Salute to Nam Vets

Fathead Racing

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 7
We have Purple Heart medal holders here that chose to remain silent. I know some of them. They are the ones that don't talk about Vietnam much. I can run my mouth a little but never got hit. These guys are the true heroes. Funny, the guys that were in the thick of it don't talk a lot. They are my heroes, they had my back.
 

Iowa 409 Guy

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 15
My brother in law was a Marine ground pounder. The only thing I have heard him say about being there is getting a bath from AO in the jungle. He's been having a cough lately and had a biopsy 10 days ago. I sure hope he comes out OK. He's a spitting image of the long bearded dude on Duck Dynasty. I always tell him he is my favorite bro in law...... I only have one sister.
 

oldskydog

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 10
All I did was support missions to help keep the LORAN Navigation system on the air so the B-52's (and anybody else) could find their targets. My Jarhead buddy made the amphibious landing at DaNang in 65 and a lot of his buddies died in Operation Starlite, the first major engagement of the war.
9:16Operation Starlite (documentary) - Vietnam War
Fortunately he was pulled from his squad just before that for prisoner duties…..probably saved his life. His rifle team leader got the MOH, posthumously.
All you guys that went and came back are heroes for doing your duty but the guys who didn't make it, like a lot of my friends are the ultimate heroes. They never got to grow old like us.
 
Last edited:

JED

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 5
Joined the AF in '67 (I thought it was better than being drafted) as a maintenance tech. First duty station after tech school was with the 4531st Tactical Fighter Wing at Homestead AFB, FL with an F-4 fighter wing. In '68 we were ready to deploy to Phu Cat airbase. I mean really ready. All of our gear was already loaded on C-141's on the ground at the base. I had sent my car and personal belongings home to my folks and we were supposed to take off the next morning for Phu Cat when the USS Pueblo spy ship was captured by the North Koreans. All deployments were put on hold, we unloaded all of our gear, and went back to normal operations at Homestead, awaiting instructions from higher-ups. Fortunately for me, I later rotated out of TAC without getting deployed to Vietnam. I lost several high school friends who weren't so lucky. I salute all those who served both in Vietnam and the neighboring Asian countries that were just as nasty as Vietnam (but without combat pay), as well as our current members of the military:appl.

In spite of all of the political crap going on today, I find it refreshing that people and companies are now recognizing active and veteran military members for their contributions to our country. That never happened when I was in the Air Force in the '60's and '70's. When I served during (not "in") Vietnam, things were much different. We were told not to wear our uniforms off base (this was in the U.S.A.) because people would attack us for being in the military and supporting the Vietnam war. We were young men and women that were doing our duty and serving our country. We didn't pick where we went or who we fought-that was done by Washington, but we were the visible symbol of that political activity. Times have changed, and I am glad.

Sorry for the soapbox.:rantoff
John
 

Blk61409

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 9
Got drafted in ‘65, my buddies had already joined the Army Reserves. Seemed more than I wanted to take on 6 years vs 2. You know how it goes with enough Budweiser’s, they convinced me to go with them.
Ended up as a door gunner on UH-1D Huey’s, Army 300th Aviation.
Packed for Nam about a 100 times, never got called up.
To this day I never figured that one out, but very grateful for those that did go.
All my best to all Vets!!
 
Top