Moments I remember…

Ft. Carson

My first life’s lesson on how to motivate a large group of people was from an order issued to our company, just before deployment. This order gave everyone in our company the privilege to wear Crew Chief Wings; including, cooks, administration, motor pool and so on.

I remember asking SFC White why after all my training, as a helicopter mechanic/crew chief with a specific MOS, why someone with a non-related MOS, is able to wear these wings.  His answer was simple…The ability for everyone in the company to wear these wings will instill pride in their unit and forge a team effort to a common goal.

With these Crew Chief Wings we all boarded the ship and left for war.

USS General John Pope

Departure

As I boarded the vessel that afternoon it was like being in a daze.  I can still remember the way that boat smelled and the plumes of smoke being discharged from its two stacks.  We were moving about the ship bumping into each other with Navy and Marine Officers with ranks we couldn’t make-out and saluting at every turn.  We final realized there was no saluting on-board ship.

The lines disconnected from the dock and the USS Pope distanced itself from our world.

The sun was hot and the smell of the sea breeze was calming until the bow approached the Golden Gate Bridge.  Everyone on-deck suddenly started yelling and waving as we passed under the bridge; a young girl had stationed herself at the center of the bridge waving and blowing kisses to us until we passed underneath her. 

At that moment she was everyone’s girl. 

Time at sea

On-board it was easy to fool yourself about the reality of war. We had thirty days on the water, our tour started when we left the dock and we would have eleven months left when we reached Viet Nam…cake walk!

Our time spent was easy duty, mopping decks and taking the mops to the transom and lowering them down into the prop wash for cleaning.  It always amazed me how white that mop head got from doing that.  We had one-hour Vietnamese lessons, no help, and plenty of time to read.

At night we could see the jellyfish light up the water along the ship and would lie on sections of the deck and gaze at enormous stars.  All was well…until.

Typhoon

The afternoon developed with rough seas as we secured the ship for bad weather. 

By dark the vessel was pitching aggressively and general orders were sounded to close all hatches and return to quarters.  I decided, being young, this was an opportune time to go topside and investigate.  Yes we were in a Typhoon!  Our only way to safety was to head into the eye.  The wind was so forceful I could hardly open the door to sneak on deck.

As the door finally opened I could see the bow in the moonlight plunging into the dark sea and buried itself with a sixty-five foot wave.  The vessel had pitched so far into the water that the props where free wheeling out of the sea. 

The USS Pope shook and vibrated with anger. It was time to close the door.

Warning… DO NOT SIT ON THE HEAD WHILE SHIP IS IN PITCHING MOTION!

Cam Rahn Bay

After a week in Dong Ba Thin I had to take my first ride off the compound, over a floating bridge and to the port of Cam Rahn Bay. I drove my duce and a half to the pier, parked my truck and went into the shipping office to get directions to pick-up our cargo.

I returned to my truck to find it missing and no one around.  I had to find an MP, which helped me locate the truck inside an open bow transport vessel headed for Okinawa.  The loadmaster said he thought it was a vehicle to be shipped.  You Think?

Hootch Maid Transport

Since I had an Army Drivers License, I deiced to volunteer to pick-up and return Vietnamese workers from their village an hour away every morning before five AM.

A companion and I left for the two-hour trip in the morning and returned them in the late afternoon.  We always felt safe if we ever encountered any VC; we could definitely hold them off with one M-16 a clip and eight rounds in a Colt .38.

One morning we left before sunrise in a cloud of red dust to retrieve our workers.  It was a cool December morning with the smell of bread baking in the passing hamlets.  Something left over from the French, I’m sure.  As we entered the village we saw no one… no kids, no family, no Honcho, not even a dog.  VC had hit the village that night.

I quickly turned around that 55 MPH duce and half and was doing sixty-five all the way home!

 

Welcome to Dong Ba Thin

So far everything was moving along nicely; we were filling sandbags, fabricating buildings, taking cold showers and writing letters.  But this was going to change in the darkness of a cold December morning.  Sirens where blowing and the sky was lit with Red and White Star Flares. The adrenaline was flowing as we ran to the field, I could smell the exhaust fumes of JP-4 while the rotating beacons flashed under the turning rotor blades.  That morning as we walked around the compound there was a deafening silence as more people were told about the helicopter crash. 

Maj. Goodspeed, WO1 Hubard and my two friends Richard Pratt and Jesse Gordy were our first casualties.

We were officially in country…Ten months and a wake-up.

Franz Fremont (di Leonardo)

Stallion Crew Chief

11/67 - 10/68