Be Sure To Renew!

Just a note to reminder for you to be sure to renew your annual OV-1 Mohawk Association membership! It’s only $25 for one year (or $100 for 5 years). Both bargains at any price! When your renewal is received before April 1st you will receive a complete membership roster, either on paper or by e-mail.

Renew online at www.ov-1mohawk.org, or by mail to Membership Director Steve Askew, 4030 S. Lynhurst Ct., Seneca, SC 29672.

Galloway Camera Snail-Mail Address

Chuck Galloway asked me to post his shop's regular mail address regarding his offer below, so here it is:

Galloway Camera
Attn: Chuck
3401 South US Hwy 41 D9
Terre Haute, IN 47802

(www.gallowaycamera.com)
812-232-1407

A New Mug for My Collection!

For years I have been wanting a coffee mug with a Mohawk on it. This one just came in the mail today from the OV-1 Mohawk Association! Thanks, Board of Directors. And the coffee is much better than it ever was at Phu Hiep or Tuy Hoa, too!

Special Offer from Terre Haute!

Chuck Galloway, who was an 84G20 Photo Lab Tech and now lives in Terre Haute, Wisconsin, wrote me to say "...Any members of the 225th that have either slides or pictures and would send them to me we will scan then to DVD at no charge as long as they let [Gordy] put the photos on [his] web site. The originals will be returned to them unharmed."

Guys, this is an offer too good to pass up! You can contact Chuck at his website gallowaycamera.com.

Remembering Christmas in Vietnam

Here is the first installment of recollections of spending Christmas in Vietnam as told by members of the 225th Surveillance Airplane Company, in their own words.  Thanks very much, Gentlemen, for your stories.  Any of you who would also like to share, please e-mail your story to me at darraghsplace@gmail.com. 

Terry La Combe
    Having arrived in Viet Nam at Cam Ranh Bay in early December I remember that early morning stench that greeted us as we deplaned the heat and the smells were enough to make one recoil. I remember the groaning of us new boots. All the while on the flight there I thinking of my grandma who was dying and whom I visited the morning I left home for VN. Learning later that she watched over me until I arrived in VN and died at the same time we landed. How strange, but how wonderful too. I remember processing in country and then being moved to Nha Trang and while there waking to the sirens and us new boots afraid and no weapons with which to respond.
    I had injured my knee in training for VN in October and it bothered me very much and was all swollen up. I went to sick call after a SSgt. told me to. They admitted me to the hospital within my third day in county at Nha Trang. When Christmas Eve arrived, I was laying in traction in my bed. The day started routinely enough, however as the day progressed a sense of heaviness seemed to fill the air. Mid-afternoon we were told we would have a surprise. We learned that Johnnie Weismuller (Tarzan) would be in the hospital to visit us. He was mammoth, and nice, even sat on my bed for a minute and as fast the excitement began, it was over, he was gone! Then a Vietnamese general came to the hospital for a visit and presented each of us with a gift from him in appreciation of helping his country.
    Afternoon turned to early evening. Christmas music played and I recall hearing sniffles, and sounds of crying. I looked around and lots of guys had their heads covered and were remembering home and their own Christmas traditions, and missing those and more importantly missing and being separated from their family and friends. Around 2300 hours or 2359 hours we heard firing of lots of rifles only to scare us again, as we had no weapons in the hospital. To make matters worse we had heard rumors that the NVA and VC were going to attack Nha Trang and our base. Turned out it was only the ARVN's welcoming Christmas.
    While hospitalized I met a medic from Wisconsin (my state as well). We hit it off and felt like we knew each other. We were able to get to Mass that day too, and it was special. Then he brought me over to the mess hall in a wheel chair for a traditional Christmas dinner which was remarkably delicious. All ended well, and we felt Christmas and God had been good to us. So started my year deployment there.

Bill McNease
    My one and only Christmas in Vietnam was pretty nice. While I certainly missed being home with the family, my 225th family and I celebrated on a hot day.
    I was able to get a TO and fly to Saigon for some reason that escapes me. However, I was able to get us into the Bob Hope Christmas show. The show was very funny, great music and some pretty nice "round-eye" girls. I remember that Sammy Davis, Jr. was with Bob Hope and that everyone was just so excited to do something different.
    I will always remember what Bob Hope and his staff did for all the troops overseas for all the wars we had. He was able to bring a little of "the BIG BX" from the US, good looking girls and most importantly, the fact that someone cared for the fighting men and women in some far away place that none of wanted to be in.
    Merry Christmas to everyone. Bill McNease (CW2) Phantom Hawk 14

Charley Reasor
    I really don't have much to say about Thanksgiving or Christmas 1967 because I was with the 225th Avn at the time so, you know we were spoiled. I had already done my 11B20 and returned to 225th. After TET I was transferred to the 245th in DaNang for duration.
    I'm sorry but I don't have much to comment on.

Charley H Reasor Jr
Vietnam Veteran 1967-1968
SP-4 / E-4 US Army

WISDOM - FROM THE MILITARY MANUAL

Our friend George Drago sent these to me to share with you…

"If the enemy is in range, so are you." -- Infantry Journal

"It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you
  just bombed." -- U.S. Air Force Manual

"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never
  encountered automatic weapons." -- General Douglas MacArthur

And this last one with a slightly Biblical ring to it…

"Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death, I Shall Fear No Evil.
  For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing!"

7 December 1941 - A Day That Will Live In Infamy

In April Karin and I spent two weeks in Hawaii…for her it was a first time visit, and it was a return after nearly 38 years since I had been there on R&R.  Things certainly have changed since 1969!

 

Of course, any trip to Oahu means a visit to Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial.  When my parents and I were there in 1969, we went out on the memorial on a small Navy boat of some kind from a dock on the shore.  Now there is a visitor center that has a film introduction to what happened on 7 December 1941, a large mural of the Arizona, a small café and outside areas remembering the other personnel who died that day as a result of the attack.  There are plans and fundraising efforts underway for renovating and enlarging the center in the near future, because it is visited daily by so many people from all around the world.

 

There is a new memorial for the USS Oklahoma that opens officially on 7 December 2007, to remember the 429 who died when she was sank by a Japanese torpedo in 1941.  There is a great article about the Oklahoma and the memorial in the December issue of VFW Magazine (www.ussoklahoma.com/Pearl_Memorial.html).

 

Below are some photos I shot in April.  It is as moving for me today to visit Pearl Harbor as it was when I was 22 years old.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Thank you all for serving with the 225^th so many years ago and, for many of you, with other units as your Army career extended beyond Phu Hiep and Tuy Hoa. 

As we give thanks to God for the blessings of our families and friends, and for the material things we Americans too often take for granted, I know every one of you will pause and ask him for his blessing and his protection for the men and women serving in our Armed Forces today. 

Ben Perez sent this to me, have a look!  

http://www.cpmsglife.org/tg/2006tdm1.html

I wish you a blessed holiday this year!

Newly Discovered Photos from Chuck Galloway!

Chuck was an 84G20 in April 1968 when he arrived a Phu Hiep, then was reassigned to the Capital Military Assistance Command as an 84B20 (photographer) in Saigon in July, but not before he had taken some pictures of the Company Area.  He sent these to me last week, and I couldn't wait to share them with you!

Do You Know Their Email Address?

I don't have current email addresses for these guys, and I sure would like to include them on the mailing list.  If you know them, could you please write and ask them to send me their emails?  Thanks!

Burrel Anderson, George Baena, Richard Bates, Ed Bavaro, James Boone, Bob Colby, Bob Coveney, John Crouse, John Fishbeck, Joe Gaites, Joseph Gans, Don Goodwin, Cecil Jarman, Peter Katalenas, Dugan Lawrence, Michael Paoli, Gabriel Pearson, Ron Pitcock, Richard Steinbock, Roger Warnshuis, Chip Weakley, John Williams, Dave Zimmerman

Bill McNease's TO

Bill McNease sent me the following email:

Gordy,  Thanks for having this site.  I would like to find an observer that I flew with in the 225th.  No idea what his name is but he was a black guy and I don't think we had too many.  He would have been there between Apr 1971 and Dec 1971.  Appreciate any assistance. 

Bill

William L. McNease, Director of Safety and Security

Jet Asia, Limited

Macau Int'l Airport, 747 Hangar, 1st Floor, Macau

(853)66 555 113

 

On 11/15 Jack Burch sent some info for Bill:

I think the guy McNease is looking for is Arthur Brown; he was a SLAR TO the last I heard he lived in Waycross Ga.  Hope this helps.

Happy Veterans Day All You Mohawkers!

...And Welcome Home!

Remember the Ramp at Phu Hiep?

Phantomhawk pilot Howard Vail sent me some photos a few years ago, including these I have put together in a slideshow. Take a look and I’m sure it won’t be difficult to remember the heat and noise on the ramp and in the cockpit, as well as the aromatic fragrance of jet fuel!

Recognize the Signs of a Stroke

I received this email on how to recognize a stroke from an RN member of our CERT team. It is very good information to be aware of. Here’s a story that, unfortunately, happens too often. Take a minute to read this, it could save a life!

During a Barbecue, Ingrid stumbled and took a little fall. She assured everyone that she was fine and had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. (Her friends had offered to call paramedics). They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food and, while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Later that evening, Ingrid's husband called to tell everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital. (At 6:00 PM, Ingrid passed away). She had suffered a stroke at the barbecue. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today.

Some don't die, but they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead. A neurologist stated that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he could totally reverse the effects of a stroke. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours.

How to Recognize a possible Stroke: 
Remember the first 3 letters in the word “Stroke” are S. T. R.

A bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S - Ask the individual to SMILE.

T - Ask the person to TALK, to speak a simple sentence coherently (i.e., “It is a sunny day today”).

R - Ask them to RAISE Both Arms. (Also, you can ask the person to stick out their tongue. It the tongue is crooked, that is if it goes to one side of the mouth or the other, it is an indication of a stroke, because one side only is affected.)

When people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a possible stroke, the victim may suffer even more severe brain damage. If the victim has trouble Smiling, Talking, or Raising Both Arms, it is an indication of a possible stroke.

CALL 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved. For more information, log onto www.strokeassociation.org. I've put a link to the right, also.

Children's Hospital CERT Team

I am a member of the Children’s Emergency Response Team at my job at Seattle Children’s Hospital. We were one of the first organizations in the nation after 9/11 to have a team to locally respond and help in case of a major emergency like an earthquake, terrorist attack, or even a car accident that we come upon.
The Children’s CERT team trains regularly in Light Search and Rescue, Fire Suppression and Safety, Spill Response, Decontamination and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Patient Handling, Incident Command, Disaster First Aid and CPR. We are truly First Responders that are capable of effectively act initially at the site of an emergency.

For me as a veteran, being a CERT member is nearly the perfect activity to be involved with. There are several veterans (all younger than me) on our team, so there is certain esprit de corps that is manifested as we work together.
The national Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT members can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help. CERT members also are encouraged to support emergency response agencies by taking a more active role in emergency preparedness projects in their community.

I would encourage you to check out www.citizencorps.gov/cert/, or where you work, to get involved! We may be older veterans, but we’re not done serving our country!

Welcome to Vietnam! (or How I Celebrated Tet 1968!)

November 5, 2006

For Christmas 2005 my son Nick gave me a book titled Voices From Vietnam – Eye-witness Accounts of the War, 1954-1975, by Richard Bank Verrone and Laura M. Calkins. I’d recommend it for any of you who would like a little help with faded memories that are nearly forty years old.

After reading about the 90th Replacement Battalion Long Binh, I remembered that arrived at the 90th Replacement on the day after Valentine’s Day 1968. On 18 February I was assigned to pull sentry duty (without any kind of a weapon, however!) at the 93rd Evac Hospital at Long Binh. My job was to stand by a door and just monitor who came and went. I don’t remember what the entrance was, but there were a lot of people coming and going. I had not been on duty very long when, all of a sudden, there was a terrific whoomph! and the air was transformed into a fog of dust!

Turns out it was Tet. And the enemy had just hit the hospital with a rocket attack. I don’t remember if there was more than one explosion, but I imagine there were multiple rockets and mortars; these lasted pretty much all night. As I was laying flat on the ground (must have been a basic training learned reaction) my thoughts were “Oh sh-t!” and “Welcome to Vietnam!”

Later on, after my shift, I went back to the barracks to try to get some sleep. That was a little difficult, what with the VC attacking, the gunships that were in the air all around and the huge amount of adrenaline that was being pumped through the bodies of all us new guys. At about 3:00 in the morning there was a HUGE explosion when the VC blew up the 12th Combat Aviation Group’s ammo dump where 8 pads detonated with a total ammo value of $2,774,348 (in 1968 dollars).

I have had a picture in my mind of the massive explosions that night, but I had never seen a photo of it. Last week, at http://www.nonags.org/members/raffia/, I found a photograph, which is published here and is remarkably very close to what I remember.

Later that day, my name was finally called and I was on a C-130 on my way to Nha Trang, and the 17th Group HQ. They told me I was assigned to the 225th at Phu Hiep (I responded “Phu What?) and not long after that I became a member of the Blackhawks .

Please feel free to share your story of the your first days in VN. I know others would love to read your story!

2008 Reunion in Portland in September

Time is flying by, so I thought I should get a hotel reservation in for the OV-1 Mohawk Association 2008 Reunion. It will be in Portland, Oregon, the beautiful "The Rose City," and will include a trip to McMinnville and the Evergreen Air Museum where a Mohawk is on static display (see below).


Turns out the rooms are filling up fast! If you are planning on attending, go to the Association website www.OV-1Mohawk.org to get all the info and sign up!

The cover story of the July-August 2002 Issue of The Mohawker (the OV-1 Mohawk Association’s newsletter) was titled “Moving Day for OV-1D 67-18902. The accompanying article by 1SG (Ret) Richard E. Dearborn of the Oregon Army National Guard told the story of this retired Mohawk’s last flight from Salem to McMinnville’s CPT Michael King Smith Evergreen Aviation Educational Institute. 902’s last flight was as a sling load beneath an Army CH-47D, not as majestic as if she was flying on her own, but nevertheless a very pretty sight against a bright blue Oregon sky!


Karin and I stopped at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum (www.sprucegoose.org) in August 2003 to see this Oregon Air National Guard Mohawk; Karin had never seen one, except in photos. The aircraft is on loan to the Museum from the US Army.

I just checked the Evergreen’s website, and 902 is still on static exhibit, so we will all have a chance to see it when we meet in a couple of months for the Reunion in Portland! I hope to see you there!

Gordy by a Mohawk before a flight-follow mission

I flew many flight-follow missions between late 1969 and June 1970. In fact, on my DEROS day I was the observer for a flight-follow mission with George Drago who dropped me and my gear off at Cam Ranh Bay to catch a flight home on June 11, 1970. Reflecting back on flying a mission on my last day in-country, I often think "That sure was a dumb thing to do!"

Phantomhawk 13

I took this photo for a back cover of the February 1970 issue of Hawk, the 1st Aviation Brigade monthly magazine that was distributed throughout Vietnam to all Brigade units.