I graduated from Hastings High School on June 3, 1966. My Dad had signed me up early, so I was 17 years old at the time ensuring that I would only serve a little over 3 years, being discharged the day before my 21st birthday.
On the 10th of June, the Navy recruiter was at my door with orders for me to Great Lakes Illinois Boot Camp. I finished training in October with orders to report to the USS England DLG 22, a destroyer, out of Long Beach, California.
As a lifelong resident of Nebraska, I didn't realize the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. I knew right away this was not an assignment for me. In 1966, a notice came out asking for volunteers for duty in South Vietnam. I was first in line, wanting to get myself off of this sea-going tin can.
I packed my seabag and headed home for 2 weeks leave. My Dad had signed me up specifically so I would not be sent to Vietnam. I remember him asking me how it happened that I was going to Vietnam. I told him, "I don't know, Dad". I never did tell him that I volunteered to go.
I went to San Diego for several weeks of indoctrination about South Vietnam. After that I was sent to Camp Pendleton for small arms training and training on other weapons including flares, claymores, and grenades.
In early January 1967, I boarded an American Airlines plane headed for Okinawa. We were laid over in Okinawa for a week before we got onto an Air Force transport to Da Nang. About mid-flight a crewman came back to where approximately 200 guys were sitting and handed out sack lunches for us. The lunch consisted of an apple, a baloney sandwich, and a carton of milk. Unfortunately for us, it was all frozen solid.
Since it was Winter in the United States, we were required to wear our dress blues. After we landed on the tarmac in Da Nang it was discovered the plane had landed on a runway that was a deadend. The pilot was not familiar with the base and had made a wrong turn. The Air Force sent out a Jeep that we were to follow to the main area of the base. When they opened the ramp for us to deplane we went from the cold 30 degree interior of the plane out into 90 degrees and humid on the ground in Da Nang. It was quite the shock, but we went off into the darkness in our wool uniforms following the Jeep.
After a few days in transition, I was assigned to Security Forces around Da Nang. I had orders to return to the United States in early January 1968 but the Tet Offensive took place and those orders were cancelled. I received new orders at the end of February 1968 that I was assigned to the USS Vulcan AR15 out of Norfolk, Virginia. I ended my enlistment on the Vulcan on September 30, 1969 and headed back home to Nebraska.
