LaRoe, Thomas, Sgt

Aircraft Maintenance
 
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Current Service Status
USAF Veteran
Current/Last Rank
Sergeant
Current/Last Primary AFSC/MOS
43151A-Aircraft Maintenance Specialist
Current/Last AFSC Group
Aircraft Maintenance
Primary Unit
1967-1967, 99000, 3726th Basic Military Training Squadron (Cadre)
Previously Held AFSC/MOS
99000-Basic Airman
43131A-Aircraft Maintenance Specialist
Service Years
1959 - 1967
Enlisted srcset=
Sergeant

 Official Badges 

US Air Force Honorable Discharge


 Unofficial Badges 

Order Of The Golden Dragon Cold War Medal Journeyman Crew Chief Vietnam Veteran 50th Commemoration

Vietnam 50th Anniversary


 Military Associations and Other Affiliations
Post 552Post 7308, Pleasant Prairie Memorial Post
  2010, American Legion, Post 552 (Vice President) (Somers, Wisconsin) - Chap. Page
  2010, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW), Post 7308, Pleasant Prairie Memorial Post (Kenosha, Wisconsin) - Chap. Page


 Additional Information
What are you doing now:

Tow TruckI retired in July of 2005 from being a Tow Truck Driver that towed for Law Enforcement in Southern California (local Police Department, California Highway Patrol and Riverside County Sheriff's Department. Right now just now settling in to retired life. I have written several books. One I have published but when it came out on the market it was in October of 2001 right after 911 and It was hard to get it out there to the public. The book that was published is called "DEROS NEVER". It is about a Forward Air Control Pilot and his back seater who were stationed in South Vietnam but getting shot down in one of the two countries we were not suppose to be fighting in (Laos and the other is Cambodia).
I have now learned the computer and am trying to get my book back out there on the market. Getting on the internet with vets have helped a lot. If interested you can e-mail me and I can tell you how to get my book. Since 2000 I have written five books to follow in with the first DEROS NEVER parts 1,2,3,4,5. I have only published one book so far.
I live in Hemet California just an hours drive to the east of Los Angeles. In the foothills of the mountains west of Palm Springs California. So as you can tell I have it all when I want it. Snow in the winter time I go to the mountains. Desert in the summer time I goto Palm Springs. If I want to relax I just stay at home and soak up the sunshine.

Plane 1 HueyPlane 2Eagle
Flag 2Air ForcePOW
The Gadsden Flag

   
Other Comments:

I will enjoy being here in this web site with all you other Air Force veterans and retired personel and those still in the service protecting our country. Thank you
I also wrote a song about the many POW/MIAs that were left behind after the Vietnam War. it is called "Come Along With Me".
Here is how to order my Book "DEROS Never" make out a check for $15.00 and sent to
Thomas LaRoe
1430 Cordova Drive
Hemet,Ca. 92543
If you want to order book "DEROS Never" by email just email me at derosnever@gmail.com and I will get back to you Be sure to send a return address and also of how you want me to Autograph the book to you.

Email me at gglights85@gmail.com or laroe.birddog65@gmail.com or tdlaroe39@yahoo.com

 

BOOK REVIEW BY COLONEL AL MATHESON (NAIL 213)

Tom,

I thought you would be mighty interested in reading this review. This is from the FACNET@yahoogroups.com.

Have a great New Year.

Regards,

Jim Franklin

 

It's fun to end the old year with a new discovery?.....

 

As I read/record/archive materials to preserve our FAC legacy I am sometimes rewarded with an uncommon find. This one is in the form of an obscure book that I have had sitting on my desk for some time. I neglected to review it because the cover and comments suggested a predictable/self serving excursion into the political"plight" of MIA/POWs, a "Fonda" fling at the U.S. Government if you will? I was wrong.

 

The book "DEROS Never" is a fictional account of a .... Yes, 3CB, one of your own.... an 0-1 mechanic assigned to the 21st TASS at Danang, who wrangles a never-to-be-forgotten ride as a Covey Rider only to have it become a routine assignment. The action is swift, authentic and engrossing, with neither patronizing excursions into minutia or shallow diversions from the central theme. Written in the first person, the book takes the rider on a series of FAC engagements in Laos and along the HCMT before finding himself in an E & E situation. When eventually captured near Sam Nuea our Covey Rider turns his focus toward survival and careing for the wounded on both sides to earn the opportunity to save American POWs.

 

This book is NOT a soap box for indignation or inhumanity, but it does address situations such as Lima 85, CIA Drug Ops and "Phoenix...," with the suggestion that the CIA never intended to let Laotian POWs return for fear of disclosing nefarious activities and drug trafficing as a means to fund their covert activities?  I doubt that would be a surprise to anyone of us.

 

So, altogether, "DEROS Never" is a straight forward page tuner, with never a dull moment. It is a well written, concise, focused observation of our world as it was..., and as it might have been?

 

DEROS Never

Author: Thomas LaRoe Book

ISBN"0-971130-0-X

Amazon.com

 

I am giving it a 2 on the FAC list for action and authenticity, BUT I am also giving it a #1 on the readability list.., and I don't do that very often!

Hope you all have a prosperous New Year!

FLY SAFE!

(Movie at 7)

AL Matheson/Nail 213

A brotherhood of a war long past...
Friends from the beginning, Friends to the last.

   

 Remembrance Profiles -  13 Airmen Remembered

  1965-1966, 43151A, 505th Tactical Control Group

Airman 1st Class
From Month/Year
- / 1965
To Month/Year
- / 1966
Unit
505th Tactical Control Group Unit Page
Rank
Airman 1st Class
AFSC/MOS
43151A-Aircraft Maintenance Specialist
Base, Station or City
Nha Trang, Danang,Hue,Dong Ha
State/Country
Vietnam, South (Vietnam)
   
 Patch
 505th Tactical Control Group Details

505th Tactical Control Group
Type
Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnais...
 
Parent Unit
Tactical Control Units
Strength
Group
Created/Owned By
Not Specified
   

Last Updated: Feb 2, 2015
   
Memories For This Unit

Best Friends
Melhorne,Stone, Stephens, so many to name.

   
Yearbook
 
My Photos For This Unit
No Available Photos
48 Members Also There at Same Time
505th Tactical Control Group

Dittmer, Karl Kent, Lt Col, (1942-1969) 112 1121Z Lieutenant Colonel
Farrow, David Ashby, Maj, (1952-1966) 111 1115A Major
Rigby, Lyman, Maj, (1963-1987) 171 1716 Major
Franco, Charles Stephen, Capt, (1962-1966) 111 1115A Captain
Halbower, Harlow Kenneth, Capt, (1959-1966) 144 1441F Captain
Heiskell, Lucius Lamar, Maj, (1962-1967) 112 1125F Captain
Smith, Warren Parker, Lt Col, (1952-1966) 103 1035Z Captain
Storz, Ronald Edward, Lt Col, (1952-1965) 114 1141E Captain
Wilbanks, Hilliard Almond, Capt, (1950-1967) 102 1021A Captain
Windle, Paul Ralph, Capt, (1954-1965) 111 1115A Captain
Kaiser, Howard Walker, 1st Lt, (1963-1966) 144 1441A First Lieutenant
Willoughby, Earl Charles, CMSgt, (1942-1965) 270 27090 Chief Master Sergeant
Ryerson, Ralph, 1stSgt, (1954-1974) 702 70270 Technical Sergeant
Allen, Richard, CMSgt, (1958-1978) 293 29350 Staff Sergeant
Ackermann, Alan, A1C, (1963-1967) 304 30454 Airman 1st Class
Gallo, Joseph, A1C, (1963-1967) 293 29350 Airman 1st Class
Henneberry, James Calvin, A2C, (1962-1965) 293 29350 Airman 2nd Class
McAllister, William Walter, Maj, (1946-1965) 111 Major
Schultz, William Lee, Capt, (1960-1966) 111 Captain
Krauss, Ronald Irwin, A2C, (1963-1965) 00 Airman 2nd Class
Harley, Lee Dufford, Maj, (1961-1966) Captain
Hawley, Donald Rey, Capt, (1959-1965) Captain
Holmes, David Hugh, Lt Col, (1960-1966) Captain
Holt, Marshall Myron, Capt, (1955-1966) Captain
Machowski, Joseph Anthony, Capt, (1958-1966) Captain
Meiners, Paul Albert, Capt, (1955-1966) Captain
Musgrove, John David, Capt, (1951-1965) Captain
Norton, George Harold, Capt, (1951-1965) Captain
Packard, Dan Bruen, Capt, (1954-1966) Captain
Simon, Paul Joseph, Capt, (1953-1965) Captain
Smith, William Ward, Capt, (1954-1966) Captain
Swope, Charles Frederick, Capt, (1957-1966) Captain
Thornell, Edmund Francis, Capt, (1952-1966) Captain
Tinsley, Ronald Ethridge, Capt, (1958-1966) Captain
Wolfe, Thomas Hubert, Capt, (1960-1966) Captain
Worst, Karl Edward, Capt, (1960-1966) Captain
Blackner, Craig Slade, Capt, (1961-1966) First Lieutenant
Brown, Joseph Orville, Capt, (1954-1966) First Lieutenant
Wiggins, Ovid Keith, CMSgt, (1942-1965) Chief Master Sergeant
Sisley, Russell Jay, SMSgt, (1948-1966) Senior Master Sergeant
Adkisson, James Willie, SSgt, (1954-1966) Staff Sergeant
Cameron, John Irwin, A1C, (1963-1966) Airman 1st Class
Fields, Peter Whitman, A1C, (1963-1966) Airman 1st Class
Bowers, Donald Ira, A2C, (1964-1966) Airman 2nd Class
Norman, Arthur Eugene, A2C, (1963-1965) Airman 2nd Class
Packer, Joseph Everett, A2C, (1964-1966) Airman 2nd Class
Shubbuck, Rolland Bernard, A2C, (1963-1966) Airman 2nd Class
Detachment 2

Seabourne, Benny Ellis, A1C, (1960-1967) Airman 1st Class

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