To All,
.Good Wednesday morning 20 November. Another nice day here and caught up on some chores and leaf raking and have 4 green cans full and out for pickup. A little long today with stories from Shadow and Kit
Make it a GREAT Day
Regards,
Skip
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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/. Go here to see the director's corner for all 84 H-Grams .
This day in Naval and Marine Corps History .
November 20
1856—During the Second Opium War, 287 Marines and Sailors from U.S. Navy ships Levant, Portsmouth, and San Jacinto land at Canton, China, under the command of Cmdr. Andrew Foote. This action opens up diplomatic relations with China and the U.S. gains neutrality.
1933—Lt. Cmdr. Thomas G. W. Settle and Maj. Chester I. Fordney set a world altitude record at 61,237 ft. in a balloon flight into the stratosphere at Akron, OH.
1943—Vice Adm. Raymond A. Spruance's 5th Fleet lands Marine Corps and Army forces on Tarawa and Makin Atolls in the Gilbert Islands during Operation Galvanic.
1943—PBY aircraft sink Japanese cargo vessel Naples Maru off New Ireland.
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Today in World History
November 20
269 Diocletian is proclaimed emperor of Numerian in Asia Minor by his soldiers. He had been the commander of the emperor's bodyguard.
1695 Zumbi dos Palmares, the Brazilian leader of a 100-year-old rebel slave group, is killed in an ambush.
1700 Sweden's 17-year-old King Charles XII defeats the Russians at Narva.
1903 In Cheyenne, Wyoming, 42-year-old hired gunman Tom Horn is hanged for the murder of 14-year-old Willie Nickell.
1914 Bulgaria proclaims its neutrality in the First World War.
1928 Mrs. Glen Hyde becomes the first woman to dare the Grand Canyon rapids in a scow (a flat-bottomed boat that is pushed along with a pole).
1931 Japan and China reject the League of Council terms for Manchuria at Geneva.
1943 U.S. Army and Marine soldiers attack the Japanese-held islands of Makin and Tarawa, respectively, in the Central Pacific.
1945 The Nazi war crime trials begin at Nuremberg.
1947 Princess Elizabeth (future Queen Elizabeth II) marries Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in Westminster Abbey.
1950 U.S. troops push to the Yalu River, within five miles of Manchuria.
1955 The Maryland National Guard is ordered desegregated.
1962 President John F. Kennedy bars religious or racial discrimination in federally funded housing.
1967 U.S. census reports the population at 200 million.
1971 The United States announces it will give Turkey $35 million for farmers who agree to stop growing opium poppies.
1974 The United States files an antitrust suit to break up ATT.
1978 South Africa backs down on a plan to install black rule in neighboring Namibia.
1981 Microsoft Windows 1.0 released.
1992 Fire in England's Windsor Castle causes over £50 million in damages.
1998 First module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched.
2008 Dow Jones Industrial Average sinks to lowest level in 11 years in response to failures in the US financial system.
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Thanks to the Bear. .
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER ….
. rollingthunderremembered.com .
Thanks to Micro
To remind folks that these are from the Vietnam Air Losses site that Micro put together. You click on the url below and get what happened each day to the crew of the aircraft. ……Skip
From Vietnam Air Losses site for Wednesday November 20
20-Nov: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=3052
This one has the HC-7 rescue addition
This following work accounts for every fixed wing loss of the Vietnam War and you can use it to read more about the losses in The Bear's Daily account. Even better it allows you to add your updated information to the work to update for history…skip Vietnam Air Losses Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War . Listed by last name and has other info https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
MOAA - Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
The site works, find anyone you knew in "search" feature.
https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/ )
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Another from Shadow
LONG JOURNEY HOME
I don't remember how many days I spent on Okinawa… I do remember I was doing a lot
of thinking. In a way, I don't even like talking about what was bothering me… because it
involved perhaps the greatest personal integrity failure of my life.
I had gotten engaged just before I'd left for Vietnam… over the next 14 months I knew it
was a mistake. I had written a letter about a month before and indicated that perhaps we
should reconsider… as I had changed a lot over the last year. The only response I
received was the printed, written invitations to the wedding… a coy way of saying… you
can back out if you want… you son of a bitch… but these have already been sent out.
I felt like I was between a rock and a hard place… she was really a wonderful person, as
was her family… but I knew I was no longer in love. To compound things, a girl I'd
dated years before had started writing me and I was really torn inside about what to do or
which one to go to… In the end, I took the cowards way out and married the girl out of a
contorted sense of duty… It lasted but a year. She did everything she could to make it
work… but neither my heart… nor head was in it… I hurt her deeply when I had to tell
her I just didn't love her and we should go our separate ways before we produced
offspring and things got more complicated… I was so terribly wrong to have done it in
the first place. I didn't blame Vietnam for it (she did)… it was my own gutless
stupidity… Just shouldn't have done it to begin with.
On the flight home, I reflected over the last year's events… Beginning with Chu Lai, then
Phu Bai, Dong Ha, Cam Lo, Con Thien, the Rockpile, the cruise, Duc Pho and finally Gia
Linh… It had been a hell of a ride… but then again, as "Black" likes to say… "If it ain't
buckin'… it ain't rodeo"!
There had been a lot of highs and just as many lows… A lot of good men had paid the
ultimate price… many, better men than me. I had seen the best of mankind… and the
worst. I took stock of my personal performance and was satisfied… I had made no
grievous mistakes… committed no cowardly acts… and pretty much did as good as could
be expected… but I still had that nagging feeling that I should have stayed. By the way,
Cuneo tells me I was not alone in this feeling… He said he too would have stayed if
someone had asked… Thank God no one did!
I knew I was coming home to a country that had changed…. We had hints of it from the
FNG's checking in… but I don't really think any of us was ready for the culture shock we
were about to confront. Some of it we looked forward to… as only young men could…
hip huggers, miniskirts, see through blouses. We were coming home to new music, long
hairs, protesters, Haight-Asbury and a nation in conflict with itself. The "Battle Cry"
was… never thrust anyone over thirty… in the Corps we had adopted a similar theme…
never trust anyone over Captain… so at least we were somewhat in step with our civilian
brothers.
In just a year or so later… many of us would be back in college and experiencing "Free
Love" (beat paying for it)… the drug culture… and hippie chicks. Folks, it wasn't just
culture shock… it was a cultural explosion. When I started back to college, like a lot of
vets… I wore my field jacket to class most of the time and I was amazed at the way the
professors were interacting with students as compared to before I went into the military…
some even offered grass… or at least shared it with students on the commons. Some gave
extra credit for folks attending anti-war protests. It was not uncommon to get into knock
down… drag out… arguments with some of these butt-heads… Them spreading bullshit
about the military, etc.
There was some common ground however… I had already developed a mistrust and
antipathy for higher-ranking military men… Admirals, Generals and such… I feel even
more strongly that way today. What I could not abide however was any blanket
condemnation of the men in the military. I would rail at anyone that tried to claim My Lai
was anything other than what it was… a perversion… It was human beings out of
control. I could rationalize us killing people by accident… but I could never accept
people killing other people who were innocent and defenseless on purpose. I personally
thought Calley should have been hung by his balls… until dead… He was nothing but a
fucking mass murderer as far as I was concerned… Still feel that way today.
As time went on, I developed a deep rage and anger at both extremes… I hated the Flag
level military leaders (Admirals and Generals)… who could callously send good and
decent men into harms way… day after day… knowing many would die… without
giving… No… Demanding… that we unleash the dogs of war and fight the damn thing as
stridently and as brutally as possible in order to mitigate casualties on both sides.
I have read enough interviews with the assholes on the Joint Chiefs of Staff from those
days to know… that they knew… we could not possibly win the war in the manner it was
being fought. Yet not one of those self-righteous pricks was willing to risk his career…
(let alone his life, as we were commanded to do) by going public and admitting what we
all knew was true… that the civilian leadership had screwed this thing up from day one.
Not one of these bastards resigned in protest at the carnage being waged upon our best
and brightest… and certainly the most loyal and brave of our generation.
I swear to you this truth… If it were in my power… I would recall to active duty, every
General, Commandant, Admiral and Chairman of the Joint Chief's of Staff from those
days and… PROSECUTE THEM! For malfeasance… and dereliction of duty.
Their betrayal of the American fighting men in Vietnam is unequaled… The death… the
broken families… and lives ruined… that they created by remaining silent… makes the
Colombian Drug Cartel… look like a bunch of amateurs. I'm serious about this. I want
you to think about it too.
What would it have cost one of these bastards to hold a press conference on the Pentagon
steps and say the truth…? "We cannot possibly win this war or bring it to an honorable
conclusion; fighting it the way we've been forced to do by the civilian leadership".
What would it have cost them? Another promotion? Another Star for his collar? Perhaps
an early retirement? I don't know… But I know one thing for certain… IT WOULD NOT
HAVE COST HIM HIS LIFE!…. Like it did so many of our brothers… It would not have
wrecked his family… had his kids grow up without a father… have his parents go to an
early grave… grieving for children lost… before they even reached the prime of their
lives.
I know the military is supposed to be subservient to the civilian government… and I
believe in that concept myself… but that does not mitigate the responsibility as a military
leader… that he has to his own men! I would never suggest rebellion or outright
disloyalty… But the dirty little secret is that they (the Admirals and Generals)…. Did not
have to go and fight… they didn't even have to take part in it… they didn't even have to
stay in the military…because they could simply resign… and quit… If they had done so
in a public fashion… that could have saved countless numbers of lives in the process.
If even one of these pious "Four Star Princes"… had shown even a modicum of the
courage… that I witnessed on a daily basis… from 19 and 20 year olds in Vietnam… The
world would be a better place… and not half the carnage would have been wrought on
our men and their families…. Not to mention the poor Vietnamese… and the three
million Cambodians that were to die… after we bugged out.
I know what I'm trying to say… but reading it, I'm not sure I'm getting it right or cogent.
So I will defer to Col. John Verdi… one of the most brilliant and scary human beings I
have ever known… He put it into words… that which I am not capable of… I want to
share with you something he wrote:
"It is not for the soldier (Marine) to look back in anger toward his brothers killed in
battle.
"Not only do we (as Shakespeare wrote) 'owe God a death; Those of us… who have
taken the soldier's oath… owe our Nation a death as well. St. Augustine explicitly
conceded this… 16 centuries ago. To him who bears the fearful burden of commanding
in battle, the soldier pays equal tribute of respect… and forgiveness; and it is therefore
further not for us to look back in anger on mistakes…we do not know everything the
enemy will do and the enemy… are not going to tell us.
It is civilians… and especially their "assemblies"… who after the fact of defeat of arms
and death of armies… that impeach the commander (or some suitable effigy, should the
commander not survive); Soldiers forgive injury… it goes with the job.
Heady stuff… But Verdi really homes in on the problem as I see it in the next part…
"But St. Augustine also poured his scorn upon an emperor who officiated but did not
govern… and on the false courtiers who filled his false headquarters with "Vanity and
Lies".
Even so do I… in these pages look back in anger… To my brothers untimely slain, not in
battle by the enemy… but by that collective incompetence and indifference of false
careerists who sent them forth with less than the training and equipment they needed…
and could have had… to do the job.
For these dead I cry tears of rage… for to them has been done not just injury (which may
be forgiven)… but INSULT!
"Mortal insult...
And that… may never be forgiven"!
The ironic part of all this… is that John was writing about an incident from the Korean
War… Yet he encapsulated my own feelings about Vietnam…
John never forgave… and the rage never died until he did. He had some rather unique and
dogmatic beliefs… one of which is that citizenship in this great nation should be
earned… rather than preordained as a right… a thought that I initially felt bespoke an
even greater rage than I have known… but I've warmed up to the idea over the years.
Many years ago, I asked a former friend who was convicted of drug smuggling… if all
the money… was worth the risk and the obvious compromising of values? This man
looked me right in the eye and said, "How much were you guys making in Vietnam"?
Not enough… Not enough… Not enough! It never could be enough… There was not
enough money in the world to pay us for what we did… For us it was never the money…
it never could be. It was a belief in an ideal (freedom and democracy) that had been
passed on to us by our father's… members of the greatest generation… And a bond and
brotherhood like no other. We were right then… and in our heart of hearts… we are still
right today! It was not us who failed this nation and the Vietnamese people… it was the
morally corrupt one's in the Pentagon and the beltway that sold us all down the tubes.
By the way… the criminal I speak of… ended up in a "Club Fed"… and lived better than
I ever did the whole time I was an enlisted man in the Corps (he probably got laid more
often too). He came from a very well to do family ("Silver Spoon" pedigree)… Got out
of prison with his pilot's license's intact… and far richer than any of us… American
Justice sucks…
As I related this story to John in his "Days of Rage"… He viewed it as a further
indictment of a society in decline… "What kind of nation treats its' criminals with more
dignity, civility, rights and respect… than its' returning veterans"? It was very easy, when
you consider this, for many of us to remain very bitter after all these years… Yet we both
knew… if the call came today… or tomorrow… our choice would be the same… we
would serve again!
Verdi… In Latin… the truth teller.
I hope this part is not boring you… no blood and guts here… But I've done a lot of
reflecting on this and have a lot more to share…
Tomorrow I want to speak about the civilians… the politicians… and then later how this
has affected all our lives.
More later, Shadow
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Thanks to Barrett
Marion Carl needs no intro, arguably the finest naval aviator of his generation, which is really saying something. He had the Flying Gene (2.5 hrs to solo) the way Beethoven had the Music Gene—innate ability which can be described as genius. (By that definition the only other genius I've known well was Ed Heinemann.)
Marion got crossways to Noel Gayler who pushed the F7U. Marion argued that the Marines did not need a single-mission air superiority jet. And of course he was right. As I recall, of the five Cutlass deployments, all or most ended with the squadrons beached.
Sidebar: I've quoted the late-great John Moore's letter to GE: "Gentlemen: I have just flown Vought's F7U-1 and thought you should know that your toasters produce more heat than your jet engines."
Anyway...
Marion was competitive in all things but also he was principled. You may imagine how he fit into the Pentagonal morass. He said that his study group submitted a paper (I forget about what) to the vile-putrid RSM who returned it. "Restudy and resubmit."
OK, here it is SecDef.
"Restudy and resubmit." In other words, your conclusion is not the one desired.
Marion also said that despite the Crazy Asian War, he remained in Vietnam "to avoid us doing something stupid." He took his Marines' welfare to heart.
In all the years I knew Marion, including philosophical discussions while hunting, as I noted in the intro, "Marion Carl describes milking cows and aerial combat in the same tone of voice."
https://www.amazon.com/Pushing-Envelope-Career-Fighter-Marion/dp/1591148669
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This Day in U S Military History…..November 20
1817 – 1st Seminole War began in Florida. After the American Revolution (1776-1783), Spain regained control of Florida from Britain as part of the Treaty of Paris. When the British evacuated Florida, Spanish colonists as well as settlers from the newly formed United States came pouring in. Many of these new residents were lured by favorable Spanish terms for acquiring property, called land grants. Even Seminoles were encouraged to set up farms, because they provided a buffer between Spanish Florida and the United States. Escaped slaves also entered Florida, trying to reach a place where their U.S. masters had no authority over them. Instead of becoming more Spanish, Florida increasingly became more "American." The British often incited Seminoles against American settlers who were migrating south into Seminole territory. These old conflicts, combined with the safe-haven Seminoles provided black slaves, caused the U.S. army to attack the tribe in the First Seminole War (1817-1818), which took place in Florida and southern Georgia. Forces under Gen. Andrew Jackson quickly defeated the Seminoles.
1856 – CDR Andrew H. Foote lands at Canton, China, with 287 Sailors and Marines to stop attacks by Chinese on U.S. military and civilians. A fort at Canton had fired upon Footes ship during the Sino-British war in 1856. He demanded an apology; the incident may have been because the US ship had been taken for a British one. Receiving none, he attacked the four Chinese forts in the region, storming the largest when its walls had been breached and attacking in the face of gunfire across a rice paddy carrying — according to legend — a parasol over his head for protection from the hot Asian sun.
1943 – Operation Galvanic, under command of Vice Admiral Raymond Spruance, U.S. Army and Marines attacked Makin and Tarawa in the Central Pacific (part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands). On the Tarawa Atoll, the 2nd Marine Division (General J. C. Smith) lands on Betio Island. Task Force 53 (Admiral Hill) provides naval support with 3 battleships and 4 cruisers and air support from 4 escort carriers. Of the 5000 American troops in the initial landing 1500 become casualties. The Japanese garrison consists of 4800 troops under the command of Admiral Shibasaki, supported by 50 artillery pieces and 7 light tanks. On Makin Atoll, the US 27th Infantry Division (General RC Smith) lands on Butaritari. Task Force 52 (Admiral Turner) provides naval support with 4 battleships and 4 cruisers and air support from 3 escort carriers. Meanwhile, the USS Independence from Task Force 50 is hit by a submarine torpedo. The Coast Guard-manned assault transport USS Leonard Wood, veteran of the landings made in the Mediterranean, participated. She landed 1,788 officers and men of the 165th Combat Team of the U.S. Army's 27th Division, on Makin Island. Coast Guard-manned LST-20, LST-23, LST-69, LST-169, LST-205, and the USS Arthur Middleton, and the following Navy ships with partial Coast Guard crews: USSs Heywood, Bellatrix, and William P. Biddle, participated in the bloody assault of Tarawa.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
FALCONER, JOHN A.
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company A, 17th Michigan Infantry. Place and date: At Fort Sanders, Knoxville, Tenn., 20 November 1863. Entered service at: Manchester, Mich. Born: 1844, Wachtenaw, Mich. Date of issue: 27 July 1896. Citation: Conducted the "burning party" of his regiment at the time a charge was made on the enemy's picket line, and burned the house which had sheltered the enemy's sharpshooters, thus insuring success to a hazardous enterprise.
HADLEY, CORNELIUS M.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company F, 9th Michigan Cavalry. Place and date: At siege of Knoxville, Tenn., 20 November 1863. Entered service at: Adrian, Mich. Born: 27 April 1838, Sandy Creek, Oswego County, N.Y. Date of issue: 5 April 1898. Citation: With one companion, voluntarily carried through the enemy's lines important dispatches from Gen. Grant to Gen. Burnside, then besieged within Knoxville, and brought back replies, his comrade's horse being killed and the man taken prisoner.
KELLEY, ANDREW J.
Rank and organization: Private, Company E, 17th Michigan Infantry. Place and date: At Knoxville, Tenn., 20 November 1863. Entered service at: Ypsilanti, Mich. Born: 2 September
1845, Lagrange County, Ind. Date of issue: 17 April 1900. Citation: Having voluntarily accompanied a small party to destroy buildings within the enemy's lines whence sharpshooters had been firing, disregarded an order to retire, remained and completed the firing of the buildings, thus insuring their total destruction; this at the imminent risk of his life from the fire of the advancing enemy.
SHEPARD, IRWIN
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company E, 17th Michigan Infantry. Place and date: At Knoxville, Tenn. 20 November 1863. Entered service at: Chelsea, Mich. Birth: Skaneateles, N.Y. Date of issue: 3 August 1897. Citation: Having voluntarily accompanied a small party to destroy buildings within the enemy's lines, whence sharpshooters had been firing, disregarded an order to retire, remained and completed the firing of the buildings, thus insuring their total destruction; this at the imminent risk of his life from the fire of the advancing enemy.
AUER, JOHN F.
Rank and organization: Ordinary Seaman Apprentice, U.S. Navy. Born: 1866, New York. Accredited to: New York. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Lancaster, Marseille, France, 20 November 1883. Jumping overboard, Auer rescued from drowning a French lad who had fallen into the sea from a stone pier astern of the ship.
GILLICK, MATTHEW
Rank and organization: Boatswain's Mate, U.S. Navy. Born: 1852, Providence, R.I. Accredited to: Rhode Island. G.O. No.: 326, 18 October 1884. Citation: Serving on board the U.S.S. Lancaster at Marseille, France, 20 November 1883. Jumping overboard from the Lancaster, Gillick rescued from drowning a French lad who had fallen into the sea from a stone pier astern of the ship.
WETHERBY, JOHN C.
Rank and organization: Private, Company L, 4th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: Near Imus, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 20 November 1899. Entered service at: Martinsville, Ind. Birth: Morgan County, Ind. Date of issue: 25 April 1902. Citation: While carrying important orders on the battlefield, was desperately wounded and, being unable to walk, crawled far enough to deliver his orders.
*BORDELON, WILLIAM JAMES
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 25 December 1920, San Antonio, Tex. Accredited to: Texas. Citation: For valorous and gallant conduct above and beyond the call of duty as a member of an assault engineer platoon of the 1st Battalion, 18th Marines, tactically attached to the 2d Marine Division, in action against the Japanese-held atoll of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands on 20 November 1943. Landing in the assault waves under withering enemy fire which killed all but 4 of the men in his tractor, S/Sgt. Bordelon hurriedly made demolition charges and personally put 2 pillboxes out of action. Hit by enemy machinegun fire just as a charge exploded in his hand while assaulting a third position, he courageously remained in action and, although out of demolition, provided himself with a rifle and furnished fire coverage for a group of men scaling the seawall. Disregarding his own serious condition, he unhesitatingly went to the aid of one of his demolition men, wounded and calling for help in the water, rescuing this man and another who had been hit by enemy fire while attempting to make the rescue. Still refusing first aid for himself, he again made up demolition charges and single-handedly assaulted a fourth Japanese machinegun position but was instantly killed when caught in a final burst of fire from the enemy. S/Sgt. Bordelon's great personal valor during a critical phase of securing the limited beachhead was a contributing factor in the ultimate occupation of the island, and his heroic determination throughout 3 days of violent battle reflects the highest credit upon the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
BRILES, HERSCHEL F.
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Co. C, 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Place and date: Near Scherpenseel, Germany, 20 November 1944. Entered service at: Fort Des Moines, lowa. Birth: Colfax, lowa. G.O. No.: 77, 10 September 1945. Citation: He was leading a platoon of destroyers across an exposed slope near Scherpenseel, Germany, on 20 November 1944, when they came under heavy enemy artillery fire. A direct hit was scored on 1 of the vehicles, killing 1 man, seriously wounding 2 others, and setting the destroyer afire. With a comrade, S/Sgt. Briles left the cover of his own armor and raced across ground raked by artillery and small-arms fire to the rescue of the men in the shattered destroyer. Without hesitation, he lowered himself into the burning turret, removed the wounded and then extinguished the fire. From a position he assumed the next morning, he observed hostile infantrymen advancing. With his machinegun, he poured such deadly fire into the enemy ranks that an entire pocket of 55 Germans surrendered, clearing the way for a junction between American units which had been held up for 2 days. Later that day, when another of his destroyers was hit by a concealed enemy tank, he again left protection to give assistance. With the help of another soldier, he evacuated two wounded under heavy fire and, returning to the burning vehicle, braved death from exploding ammunition to put out the flames. By his heroic initiative and complete disregard for personal safety, S/Sgt. Briles was largely responsible for causing heavy enemy casualties, forcing the surrender of 55 Germans, making possible the salvage of our vehicles, and saving the lives of wounded comrades.
MABRY, GEORGE L., JR.
Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 2d Battalion, 8th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division Place and date: Hurtgen Forest near Schevenhutte, Germany, 20 November 1944. Entered service at: Sumter, S.C. Birth: Sumter, SC G.O. No.: 77, September 1945. Citation: He was commanding the 2d Battalion, 8th Infantry, in an attack through the Hurtgen Forest near Schevenhutte, Germany, on 20 November 1944. During the early phases of the assault, the leading elements of his battalion were halted by a minefield and immobilized by heavy hostile fire. Advancing alone into the mined area, Col. Mabry established a safe route of passage. He then moved ahead of the foremost scouts, personally leading the attack, until confronted by a boobytrapped double concertina obstacle. With the assistance of the scouts, he disconnected the explosives and cut a path through the wire. Upon moving through the opening, he observed 3 enemy in foxholes whom he captured at bayonet point. Driving steadily forward he paced the assault against 3 log bunkers which housed mutually supported automatic weapons. Racing up a slope ahead of his men, he found the initial bunker deserted, then pushed on to the second where he was suddenly confronted by 9 onrushing enemy. Using the butt of his rifle, he felled 1 adversary and bayoneted a second, before his scouts came to his aid and assisted him in overcoming the others in hand-to-hand combat. Accompanied by the riflemen, he charged the third bunker under pointblank small arms fire and led the way into the fortification from which he prodded 6 enemy at bayonet point. Following the consolidation of this area, he led his battalion across 300 yards of fire-swept terrain to seize elevated ground upon which he established a defensive position which menaced the enemy on both flanks, and provided his regiment a firm foothold on the approach to the Cologne Plain. Col. Mabry's superlative courage, daring, and leadership in an operation of major importance exemplify the finest characteristics of the military service.
*CRESCENZ, MICHAEL J.
Rank and Organization: Corporal, U.S. Army, Company A, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry, 196th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division. Place and date: Hiep Duc Valley area, Republic of Vietnam, 20 November 1968. Entered service at: Philadelphia, PA. Born: 14 January 1949, Philadelphia, Pa. Citation: Cpl. Crescenz distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as a rifleman with Company A. In the morning his unit engaged a large, well-entrenched force of the North Vietnamese Army whose initial burst of fire pinned down the lead squad and killed the 2 point men, halting the advance of Company A. Immediately, Cpl. Crescenz left the relative safety of his own position, seized a nearby machine gun and, with complete disregard for his safety, charged 100 meters up a slope toward the enemy's bunkers which he effectively silenced, killing the 2 occupants of each. Undaunted by the withering machine gun fire around him, Cpl. Crescenz courageously moved forward toward a third bunker which he also succeeded in silencing, killing 2 more of the enemy and momentarily clearing the route of advance for his comrades. Suddenly, intense machine gun fire erupted from an unseen, camouflaged bunker. Realizing the danger to his fellow soldiers, Cpl. Crescenz disregarded the barrage of hostile fire directed at him and daringly advanced toward the position. Assaulting with his machine gun, Cpl. Crescenz was within 5 meters of the bunker when he was mortally wounded by the fire from the enemy machine gun. As a direct result of his heroic actions, his company was able to maneuver freely with minimal danger and to complete its mission, defeating the enemy. Cpl. Crescenz's bravery and extraordinary heroism at the cost of his life are in the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
*LOZADA, CARLOS JAMES
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company A, 2d Battalion, 503d Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade. place and date: Dak To, Republic of Vietnam, 20 November 1967. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Born: 6 September 1946, Caguas, Puerto Rico. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Pfc. Lozada, U.S. Army, distinguished himself at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty in the battle of Dak To. While serving as a machine gunner with 1st platoon, Company A, Pfc. Lozada was part of a 4-man early warning outpost, located 35 meters from his company's lines. At 1400 hours a North Vietnamese Army company rapidly approached the outpost along a well defined trail. Pfc. Lozada alerted his comrades and commenced firing at the enemy who were within 10 meters of the outpost. His heavy and accurate machine gun fire killed at least 20 North Vietnamese soldiers and completely disrupted their initial attack. Pfc. Lozada remained in an exposed position and continued to pour deadly fire upon the enemy despite the urgent pleas of his comrades to withdraw. The enemy continued their assault, attempting to envelop the outpost. At the same time enemy forces launched a heavy attack on the forward west flank of Company A with the intent to cut them off from their battalion. Company A was given the order to withdraw. Pfc. Lozada apparently realized that if he abandoned his position there would be nothing to hold back the surging North Vietnamese soldiers and that the entire company withdrawal would be jeopardized. He called for his comrades to move back and that he would stay and provide cover for them. He made this decision realizing that the enemy was converging on 3 sides of his position and only meters away, and a delay in withdrawal meant almost certain death. Pfc. Lozada continued to deliver a heavy, accurate volume of suppressive fire against the enemy until he was mortally wounded and had to be carried during the withdrawal. His heroic deed served as an example and an inspiration to his comrades throughout the ensuing 4-day battle. Pfc. Lozada's actions are in the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for November 20, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
20 November
1916: Representative-elect O. C. Bleakley of Franklin became the first Congressman to fly to Washington DC as a passenger. He flew from Philadelphia in a plane piloted by Sgt William C. Ocker. (24)
1933: Lt Cmdr Thomas G. W. Settle (USN) and Maj C. L. Fordney (USMC) set a FAI altitude record of 61,236 feet for subclass A-10 balloons (over 4,000 cubic meters) over Akron, Ohio. They landed near Bay Shore, N.J. (9)
1934: Lt Cmdr E. F. Stone, US Coast Guard, set an international amphibian speed record of 191.734 MPH at Hampton Roads. (24)
1950: KOREAN WAR. FEAF Combat Cargo Command airdropped rations and gasoline at Kapsan, some 20 miles south of the Yalu River, to supply the 7th Infantry Division, which advanced the farthest north in the war. (28)
1953: After dropping from a Navy P2B (B-29) at 32,000 feet, the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket set a 1,327-MPH speed record at Edwards AFB. Test pilot Scott Crossfield became the first man to exceed Mach 2. (9) (20)
1959: The USAF launched Discoverer VIII into a polar orbit from the Pacific Missile Range. (24)
1961: At Francis E. Warren AFB, SAC accepted its last Atlas E squadron to end this deployment. (1)
1962: CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS. President John F. Kennedy announced the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis after the Soviets removed all IRBMs from Cuba. (21)
1963: The USAF accepted the first two F-4C fighters. They went to 4453rd Combat Crew Training Wing at MacDill AFB. (12) The DoD transferred the Navy's Point Arguello missile facility and space-tracking stations to the Air Force. (5) (16)
1964: Gen Creighton W. Abrams, Jr. (USA), gave Distinguished Flying Crosses to Capt William A. Welter, Jr., Capt Michael N. Antoniou, CWO Emery E. Nelson, and CWO Joseph C. Watts for AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS setting 10 world helicopter records for speed, distance, and time-to-climb for Class E-1, E-1D, and E-1E helicopters in a Bell UH-1D.
1970: The USAF selected Northrop Corporation at Hawthorne to build an international fighter, the F-5 Freedom Fighter. (12) US Southern Command aircraft and personnel assisted Columbia after severe floods. (26)
1980: The first Pave Tack F-111 arrived at Lakenheath AFB for duty with the 48 TFW. Pave Tack gave the aircraft a 24-hour, high and low altitude delivery capability. (16)
2001: A 46th Test Wing F-16 launched a JASSM at the White Sands Missile Range. The successful test allowed the Air Force to request initial production. (AFNEWS Article 1671, 22 Nov 2001)
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Thanks to Kit
The author of Flying Black Ponies. If you have not read it you should
Hey Skip,
.
I greatly enjoyed Shadow's five part very vivid portrayal of his time as a Marine Grunt in Vietnam before becoming an aviator. .
In Part Five in The List 7008 Shadow describes "MY TURN IN THE BARREL" as a 2533 MOS radio man with Delta Company, 1st Battalion, Fourth Marines engaged in a horrendous firefight near the DMZ. As Shadow stunningly told it, during the attack Father O 'Massey tried to administer Last Rights to a (not mortally) wounded buddy of Shadow's. Wounded in the butt, Lapinski twisted around and looked at Shadow and said, almost hysterically, "You told me I was going to be all right"! Shadow looked at him and said, "You are Ski… He does this for everybody… It's just a precaution." Lapinski turned around to Father O' Massey and screamed… "Get the fuck away from me Father… I don't need that… Stafford says I'm going to be all right"! Father O' Massey reared back as if in shock… cocked his head and looked at Lapinski then at Shadow and said, "Fuck you Lapinski… I'm going to someone who appreciates me." With that the priest gave Shadow a wink and left.
I've known a few chaplains and read or heard about many others. I personally knew one of most colorful "men of the cloth" who ever lived. This is "Father Mac's" story.
Flying Black Ponies: The Navy's Close Air Support Squadron in Vietnam
by Kit Lavell
Naval Institute Press
PART ONE (PART TWO follows)
Chapter 13 FATHER MAC, THE WARRIOR PRIEST
All places that the eye of heaven visits
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens.
-William Shakespeare, King Richard II
Father Ed McMahon S.J., who had been a Catholic missionary in war-torn Congo, found himself one day being confused with a mercenary. Missionary--or mercenary--his captors did not seem to care. Imprisoned and awaiting execution, Father McMahon took things into his own hands and escaped.
But Father McMahon could not run away from danger, for he was drawn, not by a need to risk his life, but by a mission to serve those men who did choose to--as their profession. Father Mac--as he was known to fighting men--became a Navy chaplain and eagerly volunteered for Vietnam.
Lt. Cmdr. Joe DeFloria was the officer in charge of Detachment Golf, SEAL Team One at Binh Thuy from September 1970 to April 1971. DeFloria had a number of SEAL platoons in the Mekong Delta under his command. As the Commander of Det Golf, DeFloria was responsible to CTF-116 for Special Warfare Operations. He had served a previous tour as officer in charge of Alpha Platoon in Nha Be. DeFloria was just getting settled into his new assignment after two years with Experimental Diving Unit when he would meet a very unusual man who would become a lifelong friend.
Skivvy Check
I'll never forget Father McMahon.... He sort of adopted the SEAL team guys. He came on board as a 40-something year-old, brand new Navy guy, and he was a Jesuit priest. He was the chaplain. And he loved special warfare. He really wanted to get into combat.
The weekend he arrived in Binh Thuy, we were at the officers' club, and he was there dressed in his new greens. He had his cross on and lieutenant bars. His hat came down over his head. We were having a couple of beers--SEALS, Black Ponies and Seawolves.
This little Ensign guy who also just reported aboard was in there, reading a book, and we went over to him to do a skivvy check. We walked up and said, "Hi Ensign, how are you doing?"
He said, "Oh fine, sirs."
We said, "Would you be wearing skivvies by any chance?"
Now, nobody wore skivvies back in those days. They were uncomfortable because of the environment we were operating in...
We said, "How about getting on your feet, Ensign?"
So he stood up, and everybody looked down his pants and said, "Yeah, he's got skivvies on."
All of a sudden about fifteen sets of hands went down there trying to rip them off.
Father McMahon was at the bar watching this whole thing and said, "You guys are the greatest. You guys are the funniest. Damn it... my kind of people."
So we said, "Well, how about you, Padre? Do you wear skivvies?"
He said, "You wouldn't. I'm a man of the cloth."
Well, we got ahold of him and just shredded his skivvies.
I remember going to the hospital with Father McMahon to see (two petty officers) Paul "PK" Barnes, who had lost his leg and McLaren, the boat support guy that lost his leg. We walked in, and these two guys were arguing over who has the shortest stump.
Father Mac told all the nurses and doctors, "These are my people."
Joe DeFloria, SEAL
Father Mac began hanging out with his kind of people so much that he soon became one of the boys. Personable, caring, compassionate, he was all of these things and more--he could talk salty like a boatswain's mate, drink with the best of them, tell funny stories better than most of them, and play poker better than any of them. And he would prove his courage on many occasions, for Father Mac had an unusual plan.
Father Mac's Plan of Attack.
I flew a lot in Black Pony CO's back seat (Cdr. Bob Porter). Well, the thing is, I just loved it, and I never got sick, of course, but I loved flying. And, on one combat mission he grayed out and I took over the plane--just until he came back to a sensibilities--because I wasn't that good. I could just about keep the plane level, that's about all. And so I did, and then, when he took over, I saw in the mirror that he was okay, we went back into the formation....
I'll tell you why I flew so much with the Black Ponies. There's a thing in the Navy about going to Chapel. A lot of you men will not come to chapel unless the chaplain is part of their section, brigade, ship, whatever. So, I wasn't getting any of the aviators, and I couldn't figure it out. And then Bob Porter said something to me one day. He said, "These guys aren't going to start going to chapel until you start flying with them."
And I said, "Really? Because I love to fly, you know. Do you think I could do that?"
He said, "Sure."
And that's how the whole thing came about. And honest to Pete, to tell you the truth, it worked. It really worked. We had HAL-3 and VAL-4 guys coming to the chapel, both Protestant and Catholic, precisely because we were flying with them. And that's the only reason I did it. Some people might think, gee, he was very brave, and he wanted to be with the men and all of that. That wasn't it at all. I'm not very brave.... It was a marketing ploy.
In other words, I wanted to get these guys into chapel and pray and get their souls close to God, so that was the whole point of it. But it was really a great experience. I loved it. Because I admire aviators so much. And.... I felt the naval aviators were the greatest in the world. Now, I flew with the army guys, too. I flew with the Loach pilots. And their fatality rate was pretty high... We lost a heck of a lot of them, and so I flew with them. I really did do that to encourage them in their work. But my heart was always with the naval aviators.
Father Ed McMahon
Father Mac was drawn to those who he believed most needed him--those on the point of the spear. Rear echelon types could find other spiritual comfort and guidance. "Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable" could have been his motto. When he wasn't performing his more formal priestly duties in Binh Thuy, or helping at the Providence Orphanage at Can Tho, Father Mac would always be with the fighting men, in the field or flying over it.
One day, the delivery helicopter out to Hai Yien. near Square Bay brought the SEALs a much-appreciated regular visitor. Besides the company, the SEALs looked forward to Father Mac's visits because they knew they would be playing Blackjack. Not that they expected to win. At ten cents a chip, the stakes didn't seem high, But Father Mac always cleaned house. The SEALs nevertheless had fun losing to the Padre and knew where the money went--to the Providence Orphanage.
"God knows what you have; that's why I win, and you lose."
After a late poker party with Father Mac, a loud bam! awakened Harry Constance, a fireman 1st class, in the middle of the night. Other shots followed as Constance picked up his Stoner and ammo belts from the foot of his bed and rushed outside to meet Master Chief Robert Gallagher (an interior communications electrician), the rest of the SEALs, and Father Mac.
The initial shots had come from an elderly Vietnamese civilian whom the one hundred ARVN soldiers in the compound considered dinkydao (crazy). The old man had just wanted to be useful, both Gallagher and Constance believed, and so they had entrusted him with an old carbine and a few rounds of ammo. A good thing, for he stumbled upon the sapper attack, and, in effect, sounded the alarm.
Gallagher and Constance quickly organized about twenty ARVN on a berm along a one-hundred-yard stretch of perimeter. No sooner had they positioned themselves than they learned from the old man that three sappers had slipped behind them in the tall grass. The fight then began, with heavy fire opening up from just beyond the perimeter, followed by fire from the three sappers behind the SEALs.
The SEALs tossed grenades over the berm and fired a LAAW (Light, antiarmor, weapon) at the Vietcong outside the perimeter.
"Over the berm!" Constance yelled. They dove over the berm and fired toward the inside of the compound at the sappers. When the fire erupted from the VC outside, the SEALs jumped back to the other side, leapfrogging back and forth like that for an hour. When Constance turned for the corpsman to send him to radio for air support, He looked up to see Father Mac.
"Father Mac, what are you doing?"
"I'm out here to help."
Constance quickly dispatched him for more ammo. When he returned, Father Mac toted a box of Stoner ammo and a box of M16 bullets, each weighing about fifty pounds! He swiftly distributed the bullets.
"Father Mac, throw me down some more Stoner," someone would yell, and Father Mac would run the ammo over to the guy and feed him the ammo.
"Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition," Father Mac would say, then he would drag out some more and distribute it as the firefight blazed on. He carried M-60s, grenades, ammo, whatever was needed.
The enemy had them so pinned down that Gallagher knew they had to take out the sappers or face being overrun. He invited Constance and two other SEALs to join him, and they assaulted the sappers' position.
As he ran along the berm firing his Stoner at them, the VC threw a grenade at Constance. The explosion blew him into the air and twenty-five feet away, rendering him unconscious. The other SEALs tossed grenades at the sappers, blowing them up.
Father Mac helped carry Constance back to the team house in the compound. Constance had suffered burns over his arms and a mouthful of loose teeth, but miraculously, no frag wounds. As he had tumbled through the air, the hot barrel of his Stoner must have repeatedly beaten him about the arms and upper body. Father Mac attended to his wounds and gave him morphine, but Constance insisted on getting his clothes back on and rejoining the fight.
"Alright," Father Mac reluctantly agreed, "I'll follow you back out."
As Father Mac helped the dazed and disoriented SEAL back out to the perimeter, a VC climbed out of the canal less than thirty feet from them. Constance fired a burst of from his Stoner. "You're dead," he dazedly intoned.
He's dead, alright," Father Mac proclaimed after examining the VC. He then proceeded to rifle through the enemy's backpack, where the chaplain soon found explosives and detonators.
"Praise the lord! Harry, he was headed to your SEAL team hooch to blow it up, I bet. You and I could have been in there when it blew! Thank God we came out of here!"
When morning came, a main force VC battalion of around three hundred men had been repelled decisively by six SEALs, one hundred ARVN, an old man, and Father Mac.
Father Mac raised money for the Providence Orphanage in many ways, but his favorite was taking money from SEALs at the poker table. While they willingly obliged the good Padre, new sources of revenue needed to be opened up. And with them, more souls would be exposed to Father Mac's ministry.
As the U.S. Navy turned over to the Vietnamese the remaining river and coastal fighting vessels in 1970, It would also transfer many of the bases from which they operated. ComNavForV, placed the My Tho, Phu Cuong, Long Binh, Kien An, Chau Doc, Tan Chau, and Ha Tien operating bases under Vietnamese control. During this same period, the Vietnamese Navy took over the six advanced tactical support bases established on the Vam Co Dong and Vam Co Tay Rivers for the Giant Slingshot operation. But the last ATSBs would not be turned over for another year and would be the focus of much enemy activity requiring Black Pony and Seawolf air support.
In June 1969, the U.S. Navy had anchored the mobile platoon base Sea Float in the middle of the Cua Lon River on the Ca Mau Peninsula, and it encountered heavy Vietcong opposition. The strong river currents and the remoteness of logistic support facilities made Sea Float difficult to maintain, but the base denied the enemy a safe haven in this isolated corner of the Delta. A few months after establishing Sea Float, the Navy set up nearby an advanced support tactical base like those on the Vam Co Tay and Vam Co Dong rivers for PBR operations. The "Breezy Cove" ATSB supported patrols on the Ong Doc, a river bordering the dense and isolated U-Minh Forest. Staging from the ATSB at the mouth of the Song Ong Doc, U.S. and Vietnamese PBRs of Operation Breezy Cove repeatedly intercepted and destroyed enemy resupply activities on the Ca Mau Peninsula. Resupply activities in this area would prove crucial to enemy activities throughout U-Minh Forest. Over the next eighteen months, the U-Minh would be the focus of the most intensified fighting ever encountered in the Mekong Delta, and the area in which the Black Ponies would fight their last battles.
At 2230 on the night of 20 October, a company-sized enemy force attacked the breezy Cove ATSB and the adjacent village with rockets, mortars, and heavy machine guns from both banks of the Ong Doc. Scores of mortar rounds fell on the ATSB. Within the first few minutes of the attack, amid the explosions and chaos engulfing the base, 325 men scurried to their boats. The PBRs returned fire and the Coast Guard cutter Berring Straight salvoed 5-inch naval gunfire onto pre- selected targets along the banks of the river. Wounded were evacuated to the USS Garrett County, offshore in the Gulf of Thailand.
Three flights of Black Ponies were scrambled. The first, led by Lt. (jg) Don Hawkins, arrived overhead in the midst of the confusion and was unable to establish radio communications. The ammunition storage area then exploded, sending a fireball above the altitude of the OV-10s and lighting up the cockpit like the morning sun. Hawkins's flight had to return to base and refuel. But a second flight of Ponies led by wingman Lt. (jg) Pete Walther when the leader experienced difficulties, arrived overhead at 0100 and was able to establish communications with CTG 116.2.
Walther and his copilot, Lt. (jg) Ross Hanover, were able to identify the enemy positions, but the pilots in the lead aircraft would not. Walther placed an air strike on the mortar sites, then moved his fire to a troop concentration that was preparing to overrun the base. The Ponies then remained overhead to direct friendly air strikes and fire. Walter's flight was credited with stopping the assault. The ATSB, virtually destroyed, burned all night. Two U.S. sailors had been killed in the attack and twenty-six were wounded. In the adjacent New Song Ong Doc, enemy mortar rounds had killed seven civilians and wounded thirty-three.
On the night of 29 November, Lt. Tom McCracken in Black Pony, OV 10 number 103 scrambled with Lt. (jg) Charlie Moore in 113 on his wing to assist an outpost just south of Hat Tien under attack. The Light Attack Fire Team placed a strike on enemy 82-mm mortar positions and troop concentrations. Hampered by inoperative flares and a low cloud ceiling, they had to use enemy rocket and mortar flashes as the only visible reference. They silenced all enemy mortars in five passes.
The outpost was getting close to being overrun. The weather was really bad. We would roll in at eight hundred and shoot at four hundred feet. They had given up the perimeter and all they had was the inner circle. At the highest, we were at one thousand feet. We didn't shoot much in the way of Zunis at all. The guys on the ground said we caught the bad guys in the open. It was real hard keeping track of each other. The cloud layer was about fifteen hundred feet, but the target was about five feet above sea level.
Tom McCracken, Black Pony
Forced to work beneath the overcast, the flight had exposed itself to enemy fire and the fragmentation pattern of its own rockets in order to draw the enemy fire on itself, thus lessening the fierce attack on the outpost. The Black Ponies then remained on station to provide air cover for two Army medevacs.
On 1 December, the South Vietnamese launched Tran Hung Dao Seventeen, the largest military operation of Military Region IV. Aimed at the Vietcong and North Vietnamese base camps and sanctuaries in the U-Minth Forest, this would be the largest Allied offensive of the war in the Mekong Delta. Light Attack Squadron Four provided constant overhead coverage for convoys transiting the canals as well as close air support for the ground units in the 21st ARVN Division.
The U-Minh had been an enemy sanctuary for twenty years. The audacity of the Allied operation elicited a predictable response. Over the coming months, the enemy would probe, test, and attack all the support bases and outposts in and around the U-Minh Forest. Father Ed McMahon was visiting his sailors in the first week of December at one such base.
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Flying Black Ponies: The Navy's Close Air Support Squadron in Vietnam
by Kit Lavell
Naval Institute Press
Chapter 13 FATHER MAC, THE WARRIOR PRIEST
PART TWO
We'll Help You Out
At the end of the Ho Chi Minh trail was a small U.S. Navy base at Kien An held by about seventy sailors. Sailors are not trained to hold a land base. Marines and Army can do that, but our boys were sitting ducks. I used to go up there because I felt sorry for them.
On the night of 4 December 1970, we got hit by the NVA, and they had everything but the bugles and the blue uniforms. And there were seventy of us, and there had to be hundreds of them. But our kids... our sailors got really pissed off because our navy corpsman nearly got decapitated. There was a marine officer that took a bullet right through the heart. A couple of our guys really got badly hurt.
When these suicide troops first got under the tower, we had an old first class petty officer named Pappy. He was from Alabama, a big redheaded, red bearded guy... He went up in the in this tower and got an M-79 and was shooting at these guys charging us. Well, I got scared for him and I ran up in the tower after him and I said, "What can I do to help you?"
And he said, "Father, I don't think you should be shooting that weapon."
And I said, "Listen, they're only atheists and atheists don't count."
And he said, "Lock and load."
But I didn't shoot at anybody. I took a .50 cal and I put fire out, but it was up in the air. I didn't shoot at anyone.... There were about four hundred of them, and seventy of us. I was trying to keep my American kids alive, that's all.
Father Ed McMahon
On the night before, just north of the base, a three boat PBR patrol had spotted mortar flashes and moved in to provide support. Radar Man First Class Warren K. "Tommy" Thompson, an adviser on the 54 boat, got on the radio and called the base.
I saw the flashes coming out of the mortars and I took them under fire. I was shooting back of the hooch line there where they were. The marine officer who had the security for the Seabees while they were building that base, called me up and said, "Check fire. There's friendly forces over there." I said, "Negative sir, I can see the mortar flashes." He said, "I said stop shooting." I said "Aye, aye sir, I'm clearing that area. My friends don't shoot at me." We got underway and left. They dusted off sixteen Seabees that night. The next night they got hit again and dusted off more Seabees, and they dusted off the marine officer as well.
Tommy Thompson, PBR Sailor
While Father Mike was helping his guys on the ground, a Black Pony Fire Team that had scrambled arrived overhead led by Lt. (jg) Charlie Moore, with Lt. Cdr. Jimmy Hanks on his wing. Lt. Cdrs. Fritz Lynch and Jim Becker were the copilots.
When we got to Kien An we weren't really configured for this type of night fight. We had taken whatever plane was available. I was the lead aircraft, but I had the flares. The other aircraft did not have any. We really needed them when we got there because they told us that the enemy soldiers were coming in over the concertina wire. We had to find them quickly. So, on the first pass I went in to punch out a flare and I dropped them. I dropped the pod. So now we had no flares. We've got nothing. And these guys on the ground are screaming. They're in bad shape. There are hollering and screaming. They are scared shitless. I said, "Dig yourself a hole. Put the dirt on top of you. I'll put it on the wire."
So we alternately went down and got them to shoot at us so the other aircraft would see where the tracers were coming from. And that's how we knew where the perimeter of the base was. Because he told us they were coming through the wire. I didn't know where the wire was because I couldn't see it. So I figured the only thing to do was, if we would get them to shoot at us, we could see where the tracers were coming from. And that's how we would know where the perimeter was. I don't know how close I came, but we didn't kill any friendlies. And I put it right on top of them.
Charlie Moore, Black Pony
Lt. (jg) Charlie Moore's flight was credited with stopping the enemy attack and saving the base from being overrun. And Father Mack had time to reflect.
When it was all over, we really won the battle. We know we did because the NVA left their dead there, and the VC leader, and they don't usually do that... so, the bodies started to deteriorate.
I remembered a sign I had once seen the ARVN put on a body of a VC killed outside a South Vietnamese firebase: "Born in the North to die in the South."
Later, someone took a skull, a VC skull, and they nailed it to a board, and they used my poem, "Born in the North to die in the South, come to Kien An and we'll help you out." They put that on the sign in the Vietnamese language, and they put red and green running lights in the eyes of the skull... and they nailed this damn thing on the top of the tower.
Now, Admiral Matthews heard about it, and of course the Buddhists felt that if you're not buried below the ground--you know, here's a skull up on the tower--you won't go to heaven. Well, he called me in, and I did not know anything about the sign or the skull or anything. Nobody told me anything. I left right after the battle.
Matthews called me in and said, "It's your fault, and as a clergyman, you ought to be ashamed of yourself."
I said, "What the hell are you talking about?"
He said, "Don't give me that. Don't act stupid. You know what you did--put that damn sign up there in Kien An."
I turned to his adjutant, and I said, "Commander, I don't know what the hell he's talking about."
And he said, "Just shut up."
The admiral got so pissed off he flew a helicopter with the adjutant and me up to Kien An. We circled the tower--no sign, thank God. So, we landed, and the admiral was a little sheepish and said, "Well Father, I might owe you an apology, I don't see anything."
And with that, one of our Navy friends, one of the Filipinos, the guy who did my cooking for me, said, "Admiral, come on over to the chiefs' club and have a beer."
Admiral Matthews said, "Good idea," and we walked down, and I'll be damned--on the door of the chiefs' club are the sign, the skull and the two lights. And he just looked at me, and I looked at the ground and he said, "Well, it can't be seen from the air. Let's go in and have a beer."
Father Ed McMahon.
The Mekong Delta was his parish. And Father Mac liked to make house calls. His flock was made up of American fighting men. But more than any other, Father Mac's "Kind of People" were SEALs, Black Ponies and Seawolves. SEAL Det Golf O-in-C Lt. Cdr. Joe de Floria could attest to that.
Allegiance
It was New Year's Eve of 1970, and Captain Marty Twite, the skipper of the Seawolf det in Binh Thuy, Commodore Spruit, myself, Father Mac, and a couple of others were in this pickup truck, and we were going over to the air base for New Year's Eve. So, we're all in the truck and we drive up to the gate and the guy stops us. He says, "Who in the hell is in charge here?"
Twite says, "I am. Is there any problem?"
"No, sir." So, we had a few drinks there, and we wound up going over to the "crackshack," the nurses' club. So, we get in there and it's probably 11:30 at night, just before midnight, and we're all having fun and dancing and all that. Twite was half in the bag, as we all were, and somebody came up and said, "Hey Joe. They're really giving Twite a bad time there at the bar." So, I say, okay and walk in there and Twite says, "Joe, that son of a bitch won't give me a drink."
I said, "What the hell's the problem here?"
The guy says, "Who the hell are you?" And boom, I hit the guy and all of a sudden the whole place is fighting. Wham, bang, bam, and McMahon is yelling, "Come on you guys!" And then we hear the sirens coming, so we scattered and broke it up.
The next day, the base commander says he wants to see Twite, DeFloria and Spruit. And McMahon says, "I'm going with ya."
So, we go over and see the guy and he says, "You people ought to be ashamed of yourselves. We're over here, having a nice get-together..."
He then called us barbarians or something and McMahon jumped to his feet and said, "What are you talking about? Do you know who these people are? Do you know these guys are up there risking their life every day for you while you're sitting here on your big fat ass?"
And the Colonel says, "Well, Father, I don't understand if your allegiance is with your God or to the SEALs.
Joe DeFloria, SEAL
Kit
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