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.
While in Vietnam I got orders to go to March Air Force Base in Riverside California. Once there I was put on what is called a T-39 Aircraft. I was made Crew Chief in a short time. The General who was Commander of March Air Force Base flew the T-39 that I worked on. I was happy in what I was doing and would have stayed in the Air Force till I retired but in 1967 I got orders to go to Guam which was another way of saying I was going back to Vietnam. I had heard that the men that were suppose to replace us in the field working on the O-1E's were all flying in a C-123 aircraft that was shot down and crashed near the base Tuy Hoa. I knew I was going straight back to Vietnam to replace them. My enlistment was due in November of 1967 and I was enjoying seeing my daughter that was born while I was in Vietnam in 1965 and I didn't want to leave her so I got out.
Image
T-39 Sabreliner Details
Aircraft/Missile Information
T-39 / CT-39 Sabreliner Specifications Contractor North American Sabreliner Corporation Wing span 44 feet 4 inches Length 43 feet 8 inches Height 16 feet 0 inches Weight 18,650 lbs. loaded 20,000 lbs. maximum takeoff [T-39N] Maximum useable payload 1,400 lbs Speed, maximum 482 knots / 538 mph Speed, Cruising 500 mph Ceiling 43,100 feet Range 1,505 nautical miles 1,777 nautical miles [T-39N] Power plant two Pratt & Whitney J60-P-3A engines Crew and passengers 6 typical Maximum passengers 9 (not to exceed max useable payload) 2 (one instructor, one student) [T-39N]
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).
