WEBVTT

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All across America and around the world, this

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is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. And

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now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry.

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Hey, welcome to Veterans Radio. This is Dale

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Throneberry, a CW2 helicopter pilot in Vietnam,

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1969. Welcome to our program. I'm really excited

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today. We've got two... Vietnam Veterans Guests.

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I just left the message for my friend who can't

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get on Zoom, so he's going to be calling the

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station, I hope, pretty soon. And we will go

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from there. But Doug Bradley is going to be on

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the program. And Doug, as you know, is one of

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our favorite people. He writes all about the

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music of the Vietnam era. He was in Vietnam.

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He wrote We Gotta Get Out of This Place and He'll

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Stop the Rain. He's got another book that's coming

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up shortly. So he's going to be on whenever he

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gets through, hopefully. And then coming up after

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a quick break, we've got Frank Fox coming on.

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And Frank has written a really cool book called

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Jersey Boy Takes Flight. And all of you who have

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been listening to Veterans Radio over the years

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know that I am from New Jersey as well. And this

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book was a time trip for me. He grew up pretty

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close to where I grew up. And many of his adventures

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were similar to the ones that I had with Lee

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Squenelle as a kid. And he went to Vietnam also

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as a pilot. And so it's a great story. It's fun.

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I think you'll enjoy the interview with Frank.

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He's kind of a character. I really enjoyed talking

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with him, and I'm looking forward to talking

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to him again. The other thing while we're getting,

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we may just go into that interview if Doug doesn't

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come along. Now every week I want to make sure

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that we thank our sponsors because we can't do

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this program without them and They're just they've

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been with us for some of them for 20 years And

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we really appreciate that. So let me tell you

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who we did. So we got Legal Help for Veterans.

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Legal Help for Veterans specializes in Veterans

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disability claims. Call Legal Help for Veterans

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at 800 -693 -4800 or go to their website, legalhelpforveterans

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.com. The National Veterans Business Development

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Council, better known as NVBDC, is the nation's

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leading third -party authority for certification

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of veteran -owned businesses. For more information,

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go to their website, that's nvbdc .org, or give

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them a call at 888 -237 -8433. Remember, if you

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are a certified veteran -owned business, you

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can do business with the government. They give

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out special contracts to veteran -owned businesses.

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So make sure that you get certified. These are

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the folks that can help you do that. Puro Clean,

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the paramedics of property damage. Puro Clean

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is one of the nation's leading restoration franchise

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networks and is made up of entrepreneurs just

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like you. And veterans get 25 % off the franchise

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fee. Pretty cool. So for more information, go

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to puroclean .com. One more. Charles S. Kettles,

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VA Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For

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more information, go to va .gov slash Ann Arbor

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Health Care. The Erwin Presko and American Legion

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Post 46 and the Charles S. Kettles Vietnam Veterans

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of America Chapter 310, both of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

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If you'd like to support Veterans Radio, which

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I hope that you will, please go to our website,

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veteransradio .org and click on the donate button.

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Thank you in advance for your support. And now

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to our program. So joining me on the line is

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our good friend, Doug Radley. And Doug is - Dale,

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your microphone is muted. It changed. Hold on.

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How's that? Okay. So, gremlins all over the world

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today. Well, it's changed back. Yeah, okay I'm

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sorry folks. We're very professional here today

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and we're moving right along anyway So Doug Bradley

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is as I mentioned before has written a number

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of books about the music of the Vietnam era He

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was our speaker last year our radio on the river

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fundraiser This year, he's been invited back

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to Southeast Michigan to be the guest speaker

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at the Fisher House, Michigan's Songs of Service.

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So Doug, welcome back to Veterans Radio. It's

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always a pleasure. It's great to be with you

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and your listeners. A great hello to my fellow

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vets listening in. Welcome home. Welcome home

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to everybody. So I was really excited when I

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found out that you were going to be the guest

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speaker this year at the Fisher House. Well,

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I'm pretty excited myself. I hope that excitement

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parlays into you're getting a ticket because

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I give this is Dale I mean you guys know this

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you talk about this all the time you have people

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on the show this is a one of the best nonprofits

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we have because What they do is the Fisher houses

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and there are about a hundred of them Across

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the country and around the world is improve the

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quality of life for military active military

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vets, service members, retirees, veterans, families,

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and caregivers. They save lives. That's the bottom

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line, is that the organization does that. You

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are fortunate enough to have two in Michigan,

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one in Ann Arbor, one in Detroit, and I'm fortunate

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enough to be invited out on their gala this year,

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the fourth annual fundraiser, and it's about

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songs of service, and you know, hey, you got

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me, you're gonna have songs. I'm really excited

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about it and I do hope anybody listening that's

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within traveling distance of Detroit can come

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on April 5th and support this wonderful organization.

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It is truly a great organization and we've been

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fortunate enough as you know to be behind the

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fundraising before we even got to Fisher House

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here in Ann Arbor and then they were able to

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raise enough funds to build one in Detroit. And

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so that's kind of what they're going to be celebrating

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at Songs of Service on Saturday, April 5th. It's

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going to be kind of cool. It's going to start

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at 430 in the afternoon. It's in downtown Detroit

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at the Book Tower, which is one of those refurbished

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office buildings in downtown Detroit. So it's

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going to be really kind of cool, I think. And

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I'm excited to go. I do have a ticket. I have

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to admit that we placed a little advertisement

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in there. Brochure for the event. So I will definitely

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be there Doug. I'll be happy to see you again

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Out there. That's great. I mean and you guys

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I mean you're through your efforts and the broadcaster

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are supporting, you know us that's every week

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and yeah, I I mean this is a it's a critical

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time given, you know, the challenges that the

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National VA is facing a lot of commotion and

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turmoil about you know Benefits and staffing

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Fisher houses are probably even more vitally

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important because they're right there next to

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the to the VA hospital and medical facilities

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and If there's a family emergency, I mean they

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even provide people donate their miles on airlines

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to help families get there to be by the side

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of The veteran or the military member of their

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family. So yeah, I you know Tickets are still

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available. I know that you know WWW Fisher house,

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Michigan. It's all one word and it's an F I S

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H E R Fisher house, Michigan dot org slash events

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Good luck to fill the room. Not just because

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you and I are going to be there but because Yeah,

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we're not the main attractions here The main

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attraction is Fisher house itself and it's and

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it's such a a great organization, again, for

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our audiences that aren't quite familiar with

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what a Fisher House is. It's sort of like a Ronald

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McDonald House. And when a veteran has to travel

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a great distance to utilize the facilities at

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a VA hospital, the family can stay at the Fisher

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House absolutely free instead of having to stay

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in a hotel or motel wherever they are. And it's

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really cool. It's like a really cool B &B type

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of place, they have a huge kitchen, a commercial

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kitchen where people come and they can cook meals

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if they want to. All kinds of non -profit organizations

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out there will come in and cook meals and donate

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food. It's a great facility. The interesting

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thing and kind of cool is that once the Fisher

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House is built and all ready to go, Fisher House

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National turns the keys over to the local VA.

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And so, you know, as you mentioned with some

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of the turmoil out there, we got to make sure

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that people are aware that this Fisher House

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is going to keep going. And I'm sure that it

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will. Well said, Dale. In fact, you're you're

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better advertisement than I am because you've

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known this. You've seen it. You know, we only

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yeah, I spent part of my time in Wisconsin and

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part in Arizona. The Fisher House activity is

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not as vibrant. We only have one in Milwaukee

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and Wisconsin. I know we're trying to get one

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in Madison. And like you said, it's a vital function.

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It's important. It's essential. There's nothing

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more important than having family close by to

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the service member or the veteran. So that's

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what they're all about. And again, you've heard

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me. Show multiple times and you've seen me in

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person, you know, I like to talk and tell the

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stories about the song So folks there told me

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I got I got to keep this the 20 or 30 minutes

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So I'll try and pack in as much good music and

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and good reflections from veterans as I can But

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again, yeah the real important thing the nexus

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of all this is the Fisher house activity the

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organization the nonprofit So yeah, if folks

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have a chance, you know get there and do what

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you can to support Fisher House Michigan. Absolutely.

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It's going to be a fun time. I know I've worked

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as a DJ for Doug last year at our fundraiser.

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So we're going to be hearing lots of great music

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for those of you out there that are familiar

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with 60s music. This guy is a walking, literally

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a walking encyclopedia on that. So I encourage

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people, those of you in Southeast Michigan, or

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it can make it out to come out to the Songs of

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Service Fisher House Michigan Saturday, April

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5th. at the book tower. And as Doug was kind

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enough to point out, just go to fisherhousemichigan

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.org slash events. Tickets are available. Come

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on down. You get to meet two of your famous people

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in the world, right? Doug, thank you. Thank you

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so much for being here. Always. Thank you. It'll

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be great to see you again. Welcome home to my

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vets, fellow vets who are listening. And yeah,

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come out if you can, folks. We'd love to see

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you on April 5th. OK. We will. I'll see you then.

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Thanks, Doug. Thanks, buddy. Thank you, Mike.

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All right. See you. All right. We're going to

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take a kind of a quick break here, but it's going

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to be an introduction to my next guest. So for

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those of you that have listened to Veterans Radio

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over the years, one of our favorite guests was

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Joe Galloway. And unfortunately, Joe has passed

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away, but we saved his voice. And so we're going

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to play a little thing that is taken from a documentary

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called In the Shadow of the Blade. And so here

00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:23.259
we go. So this will be it. When we come back,

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Frank Fox, talk on helicopters. Here we go. to

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those blades. That familiar wop wop wop is the

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soundtrack of our war. The lullaby of our younger

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days. To someone who's spent his time in Nome

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with the grunts, I've got to tell you that noise

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was always great comfort. It meant someone was

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coming to help. Someone was coming to get our

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wounded. Someone was coming to bring us water

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and ammo. Someone was coming to take our dead

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brothers home. and eventually someone was coming

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to give us a ride out of hell. Even today when

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I hear it I stop, catch my breath, and think

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back to those days. I love you guys as only an

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infantryman can. No matter how bad things were,

00:13:49.350 --> 00:13:52.809
if we called, you came. Down through the green

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tracers and other visible signs of a real bad

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day, off to a real bad start. To us, you seemed

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beyond brave and fearless, that you would come

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to us in the middle of battle in those flimsy,

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thin -skinned crates. And in the storm of fire,

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you would sit up there behind that thin plexiglass,

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seeming so patient and so calm and so vulnerable,

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waiting for the offloading and the unloading.

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We thought you were God's own lunatics, and we

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loved you. Still do. We're the fortunate ones.

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We survived when so many better men gave up their

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precious lives for us. We owe them a sacred debt

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to live each day to its fullest. What they're

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saying when you listen hard enough is this. We're

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at peace and so should you be. And so should

00:14:49.389 --> 00:14:56.980
you be. And we are back here on Beckins radio.

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That was Joe Galloway, taken from the documentary

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In the Shadow of the Bleed. I don't know if it's...

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I don't know if I necessarily like being called

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a lunatic, but it's better than some of the other

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things I've been called. Joining me on the line

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right now is my new good friend. Frank Fox. Frank

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is the author of the book entitled Jersey Boy

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Takes Flight. It's the story of one man's life,

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loss and love during the Vietnam era. He is a

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fellow New Jerseyite. He's also a fellow rotorhead.

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And I'm really happy to have Frank on the program.

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Frank, welcome to Veterans Radio. Well, Dale,

00:15:37.870 --> 00:15:40.389
thank you very much for having me. And from one

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Jersey boy to another, I love your introduction

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with Joe Galloway, period. He was a great writer,

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and he really did love his veteran community.

00:15:53.470 --> 00:15:55.529
I think he was the only civilian to receive a

00:15:55.529 --> 00:15:59.929
Bronze Star for Valor for the Battle of Ai Drang

00:15:59.929 --> 00:16:06.629
Valley many years ago now. Anyhow, so the book,

00:16:07.769 --> 00:16:11.009
what made you decide that you were going to write

00:16:11.009 --> 00:16:16.600
this story? Well, Dale, I started this story

00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:21.600
35 years ago and I had a series of, you know,

00:16:21.740 --> 00:16:24.179
stories and vignettes banging around in my head

00:16:24.179 --> 00:16:28.200
and I wanted to leave a footprint. I tell my

00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:30.779
grandchildren I essentially was doing this term

00:16:30.779 --> 00:16:34.559
paper for them and that's essentially how it

00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:39.519
all turned out. But as I got into it, I started

00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:42.919
seeing how I could link a lot of my life's events

00:16:44.649 --> 00:16:47.289
together, you might say, and I started liking

00:16:47.289 --> 00:16:53.649
the way the story sounded. You know, in life,

00:16:53.850 --> 00:17:04.190
some of the things that seem somewhat, if it

00:17:04.190 --> 00:17:08.430
had 50 years or so to look and sort of reflect

00:17:08.430 --> 00:17:11.109
on the entirety of our lives, It's like some

00:17:11.109 --> 00:17:13.650
of those things that seem insignificant were

00:17:13.650 --> 00:17:15.410
the most significant things that happened to

00:17:15.410 --> 00:17:19.089
us. And so when I looked at it that way, maybe

00:17:19.089 --> 00:17:21.069
if I had started this project 10 years after

00:17:21.069 --> 00:17:23.089
coming back from Vietnam, I wouldn't have had

00:17:23.089 --> 00:17:27.049
the same reference points. So like I said, I

00:17:27.049 --> 00:17:29.230
started liking it and I started being able to

00:17:29.230 --> 00:17:34.109
see how I wanted to tell the story. I also wanted

00:17:34.109 --> 00:17:41.500
to I had some good experiences in life, met some

00:17:41.500 --> 00:17:43.519
good people, had some good people as high school

00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:46.759
teachers, some mentors, friends of my father,

00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:51.019
and things like that, that I wanted to remember

00:17:51.019 --> 00:17:54.240
them in a way. And I think you've read the book,

00:17:54.279 --> 00:17:57.319
so you know that I have probably cited six or

00:17:57.319 --> 00:18:02.950
eight people in remembrance. But it's not a formal

00:18:02.950 --> 00:18:07.009
remembrance. They became parts of my life and

00:18:07.009 --> 00:18:12.730
I enroll them, you might say, into it. One interesting

00:18:12.730 --> 00:18:17.529
story is my high school, our high school. The

00:18:17.529 --> 00:18:19.289
superintendent of our high school was Monsignor

00:18:19.289 --> 00:18:22.950
Thomas Reardon. He walked amongst us every day

00:18:22.950 --> 00:18:24.970
as high school kids and we just didn't know what

00:18:24.970 --> 00:18:31.630
a national treasure he was. He was... the first

00:18:31.630 --> 00:18:35.250
Marine Corps chaplain ashore at Guadalcanal,

00:18:36.230 --> 00:18:40.269
and he stayed on the beach for 85 days. And you

00:18:40.269 --> 00:18:41.930
know, I don't mean to interrupt you here, but

00:18:41.930 --> 00:18:44.829
you know, I was thinking about this when you

00:18:44.829 --> 00:18:46.930
mentioned this in the book, you know, how many

00:18:46.930 --> 00:18:50.029
of our teachers from our whole generation, just,

00:18:50.210 --> 00:18:53.309
you know, those of us out there in our 70s, probably,

00:18:53.650 --> 00:18:55.710
you know, if we look back at the teachers that

00:18:55.710 --> 00:18:59.589
we had in high school, how many of them were

00:18:59.589 --> 00:19:03.529
World War II veterans, and how many of them had

00:19:03.529 --> 00:19:08.630
really stories to tell. And if we'd only had

00:19:08.630 --> 00:19:11.650
the hindsight to go back in time and say, hey,

00:19:11.750 --> 00:19:15.950
Mr. Fox, tell me about this adventure that you

00:19:15.950 --> 00:19:21.589
had. Because you grew up in New Jersey, talk

00:19:21.589 --> 00:19:24.900
a little bit about growing up in the... in the

00:19:24.900 --> 00:19:27.579
50s and 60s in New Jersey for our audience. Not

00:19:27.579 --> 00:19:31.119
everybody's familiar with that. Yeah, I think

00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:33.740
New Jersey gets looked down upon. It seems an

00:19:33.740 --> 00:19:38.140
awful lot. But my remembrances of New Jersey

00:19:38.140 --> 00:19:41.779
are the Jersey Shore. And I think you have roots

00:19:41.779 --> 00:19:44.609
there also. Absolutely. There's a hundred and

00:19:44.609 --> 00:19:46.769
seventy miles of beautiful beach. I don't want

00:19:46.769 --> 00:19:48.349
to sound like a member of the Chamber of Commerce,

00:19:48.589 --> 00:19:51.069
but I've been all over the world and I still

00:19:51.069 --> 00:19:53.150
remember the beaches at New Jersey as being some

00:19:53.150 --> 00:19:56.509
of the finest that I've ever been to and also

00:19:56.509 --> 00:19:59.490
had an awful lot of fun there. But growing up

00:19:59.490 --> 00:20:02.910
in New Jersey, having been born in 1947, the

00:20:02.910 --> 00:20:09.150
fifties were somewhat tranquil. for an 11, you

00:20:09.150 --> 00:20:12.829
know, 10, 11, 12 year old kid. And these were

00:20:12.829 --> 00:20:18.170
the days when on any, you might say summer vacation

00:20:18.170 --> 00:20:20.589
day, your mother would tell you on the way out

00:20:20.589 --> 00:20:22.950
the door at nine o 'clock, remember to be home

00:20:22.950 --> 00:20:26.190
for dinner at six o 'clock, which means that

00:20:26.190 --> 00:20:29.890
us young guys, you know, all kids had the entire

00:20:29.890 --> 00:20:34.230
day to do things like ride our bikes, go swimming.

00:20:34.250 --> 00:20:38.299
If the season was correct, go ice skating. Slide

00:20:38.299 --> 00:20:43.140
over the dam spillway into the river Pitch baseball

00:20:43.140 --> 00:20:46.359
cards. I'm sure you remember that I think some

00:20:46.359 --> 00:20:48.660
cards doing that I lost and oh I don't think

00:20:48.660 --> 00:20:50.759
I ever won at that game and it's the reason why

00:20:50.759 --> 00:20:52.839
I never gambled as an older guy because I figured

00:20:52.839 --> 00:20:56.160
the die was already cast but we used to flip

00:20:56.160 --> 00:20:58.059
cards to you could pitch them against the wall

00:20:58.059 --> 00:21:02.640
you could flip them, but Those were really good

00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:06.960
times, an awful lot of good memories. And you're

00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:09.960
right about, I think when I look back at friends

00:21:09.960 --> 00:21:15.940
of my parents, teachers, Boy Scout leaders, Little

00:21:15.940 --> 00:21:19.559
League coaches, all of those men were Second

00:21:19.559 --> 00:21:24.440
World War veterans. And they all were very can

00:21:24.440 --> 00:21:27.670
-do people. And you know, a lot of that rubbed

00:21:27.670 --> 00:21:29.430
off, even though you don't know it's rubbing

00:21:29.430 --> 00:21:33.630
off. And you'll harken back to those guys. And

00:21:33.630 --> 00:21:38.849
I think in my instance, they were mentoring me

00:21:38.849 --> 00:21:41.369
and I didn't know it. And so that was a good

00:21:41.369 --> 00:21:44.109
thing. I think a lot of that's going on nowadays

00:21:44.109 --> 00:21:48.329
also. But when you're right up and close, you

00:21:48.329 --> 00:21:50.549
don't notice it until you reflect upon it some

00:21:50.549 --> 00:21:53.650
years later. Right, yeah, we don't see those

00:21:53.650 --> 00:21:58.269
things until then. So, how did you end up in

00:21:58.269 --> 00:22:04.069
getting into the army? Well, so the 50s turned

00:22:04.069 --> 00:22:08.009
into the tumultuous 60s of, you know, assassinations

00:22:08.009 --> 00:22:12.549
of US presidents, a senator running for president,

00:22:12.789 --> 00:22:17.650
Martin Luther King, race riots, civil rights

00:22:17.650 --> 00:22:24.819
riots, anti - war anti -draft protests. And so

00:22:24.819 --> 00:22:27.319
as a young guy at that time, which now starts

00:22:27.319 --> 00:22:30.440
becoming one of, I'm becoming of military age,

00:22:30.579 --> 00:22:33.660
and we have a looming war, an ever emerging war,

00:22:33.660 --> 00:22:35.920
if you will, getting bigger and bigger, a lot

00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:39.160
of commitments being made by our country. It

00:22:39.160 --> 00:22:41.859
was probably very prominent, the most prominent

00:22:41.859 --> 00:22:45.799
thing on one young man's mind at the time. I

00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:51.349
decided at the prime of my draft years to not

00:22:51.349 --> 00:22:57.369
go to Knight College and instead take a chance

00:22:57.369 --> 00:22:59.589
and play Russian roulette with the draft thinking

00:22:59.589 --> 00:23:01.349
that the government would never catch up with

00:23:01.349 --> 00:23:04.630
me in 53 days. Well, they caught up with me in

00:23:04.630 --> 00:23:07.410
53 days and I was drafted on the 1st of August

00:23:07.410 --> 00:23:12.289
1966 and I was drafted into the army. I didn't

00:23:12.289 --> 00:23:14.369
have any regrets. I was shocked that they could

00:23:14.369 --> 00:23:17.269
be that efficient. And the way things turned

00:23:17.269 --> 00:23:20.690
out for me as a 19 -year -old, Now that I've

00:23:20.690 --> 00:23:22.910
looked back over the years and I did this long

00:23:22.910 --> 00:23:25.230
before we got to this point, it was the best

00:23:25.230 --> 00:23:26.890
thing that ever happened to me was having served

00:23:26.890 --> 00:23:35.329
in the military. As a case in point, I got drafted

00:23:35.329 --> 00:23:38.210
and a lot of people I knew didn't want to be

00:23:38.210 --> 00:23:40.170
drafted and didn't like it. And they took it

00:23:40.170 --> 00:23:44.930
as a bad thing, if you will. I was OK with it.

00:23:44.930 --> 00:23:46.890
But then all of a sudden, a few opportunities

00:23:46.890 --> 00:23:51.180
were presented to me. like being offered an opportunity

00:23:51.180 --> 00:23:56.039
to go to officer candidate school. I went. I

00:23:56.039 --> 00:23:58.420
thought that was rather interesting that you

00:23:58.420 --> 00:24:01.960
were offered that at 19 or 20 years old to go

00:24:01.960 --> 00:24:06.740
to go to OCS. Yeah, how about that? So I graduated

00:24:06.740 --> 00:24:09.960
as second lieutenant of infantry. Recall you

00:24:09.960 --> 00:24:12.180
were talking about your infantry experience down

00:24:12.180 --> 00:24:15.329
at Fort Polk. So I graduated as Second Lieutenant

00:24:15.329 --> 00:24:17.210
of Infantry, and I often thought that if I had

00:24:17.210 --> 00:24:20.269
gone immediately to an infantry platoon, I'd

00:24:20.269 --> 00:24:22.869
have been the youngest guy in the platoon as

00:24:22.869 --> 00:24:29.049
the platoon leader. So I did do that for a short

00:24:29.049 --> 00:24:31.069
period, but then I later went to flight school,

00:24:31.069 --> 00:24:33.490
and that was another opportunity that was presented.

00:24:34.569 --> 00:24:39.289
The point here is that to me, sometimes in life,

00:24:40.039 --> 00:24:42.839
Weigh the pros and the cons. I went to infantry

00:24:42.839 --> 00:24:46.859
OCS and then to flight school. You did too. It

00:24:46.859 --> 00:24:50.160
was a helicopter war and it was dangerous. But

00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:53.019
sometimes, and when you're 21 you're bulletproof

00:24:53.019 --> 00:24:57.140
anyway, sometimes though circumstances present

00:24:57.140 --> 00:24:59.039
themselves and you have to weigh the pros and

00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:01.819
the cons. You have to do that in life no matter

00:25:01.819 --> 00:25:05.079
where you go. Don't be afraid of taking a chance.

00:25:06.259 --> 00:25:10.339
It might, it might pay off in spades as you march

00:25:10.339 --> 00:25:16.359
through life. So that would be my advice to young

00:25:16.359 --> 00:25:18.140
people who maybe are faced with the same kind

00:25:18.140 --> 00:25:20.079
of things. I realize we don't have a draft now,

00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:22.160
but there are other things and in other walks

00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:24.759
of life on a daily basis, you're faced with those

00:25:24.759 --> 00:25:27.980
kinds of decisions. I would say take a chance

00:25:27.980 --> 00:25:31.059
after you do as much research as you can and

00:25:31.059 --> 00:25:35.200
think about it. So you ended up in flight school.

00:25:35.529 --> 00:25:38.789
Out in beautiful Fort Walters, Texas. Beautiful

00:25:38.789 --> 00:25:41.890
Fort Walters. Right outside of Miserable Wells,

00:25:42.609 --> 00:25:49.210
Texas. Yep. And I've told these stories on the

00:25:49.210 --> 00:25:51.509
air before, but I'd love to hear them again.

00:25:52.609 --> 00:25:57.349
So what aircraft did you learn to fly in? My

00:25:57.349 --> 00:26:00.849
basic trainer was the TH -55. Oh, the Mattel

00:26:00.849 --> 00:26:04.740
Measuresman. Yes. Look like it looked like a

00:26:04.740 --> 00:26:08.119
hard -boiled egg, you know Blown up about 50

00:26:08.119 --> 00:26:10.839
times with a stick coming out the back in a very

00:26:10.839 --> 00:26:15.039
small tail rotor But the IPs were very confident

00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:17.740
in its abilities and because of that so were

00:26:17.740 --> 00:26:25.859
the rest of us It was an aircraft that we didn't

00:26:25.859 --> 00:26:30.880
know this at the time but When we went on to

00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:34.049
advanced training we ended up flying ue's unlike

00:26:34.049 --> 00:26:38.130
some others who flew the H -13, we went right

00:26:38.130 --> 00:26:41.349
into UEs at the Hunter Army Airfield. And the

00:26:41.349 --> 00:26:44.410
control touch on a TH -55, believe it or not,

00:26:44.750 --> 00:26:48.009
was somewhat similar to a UE. So the transition

00:26:48.009 --> 00:26:52.349
from one aircraft to another in terms of control

00:26:52.349 --> 00:26:57.109
touch, et cetera, was similar. That's interesting.

00:26:57.289 --> 00:27:00.309
I never heard about that. So you ended up going

00:27:00.309 --> 00:27:04.109
to Fort Stewart. I went to Hunter Amirfield at

00:27:04.109 --> 00:27:08.109
Fort Stewart, yes. Okay. I was, I think I was

00:27:08.109 --> 00:27:09.849
the third or only the third or fourth class,

00:27:10.049 --> 00:27:12.190
you know, but they opened it up when we were

00:27:12.190 --> 00:27:14.549
there and we had an opportunity to apply to go

00:27:14.549 --> 00:27:16.230
there if we wanted to go to Savannah instead

00:27:16.230 --> 00:27:19.490
of Fort Rucker. Oh. I wanted to go to Savannah

00:27:19.490 --> 00:27:22.089
because I was thinking of the Jersey Shore and

00:27:22.089 --> 00:27:24.250
the beautiful beaches and it was going to be

00:27:24.250 --> 00:27:27.349
summertime. And there were coeds probably from

00:27:27.349 --> 00:27:30.009
Savannah University and a University of Georgia

00:27:30.009 --> 00:27:32.430
down there. And it turns out that although it

00:27:32.430 --> 00:27:34.589
was a beautiful place, it was a little bit on

00:27:34.589 --> 00:27:38.150
the old folks' home side. And so, but it was

00:27:38.150 --> 00:27:39.609
still a great place and it was a great place

00:27:39.609 --> 00:27:41.769
to finish flight school during the summer of

00:27:41.769 --> 00:27:45.470
68. Yeah, I'm assuming that it must have been

00:27:45.470 --> 00:27:47.289
a little bit more fun than being in Southeast

00:27:47.289 --> 00:27:49.730
Alabama. It was a lot more fun than Southeast

00:27:49.730 --> 00:27:57.049
Alabama. Quick aside, question is, during the

00:27:57.049 --> 00:28:00.390
second part of your flight training at Fort Hunter

00:28:00.390 --> 00:28:02.750
Stewart, did you guys fly out over the beaches

00:28:02.750 --> 00:28:05.829
or did you go inland? I thought that would be

00:28:05.829 --> 00:28:09.460
kind of cool. Well, we never low level down the

00:28:09.460 --> 00:28:11.960
beach like all of us wanted to do, but we waited

00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:14.319
till we got to Vietnam to do that. We had to

00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:16.420
wait to get to Vietnam to do the real fun stuff.

00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:19.880
Yes. But we did fly out over the beaches. You

00:28:19.880 --> 00:28:21.500
know, we took all of our instrument. The first

00:28:21.500 --> 00:28:23.259
eight weeks was instrument training under the

00:28:23.259 --> 00:28:26.579
hood. Yeah. And the way the flight patterns all

00:28:26.579 --> 00:28:30.769
seemed to work is I guess they had beacons. at

00:28:30.769 --> 00:28:32.809
some of the shore towns, if you will, Brunswick,

00:28:32.809 --> 00:28:35.329
Georgia, and places a little bit further south

00:28:35.329 --> 00:28:37.690
in Savannah. And we flew up in the South Carolina,

00:28:37.829 --> 00:28:40.990
too, but we were doing all beacon work, you know,

00:28:41.109 --> 00:28:42.789
with the hood on. So you really never got to

00:28:42.789 --> 00:28:45.029
see much unless it wasn't your turn to fly and

00:28:45.029 --> 00:28:48.809
you were sitting in the back. Right. So, but

00:28:48.809 --> 00:28:51.789
it was that we flew inland, too. In fact, one

00:28:51.789 --> 00:28:56.970
of the rather cool events. Excuse me a second.

00:28:59.099 --> 00:29:02.359
A rather interesting event we had was that you're

00:29:02.359 --> 00:29:03.700
familiar with Fort Benning George at the home

00:29:03.700 --> 00:29:06.599
of the U .S. infantry. Not too far away from

00:29:06.599 --> 00:29:10.200
Savannah. It's just across the state. One of

00:29:10.200 --> 00:29:13.259
the exercises we had was to go down to Fort Benning

00:29:13.259 --> 00:29:18.099
and pick up officer candidates who were being

00:29:18.099 --> 00:29:20.400
trained as infantry officer candidates to be

00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:23.180
commissioned as second lieutenant and to do a

00:29:23.180 --> 00:29:27.259
combat assault with our UEs picking up the soon

00:29:27.259 --> 00:29:29.839
to be lieutenants and then flying an actual combat

00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:32.599
assault to some other end of Fort Benning. We

00:29:32.599 --> 00:29:37.380
did that once, but that started to become a part

00:29:37.380 --> 00:29:39.519
of the training for both sides. Yeah, we did

00:29:39.519 --> 00:29:41.920
that. We came from Fort Rucker and did the same

00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:45.319
thing. OK, so there you go. So we did that. It

00:29:45.319 --> 00:29:49.130
was interesting. When I reflect back on that

00:29:49.130 --> 00:29:51.730
I often think that you know those guys that were

00:29:51.730 --> 00:29:54.009
there that I don't know 180 of them that we airlifted

00:29:54.009 --> 00:29:56.309
that day I wonder how many of us cross paths

00:29:56.309 --> 00:30:00.269
in Vietnam and did the exact same thing but now

00:30:00.269 --> 00:30:03.950
as as bona fide the army aviators and Second

00:30:03.950 --> 00:30:06.769
lieutenants are perhaps first or captain or captains

00:30:06.769 --> 00:30:09.589
of infantry Officers in Vietnam doing it doing

00:30:09.589 --> 00:30:12.710
it for real. Yeah It'd be interesting if you

00:30:12.710 --> 00:30:16.269
could research that I can tell you this quick

00:30:16.269 --> 00:30:20.869
story is that I ran into When I was leaving Vietnam

00:30:20.869 --> 00:30:24.210
and there was a de -roasting out at the 90th

00:30:24.210 --> 00:30:30.069
replacement I was in the bar there and lo and

00:30:30.069 --> 00:30:33.609
behold there was my Company commander from basic

00:30:33.609 --> 00:30:36.869
training And he was coming back for his second

00:30:36.869 --> 00:30:39.349
tour and he was he was a big red -headed guy

00:30:39.349 --> 00:30:43.319
and I walked up to him and I said, you know Captain

00:30:43.319 --> 00:30:46.180
Siebert and I said, you know, I was and he looked

00:30:46.180 --> 00:30:51.039
at me and he just goes You lived You made it

00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:55.279
you made it Yes, I did. Yes, I did. So yeah,

00:30:55.460 --> 00:30:57.539
you never know where you're gonna run into these

00:30:57.539 --> 00:31:01.039
people that you experience I mean considering

00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:04.319
all of those that you meant so when you were

00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:07.039
in Vietnam What was your what was your the mission

00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:11.150
that you had over there? Well, I was in the 192nd

00:31:11.150 --> 00:31:13.990
assault helicopter company and and we were a

00:31:13.990 --> 00:31:17.390
lift company We conducted combat assault missions

00:31:17.390 --> 00:31:20.730
virtually every day and then we also flew the

00:31:20.730 --> 00:31:22.789
I guess you for one of a better word the ashen

00:31:22.789 --> 00:31:25.549
trash missions, you know, like You know fly people

00:31:25.549 --> 00:31:27.670
out to such and such a place scope go pick up

00:31:27.670 --> 00:31:30.789
people coming in to to be returned home pick

00:31:30.789 --> 00:31:34.490
up the mail pick up the you know, the Sea ration,

00:31:34.490 --> 00:31:38.640
whatever whatever early on early uber Yes, and

00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:42.700
early Uber is right. The unit that we supported

00:31:42.700 --> 00:31:46.819
exclusively for the entire year was 30 to 506th

00:31:46.819 --> 00:31:50.200
101st Airborne Division, which we were all real

00:31:50.200 --> 00:31:52.200
proud of doing. We were not attached to that

00:31:52.200 --> 00:31:55.079
unit, but we supported them exclusively. And

00:31:55.079 --> 00:31:58.059
for us, that's the unit. That was the Curry He

00:31:58.059 --> 00:32:00.480
regiment during the Second World War, which has

00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:04.099
been made famous by, I can't remember the author's

00:32:04.099 --> 00:32:05.940
name, but he wrote the book, The Band of Brothers.

00:32:06.829 --> 00:32:12.170
So it was for us kind of interesting to be supporting

00:32:12.170 --> 00:32:15.190
that unit that landed in Normandy that went all

00:32:15.190 --> 00:32:17.829
the way to Birch's Garden. And that was our mission

00:32:17.829 --> 00:32:21.230
for the entire year. That's interesting. We're

00:32:21.230 --> 00:32:24.490
going to take a quick break here, Frank, so we

00:32:24.490 --> 00:32:28.930
can wet our whistles a little bit. And so we're

00:32:28.930 --> 00:32:31.210
going to be playing our Medal of Honor segment.

00:32:31.819 --> 00:32:34.960
today and then we'll be coming back with Frank

00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:37.960
Fox. The book is Jersey Boy Takes Flight and

00:32:37.960 --> 00:32:41.119
we've gone through flight school and we're in

00:32:41.119 --> 00:32:45.140
country and we will be back right after this.

00:32:46.019 --> 00:32:48.019
The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor

00:32:48.019 --> 00:32:50.200
in combat given a member of the Armed Forces

00:32:50.200 --> 00:32:52.519
of the United States. There have been over 3

00:32:52.519 --> 00:32:55.539
,400 recipients of the nation's highest award.

00:32:56.089 --> 00:32:58.490
This is one of them. Warrant Officer Frederick

00:32:58.490 --> 00:33:01.210
Ferguson led a four -ship helicopter formation

00:33:01.210 --> 00:33:03.930
into a South Vietnamese Army compound under heavy

00:33:03.930 --> 00:33:09.829
fire. Details after this. If you have a VA claim

00:33:09.829 --> 00:33:12.109
denied by the Board of Veterans' Appeals, contact

00:33:12.109 --> 00:33:16.230
Legal Help for Veterans at 1 -800 -693 -4800.

00:33:16.809 --> 00:33:18.630
They're experts in handling cases before the

00:33:18.630 --> 00:33:20.569
U .S. Court of Appeals for Veterans' claims.

00:33:20.849 --> 00:33:25.359
Their number again, 1 -800 -693 -4800. After

00:33:25.359 --> 00:33:27.539
completing a hitch on the Navy, Ferguson got

00:33:27.539 --> 00:33:29.940
his commercial pilot's license and then joined

00:33:29.940 --> 00:33:33.000
the army to fly helicopters. Two weeks after

00:33:33.000 --> 00:33:34.940
graduating from helicopter school, he was in

00:33:34.940 --> 00:33:39.619
Vietnam. On January 31, 1968, Ferguson heard

00:33:39.619 --> 00:33:41.880
that a first cavalry helicopter had gone down

00:33:41.880 --> 00:33:44.579
in Hue and another had been badly shot up trying

00:33:44.579 --> 00:33:47.920
to rescue them. Ferguson and his crew agreed

00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:51.460
to go get them. While refueling, he asked three

00:33:51.460 --> 00:33:53.640
Huey gunships if they wanted to accompany him.

00:33:53.769 --> 00:33:57.150
They did. The GIs in the compound reported they

00:33:57.150 --> 00:34:00.309
were under heavy fire. Ferguson circled until

00:34:00.309 --> 00:34:02.970
the fire abated, then began a low -level high

00:34:02.970 --> 00:34:06.150
-speed run into the compound. He descended blindly

00:34:06.150 --> 00:34:08.909
in a dust storm from his rotors. When he touched

00:34:08.909 --> 00:34:11.570
down, he saw there was only one -foot clearance

00:34:11.570 --> 00:34:15.449
on each side of his blades. The GIs jumped aboard

00:34:15.449 --> 00:34:18.190
and Ferguson pulled up. A mortar shell exploded

00:34:18.190 --> 00:34:20.889
under his aircraft, spinning it 180 degrees.

00:34:21.789 --> 00:34:24.059
One of the Hueys was shot down. and the crew

00:34:24.059 --> 00:34:26.780
rescued. The other two were so badly shot up

00:34:26.780 --> 00:34:29.000
by the time they landed, they were no longer

00:34:29.000 --> 00:34:32.260
able to fly. Ferguson received his Medal of Honor

00:34:32.260 --> 00:34:37.340
from President Nixon on May 17, 1969. The Medal

00:34:37.340 --> 00:34:39.739
of Honor series is a production of Veterans Radio.

00:34:40.739 --> 00:34:43.300
Military veterans touch everyone's life. I'm

00:34:43.300 --> 00:34:45.139
guessing right now you're thinking of a veteran,

00:34:45.760 --> 00:34:49.539
a close friend, relative. Maybe it's you. Even

00:34:49.539 --> 00:34:51.699
the toughest of us sometimes need help, but...

00:35:13.620 --> 00:35:16.840
And we're back here on Veterans Radio and we

00:35:16.840 --> 00:35:19.860
are talking with Frank Fox and his book is Jersey

00:35:19.860 --> 00:35:22.929
Boy Takes Flight. one man's story of life, loss

00:35:22.929 --> 00:35:26.670
and love during the Vietnam era. So, Frank, we've

00:35:26.670 --> 00:35:30.650
got you in country. You're supporting 101st Airborne.

00:35:33.269 --> 00:35:36.050
I'm sure that you had some adventures while you

00:35:36.050 --> 00:35:41.809
were doing that. Oh, yes, absolutely. One that

00:35:41.809 --> 00:35:44.969
comes to mind in particular was one of those.

00:35:45.289 --> 00:35:47.829
You alluded to it earlier, I think, in your introduction.

00:35:52.700 --> 00:35:55.119
Bad things never happened during good weather.

00:35:55.679 --> 00:35:57.480
There was always bad weather associated with

00:35:57.480 --> 00:36:01.619
it. So a particular incident that happened with

00:36:01.619 --> 00:36:08.039
me, summer of 68, let me see, summer of 69, I

00:36:08.039 --> 00:36:12.980
was flying or assigned to fly with the gun team

00:36:12.980 --> 00:36:16.260
and we were on standby. I'm sure your unit did

00:36:16.260 --> 00:36:19.130
the same thing. Anyway, the standby birds got

00:36:19.130 --> 00:36:20.929
called out this night and it was in the middle

00:36:20.929 --> 00:36:24.809
of a monsoon, horrendous thunderstorm, lightning.

00:36:26.329 --> 00:36:28.869
So six of us were dispatched, six aircraft were

00:36:28.869 --> 00:36:31.150
dispatched to go up to a near a place called

00:36:31.150 --> 00:36:36.789
Dalat and a ranger team had been taken under

00:36:36.789 --> 00:36:39.510
fire there so they needed to get out. Long story

00:36:39.510 --> 00:36:41.929
short, the rain was so horrendous, it sounded

00:36:41.929 --> 00:36:44.309
like hail hitting the front of the aircraft.

00:36:45.750 --> 00:36:47.230
Windshield wipers did no good no matter when

00:36:47.230 --> 00:36:50.570
you used them, but it didn't matter. We were

00:36:50.570 --> 00:36:52.809
flying on instruments, although not instrument,

00:36:53.409 --> 00:36:57.429
really instrument qualified. And it was tense

00:36:57.429 --> 00:37:02.730
and the weather made it tense. So I had visions

00:37:02.730 --> 00:37:04.789
in my brain was thinking we got six or eight

00:37:04.789 --> 00:37:07.340
aircraft all going to the same spot. None of

00:37:07.340 --> 00:37:10.059
us can see the other airplane. We're all going

00:37:10.059 --> 00:37:12.340
to run into each other and just become big piles

00:37:12.340 --> 00:37:15.980
of junk. Turns out then that all of a sudden

00:37:15.980 --> 00:37:19.400
this Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who's flying

00:37:19.400 --> 00:37:22.800
a C -47 spooky aircraft and who's probably flying

00:37:22.800 --> 00:37:26.719
up about 8 ,000 feet, he sees these aircraft

00:37:26.719 --> 00:37:28.619
coming through the clouds and the thunderstorm

00:37:28.619 --> 00:37:32.340
and he radios down to us. We were in a Tiger

00:37:32.340 --> 00:37:37.030
Shark aircraft. Tiger Shark 1234. This is spooky,

00:37:37.210 --> 00:37:40.730
three, four, five, whatever. It sounded like

00:37:40.730 --> 00:37:45.190
God was addressing us. I remember looking at

00:37:45.190 --> 00:37:47.429
the co -pilot. Actually, I was the co -pilot.

00:37:47.570 --> 00:37:52.969
I was with CW2, Don Hancock. I remember Don and

00:37:52.969 --> 00:37:55.690
I shooting a quick glance at each other and saying,

00:37:56.190 --> 00:37:59.630
was that God that was speaking to us? And if

00:37:59.630 --> 00:38:03.639
it was, it sure happened at the right time. What

00:38:03.639 --> 00:38:06.280
he said to us was, I see you guys coming up,

00:38:06.780 --> 00:38:10.679
and he sorted us all out, you might say. He told

00:38:10.679 --> 00:38:12.400
us that in about five minutes, we ought to break

00:38:12.400 --> 00:38:14.300
out at a terrible weather. There'll be a big

00:38:14.300 --> 00:38:17.239
shaft of clear air. If you can believe it, you

00:38:17.239 --> 00:38:20.900
don't think God's not on our side. And in fact,

00:38:20.960 --> 00:38:23.500
it all happened that way. So over the years,

00:38:23.699 --> 00:38:26.659
I've thought about that mysterious Lieutenant

00:38:26.659 --> 00:38:30.539
Colonel flying a spooky aircraft. And I thought

00:38:30.539 --> 00:38:33.179
that he was probably 50 years old. probably a

00:38:33.179 --> 00:38:35.599
World War II veteran, probably weather -beaten,

00:38:35.599 --> 00:38:38.519
probably had 20 ,000 hours of flight time. And

00:38:38.519 --> 00:38:40.920
he took all eight of us, young 21 -year -old

00:38:40.920 --> 00:38:44.800
Army aviators, herded us up, made sure we were

00:38:44.800 --> 00:38:47.639
all, you know, in sync, got us to talking with

00:38:47.639 --> 00:38:50.739
the people on the ground, drove us into the contact

00:38:50.739 --> 00:38:52.920
area, and from there we were able to accomplish

00:38:52.920 --> 00:38:57.280
the mission and essentially our lift ships rescued

00:38:57.280 --> 00:39:02.280
eight Americans that night. That was it was something

00:39:02.280 --> 00:39:04.500
to be. It was something to see and something

00:39:04.500 --> 00:39:08.019
to be part of. Oh, absolutely. And you never

00:39:08.019 --> 00:39:11.320
know. Flying in flying in the weather of of Vietnam

00:39:11.320 --> 00:39:14.719
and the monsoon season was just the worst. And

00:39:14.719 --> 00:39:17.820
as you mentioned, the. the wipers were terrible

00:39:17.820 --> 00:39:21.420
because they'd all dried out during the dry season,

00:39:21.659 --> 00:39:23.300
and if you turned them on you were going to wreck

00:39:23.300 --> 00:39:27.619
your windshield. If I'm not mistaken, the windshield

00:39:27.619 --> 00:39:29.739
wiper situation was so bad that the crew chiefs

00:39:29.739 --> 00:39:31.519
used to just safety wire them up so that they'd

00:39:31.519 --> 00:39:33.880
never move. Yeah, they wouldn't let us turn them

00:39:33.880 --> 00:39:39.639
on, which was fine. I have a follow -up story

00:39:39.639 --> 00:39:43.059
to this particular evening in Vietnam, so fast

00:39:43.059 --> 00:39:50.570
forward. to 1984 or five. So that's a full 15

00:39:50.570 --> 00:39:54.030
years forward. I was assigned to the Pentagon

00:39:54.030 --> 00:39:59.090
and we used to all carpool. So we have, there's

00:39:59.090 --> 00:40:00.909
five of us in the car. We're all army aviators.

00:40:00.909 --> 00:40:03.070
We work in the aviation division and we're stuck

00:40:03.070 --> 00:40:06.869
in a snowstorm on I -395 going south. So the

00:40:06.869 --> 00:40:09.349
conversation, you know, we all start just telling

00:40:09.349 --> 00:40:11.849
war stories, just that and the other thing. And

00:40:11.849 --> 00:40:15.360
it turns out that the fella, who's on my on my

00:40:15.360 --> 00:40:17.960
right up against the door he starts talking about

00:40:17.960 --> 00:40:20.960
a place called Song Mao and he starts talking

00:40:20.960 --> 00:40:24.440
about terrible weather you know holy cow spooky

00:40:24.440 --> 00:40:27.139
aircraft a big shaft of air clear air for eight

00:40:27.139 --> 00:40:29.840
miles on either side and these army guys who

00:40:29.840 --> 00:40:32.940
came to get us and it turns out he was the infantry

00:40:32.940 --> 00:40:37.000
lieutenant on the ground and he and i in all

00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:39.280
likelihood spoke to each other on the FM radio

00:40:39.280 --> 00:40:41.840
that night It was like we looked at each other

00:40:41.840 --> 00:40:43.860
and just couldn't believe it. And we kept telling

00:40:43.860 --> 00:40:46.840
and retelling the story to where we made sure

00:40:46.840 --> 00:40:50.199
it matched. And it matched. His name was Ken

00:40:50.199 --> 00:40:53.519
McGinty. He later went on to become the Army's

00:40:53.519 --> 00:40:57.360
program manager for the AH -64 helicopter, the

00:40:57.360 --> 00:41:02.460
standard attack helicopter today, even. And so

00:41:02.460 --> 00:41:04.219
it was Ken McGinty and I, two guys who'd met

00:41:04.219 --> 00:41:07.739
15 years earlier in a god -awful place during

00:41:07.739 --> 00:41:09.980
a god -awful... storm. And here we are sitting

00:41:09.980 --> 00:41:12.320
in the comfort of the backseat of somebody's

00:41:12.320 --> 00:41:17.380
big Buick. I had a similar experience. I can

00:41:17.380 --> 00:41:20.159
relate to that. Some guy says, were you in such

00:41:20.159 --> 00:41:22.579
and such a place? And I said, yeah, I was there

00:41:22.579 --> 00:41:25.340
on proximate dates. And he goes, I was there.

00:41:25.820 --> 00:41:28.079
And in our area down in Three Car, we had this

00:41:28.079 --> 00:41:31.500
mountain called Nui Ba Dinh that just kind of

00:41:31.500 --> 00:41:36.519
erupted out of the rice paddies. And he was there.

00:41:36.699 --> 00:41:39.840
And I would drop supplies off to these guys all

00:41:39.840 --> 00:41:41.980
the time. You know, you mentioned the Ashton

00:41:41.980 --> 00:41:44.400
Trask stuff. Anyway, so the subtitle of your

00:41:44.400 --> 00:41:48.699
book was Life, Loss, and Love. And we all know

00:41:48.699 --> 00:41:52.059
about the life, which is funny. People, you've

00:41:52.059 --> 00:41:54.219
got to read this book. It's got some really great

00:41:54.219 --> 00:41:57.900
stuff in here. Just about growing up in the 50s

00:41:57.900 --> 00:42:00.460
and 60s, which no matter where you were in the

00:42:00.460 --> 00:42:04.159
countries, pretty similar, I'll bet. We know

00:42:04.159 --> 00:42:06.400
about the loss of anybody who's been in vietnam.

00:42:06.539 --> 00:42:10.059
We always You know how many friends that we lost

00:42:10.059 --> 00:42:12.639
there and have lost since then I want to know

00:42:12.639 --> 00:42:16.179
a little bit about this love story Oh the love

00:42:16.179 --> 00:42:18.340
story. Well, you know, I can't tell you the entire

00:42:18.340 --> 00:42:19.860
story. I know you can't tell me the whole thing,

00:42:19.860 --> 00:42:22.639
but your wife is in the background there but

00:42:22.639 --> 00:42:28.280
but uh, uh the the in reflecting back on the

00:42:28.280 --> 00:42:33.420
love story, um, I uh I've been happily married

00:42:33.420 --> 00:42:37.599
now for 54 years. In June, it'll be 55 years

00:42:37.599 --> 00:42:43.119
to my lovely wife, Kathy. It turns out that Kathy

00:42:43.119 --> 00:42:47.179
met and I, we met at a time when I was in flight

00:42:47.179 --> 00:42:52.139
school. And anyway, as a result of a terrible

00:42:52.139 --> 00:42:55.539
tragedy and incredible circumstances and coincidences,

00:42:55.960 --> 00:42:59.300
we ended up getting married a couple, two years

00:42:59.300 --> 00:43:05.409
after I returned home. The rest is in the story,

00:43:05.429 --> 00:43:09.969
if you will. But the things that brought us together,

00:43:10.889 --> 00:43:13.409
I touched on it a little earlier about things

00:43:13.409 --> 00:43:18.329
that happen. You participate in something and

00:43:18.329 --> 00:43:21.090
you think nothing of it. And then all of a sudden,

00:43:21.429 --> 00:43:24.550
X number of years later, you say, you know, that

00:43:24.550 --> 00:43:26.670
thing that I was involved in and I met these

00:43:26.670 --> 00:43:30.179
people. You know they became the most significant

00:43:30.179 --> 00:43:32.599
people in my life. You didn't know it at the

00:43:32.599 --> 00:43:37.980
time My life has been filled with examples like

00:43:37.980 --> 00:43:40.360
that which is part of the reason why I put this

00:43:40.360 --> 00:43:44.039
book and I put it together You know the way I

00:43:44.039 --> 00:43:46.139
did was because I think some of those stories

00:43:46.139 --> 00:43:48.840
had to be told that it added something to To

00:43:48.840 --> 00:43:52.539
your life story or my life story for sure So,

00:43:52.860 --> 00:43:57.150
uh, so yeah, so it's interesting how we met It's

00:43:57.150 --> 00:44:00.429
interesting how it turned out. It's interesting

00:44:00.429 --> 00:44:04.010
that I met people that became significant people

00:44:04.010 --> 00:44:07.610
in my life when I thought that they were just

00:44:07.610 --> 00:44:11.829
going to be acquaintances in passing. And it

00:44:11.829 --> 00:44:15.670
turned out to be the best thing that ever happened

00:44:15.670 --> 00:44:20.369
to me. My wife and I have two children and two

00:44:20.369 --> 00:44:23.989
grandchildren. And I mean, life is good. Life

00:44:23.989 --> 00:44:29.260
is good. As the shirt says. Life is good. When

00:44:29.260 --> 00:44:34.780
you got back home from Vietnam, you stayed in

00:44:34.780 --> 00:44:37.500
the military. What was your job after you got

00:44:37.500 --> 00:44:44.800
back? Well, can I tell the story about flying

00:44:44.800 --> 00:44:48.639
home on the Freedom Bird? Oh, yeah, we may all

00:44:48.639 --> 00:44:50.639
have the same story. We all had the same feelings.

00:44:50.679 --> 00:44:52.639
I'm sure that once you got home on the flight,

00:44:52.699 --> 00:44:56.800
bringing you home, there was a lot of nervous

00:44:56.800 --> 00:44:59.079
chatter on the airplane because it was a god

00:44:59.079 --> 00:45:02.239
awful 15 hour flight or whatever. We landed up

00:45:02.239 --> 00:45:06.659
at SeaTac in Seattle. And as we got closer to

00:45:06.659 --> 00:45:09.500
the US, people were looking out and on the horizon.

00:45:10.119 --> 00:45:11.639
You know, you can see the lights of Washington

00:45:11.639 --> 00:45:14.900
state. Finally, the captain came over and told

00:45:14.900 --> 00:45:16.900
us, yes, indeed, it was it was lights from the

00:45:16.900 --> 00:45:21.860
United States. So as you can imagine, and you

00:45:21.860 --> 00:45:23.320
probably went through the same thing, everybody

00:45:23.320 --> 00:45:27.840
broke out in full throated, you know, cheers.

00:45:28.179 --> 00:45:35.699
Yay. And the head flight flight attendant sang

00:45:35.699 --> 00:45:40.079
started singing God bless America and was joined

00:45:40.079 --> 00:45:43.130
by the entire airplane. It was something, it's

00:45:43.130 --> 00:45:46.550
a remembrance that you had to be there and you

00:45:46.550 --> 00:45:49.429
never forget it. It was really something. When

00:45:49.429 --> 00:45:52.670
I got back from Vietnam, I got reassigned. I

00:45:52.670 --> 00:45:54.769
got assigned to Fort Walters, Texas, my second

00:45:54.769 --> 00:45:57.289
tour there. And I became an instructor pilot

00:45:57.289 --> 00:46:04.250
in that TH -55 thing. Oh, good. So I was an instructor

00:46:04.250 --> 00:46:06.750
for 16 months down there and that was some of

00:46:06.750 --> 00:46:11.159
the best duty I ever had. Over the course of

00:46:11.159 --> 00:46:15.340
16 months. I had 18 students and They were all

00:46:15.340 --> 00:46:17.679
memorable and it was a good time. I was gonna

00:46:17.679 --> 00:46:21.559
ask you did you When I came back, I was an instructor

00:46:21.559 --> 00:46:26.199
pilot at four four Rucker and advanced Was it

00:46:26.199 --> 00:46:29.860
called advanced? Training that toward the they're

00:46:29.860 --> 00:46:32.579
just getting done. So we were teaching them low

00:46:32.579 --> 00:46:34.800
-level flying and auto rotations and all this

00:46:34.800 --> 00:46:39.639
other stuff and I always tell people I found

00:46:39.639 --> 00:46:43.019
it to be more dangerous than Vietnam. It's like,

00:46:43.179 --> 00:46:45.199
you know, like you're teaching driver's ed, but

00:46:45.199 --> 00:46:47.460
you're in a helicopter and you know, going to

00:46:47.460 --> 00:46:50.679
90 miles an hour with trees and wires and things.

00:46:51.559 --> 00:46:53.579
Oh, I know what you mean. I had a couple of instances

00:46:53.579 --> 00:46:56.139
where I thought, you know, it was safer in Vietnam

00:46:56.139 --> 00:46:59.530
than it is here in Fort Walters, Texas. Everything

00:46:59.530 --> 00:47:01.710
is relative. You know, what are you guys trying

00:47:01.710 --> 00:47:04.090
to do kill me or something? Something like that

00:47:04.090 --> 00:47:07.110
made it this far. So anyway, so you you you ended

00:47:07.110 --> 00:47:13.289
up as a career officer. Yes. And where did you

00:47:13.289 --> 00:47:19.349
go from in that part of your life? Well, I went

00:47:20.059 --> 00:47:22.500
So when we got back, it seems like I went to

00:47:22.500 --> 00:47:26.179
night school for 27 years after that. And I finished

00:47:26.179 --> 00:47:29.480
degree completion, you might say. We bounced

00:47:29.480 --> 00:47:32.320
around. We ended up going to Korea as a family.

00:47:32.900 --> 00:47:37.820
We ended up in Latin America as a family in the

00:47:37.820 --> 00:47:41.219
Panama Canal area. My last assignment was six

00:47:41.219 --> 00:47:45.880
years in the Pentagon, which was... Pentagon's

00:47:45.880 --> 00:47:47.460
an interesting place to be, and it's interesting

00:47:47.460 --> 00:47:49.659
to be part of the entire process, but it's no

00:47:49.659 --> 00:47:53.860
fun. I don't think so. But it is interesting

00:47:53.860 --> 00:47:56.139
to see how the Army works, how the Army funds

00:47:56.139 --> 00:47:58.539
its programs, and how it has to exist with the

00:47:58.539 --> 00:48:01.519
other services. None of this stuff, by the way,

00:48:01.519 --> 00:48:03.519
is in the book because the book is essentially

00:48:03.519 --> 00:48:06.900
the first 23 years of my life. I jammed a lot

00:48:06.900 --> 00:48:09.400
of stuff into the first 23. You did. This is

00:48:09.400 --> 00:48:11.500
a good read. People can't see, but I'm trying

00:48:11.500 --> 00:48:13.710
to lift the book up here. It almost looks like

00:48:13.710 --> 00:48:16.869
the Bible, doesn't it? Well, it's got good, good

00:48:16.869 --> 00:48:19.789
print in it, too. I did that for us guys over

00:48:19.789 --> 00:48:24.150
70. I appreciate that. Thank you. And he's got

00:48:24.150 --> 00:48:27.769
it's got some really cool photos in here. And

00:48:27.769 --> 00:48:31.269
as our childhoods were in the 1950s and so a

00:48:31.269 --> 00:48:33.210
lot of them are in black and white. You know,

00:48:33.389 --> 00:48:35.809
and I bet you have some examples, too, of people

00:48:35.809 --> 00:48:37.769
said, well, why didn't you take a bunch of pictures

00:48:37.769 --> 00:48:39.789
while you were in Vietnam? And you say, you know,

00:48:40.110 --> 00:48:44.239
I was busy. You know, how do I fly a helicopter

00:48:44.239 --> 00:48:47.260
and take pictures at the same time? I know and

00:48:47.260 --> 00:48:52.059
remember it was long before you know the The

00:48:52.059 --> 00:48:54.280
cell phones of today that everybody has a camera

00:48:54.280 --> 00:48:57.099
everywhere Yes, you know, we obviously didn't

00:48:57.099 --> 00:48:59.699
have that and you're right. How do you take it?

00:48:59.780 --> 00:49:01.099
There's two of us supposed to be concentrating

00:49:01.099 --> 00:49:03.920
real hard up here And sometimes the crew chiefs

00:49:03.920 --> 00:49:05.739
would take pictures and I think some of the pictures

00:49:05.739 --> 00:49:08.400
I came that's how they came to me is the fact

00:49:08.400 --> 00:49:10.980
Right. Yeah, they took our pictures and who chiefs

00:49:10.980 --> 00:49:13.199
took pictures and they passed them below to us

00:49:13.199 --> 00:49:16.880
Yeah, plus we had a little You know little Kodak

00:49:16.880 --> 00:49:20.139
cameras The instamatics that's why some of those

00:49:20.139 --> 00:49:21.760
those pictures that you reference in the book

00:49:21.760 --> 00:49:23.960
are all black and white But some of those are

00:49:23.960 --> 00:49:28.039
pictures of pictures from 55 years And so they

00:49:28.039 --> 00:49:31.400
they come out a little bit cloudy, you know,

00:49:31.400 --> 00:49:33.780
they've been around the block a time or two Yeah,

00:49:33.800 --> 00:49:35.380
well, they're great pictures and it's a it's

00:49:35.380 --> 00:49:38.579
a it's a great book Frank and I really applaud

00:49:38.579 --> 00:49:42.659
you The effort that you put into this and it's

00:49:42.659 --> 00:49:45.800
you know, we all We always say here at veterans

00:49:45.800 --> 00:49:48.820
radio that every veteran has a story to tell

00:49:48.820 --> 00:49:51.360
and you know Some of them are very similar, but

00:49:51.360 --> 00:49:54.579
they're all they're all your stories Yeah, I

00:49:54.579 --> 00:49:56.900
think I think the idea that that you were able

00:49:56.900 --> 00:49:59.920
to get it out and get it on paper and The book

00:49:59.920 --> 00:50:03.039
is available as an audiobook folks. So, you know,

00:50:03.039 --> 00:50:07.059
you can just go to you know your favorite favorite

00:50:07.059 --> 00:50:10.219
place for books Amazon, I know, because I just

00:50:10.219 --> 00:50:11.920
downloaded the audio book this morning because

00:50:11.920 --> 00:50:13.599
I wanted to make sure I didn't miss something

00:50:13.599 --> 00:50:16.960
when I was reading it. And it's it's actually

00:50:16.960 --> 00:50:22.659
it's narrated by the Frank Fox, well -known book

00:50:22.659 --> 00:50:26.639
narrator. Well, thank you very much for your

00:50:26.639 --> 00:50:30.179
kind words. But I really do. I encourage you.

00:50:30.460 --> 00:50:32.900
And a lot of you out there will will be able

00:50:32.900 --> 00:50:37.320
to relate to the stories that are in here. You

00:50:37.320 --> 00:50:39.500
know and as I was reading it I was I was traveling

00:50:39.500 --> 00:50:41.599
all over the country You know, you mentioned

00:50:41.599 --> 00:50:44.760
that the lot in here quite a bit now. I was Down

00:50:44.760 --> 00:50:46.719
south a little bit more, but we went to the lot

00:50:46.719 --> 00:50:52.099
one time Taking we flew up the interior decorator

00:50:52.099 --> 00:50:55.420
for a general in Saigon to buy furniture in the

00:50:55.420 --> 00:50:58.840
lot And when we came back, we had the whole cargo

00:50:58.840 --> 00:51:02.219
area was full of furniture A little hard to get

00:51:02.219 --> 00:51:07.619
your head around that war wasn't it? It was.

00:51:10.840 --> 00:51:14.219
There were so many things that just didn't make

00:51:14.219 --> 00:51:17.780
any sense. Although, and I do agree with you,

00:51:17.780 --> 00:51:21.500
it was probably one of the most important times

00:51:21.500 --> 00:51:26.019
of my life. And I met some of the most amazing

00:51:26.019 --> 00:51:33.440
men that were friends of mine forever. And unfortunately,

00:51:33.960 --> 00:51:36.219
you know, some of the side effects of that war

00:51:36.219 --> 00:51:39.519
have taken many of them away. And that just makes

00:51:39.519 --> 00:51:41.579
you, you know, getting a little angry over that.

00:51:41.820 --> 00:51:44.179
So we are coming up to the end of the program.

00:51:44.420 --> 00:51:46.380
Frank, again, I want to thank you so much. And

00:51:46.380 --> 00:51:48.840
I look forward to talking to you again just for

00:51:48.840 --> 00:51:52.139
fun. I will do that. You'll be hearing from me

00:51:52.139 --> 00:51:53.820
again. Thank you very much, Dale. Appreciate

00:51:53.820 --> 00:51:57.619
it. Okay. All right. Hang around. I want to talk

00:51:57.619 --> 00:52:00.599
when we're done. All right. I'm coming up on

00:52:00.599 --> 00:52:04.340
how much time have I got? I got one minute. All

00:52:04.340 --> 00:52:06.940
right. Just to remind everybody that we'll be

00:52:06.940 --> 00:52:09.300
coming back next week with another Veterans Radio.

00:52:09.400 --> 00:52:11.119
We're going to be talking to a guy who goes around

00:52:11.119 --> 00:52:13.320
and collects the stories of veterans like many

00:52:13.320 --> 00:52:15.980
of us do. He does long versions. He sits down

00:52:15.980 --> 00:52:18.440
with the veterans and record them. It's from

00:52:18.440 --> 00:52:20.960
an organization called Veteran Archives. I think

00:52:20.960 --> 00:52:23.579
you'll find it interesting. And don't forget.

00:52:23.769 --> 00:52:28.110
the Fisher House fundraiser coming up on the

00:52:28.110 --> 00:52:32.110
5th of April. Go to FisherHouseMichigan .org

00:52:32.110 --> 00:52:36.010
slash events. Hopefully I will see you there.

00:52:36.369 --> 00:52:39.650
We're going to go out today again on our God

00:52:39.650 --> 00:52:43.369
Bless America. And we play this every week because

00:52:43.369 --> 00:52:45.769
I just think that it's a great song and we live

00:52:45.769 --> 00:52:50.849
in a great country. We just got to keep going

00:52:50.849 --> 00:52:52.829
on, because I think it's really important for

00:52:52.829 --> 00:52:57.550
us to remember to never give up. And whatever

00:52:57.550 --> 00:53:01.489
it is, this too shall pass. So until next week,

00:53:01.530 --> 00:53:03.710
this is Dale Thromery for all of us here at Veterans

00:53:03.710 --> 00:53:21.960
Radio. You are dismissed. God bless America Land

00:53:21.960 --> 00:53:32.639
that I love Stand beside her and guide her Through

00:53:32.639 --> 00:53:39.460
the night with the light from above From the

00:53:39.460 --> 00:53:48.800
mountain to the prairie To the oceans white with

00:53:48.800 --> 00:54:05.440
foam God bless America, my home sweet Home God

00:54:05.440 --> 00:54:25.150
bless America, my home sweet for spacious skies,

00:54:25.829 --> 00:54:35.090
for amber waves of green, for purple mountains

00:54:35.090 --> 00:54:49.550
majesty above the fruited plains. America, America,

00:54:50.130 --> 00:55:02.369
God shed Heal. And crown thy good with brotherhood

00:55:02.369 --> 00:55:12.610
from sea to shining sea. And crown thy good with

00:55:12.610 --> 00:55:34.920
brotherhood from sea. To the prairies, to the

00:55:34.920 --> 00:55:47.039
oceans White with foam God bless America, my

00:55:47.039 --> 00:55:59.739
home sweet Home God bless America, my home sweet