Bob Goff grew up in Placida, south of Englewood, Fla., joined the Army at 16 after he dropped out of Venice-Nokomis High School in 10th grade. He lied about his age and signed up for the service, “because I didn’t want to be a fishermen or farmer.”
Tagged Pentagon
Lt. Rich Entlich fought in Vietnam in black pajamas and flip-flops
After graduation from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1963, Lt. Rich Entlich found himself in Vietnam working for MACV (Military Assistance Command Vietnam) after completing Airborne and Ranger Schools.
Bill Ditto was a Marine aboard USS Missouri when battleship got stuck in mud
Before Bill Ditto of Englewood, Fla. went aboard the battleship USS Missouri as a Marine guard in 1949, growing up in West Virginia, he had never seen the sea or a ship the size of the “Mighty Mo.”
Maj. Gen. Richard Carr flew F-4s and F-16 fighters in war and peace
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.”
Love and War in Vietnam and elsewhere
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…
