1st Sgt, an E6. Saw them together on 2 occassions [when they spent 15 minutes looking around]
in a 6 week time frame.

The Co Clerk had an MBA, having joined w a few buddies under the College Grad Special OCS program; Guaranteed OCS and if you didn't complete it you still got out w/ in 2 yrs.....
and if you were lucky enuf to get delayed somehow, NO RVN....

Well, he was the only one left and he made out the Morning Report,
which normally is the Pet of the Co 1st Sgt.
Where were his Buddies?
Living Off Post w/ their wives and full time jobs. subsidized by Unca Sam.

After that I left for Ft Knox where I was to learn that
"ON THE EIGHTH DAY, GOD CREATED ARMORED CAVALRY"
View attachment 615012




Methinks I yak too much...


Fearless Fred comes to mind;
THE WALL OF FACES - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
Information on FLURRY JAMES DURWARD

Thank you for sharing.

 

[Jasonanddeonna]

If anyone is willing to share more stories, I would love to read/listen. They remind me of what is important and how precious our freedoms are thanks to those who serve/served. Thanks again!

 

[JohnnyMac]

I'll try to keep this short.... Started off my CG career as a Bos'n Mate. I ran 44's (Depoe Bay) and 41's (Mare Island) for my first 5 years. Decided to change rate to Electronics Tech and got stationed on the Cutter Citrus out of Coos Bay. I still loved running boats, so weaseled my way into getting qualified coxswain on the MSB and Rigid Hull Inflatable.

We were patrolling off the WA coast and came upon a dragger with his gear out. It was chitty weather but the skipper wanted to board him. I was the only coxswain that was willing to run the boat in that weather. We loaded up, launched the RHI and made our way over. I had to maneuver up in front of his barn door cables running aft to the nets but stay aft enough to keep out of his flopper stoppers and this was in 25kt winds and 15' sloppy seas. I got the boat in and dropped off the the boarding crew and after they were done, slipped in and got them out. It was pretty hairy and the boarding crew gave me some serious kudo's for getting them in and out without any injuries.

On the way back to the Citrus, we had to run pretty slow because of the seas and were bouncing pretty heavy when a freak wave came out of nowhere and threw the bow almost straight up. We kinda sat there for a few seconds with the bow straight up and the boat deciding whether it wanted to come back down on the hull or flop over backwards. Luckily it dropped back down and we proceeded back to the ship with no further issues.

When we got back on board the ship, they piped over the loudspeaker for me to lay to the bridge. I figured the Cap'n was going to give me a pat on the back for such good seamanship. I stepped on the bridge and saluted the Cap'n. He walked up and got in my face and said, "What the hell was that Mac!" I knew exactly what he was talking about so I responded, "I got caught by a rogue wave sir." He replied, "DO NOT GET CAUGHT AGAIN!", then raised his finger and said, "That's 1, now get outta here".

I went straight down the Chief Bos'n and told him the story and asked what the hell the skipper meant by "That's 1". The Chief smiled and said, "I don't know, but I got 2".......

 

[Lazyfaire]

I got another one of my father's stories for you boys



I had just returned from Viet Nam where I'd accumulated about 1000 hours in the UH-34D. The H-34 is made out of magnesium, so the worst emergency you can have is a fire in flight. They make flares out of magnesium! The manual said wear chutes over 3000' above ground, because you couldn't get it to the ground before it would burn up.

I was transitioning into the Kaman UH-2B Seasprite, the Search and Rescue helicopter at MCAS Cherry Point, NC. The Seasprite was a much more modern helo than the H-34. Big enunciator light array atop the instrument panel, retractable gear, turbine engine, made of aluminum and fiberglass, etc. We normally flew it with a non-pilot enlisted crewman observer in the left seat and the crew chief in the cabin. I had just completed my dual check ride and was about to launch on my first "Pilot In Command" solo. The last question the check pilot asked me before he exited the aircraft was, "What do you do if this lights?" pointing to the fire warning light. I replied, "Emergency fuel cut-off and initiate autorotation." He said, "Right!"

Not right!

I launched on my first solo in the Seasprite. I decided to leave the field confines, heading southeast over farmland. Accelerating, at 100%, I closed the doors and raised the retractable gear. As I reached about 300' altitude, the suddenly GIGANTIC FIRE WARNING LIGHT glowed in my face.

So Joe Cool, one of the USMC's finest rotorheads, hit the emergency fuel cut-off switch, lowered the collective to enter autorotation, slowed to autorotation speed, turned west into the wind, picked out a plowed field in which to land, opened the cabin door, and called Cherry Point tower on the radio to tell them where I was and my intentions.

As I reached about 100', I noticed a power line across my intended landing field. Quickly, I turned right 90 degrees, choosing another plowed field. The ground came up pretty fast. Instead of the NATOPS autorotation procedure for the H-2, which called for a full stop in the air, then settle to the ground, I instinctively reverted to my H-34 Viet Nam combat landing experience and did a roll on landing, dragging the tail wheel on the ground until forward motion stopped, then letting the nose down. I quickly applied rotor brake, while the Crew Chief leapt from the aircraft with fire extinguisher in hand.

When I unbuckled to exit the aircraft, I noticed I didn't have far to go to touch the ground. Joe Cool had neglected one important detail. The gear was still retracted in the wells!

I was VERY lucky. The combination of soft ground, a soft autorotation landing and the external fuel tanks on each side of the fuselage saved my butt. I didn't even break off the antennae on the bottom of the fuselage. The aircraft was stable enough, that applying the rotor brake did no harm. My radio call to the tower was never heard. Apparently I pushed the wrong side of the rocker switch on the cyclic stick. There was no fire, just a short circuit in the switch, for which the aircraft was known. Which is why the first response to a fire warning light in this helo is, Lean out to see if the engine is on fire!

That's the "Is it plugged in" scenerio!

 

[ZigZagZeke]

An oldie but goodie...

A somewhat distorted version of what actually happened has been posted on a few different naval websites, among them my old favorite Warships1 though it's not there now.
Here is the original and the follow-up from the skipper involved

During the Vietnam War, USS Turner Joy, a destroyer with 5-inch naval guns, spotted a target off the coast of North Vietnam. Assuming it friendly, a radio call was put out:

"This is the USS Turner Joy, Please identify yourself."

No response.

Signal lights were used:

"This is the USS Turner Joy, identify yourself, friend or foe."

No response.

Signal lights again:

"This is the USS Turner Joy, identify yourself or we will commence firing"

Answer: "This is battleship USS New Jersey, you may fire when ready!"

The captain of New Jersey, J. Ed Snyder Jr., says what really happened was this:

"...the other warship was not Turner Joy, but a smaller vessel commanded by a lieutenant. There were two inquiries by signal light from the smaller craft, both of which New Jersey ignored."

Snyder later wrote:

"My policy was not to release messages without my personal O.K. My OOD [officer of the deck] ignored the first two messages from the small naval vessel since they had her on radar and the visual call sign identified the sending ship but when the flashing light message saying "unknown vessel identify yourself or we will open fire" my OOD called me right away. The reason I had our signalmen use the 24 inch searchlight is that I was slightly ticked that the other naval vessel (the sending ship) should have been able to tell the difference between a Battleship on radar and a north Vietnam gun runner or fishing boat."

"I was in the habit of not signing messages with our name since the message always had a heading telling who sent it and to whom it was addressed. I admit my reply was rather tense and not in the best naval tradition but we on the New Jersey felt nothing could hurt us and the crew enjoyed my reply which was, "OPEN FIRE WHEN READY. FEAR GOD. DREADNOUGHT." (DREADNOUGHT having a double meaning, i.e., fear not and the name the British gave to the first large battleships.)
New Jersy Reply

I will add that FEAR GOD AND DREADNOUGHT was also the ship's motto for HMS Dreadnought

I loved how Captain Snyder used a 24-inch searchlight as a signal lamp
Kind of like using an the biggest airhorn you've ever seen instead your car horn

 

[tac]

The year is 1940, the place is somewhere on the South Coast of England, and the great evacuation of Dunkirk has been and gone. All UK is tensed for the imminent invasion by Hitler's Wehrmacht and huge numbers of men, too old for regular service, had joined up the LDF - Local Defence Force - later to become known as the Home guard, armed for the most part with weapons sent over by the kindness of Americans.

One such unit of about thirty or so of the Home Guard was getting trained for defence of local landmarks of some military significance, like a few bridges over rivers, and rail lines, and of course, the training staff- called in British Army parlance DS - directing staff - were from the regular army and very gung-ho in their attitude to the old codgers they usually saw sitting in front of them in the school classroom commandeered for the duration, who were engaged in much pencil-licking and laboriously taking notes at a somewhat less than feverish rate, considering that Hitler's hordes were less than 25 miles away across the Channel.

However, it was nice sunny day in late-August, so it was decided to hold the exercise at a real location, rather than one made up of cocoa tins covered with scrim netting and a crudely-painted cardboard river. That particular day they were studying the plan of action necessary to take down a German guard post, armed with a machine-gun facing each way on the approaches to the bridge, and bring back a couple of prisoners for interrogation. As such, the old codgers were divided up into ten syndicates of three, in the hope that one of other of them could come up with a cunning plan that might just result in a positive outcome. Meanwhile three or four of the DS had set themselves up on the chosen side of the bridge and were awaiting the impending 'attack' with a degree of boredom well-known to any of us who have been in a similar position.

The signs of this happening, however, were NOT quite as positive as the DS had hoped. One by one, a spokesman from each syndicate came up to face the crowd of his peers and the DS, with their the plan. All involved much in the way of flanking approaches to the bridge target, with sundry feints in the form of various coloured flares and rockets, maybe even a small 'stonk' from available artillery - IF it was available, that is. Yet another syndicate favoured a more sneaky approach, wading along the overhanging river banks and crawling up the sides of the bridge piers - at almost 800 years old, the bridge chosen for the exercise had plenty of footholds for the more agile of the group, but nothing, it seemed, could impress the DS with a realistic plan of attack with any hope of succeeding.

Until one of the old boys stood up and said loudly - 'You've ALL got it wrong! This is how to do it!!!' And picking up his trusty rifle, he fixed the bayonet to the muzzle, and shouting out - 'FOLLOW ME!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ya bastards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' and charged the 'German' guard post. The result was immediate - the DS put their hands in the air in a state of some shock, and were taken prisoner by three old men old enough to be their fathers.

'How did you get away with it?' asked one, shaking his head at the sheer bloody cheek of it all - 'I can tell you that wouldn't have worked like that if it had been the real thing!'

'Well, Sir', replied the old codger, who at second glance, was not really THAT old, it seemed, 'It worked for me the last time I did it, back in 1914, and they gave me a Victoria Cross for doing it.'

 

[HA556]

I was in some foreign ports, got drunk and tattoos, did some things you don't tell significant others. I was young once!

End of story.

You don't want to hear the Bangkok story!

 

[AMT]

I was in some foreign ports, got drunk and tattoos, did some things you don't tell significant others. I was young once!

End of story.

You don't want to hear the Bangkok story!

You mean like the game of charades....???

 

[ZigZagZeke]

I was in some foreign ports, got drunk and tattoos, did some things you don't tell significant others. I was young once!

End of story.

You don't want to hear the Bangkok story!

I was a submariner. 'Nuff said.

 

[gryghin]

I was a submariner. 'Nuff said.

I'm 2nd Gen Submariner, when my kids and sister-in-law gifted me a DNA Ancestry test so that they could replicate my Dad's DNA (it takes 3 sources) I sent all of them the following:

"Please remember that I'm a Submariner, like my father before me. That being said this test may reveal that I have siblings or that there may be children of mine that I am not aware of."

 

[clearconscience]

I just got done reading Outlaw Platoon by Sean Parnell. Man that book is nerve wracking from start to finish.

My hats off to all you who served. I didn't not and have regretted it. I think about it daily

 

[CoastRange57]

I did not serve, my father was Normandy D Day + 1, and 3 of my sons were in the Marine Corps.

Any of my military stories would be mostly hauling drunk Marines around to various bars and strip clubs in San Diego, North Carolina, Yuma and wherever else they were.

I did have a conversation with an old WW II vet when I went to rototill his garden many years ago. He broke out some beers and was telling me a story about on some liberty, that some guys in the unit had gotten the clap, and the top was going to lock the whole barracks down if one more grunt went back to this whorehouse again and got the clap again, and there would be hell to pay for the whole unit.

Thank you to those who have served our great country.

 

[Jasonanddeonna]

Thank you for sharing these new stories and memories. I greatly appreciate reading them.