Currently and permanently retired, however still serving. Living now in Cumberland Furnace, Tennessee and enjoying work with our church, community, American Legion Post 72 as First Vice Commander, Commander and Post 50th Vietnam War Commemoration Partner Chairman. Was recognixed as the 2021-2022 Department of Tennessee Legionaire of the Year. Very pleased to be able to recognize those Vietnam Veterans that did not return to a Welcome Home celebration. Also widows of Vietnam Veterans that did make it home, and to date 33 Brothers listed on the Vietnam Wall and 107 members of their families.
Other Comments:
Enlisted in the 1092 Combat Engineer Battalion, West Virginia Army National Guard on 9 Jun 1957, went on 6 months active duty with the Regular Army in June 1958 thru December 1958. With basic Infantry training at Fort Knox, KY, basic Engineer training at Fort Leonard Wood, MO and a further two months assigned to the 82nd Engineer Battalion (Combat) at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. Discharged from the WVANG on as a Private First Class on 10 March 1959. Enlisted in the Air Force on 11 March 1959, trained as a communications equipment maintenance technician, and retired from the Air Force on 1 March 1982 at Homestead AFB, FL. After which I entered employment with the Navidyne Corporation (no longer in business) of Newport News, VA as the Director of Quality Assurance in the manufacture of Maritime Satellite Navigational and Communications equipment. On 19 April 1984 I was hired to a civil service position with the U.S. Army Electronics Material Readiness Activity at Vint Hill farms in Warrenton, VA as an Equipment Specialist (Electronic). Two and a half years later I moved on the the National Security Agency at Ft George Meade, MD on 4 Aug 1986 as an Engineering Specialist. During service with NSA I was awarded the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, the National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation, a Directors Distinguished Station Award and the Directors Productivity Award and retired as a Senior Engineering Specialist. After numerous Air Force, Army and NSA TDY's and overseas tours, I retired on 1 June 2005 for the final time. A very fruitful and enjoyable government career.
Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase II Campaign (1966-67)
From Month/Year
January / 1966
To Month/Year
May / 1967
Description
However intended, the 37-day bombing halt failed to prompt peace negotiations. and on January 31. 1966. the U.S. resumed aerial attacks against North Vietnam. USAF and U.S. Navy pilots soon brought practically all of North Vietnam under attack. even though targets in the restricted zones had to be approved in Washington—a procedure that greatly limited the number of strikes near Hanoi. Haiphong. and the Chinese border. On April 1, B-52s on their first raid over North Vietnam dropped 600 tons of munitions on the Mu Gia Pass to interdict forces and supplies on their way to the I-lo Chi Minh Trail. North Vietnam's air defenses continued to claim U.S. aircraft, although in air-to-air battles the victory-to-loss ratio favored the United States. To counter surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). the USAF deployed Wild Weasels. F-100Fs equipped with radar wanting and homing sets to pinpoint SAM radars and mark them for F-104 IRON limo strikes. After April 18. 1966. the Wild Weasels also carried strike missiles that horned on radar signals to destroy the SAM sites.
Between May and July. F-105s replaced F-100s as Wild Weasel aircraft. While the air war escalated in North Vietnam. Allied ground forces required increased air support in South Vietnam. During January and Febnrary 1966. the U.S. Army, in cooperation with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and other Allied ground forces, engaged the Viet Cong in a series of attacks designed to drive them from long-held areas. The Allied ground forces operated in the Central Highlands near Dak To. a village and airfleld about 280 miles northeast of Saigon; Konturn. the provincial capital 20 miles south of Dal: To; and Pleiku. Allied forces also conducted operations along Highway 19 between Pleiku and Qui Nhon and near Saigon and Tay Ninh. 50 miles northwest of Saigon. These operations called for extensive airlift, aerial resupply, and close air support from the USAF.
To control the growing. diverse air operations in South Vietnam. the USAF on April 1. 1966. activated the Seventh Air Force in place of the 2d Air Division. Its former Commander, Lt. Gen. Joseph H. Moore. assumed command of the Seventh. A few days later. on the 10th. USAF C-130s flew 129 sorties to move an entire U.S. Army brigade from Bien Hoa to Song Be, 60 miles north.173rd brigade conducted seareh and destroy missions in the area before returning to Bien Hoa by air on April 22 and 23.
Although generally successful in search and destroy operations. the Allies did suffer some reverses. Perhaps the most significant was the loss of the South Vietnamese Special Forces Camp at A Shau. on the Laotian border some 30 miles southwest of the old Vietnamese imperial capital of Hue. In spite of USAF close air support with AC-47 gunships and A-1 fighters. the North Vietnamese overran the camp on March 9-10. The enemy subsequently developed the A Shau Valley as a major logistics base with a road network to the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
In Laos the USAF continued to bomb the Ho Chi Minh Trail and provide close air support for Laotian forces battling Communist Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops. ln one engagement. on March 4 and S. the enemy attacked Royal Laotian forces at Attopeu in the panhandle of Laos. about 270 miles north of Saigon. Two USAF AC-47s provided close air support to help break the attack. The USAF also used B-52s extensively to fly more than 400 interdiction sorties over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos during the first half of 1966.