Good Sunday Morning 20 June
Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there.
.
Regards
skip
Today in Naval History
June 20
1813 - Fifteen U.S. gunboats engage 3 British ships in Hampton Roads, VA
1815 - Trials of Fulton I, built by Robert Fulton, are completed in New York. This ship would become the Navy's first steam-driven warship.
1898 - U.S. forces occupied Guam, which became first colony of U.S. in the Pacific.
1913 While piloting the B-2 at 1,600 feet over the water near Annapolis, Md., Ensign William D. Billingsley is thrown from the plane and falls to his death. Billingsley is the first fatality of Naval Aviation.
1934 Commander in Chief, Asiatic Fleet, Rear Adm. Frank Upham reports to the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. William H. Standley, that based on the analyses of Japanese radio traffic, "any attack by (Japan) would be made without previous declaration of war or intentional warning."
1941 USS O-9 (SS 70) sinks off Portsmouth, N.H., during a test dive. Salvage ships located her in more than 400 feet of water, but she had suffered crushing damage from the water pressure at that depth and all 33 men on board had been killed.
1943 - PBY patrol aircraft from (VP 84) sinks German submarine U 388 south-southwest of Iceland, in the first use of homing torpedo (FIDO) and damages U 420.
1944 - Battle of Philippine Sea ends with Japanese losing 2 aircraft carriers and hundreds of aircraft.
1945 The coordinated submarine attack group, commanded by Cmdr. Earl T. Hydeman, continues operations against Japanese shipping in the Sea of Japan. USS Tinosa (SS 283) sinks army cargo ship Taito Maru and freighter Kaisei Maru. Also on this date, USS Kraken (SS 370) sinks Japanese auxiliary sailing vessel No.58 Tachibana Maru in Sunda Strait, off Merak.
1976 USS Spiegel Grove (LSD 32) and LCU 1654 (a Landing Craft Utility vessel) evacuate 276 American and foreign national refugees from war-torn Beirut, Lebanon and transport them to Athens, Greece.
Today in History June 20
451 | Roman and barbarian warriors halt Attila's army at the Catalaunian Plains in eastern France. | |
1397 | The Union of Kalmar unites Denmark, Sweden, and Norway under one monarch. | |
1756 | Nearly 150 British soldiers are imprisoned in the 'Black Hole' cell of Calcutta. Most die. | |
1793 | Eli Whitney applies for a cotton gin patent. | |
1819 | The paddle-wheel steamship Savannah arrives in Liverpool, England, after a voyage of 27 days and 11 hours--the first steamship to successfully cross the Atlantic. | |
1837 | 18-year-old Victoria is crowned Queen of England. | |
1863 | President Abraham Lincoln admits West Virginia into the Union as the 35th state. | |
1898 | On the way to the Philippines to fight the Spanish, the U.S. Navy seizes the island of Guam. | |
1901 | Charlotte M. Manye of South Africa becomes the first native African to graduate from an American University. | |
1910 | Mexican President Porfirio Diaz proclaims martial law and arrests hundreds. | |
1920 | Race riots in Chicago, Illinois leave two dead and many wounded. | |
1923 | France announces it will seize the Rhineland to assist Germany in paying her war debts. | |
1941 | The U.S. Army Air Force is established, replacing the Army Air Corps. | |
1955 | The AFL and CIO agree to combine names for a merged group. | |
1963 | The United States and the Soviet Union agree to establish a hot line between Washington and Moscow. | |
1964 | General William Westmoreland succeeds General Paul Harkins as head of the U.S. forces in Vietnam. | |
1967 | Boxing champion Muhammad Ali is convicted of refusing induction into the American armed services. | |
1972 | President Richard Nixon names General Creighton Abrams as Chief of Staff of the United States Army. | |
1999 | NATO declares an official end to its bombing campaign of Yugoslavia. |
1975 Jaws released »
I was on the USS Hancock at the time and we liked the phrase "We got to get a bigger boat" We thought so also.
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Thanks to Carl…..Interesting read
Why I am Healthier at 68 than at 12?
http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v17n12.shtml
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for June 20
FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR June 20
THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
20 June
1913: Ensign William D. Billingsley became the first Naval aviator killed in a plane when he was thrown from a Navy Wright B2 seaplane and drowned. (20) (24)
1923: The Army's first all-metal airplane, the Gallaudet CO-1, Liberty 400, made its first flight. The Air Service engineering division designed the aircraft. (4) (24)
1930: The Army Air Corps dedicated Randolph Field in San Antonio as its West Point of the Air for primary and basic pilot training. (21)
1934: The Daniel Guggenheim Medal presented to William W. Boeing for his achievements in air transportation and aircraft manufacture. (24)
1951: The Air Force announced the first launching of its first B-61 Matador, a pilotless aircraft, at the Missile Test Center. (24) The first F-89 Scorpions were assigned to Hamilton AFB with the Western Air Defense Force. The X-5 completed its first flight at Edwards AFB.
1960: Operation BIG STAR. Through 27 June, SAC conducted four tests to check the feasibility of deploying Minuteman missiles on mobile railroad car launchers at Hill AFB. Four tests led to the activation of the 4062 SW [ICBM - Minuteman (Mobile)] at Hill later on 1 December. (1) (6)
1973: At Francis E. Warren AFB, SAC accepted the first Minuteman III missile flight. They belonged to the 90 SMW and the 400 SMS. (1)
1974: The DoD announced that the A-10 won a comparative fly-off with the A-7. (3)
1976: After entering Mars orbit on 19 June, the Viking I lander touched down on 20 June and began taking soil samples. (8) (21)
1980: GLOBAL SHIELD II. Through 29 June, SAC conducted this unannounced exercise at 44 bases. It involved over 100,000 people and 437 aircraft flying 1,035 sorties. (16)
1984: After a two-year operational test and evaluation program, the 384 AREFW at McConnell AFB received the first reengined KC-135R (Number 61-0293). (1) (26)
1999: Operation ALLIED FORCE. NATO officially ended the air war against Yugoslavia after Serb forces finished their withdrawal from Kosovo. (32)
2007: The Virginia ANG's 192 FW flew its last F-16 Fighting Falcon training mission. The wing would become the nation's first ANG unit to fly the F-22 Raptor, in associated operations with the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley. The 192d began moving from Richmond IAP to Langley in February 2006 to take on the F-22 mission. (All American Patriots.com, Virginia Air National Guard Wing Transitions at Langley, 20 June 2007)
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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear
LOOKING BACK 55-YEARS to the Vietnam Air War— … For The List for Sunday, 20 June 2021… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻…
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 20 June 1966… "How Rules of Engagement (ROE) evolve"
https://www.rollingthunderremembered.com/rolling-thunder-remembered-20-june-1966-roe-for-pol/
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.
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Thanks to Dutch and Dr. Rich
More on the Chinese high-level defector ...
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Thanks to Rich and DR
Subject: Signs of Desperation - the cornered animal
To:
Hi to all -
We have all heard the saying that a cornered animal is dangerous, and could do violent and unpredictable things. Well, we are surrounded by such things, as the left sees their grip on power slipping on all fronts.
McDonald's
Cherysse Cleveland, age 44, lost it when McDonal's employees refused to mix flavors together in her slushie. She didn't just get mouthy, but physically attacked several of the people there, and they called the police. Cherysse was arrested and charged with assault, and will have her day in court. The video does not help her case.
Supreme Court
A group of 18 states brought suit to declare Obamacare unconstitutional. It is. There is no provision in the constitution to provide any form of health care to anyone, much less to force people to pay a tax, and be forced to buy a product, even if they do not want it. But, the court, which has dodged this issue several times already, dodged again. They did not address the question of the suit - is the law constitutional - but rather, they said they would not act at all, as the states 'did not have standing.' Of course, the states do have standing, and are required, by law, to bring their case to the Supreme Court.
What this tells us is that the Court is no longer part of our government. Every member of it is compromised in some way. They have either been Bullied, Bribed or Blackmailed. They do not dare go against the narrative and those powerful people behind it, for fear of exposure or death.
Trump
He is hitting the campaign trail, once again. He has scheduled a rally in Wellington, Ohio for June 26. This is the first of many, he says. Don't expect glorious coverage on the Lamestream Media.
Biden and China
Remember when Trump decided to 'decouple' our economy from China? Biden and the left opposed that, since they were closely tied to China. The Biden family has many financial ties to China, as do a lot of members of congress. Recall that Diane Finestein had a driver who was a Chinese spy - for twenty years. And, who could forget the congressman, on the intell committee, who was sleeping with a Chinese spy? And, he is still on the job. Mitch McConnell is married to a woman of Chinese descent - who is part of the aristocracy of China. Lots of money trails, all coming from China.
The Chinese are very smart. Years ago, one of our embassies was bugged. Everyone knew it, but no one could find any electronic devices. Staff were reduced to communicating using Etch-a-Sketch pads, which erase as the cover is lifted. After a long search, someone discovered how they were being bugged. It was very clever. The chimneys in various rooms were designed like those old fashioned ear trumpets. A listener could just position himself correctly, and hear all that was said in the room inside. No batteries required!
For years, the Chinese have been stealing our technology, and building copies of everything from cars to airplane wings, to actual ships and aircraft. Hard to miss the resemblance, when you place their systems next to ours. Our universities and business leaders are filled with Chinese nationals, or even ones a generation or two removed. Emory University, here in Atlanta, one of the finest in the world, has nearly a third of its staff with Chinese heritage. That means that other health organizations are part of the network. Government agencies, especially law enforcement and diplomatic services, are heavily infiltrated by people who are agents for China, either knowingly or unwittingly. Chinese students get a 'free ride' to college here, so long as they share their learning with the government. After all, they are told, we pay for your schooling, and we know where your family lives.
In short, in exchange for cash and benefits, vast segments of our nation, from government to business, to the military, to academia, are morally compromised, and dare not offend their real masters. Kind of like those movies where the cops catch a crook, and tell the crook - either you work for us, or we will bring the law down on your head, and all your family.
So, what are China's plans? For years, they have been traveling the world, bribing public officials, and getting 'business deals' to build things in the host nations. Of course, you are required as part of the deal to allow Chinese workers, and to use Chinese banks, who then loot your treasury - like they did in Italy.
Trump was a problem for China. He halted much of their looting, and other actions, and made them do their own research. China went from a 10% annual growth rate to a negative 10% in just a couple of years. That is a huge threat to their economy and security. What to do? Call in their agents - like Dr. Fauci, and unleash a pandemic, to distract and disrupt all that was working against them. Then, build up their own forces, both as a hedge against counter attack, and to use for direct attack, as soon as that was feasible. And, that time could be upon us very soon. What are the clues? Both China and Russia have been quietly recalling their citizens home. That is something you do when hostilities are imminent. Very sophisticated 'stealth' drones have been spotted over military bases in Arizona and other places. Chinese businessmen are building large complexes, including airfields, on both sides of our southern border. Numbers of illegals turn out not to be from South America, but other places, including China. We can hope that this is just a conspiracy theory, and that we are over-reacting.
Note: I've seen much of the source from which Rich reports his above comments on China. You don't want to see the original sources; not if you ever want to sleep again. I can forward the link but only on individual request. DR
Eric Clapton
This singer had the audacity to report that he had a terrible reaction to the vaccinations, which is still troubling him. He cannot touch anything hot or cold, or his hands don't work. For this crime, complaining about the experimental vaccine, his friends are abandoning him in droves, and refusing to speak to him. Why, you might think that this was part of a coordinated effort to silence anyone opposed to this vaccine. While young people and small children are virtually immune to Covid, they are under great pressure to take this as well. In fact, some are now advocating to give a version of this vaccination to your pets! Wouldn't you like to know what the real motives are?
The Military
They, too, are caught up in 'woke' thinking. An admiral gave a big speech about the need for mission 'equity', and utterly failed in cross examination with congress. The military, of all groups, does not deal in 'equity'. They deal in superiority, and strength, not in making equal outcomes for all. Until now, that is. Tribal thinking is the order of the day. This was predicted 40 years ago in the book "Mega Trends'. The mass migrations, breaking down into tribal identity groups, and the violence and disruption that would follow.
Florida
The Governor there is sending law enforcement teams to Texas, to assist in their efforts to control the flood of illegals. Texas is being overwhelmed by the tens of thousands bum rushing our border, while Kamala cackles and makes bad jokes.
Biden
At the G-7, his 'get out of my way' charge (you should get out of his way, he might just slip and fall on you, otherwise) led him to tell Putin a thing or two. While Putin laughed at him, and gave us nothing at all, Biden slapped Putin with a list of 16 places he better not cyber attack, or else. You know, things like the energy grid, hospitals, and other key infrastructure. This is kind of like having us hand Japan a list of targets they should not ever attack, like Pearl Harbor, Guam,. the Phillipines and Wake Island. Nothing says strength like giving you enemies a target list.
Portland
During a declared riot a few months ago, Officer Corey Budworth actually pushed a protester, who was throwing Molotov Cocktails at buildings, with his baton. Of course, the politicians wanted to prosecute this officer for his use of 'excessive force'. A board of inquiry exonerated him, completely. But, the politicians ignored this, and went ahead, and convicted this officer for this offense. In response, the entire 50 man Rapid Response Unit (a voluntary assignment) quit. Portland, you are on your own.
Documents have surfaced showing that Twitter colluded with officials in the State of California, to silence people who complained about corruption in California, as well as all the usual topics, like opposition to Covid rules, or actually having conservative thoughts, or election fraud. This should be a national scandal of Biblical proportions, this attack on the First Amendment. But, since we no longer honor the Constitution, it will be suppressed, as much as the left is able to do so.
Kind of a lot to chew on, isn't it?
Rich
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Thanks to Carl
(Worth your time!!)
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2021/06/james-howard-kunstler/free-at-last/
June 19, 2021
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Thanks to CAP this is a repeat but worth your time
THE OIL PATCH WARRIORS OF WORLD WAR II
>> Seventy-five years ago this month, a Band of Roughnecks went abroad on a top-secret mission into Robin Hood's stomping grounds to punch oil wells to help fuel England's war machines.
>>
>> It's a story that should make any oilman or woman proud.
>>
>> The year was 1943 and England was mired in World War II. U-boats attacked supply vessels, choking off badly needed supplies to the island nation. But oil was the commodity they needed the most as they warred with Germany.
>>
>> A book "The Secret of Sherwood Forest: Oil Production in England During World War II" written by Guy Woodward and Grace Steele Woodward was published in 1973, and tells the obscure story of the American oil men who went to England to bore wells in a top secret mission in March 1943.
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>> England had but one oil field, in Sherwood Forest of all places. Its meager output of 300 barrels a day was literally a drop in the bucket of their requirement of 150,000 barrels a day to fuel their war machines.
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>> Then a top-secret plan was devised: to send some Americans and their expertise to assist in developing the field. Oklahoma based Noble Drilling Company, along with Fain-Porter signed a one year contract to drill 100 wells for England, merely for costs and expenses.
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>> 42 drillers and roughnecks from Texas and Oklahoma, most in their teens and early twenties volunteered for the mission to go abroad. The hands embarked for England in March 1943 aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth. Four National 50 drilling rigs were loaded onto ships but only three of them made landfall; the Nazi U-boats sank one of the rigs en route to the UK.
>>
>> The Brits' jaws dropped as the Yanks began punching the wells in a week, compared to five to eight weeks for their British counterparts. They worked 12 hour tours, 7 days a week and within a year, the Americans had drilled 106 wells and England oil production shot up from 300 barrels a day to over 300,000
>>
>> The contract fulfilled, the American oil men departed England in late March 1944. But only 41 hands were on board the return voyage. Herman Douthit, a Texan derrick-hand was killed during the operation. He was laid to rest with full military honors, and remains the only civilian to be buried at The American Military Cemetery in Cambridge.
>>
>> "The Oil Patch Warrior," a seven foot bronze statue of a roughneck holding a four foot pipe wrench stands near Nottingham England to honor the American oil men's assistance and sacrifice in the war. A replica was placed in Ardmore Oklahoma in 2001
>>
It is by no means a stretch to state that without the American mission, we might all be speaking German today.
>>
>> Special thanks to the American Oil and Gas Historical Society.
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Thanks to Dutch
Only In America ...
I was raised on the border and used to live there - and KNOW they love their libs/socialists - Gotts be live Mother Europe after all - Dutch
Thanks to Tam
Too bad the Canadians won't stop their own election fraud which keeps lunatics like Trudeau in power though
Tam
Get Outlook for iOS
Subject: Fw: Only In America ...
thanks to Doctor Rich
Thanks to Todd S. ...
This is Canada's Top Ten List of America's Stupidity
10. Only in America... Could politicians talk about the greed of the rich at a $35,000.00 a plate campaign fund-raising event.
9. Only in America... Could people claim that the government still discriminates against black Americans when they had a black President, a black Attorney General and roughly 20% of the federal workforce is black while only 14% of the population is black. 40+% of all federal entitlements go to black Americans, 3X the rate that goes to whites, 5X the rate that goes to Hispanics!
8. Only in America... Could they have had the two people most responsible for our tax code, Timothy Geithner (the former head of the Treasury Department) and Charles Rangel (who once ran the Ways and Means Committee), BOTH turn out to be tax cheats who are in favor of higher taxes.
7. Only in America... Can they have terrorists kill people in the name of Allah and have the media primarily react by fretting that Muslims might be harmed by the backlash.
6. Only in America... Would they make people who want to legally become American citizens wait for years in their home countries and pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege, while they discuss letting anyone who sneaks into the country illegally just 'magically' become American citizens.
5. Only in America... Could the people who believe in balancing the budget and sticking by the country's Constitution be thought of as "extremists."
4. Only in America... Could you need to present a driver's license to cash a check or buy alcohol, but not to vote.
3. Only in America... Could people demand the government investigate whether oil companies are gouging the public because the price of gas went up when the return on equity invested in a major U.S. Oil company (Marathon Oil) is less than half of a company making tennis shoes (Nike).
2. Only in America... Could the government collect more tax dollars from the people than any nation in recorded history, still spend a trillion dollars more than it has per year - for total spending of $7 million PER MINUTE, and complain that it doesn't have nearly enough money.
1. Only in America... Could the rich people - who pay 86% of all income taxes - be accused of not paying their "fair share" by 48% of the people who don't pay any income taxes at all.
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Thanks to Dutch
from 5 years ago - thanks to THE Bear -
Happy Fathers Day – 19 June 2016 – Part I
June 19, 2016Mighty Thunder
THEY WERE OUR FATHERS – 19 JUNE 2016
Mighty Thunder is proud to post this documentary trailer from the studios of WRSE, sponsored by Pensacola State College and the following article from the Pensacola Gulf Breeze on the occasion of Father's Day 2016. RTR and Mighty Thunder are beholden to contributor Bruce Herman for providing this moving tribute to the Fathers who left their families to fight and perish during the Vietnam War, and the amazing children they left behind.
RTR and Mighty Thunder congratulate WRSE, Pensacola State College, and especially Jill Hubbs for providing a world class film on a subject near and dear to our hearts and purpose for taking up space on the Internet — to remember those who, we the living, left behind in Southeast Asia in a war fought 50 years ago….
Some 20,000 American boys and girls lost their fathers during the Vietnam War. In a new documentary film produced by WSRE, several of these Gold Star children, now adult men and women, share their stories which serve as powerful testimonies about the true cost of war. WSRE will premiere "They Were Our Fathers" with a special Father's Day broadcast at 7 p.m. on June 19.
The Gold Star designation is given to family members who have lost loved ones in United States military service during wartime. Every five years on Father's Day, members of Sons and Daughters in Touch, a group formed in 1990 to locate, unite and support Gold Star children who lost their fathers serving in the Vietnam War, gather at the nation's capital to honor their parents, reflect on their common grief and support one another, like no one else can.
Under the direction of Executive Producer Jill Hubbs, a WSRE production crew traveled to Washington, D.C. last June to document the gathering and record personal accounts.
The film is narrated in first person by Hubbs, whose father became missing in action during his second tour of duty in Vietnam on March 17, 1968. U.S. Navy Cdr. Donald Richard Hubbs was commanding officer of the VS-23 Black Cats and was stationed aboard the USS Yorktown in the Gulf of Tonkin when his S-2E Tracker reconnaissance aircraft disappeared off the North Vietnam coast.
U.S Navy Cdr. Donald Richard Hubbs with his wife Bereth and daughter Jill. Jill Hobbs is the executive producer of "They Were Our Fathers."
"Each of these sons and daughters has a unique story to tell. We are bonded together by tragedy, but also joined together in patriotism, honor and respect for the fathers we loved and lost," said Hubbs.
During Memorial Day weekend, Hubbs attended the retirement celebration for Jan Scruggs, founder of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Vice President Joe Biden was a guest at that event.
Hubbs also accepted an invitation from the President of the United States to join him with a group of Gold Star children for breakfast at the White House on Memorial Day, where she presented President Barack Obama a copy of the documentary.
"They Were Our Fathers" was edited by James Roy. Ted King was director of photography. To learn more about the film, visit WSRE
WSRE Documentaries | They Were Our Fathers Over 20,000 American boys and girls lost their fathers during the Vietnam War. video.wsre.org |
WSRE Documentaries | They Were Our Fathers | WSRE PBS
WSRE Documentaries | They Were Our Fathers Over 20,000 American boys and girls lost their fathers during the Vietnam War. video.wsre.org |
Happy Fathers Day – 19 June – Part II
June 19, 2016Mighty Thunder
HAPPY FATHERS DAY – 19 JUNE – PART II
Local Documentarian Explores the Legacy and Cost of the Vietnam War By C. S. Satterwhite
Walking up to Wall South at Admiral Mason Park, the smallest statue is of a little child with a sad look upon her face.
This "Homecoming" monument recognizes military families, especially the children, and is "Presented by the Children of America's Twentieth Century Heroes."
For many military children, however, there was no homecoming. For thousands from the Vietnam War in particular, there was no return of their fathers.
Jill Hubbs was one of the children whose father never returned.
Nearly fifty years after the military listed her father as Missing in Action, Hubbs is now on her own mission—to share the stories of the grown children who lost their fathers during the Vietnam War and to document an organization founded by those children.
Hubbs produced and directed the documentary "They Were Our Fathers" for WSRE public television as a means to tell her story and ones like it. Hubbs' film aims to show "the true cost of war" on families, with a special focus on the Vietnam War's Gold Star Children—the gold star is the designation for a military family member who was killed in action.
While this is not Hubbs' first documentary, it is by far her most personal.
"My dad was a navy pilot who trained here in Pensacola," she said of her father, Commander Donald Hubbs.
Cmdr. Hubbs was a career military man on his second tour of duty in Vietnam and was the commanding officer of VS-23, the famed "Black Cat" squadron based on the USS Yorktown in the Gulf of Tonkin.
Hubbs' last memory of her father was with her family, seeing him off for what would be his second deployment to Vietnam. After proudly showing the family his quarters aboard the Yorktown, they were leaving when she remembered a cake they brought for him was still in the car. Hubbs ran to back and brought the cake to her father and gave him one last hug goodbye.
"Be good, and take care of your mother," he said as they parted.
Those would be his last words spoken to his daughter.
Missing in Action
On March 17, 1968, Cmdr. Hubbs and his crew "went on a mission and their plane disappeared off the radar" near the coast of Vietnam.
"To this day, we're not really sure what happened to him or his men," said his daughter.
Hubbs was 10 years old at the time and was attending a Lutheran parochial school when the pastor came to get her and took her home. At first, she didn't know the reason and thought something happened to her mother.
"I got [to the house] and there were a zillion cars in my driveway," said Hubbs. She described her home as being filled with Navy officers and defense officials relaying what they knew, which was little.
"The plane is missing, but they're looking for him," said her mother.
When Hubbs went back to school, her classmates understood little of what occurred and said less.
"They knew something happened, but the kids didn't really talk about it," said Hubbs.
Before her father's disappearance, the war was more of an abstract concept, which merged with constant demands of a naval officer and his family.
"I didn't really understand the war at the time. I wasn't aware of Vietnam." Her father deployed from time to time, but this was different. The Yorktown returned, but her father did not.
Without any more knowledge of the events surrounding her father's disappearance, or even a body to bury, "we felt lost," said Hubbs.
The Navy opened a case file after Cmdr. Hubbs and his crew disappeared, but news was sparse.
"Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into years," said Hubbs.
Adding to the uncertainty of her situation was the unpopularity of the war, which left the Hubbs family feeling isolated.
"It was hard to accept the situation," said Hubbs. "And it was hard to explain."
The Hubbs family remained in the Yorktown's homeport of San Diego, California, for some time, but eventually moved back to her mother's hometown of Pensacola.
"We were pulling up roots, and I felt that he wouldn't be able to find us," said Hubbs. "It was hard for me to process."
Although her father didn't came walking through her door, his daughter never stopped looking. Eventually, her search for answers brought her to Vietnam.
Searching in Vietnam
After possible sightings of her father were reported in the late 1980s, including a photograph, Hubbs made arrangements with U.S. and Vietnamese officials to look for her father in Vietnam.
"It wasn't just like finding a needle in a haystack," said Hubbs. "It's more like an archeological dig. I didn't understand the conditions [of the terrain] until I went over there."
The closest Hubbs came to finding her father was a previously unknown Vietnamese graves registration listing for her father as having died in the Quang Binh Province of Vietnam.
Though she was unsuccessful in finding concrete information regarding her father, her trip to Vietnam proved eye opening in other ways.
In Vietnam, Hubbs had an official guide and translator to help with her search.
"He took us out to his house to have a meal and introduce me to his family," said Hubbs.
The United States still hadn't normalized relations with its former enemy, and Hubbs was concerned about being an American citizen in Vietnam. "I didn't know how they'd receive me."
Her guide's father was in the house, but he didn't speak English. He was a veteran of the war and fought on the opposite side of Hubbs' father.
While she was in his house, she noticed an oil painting of an anti-aircraft gun hanging on the wall.
Being in this Vietnamese man's house, knowing her guide's father might have played a role in shooting aviators down during the war, her first thought was about her father. "What would my dad say?"
The old man noticed her looking at the picture and said to her in Vietnamese that her father was sent by his government to fight in the war just as he was sent by his government to fight in the war.
"Men don't start wars," said the Vietnamese veteran, "governments do."
Later, Hubbs met a Vietnamese woman who suffered the loss of two of her adult children in the "American War," as it's called in Vietnam.
"She lost one son, and she had another son who was missing. Before I went over [to Vietnam], it had never occurred to me that they had such loss, too."
After learning this about the Vietnamese mother's children, Hubbs showed her a picture of her father in his military uniform.
"I had this picture of my dad," said Hubbs. The Vietnamese mother had a Buddhist shrine for her two lost children. She then took the picture of Hubbs' father and placed it between her two sons.
"Then she started saying something," said Hubbs. "I didn't know what she was saying, but I knew she was praying."
"I found the people [of Vietnam] very forgiving. I found no hostility from the people, and all I found [of my father] was a graves registration with my dad's name."
With resignation in her voice, Hubbs said, "I will probably never know exactly what happened to my dad."
Sons and Daughters in Touch
In her grief and loss, Hubbs was not alone.
Roughly 20,000 American children lost their fathers during the Vietnam War, but until the 1990 founding of an organization named Sons and Daughters in Touch (SDIT), few of these people knew each other.
"The very first time I knew of others was when I read this Parade magazine article," said Hubbs.
The 1990 Parade article featured SDIT and their work to bring together the sons and daughters of those killed in the war.
One of the people featured in "They Were Our Fathers," is Tony Cordero.
Cordero's father was an Air Force navigator on a B-57 when it was lost over Vietnam on Father's Day in 1965. Four years later, Cordero buried his father at Arlington National Cemetery. Cordero was only eight years old and would grow up with a similar sense of loss as Hubbs.
When Cordero turned 30—the same age as his father when he died in Vietnam— he wondered how he could get in touch with other Gold Star Children from the Vietnam War. Looking for answers, Cordero contacted an organization called Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and spoke with a volunteer named Wanda Ruffin.
Ruffin was the wife of Naval Aviator Lt. Cmdr. James Ruffin whose F-4 Phantom was shot down over Vietnam in 1966. He was killed in action and left behind a wife and a newborn baby girl.
So when Cordero asked if Ruffin knew of any sons or daughters who shared his experience, she knew of one in particular—her daughter Wendy.
"[Wendy] never knew anyone, outside of relatives, who knew her dad or shared her experience at all," said Ruffin in the documentary. "It was very difficult. She grew up very beautifully and did well in school and did just fine, but I knew there was a big hole there."
After Cordero and Ruffin met, Cordero soon established SDIT to meet the needs of other grown children of veterans whose names were etched on the Vietnam Wall.
As the organization grew, it began meeting at the Vietnam Wall in Washington for what became a Father's Day tradition. The adult children of those killed during the war found many similarities.
Almost immediately, this group bonded as family, despite differences in gender, ethnicity, service, and rank. "The stories about growing up were so similar," said Hubbs. "No matter who told the story, there were so many things I identified with."
Longtime SDIT member Denise Reed lost her father, Harold Reed, in Vietnam when she was a young girl. "I remember the day he left [for Vietnam], and I remember the chaplain coming to tell my mother that he was killed on the Fourth of July," said Reed.
"You can't help but wonder how different my life would've been if my father had come back home," said Reed.
Most grew up in a unique isolation with a deep sense of loss, and many of their parents never remarried. Bearing the cost of the Vietnam War long after many Americans relegated the conflict to history books or a bad dream, the nightmare these families lived through was ultimately their bond.
"It's a family that no one really wants to belong to," said Hubbs. Or as an article on the SDIT website reads, "the 'Gold Star' designation is un-chosen and unending," thus making this Gold Star network that much more important to the community it serves.
"This is a group of people that you can always express yourself to," said Reed.
"Express your anger, your disappointment, and express what your family went through… and what you're still going through because of it."
Why the Movie Matters
"They Were Our Fathers" sheds light upon SDIT and the unique effects of war on the children of those killed. While their war was Vietnam, the group offers its experience to a new generation of Gold Star families.
"Unfortunately, there's a new generation of children who've lost their fathers, and now mothers," said Hubbs. She described one scene in particular as heartbreaking, seeing a large group of these young Gold Star children converge upon the Vietnam Wall to join with their older counterparts and leave roses in shared sympathy.
"It's tragic for it to happen again. It was hard to bear," said Hubbs.
"I looked at them, and that was us."
Hubbs said that she wanted to make this film for a number of reasons, but first because no one has yet documented the SDIT experience.
She also wanted to make this film as a tribute to her father and "to honor our dads."
"It's a legacy to our dads. It's awareness that there's a cost to war," Hubbs said.
Since the film's completion, interest in Hubbs' documentary has grown exponentially. Over one hundred PBS affiliates have expressed a desire to show Hubbs' film, most in connection with an upcoming Ken Burns documentary series on the Vietnam War.
Besides PBS broadcasts, Hubbs recently presented President Obama with a personal copy of the film. The Reagan and Nixon presidential libraries also contacted Hubbs for potential screenings.
Although Hubbs is happy with the interest her film garnered, her greatest hope is to connect other sons and daughters who may not know of the organization. She also wants to reach out to the latest generation of Gold Star families so they know they're not alone.
"The one thing that bonds us is that it was our dads [who died in Vietnam], and this is a piece of our heart that can't be replaced," said Hubbs.
"It's a story that needs to be told."
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