Sgt. Ron York stands in front of his hooch at the 34th Combat Engineers base camp at Puloy, Vietnam about 65 miles from Saigon. He was in ‘Nam in 1969-70. Photo provided
Halfway through his senior year in high school Ron York, who grew up in Griffith, Ind., decided he had had enough education and joined the Army. In June 1969 he arrived in Vietnam a member of the 34th Combat Engineers. Read the rest of this entry »
First Lt. Hal Johnson stands in front of his P-47 “Thunderbolt” fighter after World War II when he was flying with the 81st Fighter Group, 91st Squadron, stationed at Wheeler Field in Hawaii. Photo provided
As a kid Hal Johnson wanted to be a fighter pilot. When he joined the Army Air Corps in 1943 they made him a B-24 “Liberator” bomber pilot. Read the rest of this entry »
Nick Firda was flying one of these C-123 twin-engine transports loaded with Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. It was his job to spray the enemy infested jungle with the deadly defoliant so the leaves would fall. Photo provided
It was the height of the Cold War in the 1960s. Maj. Nick Firda was flying a secret Strategic Air Command mission in a B-52 bomber loaded with atomic bombs across the Atlantic Ocean to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina when an oil pressure problem caused him to shut his first engine down. It would be the start of a long flight. Read the rest of this entry »
Everett Charles early in his Navy career. He joined in 1950, right out of high school. Photo provided
Everett Charles of Vizcaya Lakes mobile home park in El Jobean skippered a PBR (Patrol Boat River) that prowled the Upper Saigon River hunting for North Vietnam Army regulars and Vietcong irregulars moving enemy supplies into South Vietnam. He made 216 combat patrols as captain, plus an additional 89 patrols into enemy territory as an advisor aboard South Vietnamese gun boats during the three years he served over there. Read the rest of this entry »
Ernie O’Brien was photographed in his Marine Corps full dress uniform at a recent funeral he attended in Port Charlotte, Fla. Sun photo by Don Moore
In his dark blue Marine dress uniform trimmed with red piping, wearing white gloves and a white hat, Ernie O’Brien of Port Charlotte, Fla. stands ramrod straight at 87. He looks as if he could hit the beach at Guadalcanal, as he did more than 65 years ago. His silver mustache adds a touch of manliness to a face that has seen war up close and personal. Read the rest of this entry »
Richard Cook of Port Charlotte, Fla. took boat rides with Navy SEALs while serving in Vietnam in 1967-68. Sometimes they were wild rides. Sun photo by Dana Clausing
Richard Cook looked the part with his short cropped hair, weathered face and ramrod-straight military gait. The old salt would fool no one.
The real giveaway was the navy blue shirt with five rows of campaign ribbons complete with six battle stars on his chest. Underneath, embroidered in gold, it read: U.S. NAVY. Down the left arm of his long-sleeve shirt were the names of seven Vietnam cities. Even more interesting, also embroidered in gold, were four more lines of words in gold that read: “CAN’T TELL YOU.” Read the rest of this entry »
Andy Hawkinson was a teenage MP in this picture just before he was sent to Eniwetok Island in the Pacific in 1957 where dozens of atomic blasts were set off. Photo provided
Andy Hawkinson is the last of a dying breed. He is one of the last of an estimated 400,000 American soldiers who took part in atomic bomb testing during World War II and throughout the Cold War up to 1992. Read the rest of this entry »
Cpl. Mick Johnson, a member of the 1st Cavalry Division, sits at a 105 mm Howitzer emplacement at Landing Zone Jamie near Tay Ninh, Vietnam in 1969 shortly before they were almost overrun by North Vietnam Army troops. He’s holding an M-79 Grenade Launcher. Photo provided by Betsy Brach
Mick Johnson of Bird Bay subdivision in Venice, Fla. was “sluffing off” on a football scholarship at Philadelphia’s Villanova University in 1968. At the end of the school year he was drafted as a minor league pitcher by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I played a half season with the Dodgers. In September ’68 I lost my military deferment when I dropped out of college and was drafted into the Army at the height of the Vietnam War,” the 64-year-old local resident said. “After eight weeks of basic at Fort Bragg, N.C. and several more weeks of artillery training at Fort Sill, Okla. I was sent to San Francisco and put on a TWA flight to Vietnam. Read the rest of this entry »
John Schoell of Port Charlotte, Fla. was 17 when he signed up with the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team in 1950. He made two combat jumps during the Korean War. Photo provided
John Schoell of Port Charlotte, Fla. took part in the first combat jump involving American paratroopers since World War II. He was as a member of the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team, and jumped on Oct. 20, 1950, near Sunchon, North Korea — just over the 38th Parallel dividing the North from the South. Read the rest of this entry »
Col. Dick Carr of Burnt Store Isles, south of Punta Gorda, Fla., is pictured in the driver’s seat of an F-4 Phantom fighter he flew during the Vietnam War. Photo provided by Dick Carr
Retired Maj. Gen. Richard Carr of Burnt Store Isles was among the U.S. Air Force Academy’s first graduates in 1959. He spent much of his 35-year military career preparing to fight a war with the Soviet Union that never happened.
In 1962, he was involved in the “Cuban Missile Crisis.” Read the rest of this entry »
Jean Carr of Burnt Store Isles, south of Punta Gorda, Fla., is pictured in the 1960s in her Air Force nurse dress uniform, complete with white gloves during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Photo provided by Jean Carr
Jean Carr was an Air Force nurse during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War in the 1960s.
“I wanted to be a history teacher, but my patents didn’t have the money to send me to college for four years. They decided my twin sister, Joan, and I could both become nurses. So we went to St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing in Peoria, Ill. for three years and became RNs. It was the best decision they ever made,” the 74-year-old nurse explained sitting at the dining table in her Burnt Store Isles home south of Punta Gorda, Fla. Read the rest of this entry »
Command Sgt. Maj. John Gay was third in line to be named Sergeant-Major of the Armies. He served his country in three wars: World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Photo provided
When Melitta Gay of Venice called me a while back and said she was going through all her late husband’s stuff from a 31-year military career that spanned World War II, Korea and Vietnam and wanted me to come check it out for possible inclusion in the Sun, I was perplexed. He had already gone on to Valhalla 18 years ago like all good warriors, so what did she want me to do?
“Come see me,” she said. “I have more than enough information to make a long story about my husband for your newspaper.” Read the rest of this entry »
In this old scrapbook picture, Yeoman 3rd Class Granville Pennypacker is pictured shortly after he arrived in Hawaii in 1947 to begin his 22 year military career. Photo provided
From the end of World War II, through the Korean War of the 1950s and halfway into the Vietnam War, late in the 1960s, Granville Pennypacker of Englewood, Fla. served as a yeoman, a Navy administrator, in strategic hot spots around the world. Read the rest of this entry »
This picture of Charles Milam as a “bird colonel” was taken in 1975 about the time he retired when he was 49 after 30 years in the service. Photo provided
Charles Milam of Port Charlotte, Fla. was a freshman on a football scholarship playing for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks in 1944 when he decided to join the Marine Corps. Read the rest of this entry »
Staff Sgt. Ray Jewett received three Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart as a combat photographer in Vietnam during his two tours of duty. He almost died after being shot in the neck by an enemy bullet during a battle at Black Virgin Mountain while filming a Special Forces unit in 1964. Photo provided by Dick Hornyak
Staff Sgt. Raymond Jewett was a combat photographer in July 1964 attached to the U.S. military Assistance Command in Vietnam. Read the rest of this entry »
This is Lt. Col. Ron Dudley’s C-130A transport crew when he was flying secret missions from the Royal Thai Air Force base in Thailand in 1967 during one of his three deployments to Vietnam. He’s the fellow in the center squatting with dark hair. Photo provided
Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Ron Dudley of Waterford subdivision in Venice, Fla. flew a “Hercules,” C-130A, four-engine transport plane full of troops or supplies on hazards missions to the front lines during three Vietnam War tours. Read the rest of this entry »
Gen. I.D. White, commander of the 8th Army, presents Alexander in 1956 with an award for her services in Korea. Photo provided
With her wispy white hair, her frail body and her tiny voice, Harriette Moore is the epitome of someone’s grandmother. Looks can be deceiving.
Here he is a second lieutenant serving in the Second World War. Clark received the Silver Star for gallantry under fire during WWII. Photo provided by Al Clark
Col. Al R. Clark of Port Charlotte, Fla. joined the Oregon National Guard in 1935 at the age of 15. Before his 33-year regular Army career was over, he saw action on the front lines in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Read the rest of this entry »
Pfc. Dan Byrd is pictured with “Prince” his sentry guard dog in Vietnam in 1965. Photo provided by Dan Byrd
Dan Byrd lived an idyllic life growing up as a kid on Longboat Key off Sarasota, Fla. half a century ago. In those days, he hunted rabbits on the key with his .22-caliber rifle while his mom and dad ran the bait shop and hamburger stand on the south end of the New Pass Bridge connecting the key with City Island. Read the rest of this entry »
This snapshot of Ivar Svenson and Ann Byerlein was taken in Da Nang just before Ann completed her year in South Vietnam working at a civilian hospital and headed back to the States. He was serving in the Marine Corps in Vietnam. Photo provided
Col. Ivar Svenson, United States Marine Corps, was in charge of plans and operations for the III Marine Amphibious Force headquarters unit stationed in Da Nang, South Vietnam in 1968. Ann Byerlein was head nurse of the intensive care unit at Da Nang Provincial Hospital in May of that year, during the height of the Vietnam War. Read the rest of this entry »
Paul Elliott, who lives in the North Port, Fla. area, looks at a bronze bust of Le Loi, the 14th Century emperor of Vietnam. He purchased the bronze in a curio shop in Nha Trang, South Vietnam when he served in Vietnam in 1965 with the 524th Military Intelligence Unit. Sun photo by Don Moore
Paul Elliott was trained as a Russian linguist and military intelligence agent and when he went to Vietnam in 1966. He had to use those skills and more to ferret out saboteurs trying to sneak into Camp McDermott — the main supply base for the 1st Logistical Command that provided American forces with most of their equipment during the war. Read the rest of this entry »
Capt Craig is pictured in his dress blues near the conclusion of his 20 years of service in the United States Marine Corps. Photo provided
Rodger Craig had just graduated from high school in 1950 and signed up to be a Marine about the time the Korean War started. He was in boot camp at Parris Island, S.C. when war broke out. Read the rest of this entry »
Eugene Maresca of Buttonwood Village mobile home park in Punta Gorda served a three-year hitch in the regular Navy and spent the next 17 years as a Naval Reservist. He was a full commander when he retired in 1983. Photo provided
After 20 years of service in the U.S. Navy, Eugene Maresca retired in 1983 as a full commander. He served three years in the regular Navy and the rest in the Naval Reserve. Read the rest of this entry »
Sgt. Ed Schuppenhouer works a radio while training to become a counter-insurgency expert with the 553rd Reconnaissance Wing in Vietnam in 1967. Photo provided
Sgt. Ed Schuppenhouer was part of what was called, “McNamara’s Last Chance” when he served as a counter-insurgency specialist aboard an EC-121R four-engine Super Constellation in Vietnam in 1967-68. Read the rest of this entry »
Arthur Anderssen as a commander in this formal Navy picture. Photo provided
Arthur Anderssen of Burnt Store Isles south of Punta Gorda, Fla. graduated from Auburn University in 1962 on a Navy ROTC scholarship and joined the Navy immediately to complete his four year obligation. Thus began his 26 year military career. Read the rest of this entry »
Capt. Luis Chirichigno, Ret., second from left, presents Tami Cash, executive director of the Military Heritage & Aviation Museum in Punta Gorda, Fla. with the POW garb he wore in North Vietnam’s infamous “Hanoi Hilton” during his three-and-a-half years in captivity. Looking on is retired Brig. Gen. Jim Shelton, left, holding Chirichigno’s Ho Chi Minh sandals, and retired Maj. Gen. Rufus Lazzell, both on the museum’s board of directors. Sun photo by Don Moore
Charlotte Sun (Port Charlotte, FL) – Sunday, April 15, 2007
Capt. Luis Chirichigno was piloting an Army Cobra attack helicopter high above a couple of low-flying observation copters eight miles south of Duc Lap, South Vietnam, on Nov. 2, 1969. What happened next would make this Peruvian-born American chopper pilot a POW for the next 3 1/2 years. Read the rest of this entry »
2nd Lt. Sam Harris of Punta Gorda Isles, Fla. squats in front of his T-38 "Talon" supersonic, two-seat jet at Lakeland Air Force Base in April 1972 during Air Force training. Photo provided
Sam Harris of Punta Gorda Isles, Fla. began his military career as a cable-splicer in the Army National Guard in 1970 and ended up in 1979 as a captain in the Air Force. He flew giant C-141 “Starlifter,” four-engine, jet transport planes around the world. In between he has lived a life filled with exciting incidents that propelled him into an airlines career in which he’s flow the globe these last four decades. Read the rest of this entry »
Walter Levasseur of Rotonda holds a board containing his Army military decorations. Included are two Purple Hearts, a Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and an Air Medal. Sun photo by Don Moore
Walter Levasseur a former master sergeant in the U.S. Army, served two tours of duty in Vietnam in 1967 and 1970. By the time he was through, he had received the Purple Heart with an oak leaf cluster for being wounded a second time, the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars — one for valor the other for meritorious service — and the Air Medal for going on 25 combat missions in a helicopter. Read the rest of this entry »
Maj. Fred Winterbottom of "The Village on the Isles" in Venice, Fla. is pictured when he served with NATO forces in Europe after World War II. Photo provided
Fred Winterbottom has been a soldier for most of his 92 years. Winterbottom, who lives at the Village on the Isles retirement complex in Venice, Fla. with his wife, Gwen, saw service in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Read the rest of this entry »
Pvt. Jim Mazy of Englewood, Fla. is pictured as an 18-year-old Marine who took part in the first major battle in Vietnam involving American forces called “Operation Starlite” on Aug. 18, 1965. Photo provided
Jim Mazy, who lives south of Englewood, Fla. was a radio operator in Hotel Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division. He was wounded in “Operation Starlite,” the first major battle of the Vietnam War between American forces and the Viet Cong near Chu Lai, South Vietnam in 1965. Read the rest of this entry »
This was John Carlson of Punta Gorda, Fla. about the time he completed his carrier landing training at Pensacola Naval Air Station in 1956. He was 22. Photo provided
John Carlson has 30,000 plus hours of time flying Marine Corps fighter-bombers and transport planes around the country and throughout the world for 22 years and another 35 years piloting jets for Northwest Airlines. Read the rest of this entry »
Capt. George Hardy, standing second from the left, was co-pilot of a B-29 flying out of Kadina Air Base in Okinawa, Japan during the Korean War. They were part of the 28th Bomb Squadron, 19th Bomb Group. This was his first assignment following racial integration in the United States Air Force. Photo provided
EDITOR’S NOTE: Second of a two-part story.
When the Korean War broke out in June 1950 George Hardy’s World War II service was long behind him. He flew a P-51 “Mustang” in the 99th Fighter Squadron as a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-black fighter group, during the Second World War. Read the rest of this entry »
2nd Lt. Thelma Daida of Port Charlotte, Fla. is pictured in her fatigues while taking basic training at Shepard Air Force Base in Texas in 1965. She spent a year serving as a surgical nurse in the Air Force in Vietnam. Photo provided
1st Lt. Thelma Daida was a surgical nurse working in the only in-country U.S. Army Air Force Hospital in Vietnam in 1965 located on the giant airbase at Cam Rahn Bay. It was an exciting time to be a 20-year-old nurse serving in Southeast Asia. Read the rest of this entry »
Pat Farino of Port Charlotte, Fla. is pictured in his dress uniform when he returned in 1968 from his second tour of duty in Vietnam. He served with the 101st Airborne Division in 'Nam. (Photo provided)
Pat Farino of Port Charlotte, Fla. went to Vietnam in 1968 with the 101st Airborne Division. He was a 22-year-old airborne trooper who served with the ‘Screaming Eagles’. Read the rest of this entry »
This is Warrant Officer II Charles Myers of Port Charlotte, Fla. when he became an officer in the U.S. Army in 1978. Photo provided
Charles Myers was born and grew up in the Panama Canal Zone in Central America in 1933. At 21 he enlisted in the U.S. Army on May 17, 1954 under agreement between the U.S. and Panama. Read the rest of this entry »
Brig. Gen. Fred Buckingham of Punta Gorda, Fla. is pictured at his desk at Little Rock Air Force base in Little Rock, Ark. He was the commander of the 314th Airlift Wing at the base when the picture was taken in 1994 shortly before retiring. Photo provided
Lt. Fred Buckingham flew his C-130 “Hercules,” four-engine transport plane to Vietnam just in time for the North Vietnamese Army’s siege of the Marine base at Khe Sanh, the biggest single battle of the war, and the enemy’s massive Tet Offensive, where every major city and many American military bases were attacked in a countrywide coordinated assault. Read the rest of this entry »
Donald Gatrell had just arrived at SAC, Strategic Air Command, in 1960 to become a crew chief on a B-47 "Stratojet," six-engine jet bomber. He was 21-years old when the picture was taken. Photo provided
Donald Gatrell of Port Charlotte, Fla. was a crew chief on a B-47 “Stratojet” six- engine nuclear bomber during the early 1960s. One mission stands in his mind after more than half a century.
At 21 he was taking Primary Flight Training at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas in 1948 when this picture was taken in his leather flying jacket, flying cap and goggles. Photo provided.
1st Lt. Richard Burns almost “bought the farm” on his 95th combat mission over North Korea in his F-84 “Thunderjet.” His squadron’s objective: knock out an enemy bridge. Read the rest of this entry »
For the past year, in addition to writing war stories about local veterans, I’ve provided DVD interviews of these same veterans to the Library of Congress’ “Veterans History Project.”
This week I reached a milestone in these interviews. A couple of days ago I sent 25 DVDs and supporting material on each disk to the Library of Congress. That’s a total for the year of 100 interviews, 100 DVDs the “Veterans History Project” has received since this time last year. Read the rest of this entry »
Pfc. John Zajdlik stands in front of a 155 millimeter Howitzer at Tay Ninh, Vietnam during his tour in 1968-69 with the 1st Cavalry Division. Photo provided.
John Zajdlik had a reason to dislike the Communists. He and his family escaped Communist rule when they took control of his Czechoslovakian homeland shortly after the end of World War II. Read the rest of this entry »
Spc-5 Bob Rogers of Port Charlotte, Fla. is awarded his third Purple Heart at 18 for injuries in Vietnam while fighting with the 196th Light Infantry Brigade during his second tour. Photo provided
In September 1968, on his second tour of duty in Vietnam, Spc.-5 Bob Rogers’ squad walked into a Viet Cong ambush near Chu Lai in the Que Son Valley and was almost captured by the enemy.
Stephen Leopold shakes hands with his father, Charles, at their first meeting in almost five years after his release from a North Vietnamese POW camp at the end of the Vietnam War in 1973. Photo provided
POW Camp 101 is what it was called. The camp was a hell hole located 20 miles outside Hanoi, North Vietnam. It’s where 100 American MIAs languished during the Vietnam War and nobody in the United States knew they were there.
Stephen Leopold in a Green Beret uniform (right) given him at Clark Air Force base in the Philippines shakes hands in 1973 with base officers. He had been released days earlier from a North Vietnamese POW camp after almost five years in prison. Photo provided
It made no difference that 23-year-old 2nd Lt. Stephen Leopold was a Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University who served as a member of the U.S. Army’s elite Special Forces in Vietnam. Three weeks after arriving in country he was captured by the North Vietnam Army near Ben Het, in the jungles of Two Corps, May 9, 1968.
Victor Craig of Port Charlotte, Fla. was a loadmaster and staff sergeant on a giant Globemaster Air Force transport oike this one during the Cold War and the Vietnam Conflict. Photo provided
Victor Craig of Harbor Heights near Port Charlotte, Fla. spent 21 years in the Air Force serving as a loadmaster. He was a sergeant in charge of loading giant cargo planes properly, flying with them to their destination and getting the planes quickly unloaded. Read the rest of this entry »
1st Lt. Bill McDermott in the foreground is all smiles because this was his last day in Vietnam, April 7, 1971. It was the first time in a year he had gotten a cold beer. Photo provided
Bill McDermott of Lake Suzy, east of Port Charlotte on the way
to Arcadia, Fla. wound up as a 1st lieutenant in the 11th Armored Cavalry
Division based in Three Corps in the northern jungle of Vietnam. He
was a graduate of DePaul University and a member of the school’s ROTC
program.
Sgt. Jim Surber helps his 1st Sergeant with his back pack during a sweep in the Central Highlands of Vietnam with the 1st Air Cavalry Division in 1967-68. Photo provided
Jim Surber was a dogface in Company D, 6th Battalion, 1st Air Cavalry Division in Vietnam from March 1967 to March ’68. He rode to war in Huey helicopters.
Lt. Comdr. Barton Creed was shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in an A-7 fighter-bomber like the one pictured. He survived the ejection from the jet plane and was last heard from by the unsuccessful rescue party that tried to pluck him from the Laos jungle. Art courtesy of Lou Drendel/Aviation-Art.net
The cheap, cerise-colored, aluminum bracelet on her right arm was battered and worn. Every day for the past 25 years, Vera Creed of Port Charlotte, Fla. has had it on.
Tom Gould was 17 years old and fresh out of Great Lakes' boot camp in 1963 when this picture was taken. He became a Navy medic in Vietnam at start of the war. Photo provided
Looking back on it all, Tom Gould of Venice says, “I was 17 and just out of high school. I was a rebel without a cause. My father told me I had three choices: ‘I could get a job, go in the service or go to reform school.’
Lutgen is perched on the nose of his A-37 fighter in Vietnam. The other members of his squadron are spaced out along the wings. Photo provided
Bill Lutgen of Venice, Fla. flew 378 combat missions in an A-37 fighter-bomber in Vietnam, received three Distinguish Flying Crosses and 19 Air Medals for his efforts and retired from the Air Force after 20 years in the service. Read the rest of this entry »
Kil Kilcauley is flanked by his two young daughters sitting on the steps of his mother-in-laws’ Honolulu home in the 1950s. At the left is Linda and Karen is at the right. Photo provided
Kil Kilcauley of North Port has seen a lot of life in his 97 years of living. He’s fought in three of this country’s wars–World War II, Korea and Vietnam–and lived to tell about it. Read the rest of this entry »
