I 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.
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
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.
Best Friends Trained in Philippines Clark A B, then sent to Vietnam. We were a new Group formed to serve in Vietnam as a Forward Air Support Group of som 1800 Airmen on our way to Pleiku AB but were told at Saigon the Base at Pleiku had been mortared and the base was damaged too much. So when we hit Saigon out Group was split up and one half went to Bien Hoa AB and my half went to Nha Trang AB. Our O-1E Birddog Aircraft wasn't in country as of yet so again we were split up at Nha Trang And I ended up working with the 1131st Special Activities Group Detachment 9 working on 5 Very Special and secretive C-123 Aircraft with a paint scheme of two tone gray light on the bottom and dark on the top. The outfit was run by the CIA and MACV-SOG and the planes were based in Taiwan and Chinese Nationalist flew and crewed them along with Air Commando crew and Pilots. Worked on them for three and a half months till our O-1Es started coming in around July of 1965. In The middle of August I finally got a plane and pilot and was sent to DaNang AB. This is why I had so many outfits and patches to my profile. We were like lost sheep looking for taller grass.
Birddog
I 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).
