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VETERANS FORUM

Welcome to the Mount Lebanon High School Message Forum.

 

 

WELCOME TO THE VETERAN'S FORUM

Most of us know of the sacrifices made by many of our classmates.     This forum is designed to provide an opportunity for those who served to share memories and photos about their time of service.

This forum is open to any classmate who wishes to post a comment or share a memory about a classmate they know who served our country.

Our purpose is to recognize and honor Veterans, not to revisit wounds from the past.

Thank you... to all of our classmates who have served this country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 
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06/04/17 10:45 AM #12    

 

Susan Sitomer (McKee)

Dave, how diffifficut it must be for you to tell your story.  I was married to a Marine for 41 years.  Agent Orange contributed to his death. I compliment you on your positive attitude. Thank you to you and all who served. Please do continue your story.


06/04/17 11:13 AM #13    

Philip K. Curtis

Never made it to Vietnam, during or after the Conflict, but was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the USAR as an ROTC student at Harvard Law School. Other than a 2 week stint with the Massachusetts National Guard as Division Photo Officer (not exactly a Green Beret unit!), my sole active duty consisted of 4 months in Signal Corps Officer School at Ft. Gordon, GA.  Despite these modest miliatary achievements, I will be serving on a 4-person panel this weekend at my 50th Class Reunion at Dartmouth College exploring how Vietnam affected our families and classmates.  Quite a departure from the usual reunion fare, but I am looking forward to it.  As an aside, I have been "collecting" autographs of Medal of Honor recipients, now have 46 of the 79 living (some deceased), several of whom reign from the Vietnam War. These veterans are the real heroes!


06/04/17 01:51 PM #14    

Robert E. Morris

I was a Berry Planner- I you agree to two years service and we will allow you to finish your residnecy traiing.  Given I'd spent most of the first year in the Neonatal ICU it seems prudent to  avoid  being sent to Vietman aas a General medical officer with no adult training.  Ironically, 2 months after signing up, the draft was elimiated and I'd have been "safe".  First tour was a year in Korea extended to a 13 months while I was there.  Army was short of cash to move troops  Most single  MDs ended up in places like Korea. MY buddy from residency who was married was allocted to Whidby Island Naval Air Station where he already owned a home. In Korea I was one of 3 pediatricins for 20,000 kids many with Korean mothers.  Lots of very small premies.  It was a challenge that I hated at the time.  Later looking back I realized it was a wonderful experience.  During my time there, I took a 3 week trip to Taiwan, the Philipines, Borneo, Singapore, Maylasia, Thailand, and Hong Kong.    An adventure  that couldn't be replicated today.  Back in the US I was stationed at Fort Ord in Monterey, California.  Decided to sign up for an additonal year given Monterey was a wonderful place to live. Then the Army offered me a research position in San Farancisco, the center of Gay  life in the US.  There I spend 3 years conducting liver reserch and serving as the  physician for the US Armed Forces Nutritional survey team.  We did two studies at West Point. The first "proved" that breakfast wasn't essential for optimal physical performance.  The aim was to end the requirement for all cadets sitting at breakfast  with enough food for all even though about a third didn't eat.  The Academy could save lots of money by reducing the quantity of breakfast cooked each morning.  The Commadant overruled the study stating he knew as a man from the midwest that breakfast was the foundation a healthy life.  The second study involved messuring the body fat of the football team.  Under Army rules the body weight of the linemen was too high to allow them to graduate.  However, the Army football team had to win and to win you need BIG linemen.  We proved that the football team had little fat and lots of muscle so they were allowed to  continue to win and better yet graduate. After 3 years the army said how about Fort Sill Oklahoma and I said count me out and I was off to Los Angeles. Interesting, the Army cared little to nothing about my being gay during those 6 years.  While in Monterey, I lived with a private who was studing languages at the Defense Language Institute.  I dropped him off each morning at the school and drove myself to work.  I was a major big no, no according to fraternization regs, not to mention we were both gay. There was nary a raised eyebrow, I was a founding member of the San Francisco Gay Mens Chorus while stationed in San Francisco.  No worries.   When the  military needed physicians they  seemed to be acccepting.  It all started during the two week  introduction to Army life  when I first entered the service.  Our instructors the first day said." You may wonder  how we think about being gay.  Well in the last class two new Army Medical Corp officers went to the commanding  general and said we are gay and therefore we should be discharged.  He responded when one of you gets pregnant come back and see me, otherwise get back to work."  The instructors went on to say the Army knew half of the corpmen on the base, Ft Sam Houston, were gay and we don't care.  In retrospect the 6 years were interesting and loaded with experiences both medical and socially that I couldn't have expereienced any other way.  Forgive any typos, I didn't do well in typing class at Mellon Jr. high.  Robby Morris 

 

 


06/04/17 03:33 PM #15    

Robert E. Morris

I should have mentioned one more Army event.  Shortly after arriving at the Letterman Army Institue fo Research in San Francisco a young women who was a technician in the lab asked me if my ring was the class ring from Mt. Lebanon.  It was Valerie Stoody.  What a coincdence to be working in the same lab 3000 miles from Lebo.  I  lost track of Valerie after I moved away.  Robby 


06/05/17 09:46 AM #16    

 

Richard (Dick) Wilson

During my first year of law school at Boston University I lost my student deferment and after a fruitless effort to find a reserve unit, I enlisted in the Army for Officer Candidate School.  Took Basic Training at Fort Dix NJ. Advanced training as a combat engineer at Fort Lenord Wood MO and six months OCS at Fort Benning GA with a commission as a 2d LT of Infantry.  Finished 3d in my class and got to choose my 1st assignment in Germany.  Served for two years (1970-72) as an Operations Officer in the G3 Section of VII Corps Headquarters in Stuttgart, As an additional assignment I was also Commanding Officer of the 305th Military History Detachment!  Most of my assignment was to supervise security forces for nucler weapons storage sites in southern Germany and to rehearse nuclear release authentication procedures in the event the "balloon" went up should the Russians come accross the border.  Just as I was scheduled for a tour in Viet Nam, the Army announced a reduction in force and I was able to get out in 90 days!!!  Had to retake my first year of law school, but graduated from Villanova Law School in 1977.  Stayed in the Army Reserve to supplement my GI Bill benefits and wound up as Commanding Officer of the 405 Military History Detachment stationed at Willow Grove Navel Air Station outside of Philadelphia and trained with the 82 Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, NC.  I think I was the only Army officer to command both an active duty and a reserve Military History Detachment!  Who knew where AP History would lead me!!  All in all I was extremely blessed by God to avoid an assignment in Southeast Asia because there are a number of my OCS classmates whose names are now on the Viet Nam Memorial in Washington DC.


06/05/17 12:21 PM #17    

William Ashby

I arrived at Bucknell U in 1964.  After starting the skydiving club I made my exit.  Parents real happy about that.  Jumped on the troop train đźš‚ in Pittsburgh in September 1967 to Ft Jackson S.C.  Off to Pleiku, Vietnam Nam after A.I.T. At Ft Lee, Va in 1968.  Served in supply mostly in base camp supporting 175 and 8" gun batteries in the jungle.  99% boredom and 1% terror.  Got divorce papers from wife, Mary Peak, and managed to go home on emergency leave!  I really don't know how I managed that, but thanks Mary, as Pleaku was overrun a month later.  You probably saved my life.  Arrived at Ft Ord, CA on the Monterey Peninsula and have been here ever since.  I owe everything to the US Army.  I was promoted to SSG e-6 in under 2 years.  I received the BEST education in life in the Army and I arrived in Monterey.  

They sent me here where I met my best friend and wife, Grace, adopted her daughter, started a business, got rich, learned to play golf and retired!  As I write this I'm in bed looking at the 18th green of Laguna Seca golf course.  College drop out, Go figure!

 

 

 


06/06/17 08:26 AM #18    

 

Art Stroyd

I didn’t intend to post any memories from the service until I read that Phil Curtis would be on a panel discussing how the Vietnam war affected lives. I never went to Vietnam, but I look back on those years as having had a big influence on me and my life:
• I was in my first year of law school when the draft law changed to eliminate most deferments for graduate students. Because of the high percentage of high graduates from Mt. Lebanon going to college, our Draft Board was hard-pressed to meet its quota, and every healthy, unmarried male who was not an undergraduate or not teaching would inevitably be drafted into the Army or Marines. So, every guy in my law school class along with other graduate programs immediately visited the recruiters for officer programs. When we showed up in the Federal Building, there were folding chairs lining both sides of the hallways, and the lines were so long that we had to pick a single branch of the military for an interview. I chose the Navy because I liked the old TV series Navy Log and because I thought that they had the best looking uniforms. (I used to tell people that I chose the Navy because it was the safest branch of the military - the North Vietnamese not having a navy or an air force, but I was not that calculating when I signed up.) The recruiter told us that there were only 4 officer billets to be filled from Pittsburgh at that time so no one was optimistic that he’d make the cut.
• With mixed emotions, I got the news that I had been accepted into the Officer Candidates School in Newport, Rhode Island – "mixed" because, although I would not be in a foxhole in Vietnam, I would have to leave law school. Like every other guy whose life and career plans were turned upside down, I remember feeling like I was being forced to pay an extra “tax” that those who weren’t subject to the draft didn’t have to pay – a tax that meant that plans for a career would be suspended for years to come.
• Long story short, I was commissioned and was assigned to a remote air facility in the Southern California desert that hosted a bombing range, that tested parachutes and that was far from Vietnam – yes, Ralph, God did protect some of us. Perhaps one of my most difficult memories from that duty station was saying goodbye to fighter pilots as they took off from our base to land on an aircraft carrier bound for the war. I still remember waving goodbye to a number of friends including Dave Thompson (Mt. Lebanon Class of ’64) who never returned.
• Being on active duty in those days was confusing – being maligned because we had short hair (a telltale sign of being on active duty) and hearing “lifers” cheer when protesters at Kent State were killed. As the base’s legal officer, I had the job of deciding when our special “security team” could use force against protesters who might try to enter our base – something that never happened to my relief.
• By the time that I was discharged, had finished law school and had joined a law firm, I was years behind former classmates on a partnership track and on a salary scale – part of that discriminatory “tax” that some of us were forced to pay.
• If you had asked me while I was on active duty, I would have said that, although there were plenty of good moments, I resented every day that my career and life had been side-tracked; however, looking back, I realize that the Navy, being something close to a meritocracy, taught me that hard work pays off and that, by investing 100% of yours efforts in a job, you receive a return many times over.

Like so many of us, I didn’t volunteer out of patriotism or because I believed in the cause that was being fought. I "volunteered" because I was draft-induced. But I now look back on my military service as having had a profound effect on my drive and my life, and I wouldn’t trade that experience.

06/07/17 09:19 AM #19    

 

Fred E. Maurhoff

My story is not as "exciting" as others that have been posted here.  I started working after college in Chicago with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell, but knew my draft notice was constantely hanging over me.  So in February 1968 I decided to enlist in the Navy, thinking that I would be safer on a ship at sea(I never thought of the patrol boats in the Mekong Delta).  I was shocked when the Navy turned me down for poor vision(20/800, but corrected to 20/20) and "arthritic tendencies"(I had a knee operation in college, and have had both knees replaced in 2007).  My draft notice arrived in March, and the Army turned me down for the same reasons. With a huge sigh of relief, I was able to apply for grad school at Pitt, and spent a wonderful SAFE year commuting to Pitt with Gordon Brown to earn my MBA.


06/07/17 12:29 PM #20    

Joel M. Turk

My military experience is not nearly as colorful as most I read here, but here goes. I signed on with the Army my first year of dental school. We had a choice to have the government pay for school and pay back 2 years service for each one they paid for or 1 year service if we paid our own expenses. I chose the later. I will try to add a little humor to my experience. First, came orientation at Fort Sam Houston for an "0fficer basic" of 1 month. This took place in August, I believe, and San Antonio is really hot at that time of year. Our group  was ,of course all dentists and medical officers, spent most of our month in an air  conditioned classroom.  We had through inspections of the O- club and were oriented to the Army way of providing care and filling out the proper forms.  I remember we marched twice and saw pictures of individual weapons, tanks and aircraft.  We even learned the parts of a battlefield! Our weapons training consisted of one trip to the rifle range and one map course. We were sworn in and became officers and gentlemen by act of Congress (yes, the one in the big white building in Washington).  We were commissioned as Captains and taught how to salute.  I do remember walking into the pool at the hotel where we were staying, fully clothed and still wearing boots after the map course.  I was then assigned to Fort Campbell ,Kentucky, home of the 101st airborne. A sign at the entrance to the base read " Beware of low flying aircraft".  My wife and I knew then we were in the Army now. At Ft Campbell I learned the accomplishments of the 101st. They are many and glorious including Bastogne and Vietnam. It was a privlege to treat these troops who had a 150% casualty rate in Vietnam.  I have never figured out why the troops were so poorly treated, but the politicians  escaped the same wrath.  In addition to my professional duties I became my commander's tennis partner and spent many afternoons on the tennis court. Additional time was spent treating Dependents and the retired.  We even had mandatory PT on the golf course on a bimonthly basis. This accounts for my aversion to golf.A In golf the most fun is driving the cart.  I even had a very brief encounter with boxing. (Much too much training for this couch potatoe. I did learn the value of teamwork ,a respect for continuous training to increase my skills and the value of hard work with a "patience and perciverance" to complete tasks. We were informed our services were no longer needed and ETSed in 22 months.Looking back it was a valuable personal and professional experience.  I think my tour which was completely stateside was a function of arriving on the scene in 1972 rather than 1967. I don't know how I might have handled Vietnam.


06/07/17 12:50 PM #21    

Vaughn Gordy

ROUND-ABOUT "VOLUNTEER"

I started college at Grove City which had mandatory two years of Air Force ROTC.  At the end of the second year we had the "opportunity" to take the AFOQT (Air Force Officer Qualification Test).  If you were willing to spend an extra 2 hours, you could also take the portions of the test that qualified for Pilot and/or Navigator.  I stayed and passed the pilot and navigator portions of the test.

I transferred to Penn State for my junior year and was VERY happy not to have to dress up and march around for ROTC. However, when I graduated, there were only deferments for graduate school or marriage and I wasn't ready for either.  So I decided to volunteer.  

I went to the Air Force recruiting station in State College, PA and told the recruiter that if he could locate my AFOQT exam scores and get me into the pilot training program, I would enlist.  He did and I did.  This was September 1967.  

It took the Air Force until December to complete the paperwork and invite me to Lackland AFB,TX for traininig.  In the meantime, in early November, I received my draft notice from the Army.  It took a phone call and a letter to our congressman to get them to hold off until the Air Force acceptance arrived.  Officer Candidate School began in San Antonio, TX in February 1968.

I completed 53 weeks of pilot training at Webb AFB in beautiful Big Spring, TX in June,1969, C-130 Hercules training Nashville, TN in October, Survival School in Spokane, WA in early November and was flying in Vietnam by the end of November, 1969. 

I flew all kinds of missions in Vietnam, saw every landing strip that had at least 2,500 feet of dirt and was eventually awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for missions into Khe Sanh in 1971.


06/07/17 03:44 PM #22    

Mary Cullen

so glad you made it back

 


06/08/17 10:56 PM #23    

Beverly Reynolds (Poellot)

Beverly Reynolds Poellot

It's been interesting to read the Veteran's Forum posts and the commonalities, because my husband (from Upper Saint Clair) was drafted (last month of eligibility).Because of his excellent education, he graduated first in his advanced cartographic drafting class. He, however, did not get any of his choices, but was not sent to Vietnam as all of his classmates were. He designed a golf course for a general at Fort Jackson, South Carolina before being sent to Thailand where he mapped counter insurgency from his office in a vault (top secret clearance).  I accompanied him and, because I was not initially sponsored, I had my choice of going to Cambodia or Laos every month to get my visa stamped. My husband was not cleared to go with me as I crossed the Mekong River into Laos once a month. I started working at the American International School after a couple of months and thus had a visa for the rest of the 2 years. God was very good to us, we had great experiences traveling and arrived home safely with a 5 month old daughter, who was born in the Army hospital. My husband came home to a job as a golf course architect in Palo Alto, CA. because of people he met in Thailand. Sounds as if I have classmates in the area and some like to golf as we do. We just celebrated our 50th anniversary. Susan Maxwell Thomsen, who I've known since first grade lives about 20 minutes away.


06/09/17 09:30 AM #24    

Margaret Durkin (Brinkman)

Such an interesting life you guys had at the start! Designing golf courses in the middle of that mess? Lucky for all of you. Margie Durkin 


06/09/17 12:19 PM #25    

Elizabeth (Liz) Anderson (Clay)

I, too, have enjoyed everyone's responses.  I appreciate all of your contributions during your time in the service.  America was so cruel to its veterans when they returned from such an unpopular war.  But times have changed, and we realize now that our attitudes were disgraceful.  I thank each of you for your service, and am so glad you returned safely.


06/10/17 07:46 PM #26    

 

David R. Chapman

David Chapman back. Thanks for the over whelming support. Terry Rock I would not like to have been my patient either after the OC martini special. And Robt. Morris your comment from your CO about being gay. The military was a mixed bag of metaphors. Such as we pretended to work and they pretended to pay us  The martini thing occurred when we were off duty but we were never really off the job  Don't ask don't tell was in effect for gay people One of our 4 OB/GYNs was gay which I didn't know until he took me to the city museum where some of his artwork was on display then to his off base studio apt and I met all of his gay friends  What mattered was that he was a great Doctor Often he would take a patient back to his office where they would talk and smoke for 30 minutes  The patients loved him  more on Anthony later  

My first day on base while being processed in they sent me to the Dental clinic where I had panorex dental x-rays  I told the Corpsman this is great when do I get to see the dentist? He said Doc the dentist is never going to see these  That had a chilling effect  

The 16 Doctors rotated MOD medical officer of the day.  Which took you off your normal duty to handle anything in hospital the ER The flight surgeons office and the flight line for things like a crash landing  Or a BINGO landing which was a code word for out or nearly out of fuel and may not make it to the runway  l was fortunate to be the MOD on the day that a  SR-77 BLACK BIRD spy plane prior to satellites declared an inflight emergency and was directed to land at SHAW AFB since we had the only required 19" concrete landing strip  I was close enough to be standing next to the General when I heard him ask the  pilot what happened  and he said l don't know sir but everything on the dash went red  They got out with space suits on cause they were flying in outer,space  

We had one of the 6 ATH's in the Air Force ( air transportable hospitals ) and could be sent anywhere in the world and could be ready in 24 hours. Like the Army' MASH UNIT as seen on TV ( MEDICAL AND SURGICAL HOSPITAL) except we could get there a hell of a lot faster. Well the call came and we were going to a war zone. They needed one OB/GYN. Anthony was choosen as he was single. The other 2 OB 'S were career while Anthony and I were the 2 year draftees. Accept this was his last week then he was out. So I went by to cheer him up and noticed a gallon bottle of vodka with a rope attached as a shoulder strap. The airmen worked all night putting up these gigantic circus tents to take invintory prior to loading on the C-130's for an 0700 wheels up. Well the chief master Sargent was also due to retire in one week so there was a major fire in the pharmaceutical tent which scrubbed our mission and we were ordered to stand down. 

More later but I want to hear some submarine stories from Buck Wilson 

And Hal no wisecracks about haircut     David 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


06/16/17 09:19 PM #27    

 

David R. Chapman

Hal seeing that haircut and the fact that it never grew right I thought I should have been given a permanent disability. HaHa  

Well this brings up another memory and Margie D  this ones for you   I was in my residency when abortions became legal and witnessed a sharp drop in mortality from criminally butchered women  We were not allowed the luxury of making a moral judgment  our duty was to take care of women  we were required to obtain the skill set to do this properly then after obtaining competency could decide if we wanted to do that in practice   Well the base hospital got all of it's staffing and everything else based entirely on patient numbers  and their was a big demand for abortions  The hospital commander knew I was trained and thought it would be a good idea for me to provide this service when I declined l was sentenced to serve on the MEB  medical evaluation board   This is where exiting troops came to see if they qualified for a disability  Which was all orthopedic or psychiatric and there stories were all so heart wrenching that I gave them all 100%  They were all re-evaluated and I was taken off the MEB  The next hospital move was to establish a monthly Pap Smear only day   And there was a sign in front of the OB/GYN clinic that read Today is Pap Smear Only Day Do Not Ask The Doctor Any Questions He Will Not Answer You  If You Have A GYN Problem Make An Appointment   Enough for now  More later  David Chapman 

 


06/17/17 07:32 AM #28    

Margaret Durkin (Brinkman)

Morning Dave....well those were some unnerving assignments you were offered. I like how you said you "were sentenced to"....guess you were way to sympathetic to their liking. Priceless sign...."don't ask Dr. any questions" I'll bet you found your way  around that and answered away. Funny the things you don't forget! Thanks for sharing those memories. We are both up early. Can't get those hospital hours out of our systems. I'm trying tho!


06/17/17 09:13 PM #29    

Beverly Reynolds (Poellot)

You've faced some complicated issues and decisions about what you do. Just came from an anti-Human trafficking event. I've been involved for 15+ years and can you believe the estimate of those trafficked (modern day slavery) is 30 million? And no it is not just international. Estimate of 100,000- 300,000 per year in the US who are trafficked are children!


09/09/17 09:21 AM #30    

 

Albert (Duff). Young

After reading our classmates' stories of their military experience, I was reminded of my own brief and long ago non-military, military experience.  It motivated me to write a column for the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Richmond, Virginia where I now live.  Here is a link to the article for any of you who are interested.http://www.richmond.com/life/in-my-shoes/in-my-shoes-military-story/article_681b5eba-2997-55bf-90f7-44370f490f86.html


08/06/18 02:16 PM #31    

Hal Morgans

Michael Curry
My father Michael Curry died early yesterday morning 8/2/18.  He was known to stick up for little guys. He was a US Marine who served in Vietnam, and other veterans who knew him spoke highly of his service. After losing several pints of blood in an ambush, he became a lifelong blood donor, giving as often as he could, and even complained when he couldn't.

By Patrick Curry.


11/02/19 10:56 PM #32    

Paul Schaaf

Like others, my US service was not very exciting. I was in my freshman year of college when I got a letter from a friend who was on the draft board in DC and was told my name was on the list to be drafted. I was not ROTC, so I knew which branch of the service I would be selected for, so I signed up for the Navy.

When I got to the recruitment center I was told that I was scheduled to be in the submarine service of the Navy. I was given a physical and when I went for the eye test (take off your glasses and cover your left eye and read the first line you can see), I told the corpsman the I knew the first line was an E. He did not appreciate the humor and told me that I had failed the eye test and would not be allowed to work on submarines (darn the luck, I was not going to be in a sardine can under water).

I asked for a billet (job title) as a Photographer‘s Mate but was instead offered a billet as an ET (Electronics Technician). The catch was that I would have 1-1/2 years of training and would have to sign up for an extra two years. The benefit was that I would have training that I could use in the civilian workplace, be eligible for extra GI Bill benefits and would to advance to E3 and receive a $2500 bonus once I passed the schooling. The money was a lot back then, I put it in a fund and had enough to purchase a new car when I got out of the service.

Apparently the Navy had open ET billets to fill and part of the requirements was a high score on the IQ test, and of course there were a lot of guys that turned down the offer because of the extra two years. The course of study was tough, but I made it through. I did not find out that the reason that schooling was so tough for me is that I am dyslexic until I was almost 50.

I got married to Patricia after boot camp and she was with me during my training, in my first assignment on a Guided Missile Destroyer that was in dry dock after being commissioned. We did a shakedown cruise to Cuba to make sure the ship was ready to go to Vietnam. When we got back I was transferred to a WWII ship that was recommissioned  for service and was getting ready for its first cruise. We did a 6 month cruise to the Mediterranean, after which my wife joined me in New Port RI. My first son was born while I was away, which is when I decided that I was not going to do my time and get out. By this time I was an E5.

After a few months the ship got orders to head to Vietnam. I called my friend in Washington and he said that the Navy was not spending money to move people unless they had to but he would see what he could do. The day before the ship was to leave I got a call and was told that a Destroyer Tender at the same pier was looking for an ET and he would do the paperwork, but it was up the my Captain. I went into the base and on the ship and was summand to the Captains office. He said he had signed my release and if I was able to get off the ship before it set sail in ½ hour I was free to go to the new ship. IO had to rush through and gather all my things and get checked out by several different officers. By the time I made it to the gang plank to get off it was already pulled in and they were ready to cast off. I tossed my sea bag on the pier and jumped, almost falling in the water and spraining my ankle.

When I go to my new ship, I was told that they would be leaving in a week to go to the Mediterranean, and it would be home ported in Naples Italy for two years. There was not time to get all the paperwork to get my wife and son over to Naples and she would have to come over a month later. So I spent the remainder of my Navy time in Naples Italy, missing a trip to Vietnam twice.

Wife and I did take a trip (taking our youngest son and his wife) to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos earlier this year.

I did have some adventures, such as meeting Carlos Santana in Palma-de-Mallorca and learning to drive a standard transmission in the heart of Rome, Italy, if interested I will detail some of them.


03/24/20 01:46 PM #33    

Hal Morgans

 Robert M. Ricketts | Sent on: 03/23/20 03:49 PM

My service as a general medical officer in the Army, June, 1971 to July, 1973, was unlike any other. I was never sent to officers´ basic training, so I showed up at my obscure, remote duty assignment day one, and had to look up instructions to see where to put my pins and patches on the uniform. We staffed a ten bed hospital in the high desert of California, where most of the personnel griped about the isolation. I loved it, the surrounding mountains, the sage brush, the volcanic peaks, nearby Sierra Nevada, coyotes, bobcats and no light pollution. 

Dealt with car crashes, gunshot wounds, morbid obesity, spousal abuse, a burning mobile home on New Years´ Eve, from which none of the family members survived more than a week. If I knew then what I know now, I would have gone into dermatology instead of emergency medicine. 

I benefited from my Army stint and still recognize the flawed system that fuses such a wide range of humans into a semi functioning organization. 

I appreciate the service of the hundreds of thousands of folks who were in harm´s way while I was safely stateside.


10/27/20 04:11 PM #34    

Mark M. Fowler

Mark Fowler 

Mark served  in the USMC Corps for 14 years in electronics. He spent a two year tours in Chu Lai keeping jets flying. 


07/10/22 12:21 PM #35    

Hal Morgans

Richard (Rick) K Cross

Rick served his country as a proud Captain of the United States Army Aircorp as a sky soldier (paratrooper) in the airborne infantry. He was awarded the Bronze Star for bravery in combat during the Viet Nam War. He was honored to be interred in the National Cemeteries of the Alleghenies with full military honors of a 21 gun salute and the playing of Taps!


12/05/22 11:22 AM #36    

Hal Morgans

John W Woodrick

After graduating from Mt. Lebanon High School in Pittsburgh, PA, he joined the U.S. Navy and served as a nuclear technician aboard the USS Enterprise and completed several tours during the Vietnam War.  After leaving the Navy, he graduated from Roosevelt University in Chicago and went on to have a successful career outside the military. 
 


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