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.
Was Crew Chief of T-28 aircraft for 2 years at NAF El Centro California. I was in the 6511th Parachute Test Center Detachment 1 out of Edwards Air Force Base California. The Detachment tested parachutes for all three capsules Mercury, Gemini and Appollo for splash down in the ocean. But we dropped the capsules out of the back of a C-130 aircraft into the Salton Sea near Indio California. My T-28 aircraft took movie pictures of the capsule all the way down till it splashed into the Salton Sea.
Image
T-28 Trojan Details
Aircraft/Missile Information
Operational history
In the COIN role, T-28s saw extensive service during the Vietnam War in VNAF hands, as well as the Secret War in Laos. They were also supplied to Congo by the CIA to support Moise Tshombe's regime. France used locally remanufactured T-28s in close-support and patrol roles in Algeria. In the Philippines, T-28s, known locally as "Tora-toras", figured prominently in a series of coup de etats in the 1980s and were employed as dive bombers by rebel military forces. The T-28 Trojan was the first US attack fixed wing aircraft (non-transport type) lost in SOUTH Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. Capt. Robert L. Simpson, USAF, Detachment 2A, lst Air Commando Group, and Lt. Hoa, SVNAF, were shot down by ground fire on 28 August 1962 while flying Close Air Support (CAS). Neither crewman survived. The USAF lost 23 T-28s to all causes during the war, with the last two losses occurring in 1968. [2]
General characteristics
* Crew: Two * Length: 33 ft 0 in (10.06 m) * Wingspan: 40 ft 1 in (12.22 m) * Height: 12 ft 8 in (3.86 m) * Wing area: 268 ft� (24.9 m�) * Empty weight: 6,424 lb (2,914 kg) * Max takeoff weight: 8,500 lb (3,856 kg) * Powerplant: 1� Wright R-1820-86 Cyclone radial engine, 1,425 hp (1,063 kW)
Performance
* Maximum speed: 343 mph (552 km/h) * Service ceiling 35,500 ft (10,820 m)