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!