To honor our fallen heroes . . .
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VIETNAM TRAVELING WALL
The “Cost of Freedom” tribute will be in Ludington August 27 - 31 at City Park
A special publication of the
LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS Tuesday, August 26, 2014
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LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS/MASON COUNTY TRAVELING WALL PROJECT
| TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014
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| LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS/MASON COUNTY TRAVELING WALL PROJECT
Above are names of American military members who died in Vietnam who were residents or at some point lived in Mason County, as shown on the plaque in the Ludington Library.
Local names on the wall
BY KEVIN BRACISZESKI DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
The traveling wall is a scale model of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The memorial chronologically lists the names of more
than 58,000 Americans who gave their lives in service to the country during the war. The wall holds the names of at least five local men who died during the war. They are Army Spc. 5 Roger Allan Dains of Ludington, Army Cpl. Richard
Ross Lange of Ludington, Army Staff Sgt. James Raymond Nelson of Ludington, Army Sgt. Leroy Junior Draby of Free Soil and Marine Lance Cpl. David Lee Aerts of Pentwater. Aerts is listed as a Pentwater man, but he grew up in Mason County
and graduated from Mason County Central before moving to Pentwater shortly before enlisting in the Marines. There are also four other names of men who lived in Mason County as children before moving out of the area. They are Marine Delbert El-
lery Brimmer of Montague, Navy Fireman Joseph Frank Benak of Jupiter, Florida, Rick Duane Deeds of Carlton, and Army Chief Warrant Officer Bernard Edwin Meister of Memphis, Tennessee. SEE NAMES ON THE WALL, PAGE 4
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LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS/MASON COUNTY TRAVELING WALL PROJECT
| TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014
The traveling Vietnam memorial wall In its black granite walls, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial contains 58,226 names of Americans who gave their lives in the war or who remain missing, according to the National Park Service, which oversees the site in Washington, D.C. By separating the issue of individuals serving in the military during the Vietnam era and U.S. policy carried out there, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation states it hoped to begin a process of national reconciliation. The American Veterans Traveling Tribute — the Cost of Freedom Tribute — coming to Ludington Aug. 27-31 is the largest traveling replica of the wall. At 360 feet long and at its tallest point 8 feet tall, it is 80 percent the size of the memorial in D.C. It includes a flag display on top of the wall.
ESCORT THE WALL UP FROM HART The wall will be escorted to Ludington Wednesday from the Oceana County Fairgrounds in Hart, where those wishing to escort it are asked to assemble at noon. The escort leaves at 3 p.m. heading north from State Street through downtown Hart on Oceana Drive north to the county line, where it will continue north on South Pere Marquette Highway to Ludington Avenue and west to City Park. It is expected in Ludington by 4 p.m. Other exhibits and programs are scheduled throughout the stay. See the official program inserted inside this edition. Take that program with you when you visit the memorial.
SEE UPDATED information at www.ludingtondailynews.com, where there is also a link to the local project’s page, www.masoncountywallproject.com/.
NAMES ON THE WALL: Where they can be found The following will provide information about the men and where their names can be found on the memorial wall.
DELBERT ELLERY BRIMMER His name is on panel 21W Line 35. Brimmer was born May, 26, 1949 and he served in Vietnam as a rifleman from May 25, 1969 until his death June 30, 1969 in Quang Nam.
ROGER ALLAN DAINS His name is on panel 51E Line 29. Dains was born Aug. 3, 1948 and he served in Vietnam as an armor crewman from Aug. 12, 1967 until his death April 22, 1968 at Long An Province. RICHARD ROSS LANGE His name is on panel W2 Line 69. Lange was born Jan. 24, 1952 and he served in Vietnam as an infantryman from Aug. 23, 1971 until his death Nov. 19, 1971 at Thua Thien Province. JAMES RAYMOND NELSON His name is on panel 21E Line 91. Nelson was born Feb. 4, 1942 and he served in Vietnam as a helicopter crew chief until his helicopter went down in the South China Sea June 11, 1967. His body was not recovered.
JOSEPH FRANK BENAK His name is on panel W15 Line 47. Benak was born March 1, 1950 and he served in Vietnam as a Navy fireman from Sept. 15, 1969 to his death Dec. 11, 1969 at Kien Tuong Province.
Draby was born April 19, 1947 and he served in Vietnam as an infantryman from Jan. 10, 1967 until his death Sept. 8, 1967 in Hau Nghia Province.
DAVID LEE AERTS His name is on panel W36 Line 43. Aerts was born May 17, 1947 and he served in Vietnam as a rifleman from May 31, 1968 until LEROY JUNIOR DRABY His name is on panel 26E Line his death Dec. 19, 1968 at Quang Tri Province. 34.
We pay tribute to the courageous men and women who served our country well. Delbert E. Brimmer Post 6842 VFW
RICK DUANE DEEDS His name is on panel 34E Line 29. Deeds was born July 30, 1948 and he served in Vietnam as an assault amphibious vehicle crewman from March 24, 1967 until his death Jan. 20, 1968 in Quang Tri. BERNARD EDWIN MEISTER His name is on panel W13 Line 10. Meister was born March 20, 1938 and he served in Vietnam as an attack helicopter pilot from Feb. 21, 1969 to his death Feb. 14, 1970 in Long Khanh Province.
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Dear Visitors,
Welcome Visitors, We are so pleased to bring the experience of the Cost of Freedom Tribute to you. Not only will you be able to walk along the Wall of names of the Vietnam War’s men and women who sacrificed their lives, but be able to view other tributes dedicated to telling the history of that war and others. We have worked many, many months and hours to make this event extremely unique and one to remember for years to come. We have created programs dedicated to honoring those in our very own community of Mason County that we deem worthy of receiving public praise. Our First Responders made up of our police forces, fire departments, 9-1-1 dispatchers, Emergency Medical Technicians, and even Coast Guard are vital to our community’s well-being. Friday evening they will be recognized for their great work. Saturday, all area veterans who proudly served in America’s Armed Forces will be saluted. The Vietnam-era veteran will especially be commemorated. Lastly, the families who lost a loved-one during a conflict, known as Gold Star families, will be raised up and wrapped in love. If attending any of our programs, you will get the opportunity to listen to carefully selected speakers. Many of them will be available to meet, including a Medal of Honor recipient! If that isn’t enough, you will also be entertained by local singers and musicians. They are all so proud to be part of this project. This project could not be possible without all the amazing volunteers who have stepped forward to help. Thank you!!! May this time be one of exploration, of learning, and maybe even one of healing. Michelle M. Hemmer, President Mason County Allied Veterans Council
Welcome to Ludington! We are so proud to have you visit our beautiful city while experiencing the Traveling Vietnam Wall and Cost of Freedom Tribute. This is truly a one-of-a-kind event for our area. I know the committee has worked diligently to bring you an amazing, unforgettable event. Being Labor Day Weekend and being a destination area for many travelers, we are ready for you to embark on our town. While here, I hope you take the time to visit our beach or waterfront areas, walk to a lighthouse, check out the downtown shops, take in a delicious meal from one of our many restaurants, and perhaps enjoy a stunning sunset. Ludington and Mason County salute our military veterans and service members. Ludington Mayor Ryan Cox
Bob Williams, Phil Quinlan and Ron Martin, from left, began the work to bring the traveing wall to Ludington. Their fellow committee members are Michelle Hemmer, Rick Plummer, Budde Reed, Gary Ferguson, Lance Christensen, Gene Tracy, Wally Taranko, Sue Adamski, Jim Bloom, Les Johnson, John Hosier, Jeremy Verstrat, Jeff Claveau, Pat Lange, Bill Swan, Jackie Steckel, Mark Barnett, Joe Stickney, Brandy Henderson, Jeff Peters, Louis Wolven and Dennis Greene.
America’s strength protects her greatness. There are no greater people than the veterans who gave their all.
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LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS/MASON COUNTY TRAVELING WALL PROJECT
| TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014
Ron Martin: Wall arrival a bittersweet time BY PATTI KLEVORN NEWS EDITOR
I
n 1966, Ron Martin was driving a ’65 Chevy and earning $5 a day while attending college to be a machinist through the federal government’s Manpower Development program.
Ron was the son of Russell and Irma Martin of Free Soil and returned home frequently from Lansing Community College. He was sweet on a girl, Lucille, in nearby Manistee. He completed his courses and found a job at Lansing Tool and Die. “Life was good,” he said. That changed in August 1966 when he received a letter, the letter, from the president. “Greetings from President Johnson,” it began. He was being drafted and would be serving in the Vietnam War. “I was still wet behind the ears,” he said describing how young and naive he was then at age 20. He left on a bus headed for boot camp. He said he didn’t know what to think, but somehow he knew life would never be the same.
JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWS
His base was Fort Knox. After boot camp and his advanced individual training as a tank mechanic, he came home for a few days before he flew from Manistee’s airport to the thick of the jungle war. It was March 27, 1967. The heat — 120 degrees some days — hit him hard. He went for medical help several times only to learn it was the high temperatures and the humidity, and his body was having a hard time adjusting.
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Former Marine Vietnam Vet
He also had to get accustomed to the sounds of war, mortars, airstrikes, gunfire. Some of his fellow soldiers did drugs that were readily available in Vietnam. It was their way of coping. “Not Ron Martin,” he said. “I wanted to stay alive.” He wanted to be able to do his job, patrolling, fixing tanks, helping keep his newfound comrades from harm as much as he could.
He remembers being shuffled from place to place, finally taken to An Khe, where he served with the First Air Cavalry Division, 69th Armored in the Central Highlands. His job, as a tank mechanic, meant helicopter rides to tanks in the field “out in the boonies,” Martin said. He’d spend a few days with the guys on the line fixing tanks, even when the major would tell him they weren’t fixable. “Leave it, Ron,” he re-
Saluting thoSe Who Were there
members one superior officer told him. He went to work anyway and within five minutes he had it repaired. It wasn’t all about repairs. He’d have to fit in with the soldiers on the line, grabbing whatever weapon he could find to survive, using a “grease gun” from the tank when it’s all that was available. “We watched a lot of airstrikes,” he said. With the war raging, Martin could still see Vietnam wasn’t all bad. “It was a beautiful country,” he said. He recalls one of the division’s tanks hitting a 250-pound bomb, blowing the side off it. “We all lived,” he said. The tank was destroyed, except for use as spare parts. Ron remembers seeing one soldier ready to head home, his bags packed when a firefight broke out. It didn’t matter that he was expecting to leave. This was war. His sergeant sent him back to battle. The man took a bullet behind the ear from a sniper but survived. “It was the luck of the draw,” Martin said. Traveling from one site to another was danger-
ous, he remembers, with Viet Cong hiding out in buildings, including a three-story school, ambushing the Americans. “We lost a couple of guys from the company,” he said. There was always propaganda from the north, including the radio personality Hanoi Hannah who said the Bong Son unit, which Martin was serving with, “got wiped out.” No truth to that, he said. Martin helped guard bridges, “our life and death,” he said. Convoys needed the bridges to bring supplies and food, but every time they were at the bridge they were ambushed. “I can feel the crosshairs on me still today,” Martin said.
The Wall Within a few months, on Aug. 15, 1967, he had one of the most heartwrenching events of his time at war, one that sends tears streaming down his face today. His lieutenant, 25-year-old David A. Nolan, had been in a tank during a firefight on the Bong Son plains. Lt. Nolan SEE MARTIN, PAGE 7
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MARTIN: Will meet daughter of Lt., whose father died before she was born
Ron was married for 14 years and he and Susan had two children and now have five grandchildren, four from their daughter and one from Jason, a 13-year-old girl, Trinity. Ron is close to his daughter and grandkids, but he knows there’s been a cost due to his service. He said he heard a statistic that 90 percent of Vietnam veterans’ marriages ended in divorce. Vietnam veterans Ron Martin, Mike Howe and Roger Tominski, all “Vietnam was hard on of Ludington, visited the memorial in Washington, D.C., in 1985. families,” he said.
FROM PAGE 6
must have been looking out the tank’s turret when he was killed, Martin said. As a tank mechanic, Martin was called to the aftermath. The scene was horrific, now a haunting memory that remains with him always, just below the surface. “I saw the whole thing,” he said, bowing his head, shoulders shaking as he tried to hold in that 47-year-old wound. “I got a real awakening,” Martin said. Martin now has paid tribute to Lt. Nolan at the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C., as well as at the traveling wall when it came to Cadillac. He and friends Bob Williams (U.S. Army 25th 1960-63) and Phil Quinlan (a Mason County Central teacher who takes on the planning of veterans events) visited and Quinlan took a video of that special time. Quinlan was so touched by Ron Martin’s flood of emotion at Nolan’s name on the wall and story about his heroic death in the war and learning that Nolan had a fourmonth-old daughter at home when he was killed that Quinlan contacted the girl (now woman) and
Ron Martin poses with his AK-47 in Camp Schueller, North Vietnam, March 1968.
put her in touch with Ron Martin. Lt. Nolan was a good man, a great soldier, Martin said he told her. Knowing very little about the father she’d never met, she appreciated any information about his service. She’ll be in Ludington this week, when the wall is here, and she and Martin will meet in person for the first time. “That’s part of the healing process,” he said, knowing she needs it, too. It’s a bittersweet time for veterans organizing the traveling wall, finally
bringing it to home and knowing it soon will arrive. It takes a special renewed courage to go through that emotion the wall brings, and to go through it again, Martin said. That experience in Cadillac spurred the three men to seek to bring the traveling wall to Mason County. They went before the Ludington City Council last July with their request. The experience “stirred our soul,” Quinlan told the Daily News at that time. Ron Martin now can talk about his time in the
To our men and women in uniform:
From the bottom of our hearts
war, and that helps. He meets up with a counselor and fellow veterans in Kaleva two times a month and he enjoys the opportunity to discuss issues. Among those issues, he is 100 percent disabled from the effects of Agent Orange. Four years ago he began noticing he was losing sensation in his legs. Now he can’t walk six blocks, he said. The government provides financial assistance. “The money helps,” he said. “But I would rather have my health.”
Worse than war As much as his scars from war hurt, it was the loss of his son, Jason, at age 33 to bone cancer five years ago, that has been Ron Martin’s greatest heartache. “Vietnam was nothing,” he said in comparing the pain. His son’s last words to him from his hospital bed were, “Good luck hunting.” “I’ll see him again,” Martin said, saying his faith in God helps him through the toughest times.
Local connections He learned once he returned to the States that as he was arriving in Vietnam, Bruce Borema of Fountain was there in the same place and saw him but wasn’t able to get to him or talk to him at the time. Small world, they later agreed. Local connections from the war included Fred Thomas of Free Soil, whom Ron saw as he was entering a shower tent. Fred, he heard, survived being shot down four times. He also saw Dennis Laskey of Manistee on one of the flights toward Vietnam, and Bobby Tyler of Free Soil in the Central Highlands.
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LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS/MASON COUNTY TRAVELING WALL PROJECT
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Rick Trier’s
Snapshots from Vietnam
When troops were close to a village, Vietnamese kids would show up, Trier said, “Sometimes they would greet us coming out of the jungle.”
BY STEVE BEGNOCHE MANAGING EDITOR
R
ick Trier has a story to tell, but it’s one he kept to himself for 25 years.
Processing out Vietnam coming home. Trier is in the center with, on right, is Ken Wohl of Oklahoma City.
Trier looks down a mortar tube at a fire base.
Inside Trier’s track are “Magoo” and Glenn. Trier said when they were not out on night patrol they slept on the stretchers.
It’s about a year in his life — just one of the 65 years he’s lived so far — but one that still affects him, at times. That year was spent in Vietnam as a soldier assigned to the 25th Infantry. It was a year where he lost two of his friends to a land mine that blew up the track — a personnel carrier— he was supposed to ride on out of the field. He didn’t get on the track. Shortly thereafter the track hit that land mine killing his friends and four others. For awhile, the U.S. Army thought he, too, was dead. “War is hell,” Trier said. Over the years he’s experienced nightmares from which he would awake screaming. If he stayed sleeping, he’d thought he’d die. About nine years ago he started to talk about his experiences. He still finds it difficult to do so. At times, emotions overtake him talking about that year soldiering in Vietnam. SNAPSHOTS FROM VIETNAM, PAGE 9
We thank all of the citizen soldiers who fought, and continue to fight, on our nation’s behalf.
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014
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Rick Trier: Procrastination and fate M
BY RICK TRIER
y name is Rick Trier. I’m a Vietnam veteran,
from November 1969 to November 1970, combat infantryman, turned 21 in Cambodia. I received a C.I.B. (Combat Infantry Badge) and a Bronze Star medal. I was with the 25th Infantry Division, 1st of the 5th Headquarters Company, Recon, track 008. I was drafted June 19, 1969. I was going to Flint Junior College, as going to school was a draft deferment. The one problem I encountered at school was you needed to attend classes and get a 2 point grade average. Well, that didn’t happen and I was drafted. I went to Fort Knox for basic training and then to Fort Polk, Louisiana for my infantry training. I arrived in Vietnam Nov. 16, 1969. I spent my first week processing into the country and got my unit orders. The second day in the field I was sent on a walking night patrol of a village on 7 Alpha South just outside Cu Chi. About an half hour into the patrol we were
JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWS
‘My track leader Donnie Chastain, age 19, my track driver Billy Jack Roberts, age 20 gone.’ Rick Trier (at right in Vietnam at age 20) ambushed. Almost immediately we lost five soldiers, two killed and three wounded out of a 12 soldier patrol. Almost cut in half. We were running out of ammunition. I was down to my last clip of ammunition, when our tracks (armored personnel carriers) arrived with reinforcements. On Feb. 28, 1970 we were outside Dau Tieng in the rubber plantation. Myself and another soldier from my track, Gardener, were ordered off the track to help pull security while a small bridge was being built over stream. My track leader Donnie Chas-
tain and our driver Billy Jack Roberts were going to the rear for resupply. Three other soldiers got on the track because they were going to the rear to start processing out of the country. They were going home or back to the real world. They were going home. Then another soldier went and got on my track and I thought I could go back to my track and go to the rear for the day. But I couldn’t move, couldn’t get my body to get up. I procrastinated. A few minutes after they left, we heard a loud explosion and on the radio
were heard track 008 had hit a mine. We had hit a land mine about a month before and had no serious injuries, some cuts and bruises. The track was totaled and we got another one few days later. This time was different. When we arrived at the site of the explosion, I asked a soldier that was following 008 where everybody was and he stated they couldn’t find them. When I got to
where 008 was supposed to be there was nothing but big deep hole in the ground and parts of a 13 ton vehicle was spread through the rubber plantation. The six soldiers riding the track were also spread through the rubber plantation. Another company arrived and were picking up body parts, not bodies, a leg here, an arm there. The three soldiers that were going home, gone and
They’ve served our country with courage and honor. They’ve left behind loved ones to risk their lives in protecting their country. They’ve defended our freedoms and ideals. They make us proud.
not going home the way they wanted. My track leader Donnie Chastain, age 19, my track driver Billy Jack Roberts, age 20 gone. I was supposed to be on that track 008. Procrastination! That was the first time I cried. The only other time I cried was when I got off the plane in Detroit and was heading home to Flint. I made it home. SEE TRIER, PAGE 10
Medal of Honor William R. Charette Post 82
AMVETS
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LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS/MASON COUNTY TRAVELING WALL PROJECT
| TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014
TRIER: A chance to honor those who did what their country asked of them FROM PAGE 9
On the flight from San Francisco to Detroit the flight attendants asked me and another soldier if we were going to cause any problems. It was sort of a prelude to the kind of reception and attitudes I was going to see. I was spit at, called murderer, baby killer, was asked to leave parties or gatherings when some people found out I was in Vietnam. It was a sign of the times. Hatred, not understanding, a very confusing time for our country. My best friend from high school was a Marine and a Vietnam vet and we got asked to leave Kings Armor Bar Restaurant in Flint because the people at the next table didn’t like what were talking about. That type of reception happened a lot. So I quit going to those places. Welcome home! I tried dating and had a couple parents ask their daughters if they knew what they were doing. One told her daughter that I may be unstable. Even years later, when people found out I was a Vietnam vet, they would comment or state things like, “We need to watch out for you,” or “Don’t go crazy on me.” Crap. Please tell people to visit the traveling wall and honor my 58,000 friends and rub the names of Billy Jack Roberts and Donnie Chastain. They did what their country asked of them. Rick Trier’s unit in an outpost in South Vietnam. A UPI photographer made a very similar photo of the scene that day.
in loving memoriy of the fallen who gave their lives for our freedom
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SNAPSHOTS FROM VIETNAM: A photo with special meaning for Rick Trier FROM PAGE 8
Trier’s crew, from left, Rick Trier, Billy Jack Roberts, Donny Chastain holding a pound cake, and Gardener. In front kneeling, the “Old Man” eats pound cake. Trier and Gardener were ordered off the track that later got blown up when it struck a land mine Feb. 28, 1970, killing Roberts, Chastain and three others.
On Saturday, when the traveling Vietnam Wall is in Ludington, he has invited his friends here to meet him at the memorial at a specified time so they can meet with him his Vietnam friends — Jack Roberts and Donny Chastain — whose names are on section 13 W. He may leave behind a photo, the one seen at left. Trier left Vietnam in November 1970, but the year there hasn’t left him, nor is it likely to. He said he talks about it more and is willing to share his story and his photos so people can start to understand a bit what the Americans who served went through. Like many, Trier didn’t return home — then Flint —to parades. Only his parents
welcomed him home. He marvels at what his parent’s generation must have went through fighting in World War II. His father, a WWII veteran, never talked much about that war either, Trier said. “It was an unfortunate time, a bad time in America,” the former Michigan Department of Health Services employee who worked child abuse and neglect cases for 32 years, said about the Vietname era. It was a time of social and political upheaval and unrest. Many Americans, unhappy with the political decision of leaders to be in the war, too often took out their disapproval on returning solders — fellow Americans who served their nation and whose lives, like Trier’s, would never be the same again because of it.
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Trier has visited the Vietnam memorial in Washington, D.C. “Wow,” he said of the experience, calling it “hard, very difficult, but I had to go to show my wife and daughter.” “There it is an eerie, simple structure, built into the ground,” he said. “It will be interesting to see how it goes here.” For him, the traveling wall’s visit will be another chance to meet with two friends from a year of his life in Vietnam. Two young Americans like he said was then serving the nation during a time of war. Jack Roberts and Donny Chastain are more than just two names out of more than 58,000 casualties memorialized on the wall. They are two people Trier knew and served with in Vietnam and the jungles of Cambodia, shar-
ing pound cake and peaches, patrolling and being targeted by the Viet Cong. They lived a life where there never was true relaxation. “Part of the problem in the war is you don’t have action every day,” Trier said. “It’s the constant ‘it could happen any moment’ that provided most of the stress. The most sleep I’d get in one night would be maybe 5 hours. I don’t know if you could call it being relaxed; you just got used to the environment and atmosphere and knew what was going on.” Trier’s friends are coming to town, and he doesn’t want to miss them. Read Rick Trier’s story, and study his pictures, taken with a Polaroid camera he kept with him. He is sharing so all may begin to understand.
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LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS/MASON COUNTY TRAVELING WALL PROJECT
| TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014
James R. Nelson: MIA, not forgotten
BY PATTI KLEVORN NEWS EDITOR
G
ary Nelson was 16 and home alone, looking out the front window, when an Army vehicle and two military men pulled up to his family’s Jebavy Drive home.
His brother Jim was in Vietnam. This was not good news. “I can still see it,” Gary said of the vehicle that arrived 47 years ago, changing everything. Gary called his father, Melvin, and both his parents quickly came home. He remembers not knowing what to say to his dad on the phone that day, with the Army captain who was there coaching him through the phone call. The Nelsons arrived home to learn from the captain that the helicopter Jim was in on June 11, 1967 while flying over the South China Sea went down in a storm. He was officially Missing In Action. The odds were not in his favor — not in favor of any of the five aboard. There was no survival gear on the helicopter, the family learned.
Many of the photos Jim Nelson’s family has of him are with the helicopter he maintained. Nelson was a mechanic who went Missing In Action June 11, 1967.
JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWS
Gary Nelson goes through some of the correspondence the family received. A photo of his brother Jim is in the foreground. James Raymond Nelson’s name is on the wall, Panel 21E Line 091.
“But you didn’t know,” Gary said. “There was always hope.” Jim’s name appears on the Vietnam Wall as James Raymond Nelson with a plus symbol, an acknowledgement that he was classified MIA. The UH-1D helicopter the five men were on was 18 to 25 miles offshore, but they thought — hoped — maybe a fishing boat could have rescued the men after correspon-
dence from the Army indicated that was a possibility, albeit slight. Jim was a staff sergeant in the 1st Air Cavalry Division, 11th Aviation Group, 227th Aviation Battalion, Company C. He was a helicopter mechanic, a crew chief, a 1960 graduate of St. Simon and 1964 graduate of Ferris State College. He had plans to become a surveyor. He had a lot of family in the Coast Guard, but
he wasn’t as fond of the water as they were. He was drafted in 1965 and joined the U.S. Army. He could have been an officer but signed up as an enlisted man. “He just wanted to get it over,” Gary said. He was 25 years old and almost 10 months into his tour in Vietnam when he went missing. He had only two months left and, according to his letters home — including one that arrived on the day they found out he was missing — he was counting the days remaining in his service. Back in Ludington, his mother, Dorothy, kept his room intact, clothes in the closet, socks in the drawer, everything in its place — all the days of her life. If Jim came home, she wanted everything to be
there for him. Dorothy died in 2004 and even on the day she died, Gary said she was talking about Jim and making sure he was not forgotten. She was in the hospital and introducing Gary as he walked in the door, referring to him as one of her four sons, noting her oldest was Missing In Action. Melvin lived with a lot of stress after hearing about Jim’s helicopter going down, regularly dealing with nose bleeds Gary said he thinks were stress-induced. Melvin died in 1996. Through the early years, the Army told the family to continue to send boxes at Christmas. Jim could be a Prisoner of War. That was always the prayer, that he would have survived and been
We salute the brave men and women who have gone to battle for America. You are all heroes.
kept alive, able to return when the war was over. In 1973 when the war was over, hundreds of POWs were being set free and were being shown on television as they arrived off flights. “I can remember sitting and watching TV, hoping we’d see him,” Gary said. Gary and brothers Dennis and Bob had their DNA tested to match up with any remains if they were found. No information about remains has ever come forward. The Army declared in 1973 Nelson “died while missing.” “It’s been hard on the whole family,” Gary said. The entrance to Gary’s home today, just down the road from the Nelson boys’ childhood home, has a wall dedicated to his brother. It features a picture of Jim and his framed medals. The brothers have photographs, telegrams, letters from the Army, Christmas cards from the White House — even recently through the Bush and Obama administrations — and now posts on the Vietnam Wall website from people who had heard of Jim or knew him. SEE NELSON, PAGE 14
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Scenes from the war
Taken by Jim Nelson of Ludington in Vietnam before he was declared MIA
In honor of all our servicemen and women who protect us, and in loving memory of the fallen who gave their lives for our freedom.
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NELSON: ‘Every name represents a life, a family (grieving the loss)’ FROM PAGE 12
His headstone is in Pere Marquette Cemetery. There isn’t just one special day the family sets aside to honor Jim. “You just remember every day,” Gary said. The past couple of years Gary has laid the POW/ MIA wreath during the Ludington Memorial Day ceremony at Stearns Park in memory of Jim. “He was my big brother,” Gary said. “He still seems big to me.” But holding up his brother’s fatigues, he realizes now Jim was physically smaller than he thought. Photos of Jim show a thin, bare-chested (it was hot in the jungle!) man, most of the the time next to or in the helicopter he maintained. “I always looked up to him,” Gary said. “We’d fish and hunt together. He still seems big to me.”
The Wall All 58,272 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial as “the wall” is called, officially, are of people to be remembered, Gary said. “James Raymond Nelson +” is one of the 1,200 MIA/POW and others with special designation (a plus sign for a person
inability of ground stations to get a radar fix on the helicopter, a decision was made to send aloft a HC-130 aircraft from the Tuy Hoa Air Base. This Gary Nelson HC-130 was an Air-Sea Rescue aircraft, equipped with direction finding James R. Nelson Phu Cat Air Base, located equipment, capable of homing in on the transapproximately 20 miles whose remains are missVeterans Wall of Faces north of Qui Nhon, picked mission of the lost helicopter. The HC-130 took off at ing and unaccounted for website offers an opporup an emergency mes8:16 p.m. and was conand a diamond for a pertunity to share a comment sage from the helicopter, tinuously in radio contact son whose death later was about the people whose indicating that they had with your son’s helicopter. confirmed. names are on the wall. encountered bad weathAll efforts on the part of “Every name represents For Jim, there are sever along the coast and the rescue aircraft to get a a life, a family (grieving eral notes from men and were requesting radar or fix on the helicopter were the loss),” Gary said. women who wore the direction finding assisunsuccessful due to the He and family members James R. Nelson bracetance. The Phu Cat tower have been to Washington, lets as children. One man acknowledged the call but extremely bad weather, however, they did advise D.C., to honor Jim, and wrote that he knew Jim was unable to pick up the Gary expects he’ll go to when their fathers were helicopter on radar. A sec- the helicopter commander that according to their esLudington’s City Park to both lighthouse keepers ond transmission was resee the traveling wall at at Pt. Betsie. ceived from the helicopter timates, the aircraft was over water. At 8:20 p.m., some point, again to show indicating that they were a radio transmission from his respects, not only to lost above the clouds and The letter the helicopter indicated his brother and his fellow were flying a “lost trianthat they had 15 minute fallen comrades but to Major General Kenneth gular pattern” in the Phu of fuel left. During the thank those who orgaG. Wickham sent a letter Cat, Qui Nhon, Tuy Hoa nized the Mason County to the Nelsons in August area. This second message entire period the HC-130 aircraft was desperately Cost of Freedom Tribute. 1967 that explained June was also received by the trying to get a fix on the “It’s been a lot of work 11 in more detail than Qui Nhon Airfield, which helicopter and was con(for those coordinating original words and corwas the helicopter’s destiducting continuous radio the efforts),” he said. respondence offered. It nation, and the Tuy Hoa contact. At 8:53 p.m., a It’s been comforting to read, in part: Airfield, located approximessage from the helicoplearn through the years mately 45 miles south of ter indicated 5 minutes about Americans around “The helicopter deQui Nhon. Both the Qui of fuel left and that they the country honoring parted Bong Son at 6:15 Nhon and Tuy Hoa Airwere decreasing altitude Jim and praying for him, p.m. heading south for field towers attempted to and passing through the wearing a special bracelet Qui Nohn. The helicopter pick up the helicopter on designed with his name landed at an intermediate radar but were unsuccess- low cloud cover. At 9:04 p.m., radio transmission as a way to remember landing zone to drop off ful. The weather in this from the pilot of your son’s the Missing In Action and equipment and continued area was turbulent with Prisoners of War. on to Qui Nhon Airfield at numerous thunderstorms aircraft reported that his helicopter was out of fuel The Virtual Vietnam 7:30 p.m. At 7:57 p.m. the and lightning. Due to the
‘I always looked up to him. He still seems big to me.’
and that the crew could see water and were about to ditch. This was the last radio contact with the helicopter. There was no water survival equipment on board the helicopter as there had been no plan for an over-water flight. It is estimated that the last known position of the helicopter was approximately 18 to 25 miles off the coast. An immediate air-sea search was begun and continued through 13 June 1967. Total cumulative search efforts included 12 fixed-wing aircraft, 22 helicopters, 10 Swift boats and 1 Coast Guard cutter. It is known that there were numerous native fishing vessels in this area but no leads could be developed to identify any individual vessel that could offer any assistance or information. All attempts to gain information through these sources, as well as others, are being continued. “No report has been received indicating that your son is a prisoner. The Viet Cong does not abide by the terms of the Geneva Convention and does not officially furnish names of our personnel whom they have captured and in the past have released such information only when it serves their own propaganda purposes … ”
We salute the brave men and women of our Armed Forces for their past and continued service to our country. Their courage, dedication and patriotism make us proud to be Americans.
Thanks, veterans, for defending our freedom and our ideals.
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APRIL 16, 1947-SEPT. 6, 1968
Raymond L. Whelpley: An ‘all-American good boy’ BY PATTI KLEVORN NEWS EDITOR
R
aymond Whelpley was an “all-American good boy,” his sister Linda (Whelpley) Pepper said.
He had a beautiful voice, played the trombone, was the drum major of his high school band, toured Europe in 1965 with the National All Student Band USA and was a young man of great faith. He signed up to serve in the Army and was heading off to the Vietnam War, but first, Linda had his voice recorded singing two songs that could be played at her upcoming wedding. Since Raymond would miss the ceremony, Linda wanted his music to be present. Linda Whelpley married Ron Pepper on Sept. 7, 1968 and Raymond’s voice was included in the ceremony, but they’ve never played that tape again. Hearing Raymond’s voice now … Linda doesn’t know if she could listen. The family didn’t learn until Sept. 8, the morning after the wedding, that Raymond had been killed
before knowing he had passed. She knows that was a blessing and she is grateful. “My brother gave me a gift,” she said she has come to realize.
She knows she probably won’t be able to speak to any veterans she sees, she said, knowing “I would fall apart,” but “they’re always in my heart.” “I just feel for the soldiers coming back,” she Lake Orion/Ludington said. “I don’t think we reThe Whelpleys raised alize all they go through.” Raymond and Linda in Years ago someone in Lake Orion and sumuniform, a friend of a mered in the Pentwater friend, came to the door, area. Returning to west and Linda ran off, alone, Michigan has been Linnot able to compose herda’s lifelong dream, and self to return and address Raymond Lawrence Whelpley’s she and her husband, him. name is engraved on the wall, Ron, are now building It was too much of a repanel 45W-row 058. He was killed their dream house on Sept. 6, 1968. minder of her loss. South Lakeshore Drive She regrets not having Linda Pepper, Raymond’s sister, sits between Ludington and written Raymond while quietly with a three-ring binder of Pentwater. he was in Vietnam. information about her brother. Knowing the traveling “I wish I had been a betJEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWS Vietnam wall is coming ter sister,” she said. to Ludington has stirred She was 19 and planup the memories, Linda in action on Sept. 6. ning a wedding and esand comforting each was angry. said, and that has enRon’s parents came tablishing her life as an other and Linda’s par“I was mad at God,” she couraged her to speak up over to tell them the adult. ents, George Whelpley, said. and bring out the memodevastating news as the Her mother wrote to who grew up in WalkerShe’s come to a peace rabilia she has from Ray- Raymond faithfully, fillWhelpleys heard about ville, and Beverly (Ewing) about the loss of her mond. their son that morning ing him in on informabrother and that anger Usually, she doesn’t and contacted them. Ron Whelpley, who grew up tion from home. Still, in Hart. has subsided. talk about him. and Linda were spendLinda wishes she had When Ron and Linda Linda thinks back She’s glad Vietnam vet- written her own letters, ing their first night in about the timing and erans are “finally getting too. their new apartment and arrived at Linda’s parents’ home, Linda’s learning of Raymond’s the recognition they dedidn’t have a phone yet. Linda wishes she would father was on his bed, death after she was able serve,” she said. “I wonThey were to leave on have found people who crying. to hear his voice and der if it’s too late.” their honeymoon that had served with her “That was the only time have him with her in Seeing the wall, “it’ll day. brother, who knew him I ever saw him cry,” Linthat way on her wedding be hard,” she said, but There was no honeyduring the war. da said of her father. day and she is glad to be she’ll go and look for her moon. SEE WHELPLEY, PAGE 16 At first, Linda said, she able to have that last day brother’s name. There was mourning
Thank You
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WHELPLEY: ‘It comes to a point where you are proud of what your brother has done’ FROM PAGE 15
And she is saddened at the loss of the only color photograph she had of him, an 8 x 10 she hasn’t seen in years. She is reminded of him, though, in many ways, including her grandson Raymond Jessop, who lives in both Iowa City and Pentwater. Young Raymond was born April 16, 2007, 60 years to the day of the birth of the great-uncle he never met, the great-uncle for whom he was named.
Service and faith The family originally had hoped Raymond would serve in the Army band, but he proved an excellent marksman as well, Linda said, and that might have been one of the reasons he was sent off to war. Raymond regularly wrote to his parents, making sure his mother heard the best of things. He was fine, there was no action where he was serving, he told her. In one letter, written before he left the States, he shared the strength of his Christian faith. “Mother, I can’t understand why you’re so worried about my going to Vietnam!! Good grief, you know doggone well that if I got shot I’ll be in Heaven! If the Lord wants to take me now, then He has a reason for it, right? There is something I like to think about and maybe you’d
like to know what it is. Makes NO difference whether I’m running in a rice paddy, cutting my way in a jungle or sitting in camp, the Lord is ALWAYS BESIDE ME.” Whelpley was a specialist (SPC4) in Company A, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Battalion. He arrived in the jungle in the height of the North Vietnamese’s Tet Offensive. He served in Vietnam six months when, at age 21, he was killed by fragments from a shell that exploded near him. The fighting was at night from Fire Base Shafter near Cu Chi, South Vietnam. Raymond and Linda’s mother, Beverly, became sick soon after Raymond’s death and she died of cancer just two years later, even before Ron and Linda’s first child was born. Raymond was decorated with the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, Combat Infantry Badge, National Defense Service, Vietnam Service, Good Conduct and Campaign Ribbon, posthumously. A scholarship in his name is given out in Lake Orion, Raymond’s alma mater. He is among those honored at the Orion Veterans Memorial, “a calm place,” Linda said. “It comes to the point where you’re proud of what your brother has done,” Linda said.
Raymond Whelpley’s parents — George and Beverly (Ewing) Whelpley, both of Oceana County — were presented medals their son was granted posthumously.
At left, Linda Pepper, Raymond’s sister, holds a Western Union telegram her family received about her brother’s remains.
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Dr. Snider: Helping the wounded BY KEVIN BRACISZESKI DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
P
fc. John Grimmenstein, Spc. Steven Segura and Pfc. Everette Briggs.
Those are names former Capt. Rick Snider wants people to remember. They are the names of three soldiers from his command who did not survive the war in Vietnam. “Three men died,” Snider said. “They were all so alone, I just didn’t want anyone to forget them. “The message I would like to get across with the coming of the wall is don’t forget the ones who died over there,” he said. Snider wrote a book about his experiences during his one-year tour of duty in Vietnam titled “Delta Six.” That book is dedicated to the three fallen soldiers “and the nameless Chinese baby whom I could not save and all those who never returned from America’s struggle in South Vietnam.” He visited the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C., several times, Snider said, and is looking forward to the Traveling Vietnam
coming shells and rockets long before people could. “He’d whine and we’d hit the deck.” In addition to the three men he lost from his unit, Snider said another 16 were wounded during the year he served there in 1968 and 1969. “I got in after the Tet Offensive and left before the invasion of Cambodia,” he said about bookends for his time in Vietnam. “I voted for Hubert Humphrey but Nixon won.”
Army doctor Snider was 28 years old when he began serving with the Army — nine to 10 years older KEVIN BRACISZESKI | DAILY NEWS Dr. Rick Snider shows a book he wrote about his experiences as an Army Doctor during the Viet- than most of the men serving in Vietnam. nam War. “I had deferments for Wall’s upcoming stay in “We tried to save them, His time at Tay Ninh college and med school Ludington. but we couldn’t.” was the hardest, said Dr. and as soon as I became “I think the Vietnam Snider said Briggs had Snider, who said it was eligible in 1966 I got my Wall is very good because only been in Vietnam for near the Ho Chi Minh letter,” he said. you can see the names,” a couple days before he Trail so the camp was The Army did allow he said. “I definitely want was killed. shelled with rockets him to finish his resito see the wall and my The three men had regularly by the nearby dency at Yale University men’s names on it. been members of SnidNorth Vietnamese Army. in 1966-67 before send“The first two (Grimer’s Delta Company unit “We were on red alert ing him to training as an menstein and Segura) of about 80 to 100 men every night,” he said. Army physician and parwere filling sand bags who worked at field hosSnider said they had a tially trained surgeon. for the mess hall when a pitals in Cu Chi and later dog at their hospital and “I knew it was comrocket hit,” Snider said. Tay Ninh. the dog could sense ining,” he said. “I actually
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thought it was going to be over, but it wasn’t.” That basic training in San Antonio, Texas, taught him about diseases and about the different types of injuries caused by bombs, bullets and phosphorous. Snider was then assigned to the 25th Infantry and his first base was at Cu Chi. “They made me commander of Delta Company,” he said. “We took care of wounded soldiers.” Helicopters would bring the wounded and dead soldiers to the field hospital. He said patients needing general anesthesia were taken to the hospital across the street while his unit took care of those who needed only local anesthesia. “Which was most of them,” he said. “We took care of the wounded first and then determined how the dead were killed and filled out their death certificates,” he said. The hospital was in a bunker and Snider worked mostly with people who were 10 years younger than he was. SEE SNIDER, PAGE 17
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SNIDER: ‘It was 120 degrees in the day and 60 degrees to 70 degrees at night’ “We used DPC, or delayed primary closure, and sutured them closed While in Delta Company, Snider also worked — the wounds we made taking the fragments out with two other doctors — after three days or so. and a dentist. Afterwards those guys He said many of the were sent back to the wounded were covered with mud when they were front. “Our motto was ‘To brought in to the hospital. He said their stretch- Conserve the Fighting Strength’ while our ers would be set on saw dentist’s motto was horses and the mud would be hosed off while to preserve the biting strength,” Snider said. they were asked where they were hit. Recording his history The answer, most often, he said, was a locaSnider said he abtion in Vietnam and not horred negative public a part of the body. reaction to returning “They were wet and Vietnam veterans and it was cold at night,” hateful comments he Snider said. “It was 120 had heard. degrees in the day and He also wasn’t pleased 60 degrees to 70 degrees with some movies he at night and they were in had seen about the Vietshock and wounded and nam War. wet and they’d smile at “When my son was me and say sir,” he re14 we first watched the called. movie ‘Platoon’ and my Snider said his unit’s son asked me ‘Is that medics performed much what it was like,’” Snider of the removal of shrapsaid. “I can’t say it didn’t nel from the wounded happen but I didn’t see while under supervision that. by a doctor. “My book tells what I “Those guys were saw.” good,” he said. He said his wife edited The wounded were the book for him and he often not sutured until has copies at the libraries three days after fragin Ludington, Scottville, ments were removed, he Hart and Pentwater. said, because fragment The book is also a mewounds were so dirty. morial to Pfc. John GrimFROM PAGE 16
Saluting thoSe who gave uS Freedom and a Secure Future
This photo from the Vietnam War shows medics removing shrapnel from a wounded soldier at a field hospital.
menstein, Spc. Steven Segura and Pfc. Everette Briggs. “I just hate those guys being forgotten,” Snider said.
‘... they were in shock and wounded and wet and they’d smile at me and say sir.’
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Warplane pilot can’t forget “It was a very popular song and we adopted it,” Vettergren said about the nickname. His plane had a crew of 10 with Capt. Vettergren in charge. He flew 680 hours of night missions during his tour of duty.
BY KEVIN BRACISZESKI DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
E
rik Vettergren, who piloted a warplane during the Vietnam War, has had sleepless nights this month as the community prepares for the coming of the Traveling Vietnam War Memorial.
He is not sure if he will even visit the wall while it is in Ludington. “I don’t know,” Vettergren said. “I haven’t slept in the last three days or nights,” he said recently. “Right now I’m having trouble with memories. It was not a good experience. It was a horrible experience. “I think it’s because I haven’t thought so intensely about it as I have in the past few days,” he said about the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder he is feeling.
Joining the military Vettergren grew up in Ludington between 1939 and 1957 before he moved on to the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1957 and graduated in
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KEVIN BRACISZESKI | DAILY NEWS
Erik Vettergren received the Purple Heart, Distinguished Flyinzg Cross, Vietnam Service Medal, Air Medals, plus Service Medals.
1961 as a commissioned officer in the Air Force. He later volunteered for service in Vietnam and was captain of an AC-47 gunship — a two-engine plane armed with three Gatling guns that each fired 18,000 rounds of ammunition per minute — during 1966 and 1967. That was enough ammunition to spray a pattern of bullets every six inch-
es in an area the size of a football field. “We had large flares, about 4 feet long by 5 inches or so, with parachutes on them that I ordered dropped to float over a target lighting the sky,” Vettergren said. “We were successful in destroying and scattering their forces many times. “The thank-yous from ground forces for saving
them were extremely gratifying,” he said. The AC-47 had two nicknames during the Vietnam War. One was Spooky. “Initially, the Viet Cong were very intimidated by the flares, they thought they were rays,” Vettergren said. The other nickname was Puff the Magic Dragon.
In honor of all our servicemen and women who protect us, and in loving memory of the fallen who gave their lives for our freedom
flares, gas tanks and ammunition were exploding I followed him out — going to the tail of the AC to see that my crew safely exited. “The AC exploded and was burned out in minutes,” he said. “As I raced around a chopper landed. The Crashes flight crew screamed at Vettergren recalled one us ‘You are in a friendly mission when he had an mine field.’ engine shot out on take“They lifted us out to off and the plane crash safety and we returned landed. to Ben Hoa.” “We were over the trees Vettergren said he was and the good engine was taken to a MASH unit overheating,” he said. where he was declared “We were unable to main- free of any major injutain flight and selected a ries — but remained in field for a crash landing. severe pain. Returning to the airport That’s when he conwas impossible — we tacted his brother, Col. were too low and slowly Arne Andersen, who sinking. was base commander at “As we approached NaHa in the Philippines. (the field), one wing Andersen arranged to dropped — hitting the have Vettergren sent ground first and tossing there, where they found the AC in a 90-degree major injuries to his turn,” Vettergren stated. shoulder, broken bones “We hit tail first, sepain his elbow joint and rating the tail from the other problems. Your local agent insures your AC. “He contacted my com“All 10 of my crew esmander and I was sent caped out of the rear. My home for treatments,” other pilot was in shock. Vettergren said. “My othI opened the overhead er pilot was more injured Ask about ourhim annuities andsent IRAs hatch and pushed and they him home. out to safety. As the
SEE VETTERGREN, PAGE 20
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VETTERGREN: ‘I will never forget that experience ... ‘ FROM PAGE 19
“I returned to finish my tour,” he said. “My quick R and R became a joke among my fellow officers. I had ferried back to the (United) States, where my former wife had our first born. The fellows chided me that I had crashed to see my daughter born.” On another mission, a week before leaving Vietnam, his plane almost crashed after its engines quit. “Saigon was being mortared and under ground fire,” he recalled. “Defensive forces were battling them. We were circling the river banks near Saigon when both engines quit. We were too low to parachute out. I circled — lining up with the river. “Silence in the aircraft. “Finally, at about 500 feet, I decided I simply did not want to crash. I desperately switched fuel tanks and mixtures trying again. One engine restarted. There was a large outburst of screams, joy and relief-type yelling from my crew. We landed with one engine at Saigon. “The safety investigator took fuel samples from the AC and they showed excessive contamina-
Fonda cozying up to the North Vietnamese,” he said. “It was a slap in the face.” He recalled that he was wearing his dress blue uniform for the processing and the colonel in charge of his processing gave him advice. “He said to me, ‘Do not wear your uniform on the street. It is far too dangerous. Anti-war sentiment is raging.’”
After the war He worked for American Airlines for 32 years after leaving the military and is proud of how returning soldiers were treated on his flights — especially those returnPilot Erik Vettergren returned to the wreckage to see the damaged oil cooler, one of the reasons ing in caskets. the engine failed, causing the crash. “Boarding first or leaving the flight they came tion. Anything that’s bad, “If I had left over bullets, totally unprepared for first honoring their serthey’d blame on the enflares etc., we were to the “real Air Force.” vice to us,” he said. “I alemy,” Vettergren said. expend them before land“Our task was merely to ways advised passengers ing. Call it targets of opkeep the statistics up for of any soldiers who were portunities, which were public relations purposCounting bullets carried in caskets. All mostly vacant jungle. es, regardless,” he stated. passengers were grateful Vettergren is still upset “It was gross and everyfor their service. When I about the way the senior one knew it. Whenever I Returning home carried returning casofficers and Department finished a mission — and kets I always ordered all Vettergren returned of Defense reported on we flew four or five hours to remain seated until to San Francisco in 1967 the war by concentrat— they said, ‘Seek out for processing out of the (the caskets) were driven ing on numbers of sorties a friendly place and exaway. military. flown, bullets shot and pend the ammunition.” “I certainly am proud “I will never forget that bombs dropped. Vettergren said he was for the treatment we in experience. It was the fall “(They were) worthinstilled with the U.S. Air the USA have shown durof 1967 and there were less reports and exagger- Force Honor Code at the ing recent conflicts,” Vetso many reports of Jane ated statistics,” he said. Air Force Academy and
tergren said. “May there never again be any conflict so filled with antiwar sentiment. Remember those serving in the armed forces are doing their duty best to protect our way of life and our many blessings.”
The wall Vettergren and three other pilots tore a $1 bill into fourths while serving in Vietnam and planned to rejoin the pieces after the war. One of the pilots was killed during a crash during a thunderstorm in Vietnam. “Immediately the Department of Defense sent out a priority message to all gunship pilots commanding they avoid severe turbulence or face a court martial,” Vettergren recalled. “Forget that we had no airborne radar and had to fly only at night. The only method we had was to fly between the brightest flashes of lightning trying to avoid turbulence.” He made a visit to the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C., and made a pencil rubbing of his friend’s name. kevinb@ludingtondailynews.com
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of Honor during the Vietnam war. Why the ace of spades? Bentz explains he and the three others were “goofing off” one day in Vietnam playing a game of cut the cards with the twist being whoever was to pull the ace of spades was the one who wouldn’t make it back from the war. Bentz pulled the ace of spades. But as it turned out, he was the only one of the four to return home alive. Bentz said he’ll be down at the memorial site talking about his buddies and showing a copy of a book, “Luigi’s War,” about his friend, who died in Vietnam after
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Dan Bentz: Remembering friends
A
n ace of spades has special meaning to Dan Bentz.
The Vietnam war veteran, who lived in Ludington until retiring in Texas, likely will be placing that face card on the traveling Vietnam memorial wall during its visit in Ludington. The card will contain his name and that of three Vietnam comrades: SP4 Dennis Bennedetti formerly of Detroit, SP4 Xavier Fernandez, formerly of California, and PFC Lewis (Luigi) Albanese, formerly of Seattle, Washington, an Italian, who received the Medal
entering a trench and killing seven enemy soldiers who were about to attack the unit from behind. Albanese, an Italian who was living in Seattle when he enlisted hoping it would lead to American citizenship, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic deed credited with saving the lives of many of his unit. In recent years, Albanese was the subject of the book and a television documentary, both of which also involve Bentz. By chance, Bentz was not with his unit the day that Albanese died. Bentz was returning from a relief break and was ordered by a superior not to head back to the unit
because he was needed to carry the division flag for a visit of “some general.” Bentz couldn’t convince the superior to let him get back to his unit, which he had heard was in battle. By the time Bentz returned, Albanese had died in battle. Bentz, who was raised in the Fourth Ward and now lives most of the year in Sun City, Texas near the Fort Hood, was a member of the U.S. Army, Fifth Division, of the 7th Calvary. Camp Radcliff in northern South Vietnam near the DMZ — the demilitarized zone— was their base camp. SEE BENTZ, PAGE 22
A Tribute to the Heroes We proudly salute the brave men and women who have served and made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. With courage and conviction, these heroes have protected America’s freedom through the generations, and we are forever grateful to them. We pay our respects to America’s fallen soldiers. We pray for their families, and we honor their memories with gratitude and humility. We remember that freedom is not free. To all who have served and continue to serve our country, We Thank You.
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LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS/MASON COUNTY TRAVELING WALL PROJECT
| TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014
BENTZ: Tell the stories, he advises soldiers and veterans FROM PAGE 21
Bentz saw a lot of combat during his year and eight days in the country, mostly in the jungle. “We did a lot of fighting in the Mekong Delta and in the jungle,” he said. Unlike many returning Vietnam veterans, he has talked about his experiences for years, saying it helps. And he has done more than that. He’s part of a small group at the Sun City retirement village in Georgetown that is known among the staff and soldiers of Ft. Hood as “the Cookie Commandos.” On Thursdays for several years during the Afghanistan war, the retirees would gather cookies from fellow Sun City residents and doughnuts from local bakeries and take them to Ft. Hood where soldiers were being processed for deployment. They distributed the cookies and doughnuts — a little taste of home, Bentz said — and offered words of support and thanks, words he said he didn’t hear returning to Los Angeles or Ludington after the war. The Cookie Commandos were so appreciated
Lewis Luigi Albanese, above, was a member of Dan Bentz’s platoon. The Italian died in battle in Vietnam on a day Bentz was not in the field. Albanese received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his actions in that battle.
they were the subject of a PBS special in Texas and were praised by the staff at Ft. Hood and the USO, which they worked through and in which Bentz remains active. “I just feel sorry for the soldiers killed or going to war,” Bentz said of his part in the Cookie Commandos. “I want them to have a little comfort and taste of home when they leave or come back.” While a year was the most common length of service in Vietnam — soldiers knew when their 365 days were up — today’s all volunteer military means personnel
Bentz is a member of what is known at Ft. Hood, Texas, as the Cookie Commandos, delivering cookies, doughnuts and well wishes to soldiers departing or returning from war. Done through the USO, they also help in other ways.
ka and when someone brought it to him, he said he put a bandana on his head and fired shells at the spot were incoming fire was coming from, he are deployed too many for Bentz. His unit was said. times, Bentz said. Post at the DMZ that day, he The enemy firing “quitraumatic stress disorder recalled. To get to the heis a real concern. licopter that was to take eted down.” A search turned up “When I work at Fort them out, they had to nothing. “They must Hood, I tell them when leave one wooded zone, we got home we got tocross over a hill in which have gotten out of the area when I started gether to talk about our they might be exposed shooting shells at them,” experiences. I would to enemy fire, and go wake up screaming. I tell through another wooded he said. The helicopter he was them, talking about it zone to get to the landto leave on was pretty helps. ing and take off area. full, but he said he was “People from the The soldiers crossed getting on it no matter older wars keep it to one at a time to reduce how much room was left, themselves, and they the attractiveness of beand he did. shouldn’t. Everyone ing a target. When the crew learned should hear the stories,” “They opened up on Bentz said. me,” he said. Shells were he was on his way home, Even getting out of going by him on the hill. they gave him a memorable ride flying low over Vietnam was eventful He called for a bazoo-
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rice paddies, sometimes to the consternation of the locals. While he came to Vietnam on a naval troop transport, the USS Gaffee, a 21-day journey over the ocean, he flew back to the States and with other returning new veterans. Before getting on a bus at L.A. they were told not to wear their uniforms. They received a police escort out of L.A. because of what he said they were told was a threat of snipers — this in the U.S., not Vietnam. They weren’t allowed off the bus until it later stopped at a restaurant. SEE BENTZ, PAGE 23
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BENTZ: Lost friends remain a piece of Ludington native FROM PAGE 22
Bentz said he heard the “baby killers” taunt that stuck in the craw of so many returning veterans. Back in Muskegon he was met by his mother, his sister and her husband. He went back to work at Straits Steel, then got a job at Dow where he stayed for 32 years retiring in 1999. “I got nothing here. They didn’t recognize you here,” he said of the reception in Ludington when returning from the war. Bentz said he’s been to the Vietnam Wall memorial in D.C. “I took the ace of spades and wrote every one of their names on it and gave the card back to the Wall. And I said I’ll never cut cards again for life.” Other names on the wall represent real people, fellow soldiers to Bentz. “It’s always powerful every time I go there. I have to say a prayer and look at the names. I lost a lot of them. A buddy from Holland next to me who got killed ... He got shot right along side of me in the head. I had to carry him up a hill...” Jungle patrols weren’t
Bentz continues to visit with active duty military personnel.
easy. He carried a 45-pound bazooka, ammunition and 50 pounds of gear. “You’re out there until the clothes rotted off your back,” Bentz said. He encountered tigers, poisonous snakes and pythons. “We’re lucky to have him home in one piece,” his wife Sandra observed. His lost friends remain a piece of him. “I can’t forget Louis because he was in my pla-
toon. These guys were in my squad. We took care of each other. Louis killed seven of them himself, and they found him dead, but he must have saved many (American) lives. “I wasn’t there to help him. That’s what makes me really mad. I wasn’t there to help them. I couldn’t be in the field to help him. But I’ll see them all again some day.” *** Should you go to the
We honor the memories of our Brave american soldiers Who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country.
COURTESY PHOTO JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWS
wall when the visiting wall is here? The answer, Bentz said is simple. “They should always go. There are a lot of stories connected with that wall that you don’t know about. I plan on being there with my book and pictures. I’m always honoring Louis. I will always honor Louis, and the other couple guys.” “We didn’t want to go over there, but we went over. I served my country,
Bentz holds a book about Lewis Albanese that he will be showing this week when the traveling Vietnam wall is in Ludington.
I didn’t run over to Canada,” Bentz said. The Vietnam experience and his friends who died there remain a part of him. “Still yet, I’ll break down, especially talking about Louis,” Bentz said. He said he was asked what was his last goodbye to Louis. “I said I can’t say goodbye to Louis, because I’ll see him again.”
‘I said I can’t say goodbye to Louis, because I’ll see him again.’ During the traveling wall’s visit, Louis and his other friends will be on his mind.
Their courage, commitment and seflessness will always be remembered with gratitude. We will never forget that freedom is not free.
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LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS/MASON COUNTY TRAVELING WALL PROJECT
| TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014
Lasting effects of Agent Orange BY MELISSA KEEFER DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
A
lthough Bill Errante didn’t see combat in Vietnam, he has lasting effects from the war. Errante, a U.S. Army Veteran who was drafted in 1969, has complications caused by Agent Orange, a toxic chemical that was used during the Vietnam War. Errante was drafted in July of 1969. He was 20. “I was going to school at the time (at Henry Ford Community College) but was only taking half credits, not full credits, so I got drafted,” Errante said. He had also just finally gotten a job at a steel mill in Detroit (Errante was from Dearborn) the day he got his notice. “I remember being in the student union at Henry Ford Community College and one guy I knew got his notice,” Errante said. “I hadn’t gotten mine yet. He had tears in his eyes, it was very emotional to him. I got my letter a couple weeks after that.” Errante said he stayed in correspondence with
JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWS
Bill Errante has diabetes and complications from diabetes from the Agent Orange he was exposed to in Vietnam. Although not on the front lines, he is still living the lasting effects of the war. On the right, Bill is shown holding a rifle in Vietnam. SUBMITTED PHOTO
Don Rowley for a while and then in 1970 he received word that Don had been killed. “I learned he was in Thua Thien in Northern Vietnam in the 101st Infantry Division and ended up being killed by one of the Vietnamese scouts.” Errante said the scout threw a charge inside of a fox hole and blew Rowley up.
Since then, Errante has been very active in online research and tributes to Rowley so classmates and other of his “brothers” could know what happened to him as well. “I looked up 101st Airborne and got into some declassified paperwork online and got the timeline for the last week up until the day he got killed,” Errante said. “I posted all of that.”
artillery and approached the clerk first and Errante remembers the clerk asked him if he knew In basic training Ercomputers and the guy rante received advanced didn’t, “so he was flown training in artillery and out into the boonies on once finished, shipped to the guns.” Vietnam in December of “The clerk asked me if 1969. I volunteered or if I was “I was trained to go out drafted and I told him in the boonies and be on I was drafted because I the guns,” Errante said. was not taking full credit When he arrived in Viet- and when he asked me if nam he was behind a guy I knew how to type, I told who was also trained in him I did some in high
Errante’s time in Vietnam
school and in college,” Errante said. “I was sent to another building and ended up being a property book clerk. Typing probably saved my life. I feel guilty to this day still, but I’m alive.” Although Errante is alive from not being on the front line fighting, he was in one of the areas heaviest sprayed with Agent Orange. “I was in contact with all of it,” Errante said. “It was the worst chemical known to man. Nobody else in my family has diabetes, I got it from that.” During his time as a clerk, Errante also spent time in the watch tower at night. “I remember rockets flying by me and all of that, but I had no direct fire combat,” Errante said. “I still witnessed and felt all the concussions. There was shooting all day and shooting all night. And, there was a helicopter going 24 hours a day.” In 1970 Errante said they sent the first round of people home who had served long enough. He thought he was going into battle again with SEE ERRANTE, PAGE 25
In Honor of the Brave We remember friends and family members who bravely sacrificed their lives for our country and our freedom. With pride and gratitude, we salute the memory of these heroic soldiers.
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ERRANTE: ‘Typing probably saved my life. I feel guilty to this day still, but I’m alive.’ FROM PAGE 25
ended up doing clerk duty again at a helicopter company, until he became a permanent guard. “I worked 2 to 4 hours at night, three days a week and during the day I worked six hours,” Errante said. “One night I will never forget, I got hit by lightning.” Errante said the guard areas were four 10 foot metal cubes welded together, with four on top of that and a cut out roof. He said there was a wooden ladder to get to the top. “One night there was a bad thunderstorm and I was 20 foot in the air,” Errante said. “Five of us were talking and all of the sudden I doubled over and my helmet fell off. I smelled something electrical burning and I grabbed the phone and picked it up to call the command. We had square field phones and the terminals were melted flat on the phone. The wires were wrapped on the roof and flipped out on the grass. I had been standing on a wet metal floor.” Errante said he remembers sparks and a light pole splitting down to the ground and arking above him.
Bill is shown at his clerk’s desk in Vietnam. At right, are photos of his shirt bringing awareness to the effects of Agent Orange on Vietnam veterans. Bill is shown with Medal of Honor recipient Dwayne Dewey at the recent ceremony in Irons.
After Vietnam Errante worked for the post office in Dearborn once returning from Vietnam, retiring after 32 years. Errante suffers complications from Agent
Orange including Type 2 Diabetes and many of the medical issues associated with diabetes including neuropathy, chronic kidney disease and anemia. He is a recipient of the Order of the Silver Rose, an award given to Vietnam veterans who have
complications from Agent Orange, since that doesn’t count as a physical wound like a purple heart is awarded for. He said the Order of the Silver Rose was created in the mid-1990s by a woman whose husband died from an Agent Orange related illness and started the award and national directory. Errante is very active in a group for people affected by Agent Orange and wears a shirt saying, ““Sprayed, Betrayed. Those Exposed” on the front and “Agent Orange, I was killed in Vietnam, I just haven’t died yet.” Errante said many others who have been affected have different cancers
Honoring and remembering the great Veterans who fought to give us a safe and peaceful place to live
and other illnesses associated with the chemicals. He said it took just up until the last couple years for the medical problems to be recognized by the government and the VA as caused by the war. Errante likes to try and help others that don’t understand they can seek help too for their problems. “I had to have a compensation and pension exam,” Errante said. “There were a couple things the doctor denied, but everything else he approved.” He said in addition to the Agent Orange related illness, he had jungle rot for 10 years on his skin on his feet before it went away.
The wall Errante is a member of the American Legion Riders and will be part of the very large escort of motorcycles bringing the wall from Hart to Ludington and will also volunteer to stand guard at the wall for a shift, as long as it’s not too strenuous. “It’s important to make people aware of the magnitude of all of the people that got killed over there,” Errante said, noting he has been to the wall in Washington DC. He noted the American Legion Riders group has been a part of the fundraising efforts for the wall through fundraisers as well.
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BY BRIAN MULHERIN DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS/MASON COUNTY TRAVELING WALL PROJECT
| TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014
Holding on for good luck
D
on Roach carries a 50-caliber rifle bullet with him for luck. It’s one of two he found after a munitions depot in Vietnam was hit by enemy rocket fire.
He removed the bullets from the live cartridges with a pair of pliers and since they didn’t go off in his hands, he considered them good luck. The bullet he no longer carries was pushed into the earth at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. Roach said he pushed it in like a tent-peg to remember Jim Laws, a guy from his unit who was killed. Roach was born in Ohio, raised in Fountain, and at the age of 20 years old, found himself in Vietnam building barracks for U.S. Marines. Roach was a member of the Navy Seabees — derived from the initials of “Construction Battalion” — in the war. “I was actually in college, I had quit college and I didn’t think it was for me,” Roach said. “They were drafting at
JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWS
Don Roach
the time and I wanted the choice of choosing what I got involved with.” Roach initially chose the U.S. Coast Guard, but his eyesight wasn’t good enough, so he ended up in the Navy. “Once I got involved they were explaining at shipboard procedures and I didn’t like the idea of locking compartments during battle,” Roach said. He noted that the procedures were to lock leaking compartments during battle no matter what, no matter who might be in one. That’s when he heard about the Seabees. “They were developed
in World War II, using initially civilian contractors to build airfields for the military and it wasn’t working out because civilians were getting killed and they drew up this group to eliminate that. It’s similar to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but probably not so indepth as far as civilian projects go.” Unfortunately, Roach said, his plan to avoid being drafted into the infantry backfired a little bit, as he spent his Navy tours building Marine facilities in Da Nang, and Dong Ha — which was right near the DMZ. “I didn’t know if I wanted infantry, I wanted to
avoid that,” Roach said. “I thought the Navy might be a way out, but needless to say I was right back into it.” Roach carried an M-16 rifle, but he primarily used a hammer in the war. “We were strictly a support unit, mainly projects for the Marines,” Roach said. “We did barracks construction, we went out in the field and did a lot of bridge work. We built a lot of bunkers for the Marines. Some of those were used to house the guidance systems for B-52s they used for bombing.” Roach said to build a bunker, they would dig a
hole, build a heavy barntype structure with heavy beams and then bury it. When they were working on a bunker, they lived right in it. Barracks were a different story. “Marines are so mobile, their barracks are basically a steel-and-plywood tent,” Roach said. “We probably could build two or three a day. Wherever they would show up, we would follow and as soon as it was secure we would build those up for them.”
Roach said he’d get up at dawn and work all day on timber construction. Because they were builders, the Seabees took care of themselves. When they weren’t building bunkers, they built permanent camps for themselves. “We traveled by convoy,” Roach said. “Once we got the bunkers covered over we would stay in those. In a lot of cases we would be working for a Marine unit and we would use their facilities.” Roach said although they were right near the War life front lines, his unit made out pretty good compared Roach did two eightmonth tours in Vietnam. to others. “My two trips were relaHis days with Mobile Construction Battalion 7 tively safe but the trips were pretty monotonous, for my unit before I joined up with them and the one other than when wherafter they lost people,” ever they were working Roach said. “The one afcame under artillery or ter, I lost buddies. One rocket fire. “We had some tight mo- was in my company, the other was Leroy Draby ments,” Roach said. “We from Scottville. The two were strictly a defensive of them are on the wall.” unit but mortar attacks Roach said he and Drawere common.” by were somewhat close. Roach said there were “We’d hang out a lot toall types of units — like gether, we’d always end subcontractors — in his up seeing each other at battalion. Some specialJohnny’s back in those ized in electrical work, days,” Roach said others in plumbing or SEE ROACH, PAGE 27 some other specialty.
No matter the battlefield, American soldiers lead the way with tenacity, brotherly love and nobility.
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ROACH: ‘We didn’t go looking for trouble, but trouble did find us on occasion’ FROM PAGE 26
As far as his own time, Roach said there are some things he’ll never forget. “I remember the smells and the sounds of Vietnam more than anything,” Roach said. “The ‘whup, whup, whup’ of the Huey helicopters more than anything. If I go near the National Guard camp and they happen to be active, it takes me right back.” The smells were not pleasant. “The markets they were running stunk to high heaven,” Roach said. “They were selling fish, meat, shrimp — you’d go through and you could hardly see the meat for the flies.” Roach said their areas were relatively secure. “We didn’t go looking for trouble, but trouble did find us on occasion,” Roach said. “They put me on guard duty for a project we had completed. They were building a sewage plant in Da Nang in order not to pollute the water.” Roach said there were often problems with locals stealing supplies, whether it was tools or wood or other building materials.
He attended the 10-year anniversary of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington. “Seeing all those names was like a punch in the gut,” Roach said. “I thought at that point, ‘Any war worth fighting is worth winning,’ and I don’t think we’ve learned that lesson yet.” He plans to visit the traveling wall in part because the full wall moved him so much. “It was just the size of it, I couldn’t focus on any one name, it was so many names,” Roach said. “That Don Roach pales in regards to WWI and WWII and Civil War and that, but it’s about rebest buddy friends through that. in the unit, his girlfriend Although he didn’t take spect for the veteran.” Roach said he still was roommate in a nursany wounds from bullets struggles with how young ing school to my wife. I or shrapnel, the war did servicemen and women never thought in a million leave its mark on Roach. are used. years that that romance He developed multiple He said it tears him up would last.” skin cancers from workto see the U.S. involved in But it did. ing in the areas defoliated Iraq and Afghanistan. He Roach said he kept up by Agent Orange. said he understands there with his Navy buddies “I was not, that I rememare sacrifices to win wars, for several years, mostly ber, sprayed on directly,” but he’s not sure the U.S. through Christmas cards. Roach said. “The places tries to win wars these “My best friends (from we worked in looked like days. those years) are from Ne- there had been a forest “If they have to die, braska, Iowa, Kansas, a fire — the tree trunks fine, but honor it by couple from California,” were standing but all the learning and using the Roach said. “The best man leaves were down. You winning of the war to in my wedding was from could look through a your advantage and make upstate New York.” woods and see forever.” the world better for it,” He got newsletters from Roach said clearing the Roach said. his battalion for a few forest made it safer for years after the war and his unit to work in, at least bmulherin@ludingtondailynews.com learned of the death of in the short term.
‘I remember the smells and the sounds of Vietnam more than anything.’
“I wasn’t there 10 minutes and people started coming out and I couldn’t tell who they were or what they were,” Roach said. “I didn’t have any authorization to shoot, but they were going to tear our work apart. I leveled off, that was the first time I ever did it with a human being, and they turned back. I wasn’t going to shoot anyway but I was able to complete my mission.” Roach said they worked in areas where there was known sniper activity, but nothing ever developed out of those warnings.
Coming home Roach said he was never labeled with any negative stereotypes when he returned home. “It was great,” Roach said. “My wife now was my girlfriend at the time, she said she’d be there when I got back and she was. She sent letters and that softened a lot of moments over there.” Don said he and Kathleen met almost by accident. “We met a month before my second tour and indirectly — I stood up in a wedding for a guy I knew from the first tour. My
As we remember and honor the many heroes of our nation, we reflect on the sacrifices made for our freedom. With Grateful Hearts.
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LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS/MASON COUNTY TRAVELING WALL PROJECT
| TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014
Cole felt welcomed home BY STEVE BEGNOCHE MANAGING EDITOR
R
ay Cole went to Vietnam as an infantryman, a position he maintained for four to five months of his more than oneyear tour that began March 21, 1969 after being inducted in September 1968. He was in the Mekong Delta, where, he said, “We would go out anywhere from two to four nights. We’d come back in, spend one day, one night, in the base camp, get clean uniforms, supplies and go back out. “We were always wet,” he recalls. That would lead to a condition called fungus foot which in turn would mean two to three days at camp and not wearing shoes until the feet dried and the fungus went away. Then it was back out in the field. One day on one of those sick calls, a clerk looked closely at Cole’s paperwork and determined Cole never should
so we was sent to a PX in Dong Tam, a big base in the south where civilians worked the cash register during the day, but after 5 p.m. they had to leave and military personnel took over reopening the PX at 6 p.m. for the night. Cole worked at the base store for about three Ray Cole months. Troop withdrawals were beginning, and have been in the infanthe 9th Infantry was the try due to his eyesight. A unit removed. doctor who had examHowever, the military ined him said he should brass did that in a stratenot be placed in comgic way so as not to harm bat situations because troop strength. of that eyesight. He was “They took short-timordered out of the iners from all over the fantry. A check of his country who had little records found he had time to go and sent them been a store clerk once back early,” Cole said.
‘What I consider
unique about my experience is what
happened when I came back to the States.’
They also sent the 9th Infantry’s colors back. Its former members who remained behind, such as Cole, became the 99th Service Battalion. He was moved to Tan An, a much smaller base, and put in charge of the money at the PX there. He completed his time in Vietnam as the finance officer at the same base. His enlistment and time in Vietnam extended beyond the normal year by 28 days. “But that was pretty easy when I was sitting at a desk,” Cole said. “The chances of confronting an enemy in force was about zero. We had to worry about booby traps, trip
wires on hand grenades or command detonated artillery shells that were triggered when Americans went by.” His scariest moment had came when he was in the infantry. “We were walking along and had crossed a deep ditch and a road into the woods beyond,” he said. “The ditch had a log we used as a bridge. Our primary worry walking was the booby traps. We were told to stay 15 meters apart to reduce potential for injury and likelihood they (the enemy) would detonate a larger shell.” If someone got careless and slowed down crossing the log, more than one person might be on it at the same time. Right after Cole had crossed and crested the far side bank, that situation occurred and there was an explosion. “I never heard anything, I never felt anything, but all of a sudden I was laying down,” Cole said. “I got a concussion from the blast. The guy behind me got a lot of mud blasted into his
We are grateful to the men and women who served in Vietnam and in all wars fought for our country.
back. The two guys on log retired. They were both killed right there.” Now a Hamlin Township resident, Cole was born in Ludington, raised through the sixth grade in Carr Settlement, moved to Baldwin and was a Branch Township resident when he entered the service . Because he logged less than 150 days in active duty the second year, he was supposed to be assigned to the reserves, but the military only sent a letter advising him he should await further orders. No orders ever followed. “What I consider unique about my experience is what happened when I came back to the States,” said Cole, who went on to a career in the U.S. Post office in Ludington. Instead of the poor treatment so many of his returning fellow Vietnam veterans report experiencing, he said his was a positive experience. He processed out at Oakland Air Base in California and went to San SEE COLE, PAGE 29
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COLE: Kind strangers FROM PAGE 28
Francisco arriving at 3 a.m. There he went to a snack shop and bought a coffee. He was wearing his dress greens including the insignia of the 9th Infantry. While drinking his coffee, a man came up, and said he too had been in the 9th Infantry and tried to buy him breakfast, but all Cole wanted was the coffee. The man told Cole to come see him in Phoenix, Arizona if Cole ever needed a job. Later during the trip home, a young cab driver in Chicago apologized that he had to collect a fare from Cole. “I couldn’t imagine a welcome being any nicer than from two strang-
ers like that,” Cole said. He said he had heard rumors and reports of various things returning soldiers were facing, “of some being called baby killers and such things. Mine was 180 degree opposite of that. It was entirely a good one.” Cole’s never been to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., but he has visited traveling Vietnam memorial walls four to five times. The feeling from such a visit, he said, is difficult to describe. “Reverence, awe, but very strong respect for sure,” he said. “I was there (Vietnam) in 1969,” he said. “If you look at names going back all the way from 1958, you still feel a connection of sorts.”
‘I couldn’t imagine a welcome being any nicer than from two strangers like that.’ Ray Cole started in the infantry in Vietnam.
Ray Cole
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| TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014
Lasting friendships with comrades as a mechanic and then in December 1968 he volunteered to go out with a platoon on a ICTORY TWP. — Dale three-day mission. “Then I stayed with the plaShimel attends retoon. Every time they went unions of his 11th out, I was with them. Then at Cavalry unit every chance night, I fixed the vehicles. he gets and even had “I was there for a year and nine of his Vietnam War most people get an R and comrades come to Mason R (furlough) but mechanics were too busy and they County for a reunion in wouldn’t let us go,” he said. 2009. He did get a three-day break He believes that being able at a former French resort at to talk to them and share one point. his experiences and feelings During missions, Shimel about the war with others has served as a gunner on an helped him keep from botM-113 personnel carrier that tling those feelings up and was armed with a 50-caliber potentially lashing out. gun in front and an M-60 ma“It was quite an experichine gun on each side. He ence,” Shimel said about the war. “I wouldn’t want to do it operated one of the M-60s. The vehicle had a crew of again, but it’s an experience I four, the commander, who wouldn’t give up.” operated the 50-caliber gun, the driver and two machine Drafted gunners. Shimel referred to the ve“I was drafted in 1967 and hicle as a ACAV, or Armored I served in the States for Cavalry Assault Vehicle. nearly a year before I was He said his regiment-sized sent to Vietnam,” Shimel said. unit was self-supporting and “I went there in September was sometimes loaned out to 1968 and came home in Authe 1st Cavalry, the 1st Infangust of 1969.” try and even the South VietHis basic training came at namese Army. Fort Knox, Kentucky, and “We’d go ahead of them,” then he was transferred to he said. Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for onIn 1969, his unit — which the-job training as a mechanhad three platoons and one ic. In Vietnam, Shimel worked headquarters platoon — addBY KEVIN BRACISZESKI DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
V
ed Sheridan tanks and each platoon had seven ACAVs and three tanks.
Battles “In the year I was there I was probably in three or four big firefights and some skirmishes,” Shimel said. “After Tet, nobody talked about what was going on, but while we were there there were more North Vietnamese than any other time until they took over the country. “And they were regular soldiers, not Viet Cong.” One of the battles occurred in December 1968 when the call came that an infantry unit was surrounded. “By the time we got there they had already lost 14 (men). It was eye-opening,” Shimel said. “You know in the movies? When the cavalry comes? It was just like that. When they saw us they came at us dragging their wounded and their dead. We took care of them and took them to the LZ (landing zone) so they could be dusted up.” He said his unit captured a North Vietnamese soldier and called in an airstrike “to clean up the mess.” SEE SHIMEL, PAGE 31
Dale Shimel holds up a photo of himself in Vietnam.
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SHIMEL: He plans to visit the wall again because of five he lost FROM PAGE 30
Another battle occurred when Shimel’s unit went looking for a downed helicopter near the Cambodian border and ran into a base camp of North Vietnamese soldiers that was regimental size. “They left some to fend us off and the others ran to Cambodia,” he said about the enemy. “We actually ran out of ammunition and had to break out and load up and go back in.” He said his last big firefight occurred on July 6, 1969 and involved three companies of cavalry. A Troop had been ambushed on the left flank while his B Troop was on the right flank. “By the time we got there they had already lost two ACAVs and a Sheridan to RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and we had to get the people off. They were all wounded and the medics had gone so we moved the wounded to the LZ that day,” Shimel said. “The infantry was with us and a few of them got killed too. “We lost one guy that day, Curtis A. Barry,” Shimel said. “We had wounded and one killed.”
‘I think everybody
knew someone who was killed in the Vietnam War.’ Dale Shimel He also recalled a time his ACAV hit a mine. “No one was injured, but it blew a track off,” he said. “They sent another track (ACAV) so we transferred our gear to the other track and kept on going.” Shimel earned the Combat Infantry Badge, Bronze Star with a V, Army Commendation Medal with a V, and an Army Commendation Medal for his service in Vietnam.
The wall “We lost five of our guys in the year I was there,” Shimel said, adding that he plans to visit the Traveling Vietnam Wall when it comes to Ludington. “I go as often as I can,” he said, adding that he’s already visited the wall in Washington, D.C., and visited traveling walls when they came to Man-
istee and Traverse City. “I think it’s pretty neat they’re bringing it here.” During past visits to the wall, Shimel said
he found Curtis Barry’s name as well as two local men he knew. “I went to school with them from grade school
to high school,” he said about Leroy Draby and Dave Aerts. He said Aerts enlisted after moving to Oceana County.
We pay special tribute to the men and women who served and sacrificed to protect the lives and freedoms of Americans. We celebrate their courage, honor their memories and thank them for all they gave. Their legacy lives on, we will never forget them.
“I think everybody knew someone who was killed in the Vietnam War. There were just so many people killed.”
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Instructing the troops
BY DIANE NEMITZ DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
who were lost in battle in that war and he plans to spend time at the traveling wall to locate their names. He said he does know some Vietnam veterans who feel they will not be able to visit the wall because it would be too emotional for them and bring back too many memories of the war. “I’m certainly going to be there. What a tremendous thing to bring to Mason County.” Cummins has been a Ray Cummins member of the Ludington American Legion for 30 years and a member sippi River. We felt we’d of the Honor Guard and be able to stop many, but Color Guard for 15 years all kinds of things can go so he will be participating wrong.” in the ceremonies at the “John Kennedy was an wall. The Honor Guard extremely brilliant man takes part in almost 150 and Kruschev said ‘this funerals a year and Cumman will kill me and I’m mins said, “The greatest not ready to die’.” honor a vet has is the preThe radar equipment sentation of the Amerihe used was on the cutcan flag to his family, and ting edge of technology, the second greatest is the including then-new Dop- three-shot volley over the pler effect, which enabled casket and taps signifythe technicians to identi- ing a veteran has been fy vehicles, from tanks to laid to rest.” trucks, by listening to the Cummins, his wife “pings.” Joanne and their children “I was discharged in moved to Ludington in 1963 and we were just 1972 from Grand Rapids. then getting more inHe had been in broadvolved in Vietnam,” he casting in stations in said. He did have friends Ohio before that.
‘We as Americans were lucky we never had a war resulting from the Cuban missile crisis. They had the capabilities to hit every city in the United States east of the Mississippi River ... ‘
M
any local residents know Ray Cummins from his days at WKLA radio, and even those who might not recognize him in person would recognize his voice from his broadcast career.
Cummins was born and lived in Lima, Ohio and graduated from Ohio University in 1960 with a degree in broadcast journalism and the following year was drafted into the Army. He emphasized “I’m a Vietnam-era veteran, but I did not at any time serve in Vietnam.” Instead, he received training at Fort Knox, Kentucky and Fort Sill, Oklahoma as a radar operator and was then asked if he would be interested in being an instructor. He agreed, and spent the next two years at Fort Sill until he was discharged with rank of Specialist 5th Class. The years from 1961-1963 were at the very beginning of the Vietnam conflict and Cummins said the Cuban missile crisis was more of a threat at
| TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014
DIANE NEMITZ | DAILY NEWS
Ray Cummins at his home in Hamlin Township.
that time. “It was a really difficult time in our history.” He had great praise for President Kennedy in the way he handled that event, saying if Kruschev hadn’t backed down and withdrawn the missiles it would have perhaps been
the beginning of World War III, or worse. The missiles, he said, were pointed at every major city in the United States. His unit was prepared to leave at a moment’s notice to a potential disaster site, but thankfully that never happened.
“I had already made out my will and then Russia waved the white flag.” “We as Americans were lucky we never had a war resulting from the Cuban missile crisis. They had the capabilities to hit every city in the United States east of the Missis-
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Coming back home ‘changed’
B
ob Anderson well remembers March 29, 1970. It was the day he landed in Vietnam to begin his tour of duty there.
“When I got off that plane it was just like I walked in front of a blast furnace. It was so ungodly hot,” Anderson recalled. He was still stationed at the airport three days later when he experienced his first mortar attack. “I jumped in a sewage ditch. I didn’t care where I was,” Anderson said. “Immediately you think, ‘Is that the last shell? Is it safe to get up?’” Anderson was later assigned to a mortar squad firing large rounds up to six or seven miles away. He was assigned to Duc Pho in the mountains, which he described as beautiful. “It struck me how beautiful that country is. It’s just amazing,” he said.
ington. “The thing that hit me was a guy I used to work with at Party Line Delicatessen came back (from the war) with a foot blown off,” he said. “And there was a guy, Richard Dains, who was killed over there so I was apprehensive about being drafted. “It never occurred to me to run to Canada and I had no plans for college so I was just what they were looking for,” he said. He was first sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for training and was told there that the chance of going Drafted to Vietnam was only one in 66. Anderson said he was However, when he went 19 years old when he was to Fort McClelland, Aladrafted in 1969. bama, for more training, He remembers boardhe heard a different story. ing a bus at the old Chat“They said, ‘Don’t get N-Nibble Restaurant on South Rath Avenue in Lud- any ideas. Every one of
Bob Anderson holds up his discharge papers from the U.S. Army.
KEVIN BRACISZESKI | DAILY NEWS
you is going to Vietnam,’” Anderson recalled. “I was pretty scared so I signed up for every program I could — airborne, infantry leadership — and that delayed me from going over for a year,” he said. “I thought with the war winding down maybe I wouldn’t get sent.” He trained as a squad commander, Anderson said, because so many were being shot and killed in the war, so there was a demand for more. “I thought I’d be alive six more months anyway,” Anderson said about that training.
Flight to Vietnam He was sent to Vietnam aboard a commercial airliner, Anderson said, and
remembers vividly watching as the United States vanished from his window-seat view. “I looked out the window and down at America and thought, ‘I’ve got a job to do,’ and I looked again and had tears in my eyes looking out the window for the last bit of land. “My mouth was full of bitterness because I knew I was never coming home alive,” he said. “I have some very bad memories that will stay private with me,” he said about the war. “I did not even share stuff with my wife until about 10 years ago I started telling her a little bit. I told her I didn’t do anything. “I have never and cannot watch a Vietnam (War) movie,” he said. “The reason is Vietnam. I’m not watching that movie any more, I’m reliving my experiences.”
Flashbacks and panic attacks Anderson said he began experiencing flashbacks about the war and panic attacks in 1992 and had to enter inpatient therapy then. He still participates in outpatient therapy. “The typical combat veteran lost all their friends,”
he added about returning home. “You don’t actually lose them, you avoid them because you don’t want to see them die. “In combat there’s no time to grieve. You become a little hardened and you don’t want to go through that again. “My friends now are mostly veterans,” he said. After returning home, Anderson said he worked with four or five people who gave him a very hard time about his service during the war. “They gave me a very bad time until I didn’t share anymore,” he said. “They said it was my fault and called me a baby killer and a loose cannon. “And nobody but nobody said thank you. “So I withdrew into myself and that made the problem even worse, when you withdraw.” And Anderson said he became short tempered with his wife and children. He said his temper was a result of being a crew leader in Vietnam. “I have to be in charge to survive,” he said. “You have to do it my way and do it now.” He also had nightmares and they were always the
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same. “I was being sent back to die,” Anderson said. “It was always the same. It never changed. The nightmare was so vivid. I didn’t die the first time so I was being sent back.” He began having panic attacks in 2003 and sought therapy. “I never related it to Vietnam,” Anderson said. “I thought I was going crazy.” During group therapy sessions Anderson learned he wasn’t the only veteran with problems. “It was a relief to know I wasn’t alone,” he said. “The hardest thing was the doctor said ‘You never came back from Vietnam or you came back changed.’ It took me a long time to accept that I was damaged. You don’t serve one year in combat and come back — you come back changed. “There was a stigma. I didn’t want anyone to know.” Anderson said one of his biggest problems was the intense rage he would feel. “I never got mad, it just went straight to intense rage,” he said. “All that I had building inside me came out.”
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‘I was born to be a soldier’
Heat, rain, mud, hunger, blood, neither mangled bodies nor the screams was born to be a of the wounded would soldier. breach my armor. Killing At least that’s how enemy soldiers became I felt growing up in the easy. What I didn’t realize 1950s and 60s. Hollyat the time was that while wood hardening my machine movie and body, my soul was slowly television dying. shows In combat, my youthconvinced ful idealism and ambime of that. tion eventually became American replaced by cold cynisoldiers cism and numbness to always normal feelings of befought the good fight and ing human. This is the always emerged victorisecret that is never told. ous in the end. But no This is the truth that is one ever told me about kept hidden behind the real war, about what it illusions of glory, the means to experience it parades and the bumper and how, even if your stickers claiming “supbody survives combat, port for the troops.” It is your soul can die on the perhaps the reason why battlefield. Hollywood veterans choose not to left out that part. Vietspeak openly about their nam filled in the blanks wartime experiences. The for me. ugliness of war, the inIn Jungle School we sanity and obscenity of it were taught the jungle is can only truly be underneutral, but it wasn’t true stood by those who have as far as I could tell. The participated in it. jungle and everything in Yes, I was born to be a it – plant, animal, insect soldier and after many or human – was out to get years of wearing a unime one way or another. I form and retiring from tried to imagine my body military service, I still see as a machine, impenemyself as one. However, I trable and unaffected by SEE RONQUILLO, PAGE 35 anything I encountered. BY TOM RONQUILLO
I
| TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014
Sometimes the ghosts of trauma haven’t moved on yet BY TOM RONQUILLO
Sometimes when you think you have put a war behind you, ghosts from that terrible experience pay a visit and announce that they aren’t quite done with you yet. These reminders come as daytime “flashbacks” of specific combat terrors, and they can be triggered by the simplest things: a firecracker, Tom Ronquillo in Vietnam the sound of an approaching helicopter, the smell of bacon frying. Or, they might surprise you during your most vulnerable moments of sleep. In either case, war returns with all of its electrifying tension and fear. These ghosts, these memories of war, can emerge with stark realism even if decades have passed since the last combat experience. In my case, the ghosts would come calling in nightmares. The “Type 56” art exhibition at the Ludington Center for the Arts, SEE ART, PAGE 35
We pause to honor the memory of the brave men and women who have given their lives in the service of our country. Our thoughts, our prayers and our eternal gratitude are with them and their families. We will never forget.
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The focus of the exhibition to be on display in the fall at the Ludington Area Center for the Arts is on a spike bayonet attached to a Chinese-made Kalashnikov rifle known as a “Type 56,” shown above.
ART: ‘Type 56’ art exhibition is on display starting Oct. 23 RONQUILLO er for me in dreamtime terrors. The photo exhibit reon display from Oct. 23 peatedly introduces the through Nov. 26, is a vibayonet as a looming sual interpretation of one threat in various imagiof my recurring nightnary scenarios. Barely mares from the Vietnam visible in some of the War. Using composited photographs, are images photographic images, the of a young Vietnamese exhibition’s focus is on a girl and a black dog. I was spike bayonet attached indirectly responsible to a Chinese-made Kafor the murder of a Vietlashnikov rifle known as namese girl and her fama “Type 56.” During the ily at the hands of Viet war, a North Vietnamese Cong fighters who used soldier once came close the killings as a warning to killing me with a Type against Vietnamese civil56 bayonet, an incident ians helping Americans. replayed many years latFROM PAGE 34
The young girl’s image symbolizes of my feelings of guilt. The black dog is a metaphor for my lost soul and resulting depression. I began creating the photo composites nearly a year ago, primarily as a personal exercise in confronting psychological demons. I never intended to make the images available for public viewing. My wife and a few close friends urged me to assemble the images for a public art exhibit and I eventually submitted
a proposal to the Ludington Center for the Arts. My primary objective in showing the Type 56 exhibit is to remind the public that invisible wounds of war are real and slow to heal. Today’s soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan carry their own invisible wounds and will eventually confront ghosts from their time in combat. Since completing the exhibit, I no longer have Type 56 nightmares. In that regard, the project had a clear therapeutic
benefit. Unfortunately, as the photo exhibition date draws nearer, I feel a great deal of anxiety and guilt over publicly revealing my personal experiences of the horror of war. After decades of keeping certain memories locked inside my head, it suddenly feels wrong, disrespectful, and even shameful, to put something so dark and grotesque on public display. Time will tell if my decision to move forward with the project was the right thing to do.
FROM PAGE 34
have come to abhor war and recognize that we as human beings seem unable to escape it. Combat veterans from recent and future wars will nod their heads knowingly when reading a quotation from former World War II general and later President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower who said: “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.”
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The vehicle Arthur Collins is standing by is called a mule. It is loaded with 5 gallon cans of water Arthur Collins’ first tour in Vietnam, April 1967-April 1968 in Company D-1st Battalion 7th Cavalry and cases of c-rations (food). Division, an infantry company.
From Hamlin to the jungle
nam they put him where he was needed … in the jungle with an M-16. This rthur Collins dewas quite the change for cided to enlist in a farm boy from Hamlin. the army instead He served two tours in Vietnam. The first tour of being drafted as from April 1967 to April he was told he could 1968 and the second choose his training. The Army trained him from October 1968 to Ocin clerical work. Howev- tober 1969. During his er, once he landed in Viet- first tour he met up with BY JULIE COLLINS
A
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and spent time with Ludington local Rod Macarthur. Although they did not meet while in Vietnam, Art and another soldier from Ludington, Roger Dains, were in ’Nam during the same time. When Art returned to Ludington after his first tour, he learned that Roger was killed (April 22,
1968) just after Art left ’Nam. Art was awarded the Bronze Star and the Air Medal during his first tour. During his second tour, he was stationed on a base and rode in the helicopters out to the jungle to deliver mail and bring back the wounded and dead. His second tour provid-
and more.
ed him the opportunity to meet up with local Tim (Parky) Parkinson (and future brother-in-law). They spent Tim’s 21st birthday together in Saigon. Art was very proud to serve his country, but after landing in Seattle and being spit on, he learned to change from his uniform to civilian clothes
Matt Knizacky 356 River Street Manistee
upon arriving back in the States. Art returned to Vietnam in 2001 hoping for some closure and healing. His wife, Julie, and daughters, Tracy and Deni, are extremely proud of his dedication to our country and selflessness in serving. Art retired from the military in 1999.
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Both veterans, different service ‘The government tells you where to go. We were there to support those who went into combat. Those who were in support hold those who were in combat in high esteem. There was tremendous support for those who were in harm’s way.’
BY DIANE NEMITZ DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
A
lthough Bill and Dorothy Brown are both veterans, they served in different military branches at different times.
Bill Brown was Airman 1st Class in the Air Force where he served from 1952-1956 during the Korean War. He was stationed in Texas, Florida and California as a training commander and air traffic controller. “The thing you have to remember about the military, there are 10 to 15 support people for every one who goes into combat, and at that point in time there were some who went to Korea, but not all.” Bill was one of those in a support group role. “It was the luck of the draw,” he said. “The government tells you where to go. We were there to support those who went into combat. Those who were in support hold those who were in combat in high esteem. There was tremendous support for those who
Bill Brown
were in harm’s way.” He intends to visit the traveling wall to search for the names of cousins who went to Vietnam “and never came back.” Born in Needham, Massachusetts, he joined the Air Force after high school and ended up living in Ludington almost by accident. He said he stopped in Ludington
on his way to California from Florida and “loved it.” The slower pace of the community attracted him after the busy lifestyle of the east coast. He met his wife, Dot, through a mutual friend and they have been married for 30 years. Dot Brown was an Army medic, trained as
but she served overseas in Germany rather than Vietnam. “You go wherever the Army sends you,” she said. Her hospital duty was mostly for children, spouses and dependents of Army personnel at the 97th General an OR tech. She comHospital in Frankfurt, pared her job to that of an LPN stateside. Born in Germany, although it Manistee, she joined the was also the hospital Army at age 25 because where many wounded in the war were sent to be she said she was “spincared for. ning my wheels, not “I remember seeing going anywhere. I was someone with no face the oldest WAC in basic and that will burn in my training.” Unlike her memory forever,” she husband, Dot was in the said. military during the VietDot is a member of the nam War, from 1961-63,
We Salute Our Veterans & Firefighters We pay our respects to our fallen soldiers, firefighters and veterans. We pray for their families, and we honor their memories with gratitude and humility. We remember all that they have sacrificed. To all who have served and continue to serve our country, We Thank You.
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American Legion Honor Guard and Color Guard In Ludington and will take part in the ceremonies during the days the traveling wall is on display. She became a part of the Honor and Color Guards after a friend asked if she would be interested. “For me it was like fulfilling a commitment and it is an honor and a privilege.” Dot will also be searching for familiar names on the wall. “I had some friends who were sent there and I never saw or heard from them.”
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Listening in on the enemy BY STEVE BEGNOCHE MANAGING EDITOR
B
udde Reed had been a “funner” in high school — a guy who enjoyed life with his friends at the expense of academics.
His parents aspired for him to attend college, but when Budde (Milan S. Reed II) graduated his grades were such he couldn’t get in. That led to a semester in school in Traverse City to earn credits in three summer classes to make him eligible for college. But again, life outside of the classroom was more alluring. When he realized that he wasn’t going to get the needed credits, he went to the three military recruiters in Traverse City and said whichever one could get him in the service fastest, he would enlist with and he said he wanted to go to Vietnam. He didn’t want to go home to face the music for not completing the summer courses successfully. It was 1967 and the American involvement
JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWS
Budde Reed recalls his year in Vietnam as a signal intelligence specialist working inside an unarmed EC-47 that looked like an armed AC-47 gun ship. COURTESY PHOTO
in Vietnam under President Lyndon Johnson was about to peak. The Air Force recruiter proved to have the quickest enlistment opportunities. Soon Reed was off to Lackland Air Force Base in Florida for basic training. He took a lot of other
training, too. When he got his orders to go to Keesler AFB in Mississippi, they stated he would be a Morse interceptor. In the days before computers, Reed explained, the Morse Code developed by Samuel Morse was the universal
way to transmit communications. Reed was to learn copy and code and become a signal intelligence specialist. The Keesler classroom featured bare desks, each with a set of headphones. That was it.
A carrot was offered for performance: the person who was the best in the class would get a private room instead of living in the barracks, and other privileges. Reed said he may not have excelled academically, but he is
We recognize the many sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform both today and throughout our nation’s history. We honor their courage and dedication, and we thank them for their contribution to our country.
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competitive and passionate — two traits that were about to serve him and his country well. “I can never forget we started with the letter ‘A’ — da-da,” he said, as he began vocalizing of code for that and other letters. “I can still do it today . .. I can rattle it out.” Being the top guy in the class was the way his military career began. As he and others completed the course and received assignments — not all did — they were told they that they’d be stationed around the world monitoring “unfriendlies.” Reed, despite wanting to go to Vietnam, was sent to a remote post in northeast Turkey where for 18 months he listened in on transmissions from airports and other places of interest. Over time he and other coders could recognize the distinct styles of how those they were listening to sent code — in blocks of five characters representing Morse numerals or letters. SEE REED, PAGE 39
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REED: Jungle survival, prison-camp survival were part of extensive training help bolt metal together. On the day before getting clearance, he was taken downtown. He rode in a rickshaw type cart. A mile down the street the guy stops the cart, gets off and opens the seat to display a variety of drugs he had for sale. Reed said he had promised himself to get out of Vietnam, and doing drugs was not going to be part of the experience. “A lot of guys on the ground, had more difficult experiences than I did, and some of those guys did some of that stuff,” Reed said. Doing deufa might have made their time in Vietnam and life after more difficult for them, he said.
FROM PAGE 38
The Bulgarians, he said, were hard to copy, but after a while it became clearer. Still, he wanted to serve in Vietnam and did not understand why the military wouldn’t send him there — at least until he eventually got over to the south Asian country. In order to be assigned to Vietnam, one had to have had a duty station first. The first stop after Turkey on his way to Vietnam was in Manchester, New Hampshire, where he was housed with a civilian host family and trained in flight simulators to do the coding he had been doing on the ground in an airplane. Next was survival training at Fairchild AFB outside of Spokane, Washington, in what he called a true rain forest environment. A hunter, fisher and outdoorsman all his life, this training proved different. “I never had to live off the outdoors before,” he said. Escape and evasion training was next since his duty would have him in flight over combat zones and enemy territory. He called it “baby pris-
6994 Security Squad
JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWS
Budde Reed looks at medals he received from his time in Vietnam. He said he’s most proud of the air medal he received because his father, Milan S. “Bud” Reed, also earned one during World War II.
on-camp training.” He recalls being placed for 48 hours in a 4’ by 4’ by 4’ unlighted box — and then taken out and interrogated with insults and other tactics added. “You knew it was fake, but that darkness and the sounds …,” he said. The next training was in the Philippines a “se-
rious three-week survival school” in which they worked with native people who lived off the land every day. “That was extraordinary to see how you can survive,” Reed said. It was all preparation for the possibility that if they went down, “you’d probably be on your own,
you’d have to survive and and monsoon season was get back.” starting. “To fly in that was something,” he said. Vietnam For a week he had to wait for necessary securi“First thing I remem- ty clearances to begin the ber in Vietnam was get- job he was trained to do. ting out of the plane and For that week he helped it was like entering a sau- build Quonset huts over na, cooked up where it planes on the runway at shouldn’t be,” he said Tan Son Nhut Air Base in It was Oct. 19, 1968 Saigon where he had to
Reed was a member of the 6994 Security Squad, U.S. Air Force. Their work was classified and only in recent years became declassified. “Our unit was so small, we were adopted kind of by bigger units,” he said. They flew in EC-47s loaded with electronic equipment to detect and locate enemy communications. But on the exterior they looked like a gun ship. They tried to fly like SEE REED, PAGE 40
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| TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014
REED: EC-47’s crew motto was ‘alone, unarmed and unafraid’
FROM PAGE 39
a gun ship, too, to confuse the enemy and to get them to use their communications so the Americans could find enemy locations, Reed said. The crew consisted of a pilot, a copilot, a navigator and enlisted flight engineer and four enlisted signal intelligence specialists. As one of the signal intelligence specialists, Reed had clearances the officers didn’t, despite not being an officer. Using their listening devices they would plot at least three lines from where they thought the signal was coming and the area delineated by the intersections of the crossing lines would be the site. “Most of the time we got within 200 meters of transmission devices,” he said. “Most of the time we were cloaked. Our airplane looked like Eric Vettergren’s airplane,” he said. (See Vettergren’s story on page 19-20.) A wire for picking up signals ran the length of the plane and a couple other small features were different than the AC-47 “spooky” Vettergren flew. “We would fly like a spooky, at altitudes like a spooky, so they would
In Budde Reed’s office at Ludington Beverage are family and personal mementos. At left, Milan S. “Budde” Reed II, his father Milan S. “Bud” Reed, his brother Todd Reed and Todd’s son Tad Reed, who all share a military background, are seen in a photo. Above, Budde holds a photo of his father, who was in the U.S. Air Force in World War II. Budde has his dad’s leather flight jacket.
think we were a bad machine gun guy. The reason they would squawk is they wouldn’t like the gunship up there,” he said. They also looked like what he called “bullshit monitor” — one of two planes dropping 125,000 leaflets a day in Vietnam urging the enemy to lay
down their weapons and other forms of wartime propaganda. “They were kind of our decoy,” Reed said. “When I was there, I can guaranasstee you, they didn’t know what we were doing,” Reed said. “About half of what we would copy, we would take immediate action on.
We not only knew where they were, we knew what they were saying,” he said. That information would be sent in to the U.S. Army and often a strike of some kind was set up “That was a place, one of very few places, you got to see the results of your work and you didn’t
wait very long for it,” Reed said. He recalls a day they took their “shots” — creating the plot lines — and the navigator came on and said they had a triggerman in the river. They made another pass to make sure they were correct. “We made sure we didn’t get too close,” he added. It was clear the signal was coming from the boat. They contacted the Army. “This time they sent two F4s. They came in low over that ship and hit it with their cannons. We were a mile and half away. When they hit the
America's Freedoms Are Only As Strong As Those Willing Todd To Serve And p h o Defend Them
&
thing, the concussion was something. It was a big sampan. It was obviously full of munitions.” Reed flew 83 such missions. Some of the guys flew as many as 105 in their year in Vietnam. They flew both day and night missions and he said the flares dropped by AC-47s at night were something, as was watching tracer fire from planes. Despite, the danger, their EC-47 was not armed. “We boasted we were alone, unarmed and unafraid,” Reed said. SEE REED, PAGE 41
Brad Reed
t o g r a p h y
TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014
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REED: Confusing times FROM PAGE 40
Each crew member carried a knife, a Colt revolver, and on board was an M16 for each member “in case we ever went down.” There was no defense on the plane — other than looking and acting like something it wasn’t. “When you’re that age, you feel you’re bullet proof. We knew we were vulnerable,” he said. The 6994th lost six planes in Vietnam — one before Reed arrived, three while he was there and two after he left. Two of the losses were due to mechanical failure. The rest were shot down. Signals were weak sometimes week. “So we flew lower and we were vulnerable to small arms fire,” he said. They were in the air for seven hours at a time. “We did shift work,” he said. “It was a very varied thing.”
Eventful times
JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWS
Budde Reed’s work as a signal intelligence specialist with the 6994 Security Squad was classified until recently. Now Reed enjoys looking up on the Internet information about the squad. He leafs through a copy of his personal records.
Not only was Reed serving at the peak of American involvement in the war, it was a time back home where the nation was undergoing a social, racial and political sea change. The United States he knew when he went into basic training was far different than the one he returned home to four years later. “I’m overseas for 18 months in Turkey. This is Camelot,” he said of Ludington. “You were really oblivious. We here are pretty much joined at the hip, though we have disagreements.” But the country was changing.
‘The miracle of Ron Martin and his dream of bringing the traveling wall here is that this will be a good time for a lot of us to feel proud of what we did.’ Budde Reed
“I was dumbfounded when I got discharged at Travis Air Force Base and I was told when I traveled home to not wear my uniform. That was really tough on me. You felt you did the right thing,” he said. “To get into that airport in San Francisco and see those Hari Krishnas mocking soldiers …” Even out of uniform, Vietnam veterans stood out, darkened by the sun and with a buzzcut. “All of that for most of us was a period of time you were confused. You couldn’t put it in perspective, because there wasn’t any experience like it in the past.”
Today “The miracle of Ron Martin and his dream of bringing the traveling wall here is that this will be a good time for a lot of us to feel proud of what we did,” Reed said, “and I would say it is about time.”
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My own good/bad news from Vietnam BY GERALD E. THORNE, ARMY SPECIALIST E5
I
graduated from Ludington High School in 1960 and Michigan State University in June 1966 with a bachelor of arts in accounting.
Capt. John E. Berend
‘I’ve been shot up but not down’
C
aptain John E Berend, a six month summer resident of Ludington (Epworth) since 1962, served in Vietnam as a Forward Air Controller and Reconnaissance Pilot from June 1967 through June 1968. John learned to fly through the University of Kentucky ROTC program and after commissioning assisted in the formation of the 185th Reconnaissance Airplane Company at Fort Knox. The Unit was deployed to Vietnam in June 1967 with Berend assigned
as Assistant Operations Officer. Upon arrival in Vietnam, the Unit Headquarters was located in Ban Me Thout, 15 kilometers from the Laotian/Cambodian border in Vietnam’s II Corp Tactical Zone. The 185th was operating under control of the 1st Aviation Brigade, 223 Aviation Battalion with the mission of reconnaissance and forward air control for the Long Range Patrol (LRP) and Special Forces Special Ops (SOG), actually known as “Studies and Observations Groups” (SOG). Captain Berend flew in support of the teams along the border (Ho Chi
Minh) trail that were in place to supply information and ambush to the invading North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. He utilized artillery, helicopters, gunships and fighter/bomber aircraft to provide protection (if they were compromised) and extraction for the U.S. teams in place along the border. FAC aircraft were the lifelink for the troops on the ground. John flew 325 combat air assault missions with 900 hours in the air during his time in Vietnam. He was awarded 13 Air Medals and the Bronze Star for his efforts. He is happy to say “I’ve been shot up but not down!”
The draft board requested that I take a physical in March 1966, but I did not worry about it until I received notice in September that I was being inducted into the United States Army. I was married and had started my CPA career with a Muskegon firm. We were in shock, but I respected my duty as a citizen of this great country. As a college graduate I was promised an assignment in my field, but after extensive combat training I was assigned to Vietnam in July 1967 as an infantryman. We were expecting our first child in September of that year, so my departure was delayed until January 1968. For that I was thankful. I arrived in-country with 200-plus other men and was told we would be replacing a number of men who had been killed or wounded in a recent ambush. To say the least, our fears and anxieties were at an all-time high. My “good news” from Vietnam is that I met God many
tions took a major toll on my marriage and career. In 1984 my marriage ended in divorce, loss of family relationships with my six children and brokenness in pride, self esteem, finances and purpose. I was at the lowest level of my life’s journey. But that “good news” of Vietnam returned Gerald E. Thorne clearer to me 16 years later. I finally realized times over the next nine- that my God was always plus months. He kept there and His son, Jesus me out of the jungle and Christ, had died for my placed me in the 25th In- sins. In May 1984 I surfantry Base Camp in Çu rendered my life comChi. I was assigned as a pletely to His service. liaison to the Air Force, I will experience deep coordinating air strikes emotions as I approach for ground attacks and the Vietnam Wall. There B-52 drops on suspectwere many friends I ed enemy movements. met in training that Our camp was subject were not as fortunate to rocket and mortar as I. I am proud to have attacks night and day. served my country and I learned to sleep with played a part in protectmy ears and eyes open. ing the freedoms that In mid-May 1968 God’s we too often take for presence became totally granted. I still trust that evident to me as He had a positive reason for me step out of a building that war is the millions that was flattened by an of people in the Asian incoming rocket several countries today who are seconds later. In that still experiencing some moment, I knew there of those freedoms. was a God and vowed to I am not proud of the serve Him upon return way I responded while to my family. there or upon my return My “bad news” from to this country I can’t Vietnam is that I learned blame anyone for my to rely on alcohol for day bad choices. I am grateto day existence. When ful for a God that forI returned to my famgives sins, never gives ily and career I became up on us and has pura workaholic and social pose for our lives (Psalm alcoholic. These addic139).
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Living each day as it comes BY MELISSA KEEFER DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
D
avid Fye of Baldwin tries to live one day at a time.
MELISSA KEEFER | DAILY NEWS
David Fye spends time at the Custer VFW, where he serves in the Honor Guard.
Thank you!
“I don’t look at the future, don’t look at the past. If I just look at the day, I can handle it, I can get through the day,” Fye said. “I handle it as it arrives.” Fye, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam from 1967-1971, has been diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia from being exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam. “I go to chemo every 28 days at U of M. There is no cure for it,” Fye said. “I am in stage 2 already. They are amazed it has progressed this fast already.” Fye said his cancer doctor at U of M is treating 20 to 25 patients that have the same type of cancer caused by Agent Orange. He didn’t show any symptoms of the cancer until 2010. Fye had gone to the doctor for an irregular heartbeat and they
To the men and women in uniform.
‘I don’t look at the future, don’t look at the past. If I just look at the day, I can handle it, I can get through the day.’ took some tests in the office. He recalls the doctor asking him how he felt, to which he answered sleepy, then he passed out and his heart stopped. “I woke up in intensive care. My heart had stopped,” Fye said. “I had a white blood cell count that was way higher than it was supposed to be. They told my wife it was good I came in because any longer it would have been too late.” He was expected for an appointment in Ann Arbor on Monday, Aug. 25 for a round of chemo on both Monday and Tuesday and was hoping for the best as far as his tolerance. He says he has been through a lot in his life already, so he is staying positive.
His service in the Army Fye enlisted the day he received his draft papers
in 1967. “There was a lot of that going on at that time,” Fye said. “There were guys who just got back from serving an enlistment and went back after being drafted.” Fye was in the infantry, specifically the 82nd Airborne Company B Second Batallion Third Combat Infantry Division. He was there for the latter part of the Tet Offensive. “I did a lot of recon,” Fye said of his time in Vietnam, although he is not comfortable talking about some of the service there. “I worked with the Navy Seals on a lot of underwater demolitions.” Fye said they were having trouble with the North Vietnamese coming into the bay and trying to plant explosives. SEE FYE, PAGE 44
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FYE: ‘I would go back in the service and do it all again’ FROM PAGE 43
“I worked with Steven Segal and he taught me martial arts,” Fye said. “He’s quite the guy. He was attached with the Navy Seals. He taught martial arts and the kind I learned was to defend yourself under water.” Fye was also able to meet other celebrities during his time in the service. “When you serve so much time in-country, you get time called R and R time,” Fye said. “My very first one I took to Sydney, Austraila. It was very special to me because I met and became friends with Johnny Rivers at a night club there.” “I would go back in the service and do it all again,” Fye said. He said although he is still fighting to receive some of the medals he should have received for his service, he is proud to have served. He said when men were being sent back to the States, a series of drug tests were given before soldiers returned home. They could be held in a medical area and there was confusion there. There are days unac-
vice commander and officer of the day at the Disabled American Veterans post in Phoenix. He was in charge of the Honor Guard and traveled to many events in the area. He also helped with several memorials and big projects to honor veterans in Phoenix. Fye is now a member of the Custer VFW and serves on its Honor Guard. He is also a part of the AmVets in Baldwin, a life member of the David Fye’s Army hat features pins in support of the branch of the military he served in. AmVets, a member of the Disabled American Veterans and is involved counted for in his dis- Fye said. “His family was trayed in the movies but in the Unified Veterans charge paperwork, and like mine and my family is much worse, which is Organization. he is working to clarify was like his.” why you have to fight to Importance of the wall that. Fye said the two went survive. “It’s been one long into the service together “I don’t really know “I think everyone fight,” Fye said. “I am and served in Vietnam what happened to everyshould visit the wall,” still trying to get it together, except he was one else who was capFye said. straightened out.” the only one who came tured with me. You don’t He explained the wall He also said the Army home. really know what you are is a link to people who owes him a Purple Heart “I still feel him with me capable of until you are have lost their lives from being wounded in though,” Fye said. put into that kind of pofighting for our country, 1969. Fye learned the real sition,” Fye said. and a way for veterans to meaning of survival stay close to them. Hard times when his unit was cap- Involvement “There were a lot of tured in 1969. during his service in veterans groups people even unaccount“You fight to stay alive Fye lost a friend, Char- anyway possible. I killed He said when he ed for,” Fye said. “The lie, during the war who a lot of people with my moved to Phoenix, Ari- wall can give people a new sense and direction was like family to him. bare hands. I was able to zonia in 1977, he be“He died in my arms escape because of that,” came involved in vet- of what we stand for and and told me to tell his Fye said. erans groups and held why we fought so hard. Even if you don’t know mom that he was sorry. He said being cap- offices, including junior How do you do that?” tured is not like it is por- vice commander, senior anyone, go and talk to veterans there. It will
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give you a better understanding.” Fye said the Vietnam veterans were very misunderstood when they came home. “The reason for that is, when we first came home, they called us baby killers. We were not. The wall is a way for people to see us as human, not any different than when we went over, except the tragedies we have to live with,” Fye said. “We were sent over basically as peacekeepers, but it didn’t work out that way. We were being killed by children. I think that’s where the label came from.” Fye said he has seen two statements that come to mind when he thinks about the importance of the wall: “We need to take care of those that have taken care of us,” and “We went over as strangers, we came back as brothers.” Fye plans to go to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., next year, since he hasn’t been yet, and he hopes to make it home from the hospital in Ann Arbor this week in time to see the wall in Ludington.
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On WWII: ‘I never worked so hard in my life’ BY BRIAN MULHERIN DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
W
illard Williams served his country for five years in the United States Army, participating in the Battle of the Bulge and eventually traveling from Paris to Berlin as an artillery sergeant attached to the Fifth Infantry division. He was part of units reviewed by Generals Eisenhower and Patton in his Army career. He turned 95 in August and he still doesn’t like to get into the details of what he saw in Europe during World War II. “I don’t believe people can be made as destructive as Hitler was,” Williams said in August, the day before his 95th birthday. Williams said he’s proud of his service. “I’m glad I went,” Williams said. “I done what I had to do but I wouldn’t want to do it over. Too many bullets whizzing over my head. I was lucky,
Willard Willams
very lucky. We only had sands of other new reone casualty in my gun cruits before heading off group.” to Fort Custer near Battle Creek. In the Army now “They didn’t know what to do with us at first,” WilWilliams was a truck liams said. “There wasn’t driver for a beverage dis- any equipment to train tributor before the war with. They had us marchand he was drafted and ing with brooms for paentered the U.S. Army on rade.” April 7, 1941. He ended up in the 21st “My dad wouldn’t let me Field Artillery Division, enlist,” Williams said. “He Battery C, and studied firsaid it would be over in ing instructions at Camp three months.” McCoy in Wisconsin. From Ludington he From Fort Custer, he went to Detroit aboard a went to Iceland, where Greyhound bus, where he they loaded and unloaded was processed with thou- boats.
“I never worked so hard in my life,” Williams said. “Plus we were island security. We’d work eight to 12 hours unloading boats, then we’d take care of field problems.” He spent a year there. “Iceland should be renamed Greenland and Greenland should be renamed Iceland,” Williams said. From there, he went to Tidworth Barracks in England, where they waited for their equipment — 155 millimeter guns weighing 1,200 pounds.
His unit was eventually transferred to Ireland to train. “We didn’t know we were getting ready for the Second World War,” Williams said. “Nothing was said.” Nothing was said, at least, until Williams planned a wedding with an Irish girl named Margaret “Peggy” Monahan, who would become Mason County’s first war bride. Willard and Peggy were married 67 years before her death three years ago. “It was a flip of a coin who got to go to D-Day,” Williams said. “The 2nd Infantry got D-Day and they were wiped out about 95 percent.” The 5th Infantry waited in Ireland. “We were supposed to have a white wedding on Saturday,” Williams said. “My captain said, ‘If you’re going to get married, you and your best man better get going.’” Eventually he found a priest to perform the ceremony in time for his departure. “The next day I got back and camp was quarantined,” Williams said.
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“That was a Saturday and on Sunday we were on a boat to France.” Williams wouldn’t see Peggy or the U.S. for 16 months after that trip.
WWII “German weather was just like ours,” Williams said. But here, he never slept in a hole. Williams said they had tents but they rarely pitched them. Williams’ job as a sergeant was to relay coordinates to the gunners in his battery. “I never killed anyone on my own, but with others I took a lot of lives,” Williams said with a somber tone. They operated without hearing protection and he wears hearing aids as a direct result of that. He spent 16 months in France and Germany and they tried to enter Berlin, but the Russians were there first. His division ended up in Czechoslovakia. The going was tough.
SEE WILLIAMS, PAGE 46
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WILLIAMS: ‘It makes you grow up’ FROM PAGE 45
“We broke out of St. Lowe,” Williams said. He said his unit only had “about a block” of territory when they started out in France. Eventually, they made headway. “We cleared Germans out from around Paris,” Williams said. “We started over the Alps to stop the Germans from coming up from Italy.” In France his unit was reviewed by General George S. Patton. “He was all military,” Williams said of Patton. “I’ve read stories about him here and there and I have nothing but good to say about him. I would follow him anywhere.” Then they fought in the Battle of the Bulge. The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive of WWII and was also known as the Battle of the Ardennes, which is an area of Belgium, Luxembourg and, at the time, Nazi Germany. “Cold,” Williams said of his time in Germany. “The weather was just like here — severe, bad,” Williams said. “You didn’t think about the conditions. Army life is different.” “I seen a lot I don’t want to talk about,” Williams said.
Coming home
JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWS
There were no parades for Williams’ return to Ludington and even though they held his old job for him at the Pomeroy Bottling Works, he only lasted a couple of days. He couldn’t stand how inefficient things were stateside. “I got older and wiser and it didn’t suit me,” Williams said. The community had changed, as
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had the whole country. “It was different because there was nobody left like myself,” Williams said. “A lot of them didn’t come home, a lot of them were still in.” Williams said he was a different person. “It makes you grow up,” Williams said of war. “It wasn’t a fun deal. It makes men out of you in a hurry.” He had reunited with Peggy in Ireland before coming home, but she didn’t make it to the United States for six or seven months. She did arrive in time for their first child to be a U.S. citizen. Their daughter, better known today as 79th District Court Magistrate Paddy Baker, was born shortly after Peggy arrived in the U.S. Willard worked in construction before catching the eye of Dow employees on a job there. He worked at Dow for 33 years. “Been retired 32 now,” he said with a grin. Williams is a proud member of American Legion Post 76.
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Local Korean War heroes
Ludington’s William R. Charette, Irons’ Duane E. Dewey among Korean Medal of Honor recipients; Dewey to be at wall Saturday BY THE DAILY NEWS STAFF
B
efore Vietnam, the United States fought in Korea.
Two veterans with local ties received Medals of Honor for their valor in the Korean War. The late William R. Charette of Ludington is Mason County’s only Medal of Honor recipient to date. Duane E. Dewey of Irons also received the Medal of Honor, and he plans to be at the traveling Vietnam wall memorial Saturday. The two were among 13 Korean War Medal of Honor recipients honored in photos on a folio surrounding a U.S. postal stamp issued at 10:40 a.m. July 26, to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the signing of the Korean War armistice, bringing a cease-fire between North and South Korea in 1953. A total of 145 Medals of Honor were awarded during the Korean war, some-
William R. Charette is pictured in the upper right corner. Duane E. Dewey is just below him.
times referred to as “the ington Daily News helped forgotten war.” Bill tell what happened in the war. William R. Charette “Bill never really actually Charette died March 18, told us a whole lot about 2012 at his home in Lake it,” she said. “I think Lloyd Wales, Florida. He was 79. got more information out His widow, Louise, sur- of Bill than anyone did.” vives. Charette was a Navy Charette’s sister, Peg corpsman serving as a Ezdebski, a retired regis- medic in the war. It was tered nurse who worked on March 27, 1953 when at Paulina Stearns Hospi- he used his own body to tal, still lives in Ludington. shield a wounded Marine Peg described Bill as a from a grenade. The Mareserved man, especially rine Corps infantry unit about his time of service was taking heavy enemy for which the Medal was fire near P’anmunjom. given. Charette was wounded “We found out more by in the explosion but conreading about him,” she tinued his work as a medsaid, noting a story by ic. He lost his medical supLloyd Wallace in the Lud-
plies in the blast, but tore off strips of his clothing to make bandages, giving up what remained of his jacket to an injured Marine who was shivering. Charette exposed himself to enemy fire while he lifted the Marine to safety. “I could hear the bullets zipping by my head, but I couldn’t leave the guy there,” Charette has said. “He’d tell you all about life aboard a submarine,” Ezdebski said. “But not too much about Korea.” While he was quiet about the time in Korea, “it was always with him,” Ezdebski said her sisterin-law Louise told her. Charette was a 1950 graduate of St. Simon High School and enlisted in 1951. He remained with the Navy Corps for 26 years, retiring as a master chief hospital corpsman in 1977. HM3 Charette received the Medal of Honor in Washington, D.C., from President Dwight D. Eisenhower on Jan. 12, 1954. In addition to the Medal of Honor, Charette received the Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal, and the United Nations Service Medal.
Duane E. Dewey Dewey was a 20-year-old Marine corporal leading a machine-gun squad with Company E, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division near Panmunjom, Korea, on April 16, 1952. While already wounded by a grenade explosion, Dewey used his body to smother a second grenade to protect a Navy corpsman and other members of his machine gun squad. “I had (a grenade) go off behind my right heel and that knocked me down,” Dewey said about the first grenade that night. “Then the second grenade rolled beside me. My first instinct was to get rid of it, but I was laying on my back and I couldn’t so I scooped it under my right hip, pulled the corpsman on top of me and said, ‘Hit the dirt Doc, I’ve got it in my hip pocket,” Dewey recalled in 2006. The wording of his Medal of Honor citation follows: “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a gunner in a machine gun platoon of Company E, in action against enemy aggressor forces. When an
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enemy grenade landed close to his position while he and his assistant gunner were receiving medical attention for their wounds during a fierce night attack by numerically superior hostile forces, Corporal Dewey, although suffering intense pain, immediately pulled the corpsman to the ground and, shouting a warning to the other marines around him, bravely smothered the deadly missile with his body, personally absorbing the full force of the explosion to save his comrades from possible injury or death. His indomitable courage, outstanding initiative, and valiant efforts in behalf of others in the face of almost certain death reflect the highest credit upon Corporal Dewey and enhance the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.” “I’m a very fortunate man to be here,” Dewey said. “Some call me a hero. I don’t consider myself a hero because the heroes are still over there.” He did note that more than 6 million Americans served in the Korean War and only 145 earned the Medal of Honor. He also noted that two-thirds of that 145 died in action.
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DESERT STORM - GULF WAR I
Keeping military history alive BY DIANE NEMITZ DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
P
at Lange graduated from Ludington High School in 1983 and joined the Army in 1984. He stayed in the Army until 1995 when injuries he sustained in the First Gulf War dictated his retirement.
He was stationed in many places, starting in basic training in South Carolina and ending his Army career at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. In 1990, he was deployed to the Gulf War and spent about a year as a medic with the rank of Sgt. E5. Lange was a combat medic in a MASH tent out in the field. He served with the infantry and tank units. “We treated everything from gunshot wounds to shrapnels. We took care of a lot of Iraqi prisoners too.” The Iraqis, he said, were treated for any injuries and then interrogated. Then they were released in care of the
Pat Lange
Saudis. “There’s some stuff I can’t talk about,” Lange said about the prisoners. He thought they were “probably released” after being turned over to the Saudis. While in the Gulf he became acquainted with Lt. Col. Diane Tyron of Ludington, who was a nurse in the medical unit in 1991. (Her account of her military career appears
“Bob Williams and Ron Martin had the vision to bring (the wall) here and called on the Allied Veterans Council for help.” Through the support of veterans and community members it will be on display on Court Street at City Park. It is an 80 percent replica of the wall in Washington, D.C. “Some people may never get a chance to see the real wall and this gives veterans a chance to ‘see’ their friends.” Lange himself has a cousin he will be looking for on the wall. “One thing that’s going to blow people away is how many names there are and how many were killed. The Vietnam vets didn’t have a very elsewhere in this publica- ceremonies at Ludington are now set up at the good welcome and we tion.) football games. The Color Legion, 318 N. James St. wanted to make it special Lange has been acGuard was recently a part The displays at the Lefor those guys.” tive in veterans groups of the patriotic concert at gion will be open to the The Color Guard and in Ludington since his United Methodist Church, public while the traveling Honor Guard will be at retirement from the mili- where they presented the Vietnam wall is here durthe wall every day, with tary and at present is vice flags of all the military ing the Wednesday night Saturday being the big president of the Allied branches and the Ameri- pizza and the barbecue day for Vietnam vets. Veterans Council and a can flag. pork dinner Friday put on Lange said he expects to member of the American He is also the Ameriby Rolling Thunder. get very emotional durLegion Honor Guard and can Legion historian The wall project has ing the ceremonies. “Even Color Guard. The Honor and through his efforts been under way for sevduring the military funerGuard takes part in funer- several new displays of eral months and has als of veterans and also memorabilia and life-size involved all the local vet- als when taps is soundis present at half-time mannequins in uniform erans groups Lange said. ed it brings tears to my eyes.”
Honoring Our AMERICAN LEGION POST 76 Military Heroes LUDINGTON, MI
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29 YEARS AND TWO GULF WARS
Sgt. Major Baum: ‘We were ground fighters’ BY BRIAN MULHERIN DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
B
efore he was Deputy Ken Baum of the Mason County Sheriff’s Office, he was Sgt. Maj. Ken Baum of the United States Marine Corps.
Baum, known to scanner listeners as “36,” served 29 years in the USMC, including the years of the first Gulf War and the Fallujah uprising following the second Gulf War. Sergeant major is the highest rank an enlisted person can rise to in the USMC and Baum was proud to reach that rank. Sheriff Kim Cole and Baum’s fellow deputies still refer to him as Sergeant Major out of respect. Baum said if he had his choice, he’d still be in the Corps, but it’s a young man’s game and he aged out of it. Baum served in various capacities throughout his career, including evacuating military personnel from the Philippines after Mt. Penetubo erupted. After Sept. 11, 2001, Baum was assigned to a unit trying to keep the Taliban
JEFF KIESSEL | DAILY NEWS
Sgt. Major Ken Baum, retired — now a Mason County Sheriff’s Office deputy who serves as the department’s K-9 officer with police dog Cash — leads a parade in Ruby Creek as part of a veterans hunt fundraiser.
from crossing through Yemen into the Horn of Africa. He was deployed at the Somalian border for that duty. When Iraq broke loose after the first invasion, Baum said he was assigned to protect CIA personnel, which he called “Secret Squirrel personnel.” “We had a lot of Top Se-
cret squirrels,” Baum said. Baum had an area of operations from Fallujah to Al Taquaddam. “We were ground fighters,” Baum said. “We did a lot of knocking on doors and arranging meetings between them and Allah for their stupidity. “The sad part is we made a difference over there and I know most
of the people we worked with are dead,” Baum said. Baum said he lost five of the 150 men under his command and had 25 seriously injured. “The majority came back with concussions from blasts and such,” Baum said. He was not, however, a model Marine. He had a bad habit of riding in lead
May our fallen loved ones never be forgotten.
vehicles or taking lead on patrols. “One thing I really stressed over the years to my junior NCOs and sergeants was that you better be able to do what you’re asking your Marines to do. I took it very strongly and deeply. “I was constantly getting in trouble for yanking young kids out of the lead vehicle. How could I ask one of them to do it if I’m not willing to do it myself?” Baum said a highlight of his service was being complimented by a prominent sheik on how members of his unit carried themselves. Baum said the sheik had a security force equal in size to his unit — about 150 Marines. Baum said he loved being a Marine and loved working in foul weather. “The nastier it was outside, the more I loved it,” Baum said. “The nastier it was, that meant it was going to be easier to go and take out opposing units.
there’s only a limited timeframe we have there. I met the max and it was time for me to move on, just as others have.” “I miss it bad. It’s a way of life, it’s not just a job, it’s who you become, the connection you build with so many Marines,” Baum said. And he was appreciated by his Marines — when he retired they gave him the standard plaque, but also a saddle and full rigging for his horses that cost thousands of dollars. “I wouldn’t change a thing,” Baum said of his service. “I’ve gotten to see more than most people put together in their lifetime and another thing is all the places I was able to see, I was paid to go see.” Baum has put his Corps training to work for the Mason County Sheriff’s Office. Part of his duty in Iraq was to interact with the locals and he put his knowledge of animals to use helping them with their livestock. He’s now the K-9 officer for the sheriff’s office. Baum is Looking back also a member of the Ma“I wouldn’t change a son County Dive Team, thing,” Baum said. “The having learned to SCUBA only regret I have is that dive with the USMC.
GLC
GREAT LAKES CASTINGS 800 N. Washington, Ludington
843-2501
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A personal look at war, soldiering BY STEVE BEGNOCHE MANAGING EDITOR
that with my cousin and across generations .... and looking at it through the guise for ... was the impetus of the project in
T
hose
visiting the Cost of Freedom Tribute Vietnam traveling wall at City Park will also get a sneak peek look at Ryan Spencer Reed’s “Afghanistan: Stands Alone” work that will be on display at this year’s Art Prize in Grand Rapids.
Images from his time training with the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the U.S. and time in Afghanistan will be on display. He’ll also have copies of a four-volume zine with a Meals Ready to Eat theme cover that will be on display and available to read there or purchase and take home. His cousin, Ludington native Tad Reed, is a company commander in the 506th — the Band of Brothers. He sees the traveling wall’s visit as not only as an opportunity to let his and his cousin’s hometown get a first look at the work, but also to raise awareness that while the traveling wall is paying respects to Vietnam-era veterans, “there is an-
RYAN SPENCER REED PHOTO FROM AFGHANISTAN: STANDS ALONE
Mortar men brace for the concussive force of a 120 mortar system as they fire in support of their Afghan security counterparts conducting a night mission outside the wire in Paktia Province, Afghanistan on July 24, 2013.
other generation of soldiers who died, who have served, who are coming home, to a society that is perhaps unprepared in a way for their return,” he said. While today’s war in Afghanistan is different than the Vietnam war, there are similarities, he said. “I think it is appropriate to look to our past to identify what similarities exist,” he said. “What I feel compelled to talk about is that we are
still a violent nation, born as a warrior nation, conceived in violence ....We are almost evangelizing through violence our way of life,” he said. Page and small postersize images dominate the four-volume zine — a self-published story mostly told graphically in this case on newsprint. In essays on the back cover of each volume, Reed shares thoughts of what the volume is about, what he experienced and his
views on how the nation, the world, economics, humanity, the role of war and more interact. He writes that he understood little about a soldier’s life, despite his close relative being in the military. His own personal exploration dealt with how American identities as males are measured by time spent in war or conclict. “To me that is an exploration that required attention,” he said. “The opportunity to examine
near home and as a community, and that could have benefits from being more comfortable and comforting to some, to a chance to begin or further healing from a tumultuous time in America. “I think the wall at the mall feels like hallowed Photographer ground,” Reed said. “The Ryan Spencer challenge for the travReed elling exhibit will be to the first place.” maintain that feeling and He sees a real value in sense in an environment the traveling wall’s visit to that is reclaimed tempoLudington. rarily as an installation “A sense of history is in a site with a life of its very important. History own, before and after the seems so irrelevant unexhibit. til you can draw a direct “The memorial wall in parallel to today because D.C. is an exquisite work we are still experiencing of respect and the design some of the same issues. is tremendous,” Reed We are going to conflict said. “I think it can be for some of the same rea- overwhelming, and I think sons, and some of the dif- it is intended to be. That ferent ones,” he said. is the point. He sees it as “a great “Choosing to go or to alchance for the community low that in,” he continued, to experience a Vietnam “is essentially a pilgrimwall as a communal efage of conscience and that fort.” is something regardless He’s viewed the Vietnam of one’s age or experience Memorial wall in Washing- it can’t but edify one’s ton, D.C., but notes most world view and sense of people usually experigravity of war.” ence that as individuals Reed plans to spend as in a solitary way, with a much time as possible on spouse or a small group. site and said he is looking Here, Reed said, people forward to talking with can experience the travpeople about what they eling memorial together see in his work.
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AFGHANISTAN - ENDURING FREEDOM
Spc. Joe Lancour ‘there for my brothers’ BY KEVIN BRACISZESKI DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
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rmy Spc. Joseph Lancour, who graduated from Ludington High School in 2004, was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2007.
“Joe gave his life for you and me,” the late Rev. Robert Wrasse said to begin the funeral that year, attended by so many people it was held in Hawley Gym at LHS. Wrasse said Lancour gave his life so others can live, gave up his life so others can enjoy freedom. He said it is up to those who loved him to honor Lancour’s
‘Joe gave his life for you and me.’ sacrifice by living their lives and enjoying the freedom earned by the sacrifice of soldiers. Lancour was wounded in an ambush and died of his wounds. His actions meant he received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. Maj. Gen. Lenaers gave those medals to his family members. He was born June 26, 1986, in Cadillac, the son of Robert Lancour and Starla Owens. He joined the Army in January 2006 and trained
at Ft. Benning, Ga. He then enlisted in the Airborne School, where he earned his Airborne Wings. Joe was stationed with the 173rd Airborne Vicenza, Italy. There, he bonded with several young men and became a part of a great unit. He was deployed in May 2007 when Joe and his unit were sent to Afghanistan. “Joe was proud to be a part of 173rd Airborne Division. They were brothers through it all,” his family wrote. He played sports, was artistic, liked to cook, fish, camp and hunt and was interested in muscle cars and antique cars.
DESERT STORM
Staff Sgt. Steven M. Hansen Staff Sgt. Steven M. Hansen was killed by a land mine March 1, 1991. He was married to Sheryl Hansen and father of Stephanie and Kyle, ages 6 and 3, respectively. He was the son of Carole (Don) Schierholt, Branch, and Roger Hansen, Ludington, and a member of C Company, 19th Engineer Battalion, 194th Armored Brigade, and is the only Ft. Knox-based soldier killed in Operation Desert Storm. “He was a gem of a man, a fun-loving man,” Maj. Fowler said during Hansen’s funeral, telling of
hunting trips Steven Hansen took with his father, Roger, a fishing excursion for northern pike with his daughter, Stephanie, and how he would good-naturedly pick on his sister, Chris. “You also tell me he had a sense of purpose,” a purpose that came through when he enlisted in the Army taking on a job “that took real purpose, dignity. “Steve was fulfilling his purpose when he was taking care of his soldiers when he died,” Fowler said. The family was told
he was killed when he stepped on a land mine after warning troops in his squad to get away from a vehicle he suspected might be boobytrapped. “Ask the soldiers about Steven Hansen,” the chaplain said at his service, “and they say he always had a smile for them.” A building at Fort Knox, Ky. was named in Hansen’s honor, the Hansen Center for multi-arts and crafts was dedicated Oct. 30, 1991. JOHN 15:13: “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
He did not tell his family details about his mission in Afghanistan due to confidentiality constraints, but Joe did say he hiked a lot in that mountainous country. Lancour told his family, “I’ve got to be there for my brothers. They’ve got my back and I’ve got theirs.”
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM Sgt. Todd Robbins of Oceana County was killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. He was a Hart High School graduate who left behind a wife and son in addition to his parents, siblings Spc. Joe Lancour and more.
Mason County Veterans Endowment Fund established The Mason County Veterans Endowment Fund was established in 2009 by Budde Reed and Rick Plummer, both Vietnam combat veterans. It provides grants to help with unmet needs of veterans and their families. Funds from the endowment are held and managed by the Community Foundation for Mason County. Assistance is primarily for emergencies and is generally granted to a veteran no more than once during any calendar year; however, the advisory board may use its discretion. One of the fund’s recent grants
was toward the Helping a Hero home build for U.S. Army National Guard Sgt. Eric Lund (retired), who suffered mulSgt. Eric Lund (retired) tiple injuries, including the loss of both his arms in the war in Afghanistan. To learn more about the local fund, contact Rick Plummer or Michelle Hemmer,RJPlummer@ westshore.edu or michelle. hemm@gmail.com.
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“Freedom Is Not Free” Let us never forget the patriotism and courage of those who sacrificed everything for the sake of the country they so dearly loved. It is an honor to recognize the heroism and service of these great American heroes. They have forever earned a place in the heart of our grateful nation.
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While this is quite a collection of stories of our local Vietnam veterans and veterans of other wars, there are many more stories to be told. Keep looking in the Ludington Daily News for more of our veterans’ stories as veterans come forward and want to share them. If you or someone you know is interested in sharing a story, contact us by calling or e-mailing Steve or Patti at 231-845-5182, sbegnoche@ludingtondailynews.com or patti@ludingtondailynews.com.
Pride. Dedication. Honor.
S
Doc’s
auble River Inn
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Remembering Mason County’s Fallen Heroes World War II
Civil War
Charles F. Stewart
World War I
John Benjamin Adams, Frank F. Allen, Adam Anderson, John Albert Anderson, Fredric C. Bertelsen, John F. Borski, Russel C. Bozell, Louis Brozzo, Eric Carlson, Gordon Chadwick, Carl Christensen, Alvia R. Drabenstopt, Dezerei A. Duplessis, Edwin Harold Ewing, Anton Frye, Edwin Glynn, August Gorski, Joseph Hall, John Hanson, Milburn Hawkes, Floyd James Harington, R. D. Keith, Amy Leveaux, Casmer Leveaux, Emery Leveaux, Walter Loxen, Frank Lukaszewicz, Joe Maluky, Joseph F. Maluski, Isadore Meyette, Marion Michael, Otto Miney, William E. Nielson, Francis Joseph Odean, Hans C. Peterson, Michael Przybysz, Walter Rives, Albert Sheppard, Samuel Shinnock, Samuel Henry Shunk, Wilbur Nelson Sims, Louis Stump, Harold L. Sweet, William F. Vogel, Emil B. Vonsprecken, Lester Vorac, Charles Winner, Loyd Woodmanse, August T. Ziolkowski, Joseph Zopel
Korean War Hoarold G. Bentz, Arnold Brooks, Lamont Durfee, David Jensen, Tom Keith, Frank James Madsen Jr., Charles Phillips, Roger Schumacher, Joe Williams
* This is the most comprehensive list available at the time of publication.
Vietnam War
David Aerts, Delbert Brimmer, Roger Dains, Rick Deeds, Leroy Draby, Richard Lange, James Nelson, Bernard Miester
Iraq Desert Storm Steven Hansen
Iraqi Freedom Todd J. Robbins
Afghanistan Enduring Freedom
Stanley Algren, William Appledorn, Karl Argue, Ted Arnold, James Ball, Robert Baltzer, Robert Bashaw, Hans Battice, Francis J. Beebe, Frank V. Benak, Eugene R. Bennet, David Benson, Russel Bentz, Charles D. Berry, Lawrence Berry, Richard Ellis Bigley, Carl Blucker, Charles Boyer, Robert Brown, Herbert T. Carlson, John Chatfield, Dean Cleff, Dean Clough, Donald Copeyon, Elza Crow, Eugene Currott, William Cuthbertson, John A. Danforth, Gerald Dawson, Ralph Durham, Edward Dutchkowski, Ivan Finley, James Fisher, Carl Flannery, Henry L. Frost, Glenn Furnie, Everett L. Futrell, John C. Gibson, Alvin R. Gillett, Walter Grabowski, Fredrick Hansen, Stanley L. Hansen, Arnold Hargrieves, Carl Harrington, Charles Harrington, Garland Heyse, Olin Hilgendorf, Carl Jensen, Robert E. Johnson, Joseph H. Jones, Rolland C. Kiehl, Earl R. Kotwitz, Walter L. Krzymicki, Marquis D. Lake, Russel C. Landes, Ambrose Landin, Howard E. Lehrbass, Thomas R. Lepak, Walter Lorenz, William Lorenz, Weldon G. Luskin, Robert Marrison, William G. McCaw, Earnest P. McDaquette, James McDonald, John E. McKenzie, Albert Monton, Martin Morse, Howard D. Nelson, Frank Newlin, William E. Olson, James W. Outcalt, Isadore Pahoski, Peter Paulukitis, Harry Peterson, Hermon Peterson, Raymond Radtke, Cleo R. Raley, Chester R. Reid, Dave Ruschkewicz. Roger Riffle, Charles J. Rogan, Jack Ruger, James Ruschkewicz, Lawrence E. Sabin, Lacey Schrader, Marvin J, Sheldon, Carl R. Smith, Ivan Smith, John Smith, Harold Snyder, Vincent Spurgis, William Sterling, C.M. Stever, George Stillwell, Martin Sundholm, Clifford Sutter, G.J. Swinehart Jr.,Walter H. Thompson, Eric Thorne, Francis Alden Thorne, Arthur Tower, E. F. VanDervaart, Walter White, Albin Wincheski, Thure Lore Wisen, John Wittbecker, Lex E. Woody, Edward Yeck, William Young, Gerald Young, Walter Zajac
Joseph M. Lancour
They Gave Their Lives We honor the brave servicemen and servicewomen whose hopes and dreams were cut short in battle. They sacrificed their own lives to protect the lives and freedom of others. Noble, courageous and just, we remember them today and every day in our thoughts and prayers.
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tremble, Longing for their families did not make them fall, For our country they stood, So that we may have comfort in our sleep Remember in your heart And in those tears shed That these heroes fought to keep our lives lit ahead Standing in front of mist and dirt they did not
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Land of the free Because of the brave.
We proudly honor and remember those who served in the U.S. Armed Forces and the great sacrifices they made during the Vietnam War.