When I finally graduated from High School I started at Arlington Jr. College in summer school. I was late registering so I ended up taking English Grammar and Calculus or at least Algebra that I was not prepared for. I was flunking out of college and mom was about to refinance the house. I felt guilty about it and that she might loose the house over my not being able to pass college. I do not know what sent me there but I went to downtown Fort Worth to the Recruiter building. I went in the door and just happened to try the USAF recruiter first. The recruiter told me that they were about to have a 6 Flags flight that would be sworn in at 6 Flags for their grand opening on August 15th 1961 (remember that was Anne’s birthday) We would be guaranteed to go through basic together and we all had guaranteed jobs. I tested and got Missile electronics so I signed up. Mom was very disappointed because she wanted me to get a college education. While growing up mom did not even give us a choice about College, it was just the next step after High School. I felt good about it because I was doing something that I could be responsible for yet felt badly because I disappointed mom that I did not finish college.
It was exciting with the USAF, and at the time that I joined I was really subject to the draft with my bad grades that I was getting in college. It is hard for young people to understand this but then it was real. In 1961 we were not really at war but the thought of going through Army Basic was a very scary idea. I joined the AF because I was scared of the ARMY.
On August 15, 1961 (my sisters birthday) we went for an all day at the brand new 6-Flags over Texas with a swearing into the USAF on television and a flight to Lackland AFB (in 1961 flying across Texas was not normal and a real treat). I had been smoking since about 16 or 17 and at the time I joined the USAF I was 19. We got to Lackland and it was late at night. They took us to the dorm and had us get in bed. We were told that we had a barracks guard and we were told not to get out of the bed for any reason. It was so scary that I was scared to get up and go to the bathroom, by the next morning I was hurting. Of course the next day we got issued our uniforms, get shots and start processing. They started teaching us to march (I had an edge with my NDCC in high school). We had classes in safety, health, USAF policies, law, and of course lots on wearing the uniform and keeping it clean. I did get into trouble once when I walked into the "latrine" when some others were smoking (you were not supposed to in the dorm or anytime without permission) they handed me the butt and I took it as a kind of reflex and the TI (Training Instructor or DI if it had been ARMY) came in right behind me. I was caught and really got chewed out. I had to get into the "Wall Locker" and smoke a whole pack of cigaretts with out getting any ashes on the floor. Of course the punishment did not last that long but you can bet that I did not smoke again when I was not supposed to. A few days into Basic Training as part of my processing and re-testing that everyone got I was informed that my specialty of Missile Electronics that I was guaranteed when I enlisted was not possible to people that were color blind. This was the first time that I got any indication that I was color blind I could not understand the dot chart they were showing me it just looked like colored dots until they got over half way through it. Well they gave me a choice of becoming a Aerospace Ground Equipment Mechanic or a discharge (then I could still be drafted) and I choose to stay in the AF.
I will skip to VietNam now and return and finish the middle part later.
After returning from Turkey I was assigned to Cannon AFB, New Mexico to the 27th TFW (Tactical Fighter Wing). This was a TDY (Temporary DutY) outfit who’s job it was to perform missions all over the world for 3 months or less at a time. I was single at the time and loved to travel so I volunteered every time a new trip came up. There were married people in the shop and they all wanted to stay with their families and loved the idea that I would go without complaining. I can not remember what order we traveled but will try to list the places we went. I went to Misawa Japan (3months), Hawaii (2 weeks), TokLee Thailand (1month), then on to Danang VietNam.
We arrived in Danang to replace another Fighter Wing and took over some of their equipment. This was in about 1964 and the war had not escalated very much. We could go downtown and go out to eat or shop. There were warnings that we had to be careful because a cycyclo driver could quickly run you out of town if you did not pay attention to where he was taking you and trade you to the VietCong for $200. We all rode the AF bus town and back. Some of the guys would hang around the bars and try to pick up prostitutes (that was also a dangerous possibility) I went to town several times with some others to a restaurant in a Hotel on the river. I fell in love with Cantonese Fried Rice and to this day is one of my favorite oriental foods. We would go to the Hotel and order a big plate of Cantonese Fried Rice with French Bread and real butter and a Coke for about $0.65 for the whole meal.
When riding the bus to and from the town the traffic of small motorbikes and bicycles was packed and that was on of the ways the VC would get to us then. We had Screens over the windows so they could not throw Hand Granades in the windows. These were the old BlueBird school bus type and did not have air conditioning. Of course the temperature in Danang was around 85 to 90 all of the time and would cool down to about 80 at night.
We lived in 10 man Tents with only 5 or 6 people in them in a compound at the Danang Airbase and we probably did not have to walk more than 2 blocks to work on the flight line. There were some old French barracks but the NCO’s got them but our tents did have a concrete pad for them so we were not in the dirt. The first time I was in VietNam we worked out of a hanger and the outfit that we relieved had left a lot of broken equipment but we had brought a lot of spare parts and used the broke stuff for spare parts. I spent all of my working time (12hours a day) on fixing MJ-1 Bomb Lifts and Hydraulic Test Stands. For those that do not know what these were the MJ-1’s were a vehicle that had a V-4 engine and Crosley transmission and was used to carry and position bombs up under the wings of fighters. They were a real pain in the Ass because they were fun to drive with the rear wheels that turned instead of the front and most operators tried to get them to do wheelys (pop the clutch and make the front tires leave the ground) this tore up transmissions and clutches and gearboxes. We must have had 10 or 20 of them and half were always broken. The Hydraulic Test Stands were big Square things about 6 feet wide 10 feet long and 5 feet tall that had an Engine, Pumps, Filters, Hoses and Control Panel that provided a way to test Aircraft landing gear while they were on the ground and up on jacks. You could simulate takeoffs and landings by raising and lowering the landing gear.
Everyone wants to know what "WAR" was like for me and I am sorry to disappoint everyone when I say that I was having the time of my life. I was working hard and had a cleanup person (maid) to clean up our tent. It was such a adrenaline rush to have a mission to have to get something ready for that it was like getting an award every day and sometimes more than once a day.
I do not remember much more of this tour to VietNam except that the country was beautiful and very green. The humidity stayed at about 90 to 99 percent and it did rain in the mornings. I do not remember this time but the second time I went to Danang we had a rainy season that lasted about a month where it seemed to rain half of every day.
When this short tour was over we went to Taklee Thailand for a month. This was nothing else but a place to take off from for our planes to hit targets in VietNam. We stayed in some 2 story monstrous barracks that were built by the Japanese in WW II and were built of these monstrous TEAK logs. These were screened in buildings that were cool and very comfortable even it was as hot a VietNam. I remember working on some equipment that was left over from WWII just to see if I could get it to run. (I did too) We spent a lot of time watching the Thi basic trainees and the Thi Guards. We would watch the basic trainees march and drill with wooden rifles. Their DI’s were very harsh, we once saw a trainee drop his rifle and the DI had him stand at attention while he beat his face to a bloody pulp while he continued to stand there at attention. The DI then gave him back the rifle and they continued the marching practice. We heard of cases where guards fell asleep and the Sergeant or Lieutenant would come by and catch them and shoot them with their own rifle.
The guys in the barracks would try to catch RiceBugs and take them to town along with Apples to trade to the prostitutes in place of money. Rice Bugs were a delicacy and were about ¾ " thick and 4 or 5 Inches long. They would bite the head off and suck the guts out. Apples do not grow in Thailand (too hot) and they were very valuable for trade.
While we were there we watched them build some new Officer barracks and the TEAK was so hard that they had to drill a hole before they could drive a nail into the wood. We once sat and watched them take an old Outhouse apart that was built at the same time the barracks was built (20 years old) and the corner posts had been put in the dirt with out any preservative for about 6 feet deep. When they pulled the posts out they looked new all the way to the bottom.
Not long after I returned from VietNam and Thailand I got discharged from the USAF. I then started at North Texas State University (now UNT) using the savings bond money that I had saved while in the AF. I stayed my first semester in the Quads Dorm with roommates.
Second tour to VietNam:
While stationed at McCoy AFB in Orlando Florida I got orders for VietNam. Rob was only about 2 years old when I left and I arrived there July 7, 1971 and stayed there until June 25, 1972 (you will note that this was only 11 months) I went to TokLee Thailand again for a month.
This time when I arrived it was on a contract commercial 707 and it went straight there from California. This time Danang was a different place and very busy. This time we had these wooden barracks that were made for the AF. On the opposite side of the runway was the Army and Marine areas and they had almost as large a contingent as we had. This time I was part of the 4th TFW and part of the Gunfighter Squadron. We supported F4 fighter aircraft that were stored and parked in the concrete bunkers that were built especially for them. They looked like Quonset Huts but big enough to store an F4 and work on it.
About a month before I had gotten there had been a major attack on the base and they had actually had gunfire in the compound where I was to live. About 5 barracks down from me there was an empty spot where a rocket had made a direct hit. Several that lived in that barrack had just gone back to take a nap at lunchtime. This time about 1 or 2 times a week we would get a random rocket attack. The VC would prop up rockets in the woods outside the base and set timers made of old GI batteries and a coffee can that had holes in the bottom to leak slowly so they could be long gone when the rockets went off. None of these rockets were accurate but generally aimed for the Aircraft and the Runway. Usually they hit in the middle of the Runway so we got pretty casual about them.
When I first got there we would hear the rocket warning siren and would take cover under the bunk or out in the sand bag bunkers outside of the barracks. One time my roommate jumped off of the top bunk and busted his big toe open when he hit the concrete and ended up with a Purple Heart for a combat injury. After about 3 to 6 months we got pretty careless about the rocket attacks and just slept through them. I guess the reason was that after months of jumping up every 2 hours and not getting any sleep you get so tired that you do not even care. We had 2 per room in the barracks and the barracks were two stories and had a central hallway down the middle.
We had our rooms fixed up pretty well. We had a hot plate and a little refrigerator that my room mate and I purchased for $50. We were NCO’s so we were on what was called separate rations and got paid for our meals and we would then have to pay for ours when we went to the chow hall. This was neat because when we worked Night Shift we would send for C-Ratons now they call them MRI (meals ready to eat) and the price for midnight chow was $0.25 each and we would save them for lunch meals.
My routine was to get up in the morning and go to breakfast and eat a big one then walk or ride the bus to work and the other end of the compound. (prob 1 mile) We would have a roll call and briefing on what was going on for the day and get briefed by the night shift. We worked 12 hour shifts so we did not have a problem with managing 3 shifts. We also rotated days off so we always had someone off and always had a full crew. The Aircraft flew around the clock so we also worked around the clock. I was in charge of about half of the shop and probably each part at one time or another. I was a Technical Sergeant (E-6) and just gotten that promotion before I got there. I remember most running the Bomb Lift shop and maintaining the Light carts. These F-4’s carried some heavy bombs and we had two type of bomb lift’s we had the MJ-1 model that were old and small and the MJ-4 models that were fairly new design and had more complicated systems and hydraulics. I had some amazing mechanics working for me that could do some amazing work. They could do the equivalent of completely rebuilding a vehicle in one shift. We had some goof off time also, kind of when we managed to get caught up. The Army had a vehicle they called the Mule that was kind of like a flatbed mini trucks with a rear engine a lot like a VW. Well we found a broken or combat damaged one and used it to create a sports car. We used a damaged F-4 belly external fuel tank and cut it in half and used the halves for the sides. We took some parts from the Mule along with the engine and used it to run around the shop area. One or two times someone even managed to take it out to the runway to see how fast it would go. The Army mules had a top end of about 20 mph and we managed to get to 50mph with it. WE had put much larger tires on it but it usually stayed in the AGE yard because it was a maintenance headache.
One night we had a rocket attack and a rocket hit the shop yard and one of my troops was almost hit. The rocket hit on the opposite side of a light unit and did some damage in the yard but he was not hurt.
When we needed parts we did some trading with the Marines across the runway and they did the same. We were using the same type of bomb lifts and when parts were short and needs were great we did a lot of that.
We also were supposed to pull guard duty on the fence but they were told that they could not shoot without permission. There was a tripple fence that was mined and even if the enemy were crossing that area the guards were told even if the mines went off they had to call for permission before firing.
There was a hobby shop that we would go to at night and on our days off. It was open 24hours a day and had several areas, they had a photo lab, rock lapidary shop, recording shop, and library. I used the photo shop and the recording lab and copied a lot of music tapes I even tried some lapidary.
Well they closed the squadron and moved it to Thailand for the last month of my tour.
I left Vietnam and had a stopover in California and I did see some war protesters. From there I was stationed at Carswell AFB but went to Florida to the house sold and us moved to Texas.
