Veterans Life A Sound Publishing Monthly Magazine
Honoring Vietnam Veterans www.kitsapveteranslife.com
April 2013
The Wall honors those who died By Leslie Kelly While it has been controversial at times, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a place that has become a must see when visiting Washington, D.C. Often times called the “Vietnam Veterans Wall,” it was completed in 1982 and is in Constitution Gardens adjacent to the National Mall, just northeast of the Lincoln Memorial. Designed by Maya Lin, who was just 21 and a student in architecture at Yale University at the time, the wall is made of two gabbro sections, 246 feet and nine inches long. The walls are sunk into the ground with the earth behind them. At the highest tip they are 10 feet and they taper to about eight inches at their extremities. The wall is made of stone from Bangalore, Karnataka, India, because of its reflective quality. The names were etched in Memphis in an Optima typeface. The wall originally had 58,191 names on it of those killed or missing in action in Vietnam. As of 2011, there were 58,272 names on the wall, including 1,200 of those who are listed as missing in action. Those names are denoted with a
cross and the confirmed dead are noted with a diamond. According to the Department of the Interior, the wall came about after a fund was established in 1979 to construct a memorial to those who fought in Vietnam. Much of the impetus for it came from Jan Scruggs, who was inspired by the film, The Deer Hunter. Eventually $8.4 million was raised by private donations. In July 1980, Congress authorized three acres and said the memorial would be managed by the National Parks Service. A contest was announced and 2,573 people registered for the design competition that had a prize of $50,000. A jury of eight architects and sculptors unanimously selected Maya Ying Lin’s design. The design was controversial and among early financial supporters who withdrew support after the selection was H. Ross Perot. James Watt, Secretary of the Interior, initially refused to issue a building permit for the memorial. But the memorial was built and as a part of the acknowledgement of Vietnam, additional monuments were built. The Three Soldiers statute and the Vietnam Women’s
We can do more “UNITED” Than we can alone Contributed Photo
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., known as The Wall, is seen at sundown. It has as many as 3 million visitors each year. Memorial have been placed nearby. The Three Soldiers memorial, a tribute by Frederick Hart unveiled in 1984, was a compromise to the controversy surrounding Lin’s design. It is a bronze sculpture depicting three soldiers, purposely identifiable as a white American, an African American and a Hispanic American. As they stand, they appear to be interacting with each other and looking solemnly at The Wall. The Women’s Memorial
design by Glenna Goodacre showed a standing figure of a nurse holding a Vietnamese baby. But that was deemed a political statement and she was asked to rework the statue. She came up with a figure of a kneeling woman holding an empty helmut. The Vietnam Veteran Memorial has also been honored with what is called the Moving Wall. Vietnam veteran John Devitt of Stockton, Calif., created a replica of the wall after he was at the dedication of the original wall. He wanted to make the wall available
VOLUNTEER!
to more people so he used his own personal finances and created the Moving Wall. He had the help of the Vietnam Veterans Combat Veterans, a group he founded. It is a 250-foot wall that is three-fifths the size of the real wall and began traveling in 1996 in a 53-foot tractor-trailer. By 2006, there had been more than 1,000 hometown visits by the Moving Wall. Sometimes the wall is escorted by state troopers and the Patriot Guard Riders. Local organizations that sponsor the Moving Wall visits pay $5,000 to
host the wall. It is often referred to as “The Wall that Heals.” The Vietnam Veterans memorials in D.C. have more than 3 million visitors each year, according to the National Parks Service. Visitors often leave sentimental items at the memorial. Those items are collected by the parks service and are transferred to the resource center where each item is catalogued and stored, except perishable things such as live flowers. Some items have been placed on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History from time to time. The largest item left at the wall was a sliding glass storm door with a fullsized replica “tiger cage” that was painted with a scene of Vietnam and the names of U.S. POWs and MIAs. Some incidents of vandalism have occurred at the wall including in 1988 when a swastika and scratches were etched in the wall. That was repaired soon after. The directory of the wall, which guides visitors who are looking for specific names, was once burned, but it was replaced. And an oily substance was poured on panels and paving stones. The removal process took several weeks.
We’re looking During this Holiday Season please those for a few Our Nation’s Heros are assets to remember communities. There are many good stories from vets who have been our less fortunate during this past year. opportunities to use your skills, talents, and experience to continuein their lives. Together we can make a difference to serve in your community. Lend a hand You canclose serve. to home a hero in your community! Give to Be United Way of Kitsap County. www.unitedwaykitsap.org
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In future editions of Veterans Life, we’re planning to feature you. We’d love for you to share your memories and your photographs from your days in the service with our readers. Topics we plan to cover include: taking liberty… military lingo…and of course those special MREs. Do you have a memory of a very important liberty you took with your weekend pass? Just what exactly does AT, CHU, BCGs, jarhead and all the other abbreviations and slang that the military uses mean? Do you have a humorous story about the military lingo that you’d like to share? And how about your best memory of military
rations…what was the best or the worst meal you ever ate while serving our country? These are just some examples of the kinds of stories we hope you’ll share with our readers. We’re always looking for something from you. And we always need special memories from any veteran for our monthly The Bond column. These stories can be sentimental, humorous, or just plain sweet. Please submit any contributions — stories, photos, poems, letters — to lkelly@soundpublishing. com, or call the editor, Leslie Kelly at 360-3089161, ext. 5050. As always, we appreciate your readership and your participation.
On the inside
For each of us, our memories of the turbulent time of the Vietnam War are personal. My mind goes to an 11-year-old girl setting the dinner table in a middle-class household in my hometown of Topeka, Kansas. I am listening to Walter Cronkite on the CBS Evening News tell of the deaths of American soldiers in the jungles of Vietnam. It’s a far away place that I only know of through the news footage I’ve seen on television. I’m worried about my two cousins who are serving. I’m saddened by the pictures of women and children running from gunshots and bomb explosions. I’m confused by the anti-war protestors who say the government is wrong for sending us to war. For the next several years, my parents, my sisters and I will debate the merits of the Vietnam War around the dinner table. I’ll learn about another cousin who gets a conscientious objector to the war status and has to move 500 miles away from home as part of that. I’ll see friends and another cousin go to Washington D.C. to march with protestors. As the years pass, I’ll experience the end of the war and as I graduate from high school in 1975, I will see American prisoners of war return to U.S. soil. This month’s issue of Veterans Life is devoted to veterans who served in Vietnam. Now, nearly 40 years since the end of the war, veterans of the Vietnam War are getting some long-overdue recognition for the service they gave and the battles they endured.
BECAUSE YOU’VE ALREADY BEEN THROUGH BOOT CAMP.
In this edition, which also marks one year since Veterans Life was first published, we report on a move by the Washington State Legislature to create a day to honor Vietnam Veterans. Reporter Kevan Moore looks at historical accounts of the war and gives us a timeline of major events of the war and what was happening here at home in those days and years. Reporter Chris Chancellor talks to Vietnam Veterans who have bonded through riding their motorcycles for enjoyment and for service to their communities. Editor Dannie Oliveaux has written a story detailing many of the movies and documentaries that have captured the Vietnam War, creating a historical record for future generations. Reporter Wes Morrow addresses veteran homelessness and what resources are available for Vietnam-era veterans who are in need. Take a read through the story about Vietnam Veteran Ralph Rogers who owns Team Sports in Bremerton. We have several profiles of Vietnam Veterans, including Pete Cholometes, Roger Montez and Jack Murphy, whose song, “The Promise” is often played at Vietnam Veterans tributes. Inside you’ll also find stories about the Vietnam Veterans Wall in Washington D.C. and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Olympia. The Vietnam War era was a difficult time in American history. Wounds, both physical and mental remain even to this day. But now is the time to help those wounds to heal by paying tribute to those who served in Vietnam. Like always, we want to hear from you with your ideas of how to make Veterans Life more meaningful to you. Email anytime to lkelly@soundpublishing.com, or call 360-308-9161, ext. 5050. -- Leslie Kelly
On the cover:
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The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Olympia adorned in American and POWMIA flags is captured in solitude by freelance photographer Luciano Marano.
INSIDE
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The Promise Vietnam Veteran Jack Murphy shares his song with others in hopes of bringing some peace to the minds of those who fought.
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A memorial
Vietnam Veterans are remembered in Olympia with a memorial that one of their own cares for and looks after.
The movies
The Vietnam War: A sometimes controversial war is remembered through Hollywood films and news documentaries.
Life
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A look back at the major moments of the Vietnam War
THE WAR IN VIETNAM
By KEVAN MOORE
TIMELINE
T
he Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War as it is sometimes called, lasting from Nov. 1, 1955, to the fall of Saigon in 1973, brought about the deaths of more than 58,000 Americans and left more than a half million injured. Estimates for soldier and civilian losses in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos reach more than 3.5 million.
October 1930 Ho Chi Minh helps found the Indochinese Communist Party and eleven years later establishes the Viet Minh, or League for the Independence of Vietnam.
Sept. 2, 1945 Ho Chi Minh declares an independent Ho Chi Minh Vietnam, called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
The United States involvement in Vietnam coincided with the departure of France, which first invaded and began colonizing in 1858. In July of 1950, the U.S. pledged $15 million worth of military aid to France to help them fight in Vietnam.
American military advisors also began arriving in French Indochina that year. Four years later, on May 7, 1954, the French suffered a massive defeat at the Battle of Dein Bien Phu. Two months after that, the Geneva Accords created a ceasefire for French withdrawal and provided a temporary boundary between North and South Vietnam at the 17th parallel. American involvement in Vietnam escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962. United States combat units were first deployed beginning in 1965.
PHOTO: NATIONAL ARCHIVES
Jan. 1, 1967 F-105D Thunderchief aircraft are refueled on their way to North Vietnam targets by a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft. The Thunderchiefs were used to check the flow of North Vietnamese supplies and troops into the south. They interdicted supply routes and destroyed trucks and rolling stock.
Oct. 26, 1955 South Vietnam declares itself the Republic of Vietnam, with newly elected Ngo Dinh Diem as president. Five years later, the National Liberation Front (NLF), also called the Viet Cong, is established in South Vietnam.
Nov. 2, 1963 Ngo Dinh Diem is executed during a coup.
March 16, 1968 March 2, 1965 A sustained U.S. aerial bombing campaign of North Vietnam, known as Operation Rolling Thunder, begins.
USS Maddox
Aug. 2, 1964 The destroyer USS Maddox, while performing a signals intelligence patrol engaged three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats of the 135th Torpedo Squadron in the Gulf of Tonkin. A sea battle resulted, in which the Maddox expended more than 280 3-inch and 5-inch shells, and in which four USN F-8 Crusader jet fighter bombers strafed the torpedo boats. One US aircraft was damaged, one 14.5 mm round hit the destroyer, three North Vietnamese torpedo boats were damaged, and four North Vietnamese sailors were killed and six were wounded; there were no U.S. casualties.
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March 8, 1965 The first U.S. combat troops arrive in Vietnam.
PHOTO: NATIONAL ARCHIVES
Jan. 19, 1971 Spec. 4 Richard Champion, squad leader, Company B, 4th Battalion, 21st Infantry, 11th Light Infantry Brigade, shouts instructions to his squad after receiving sniper fire while on patrol on Hill 56, 70 miles southeast of Chu Lai.
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The My Lai Massacre: 347 to 504 unarmed civilians are killed by members of Charlie Company of the 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade of the Americal Division leads to even stronger anti-war sentiment after the American public learns about the incident in November. Found guilty of killing 22 villagers, Lieutenant William Calley was convicted
Jan. 30, 1968 North Vietnamese join forces with the Viet Cong to launch the Tet Offensive, attacking approximately one hundred South Vietnamese cities and towns. The coordinated attack takes the American military and public by surprise and further sours support for the war.
and sentenced to life in prison, but only served three and a half years under house arrest. Twenty-six other soldiers were also initially charged for their roles at My Lai, referred to by U.S. forces as “Pinkville,� but were never convicted. Reporter Seymour Hirsch won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting of the massacre and his work led to international outrage and increasing calls for U.S. troop withdrawal from Vietnam.
July 1968
December 1968
General William Westmoreland, who had been in charge of the U.S. troops in Gen.Westmoreland Vietnam, is replaced by General Creighton Abrams.
U.S. troop levels in Vietnam reach 540,000.
PHOTO: NATIONAL ARCHIVES
Oct. 6, 1966 As the second phase of operation “Thayer,” the 1st Air Cavalry Division (airmobile) is having operation “Irving” in the area 25 miles north of Qui Nhon which lies 400 miles north-northeast of Saigon. The 1st Air Cavalry was given the mission of clearing a mountain range where an estimated two battalions of North Vietnam regulars were supposed to be massing an attack on Hammond Airstrip. Troops of “A” Company, checking house during patrol.
May 4, 1970
PHOTO: NATIONAL ARCHIVES
May 13, 1968 Private First Class David Sletten, medic, Company B, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division, paddles a three-man assault boat down the canal toward a breaking point during Operation Tong Thang I.
Sept. 3, 1969 Communist revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh dies at 79.
July 1969 President Nixon orders the first of many U.S. troop withdrawals from Vietnam.
The killing of four students and wounding of nine others by National Guard soldiers at Kent State also adds fuel to the anti-war movement. In all, guardsmen fired 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds. Some of the students who were shot were protesting President Nixon’s Cambodia Campaign while others were passing by or observing the protest. Some 4 million students at high schools, colleges and universities went on strike following the shootings.
March 1972 The North Vietnamese cross the demilitarized zone (DMZ) at the 17th parallel to attack South Vietnam in what becomes known as the Easter Offensive.
Jan. 27, 1973
March 1975
The Paris Peace Accords are signed and provide a ceasefire.
April 30, 1970
June 13, 1971
President Nixon announces that U.S. troops will attack enemy locations in Cambodia. This announcement leads to nationwide protests, especially on college campuses.
Portions of the Pentagon Papers are published in The New York Times. Daniel Ellsberg’s release of the Department of Defense history of American involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967, showed that the Johnson Administration systematically lied to the American people about what was happening and why. It also turned Ellsberg, for a time, into the most wanted man in America.
North Vietnam launches a massive assault on South Vietnam.
April 30, 1975
March 29, 1973
The Fall of Saigon. North Vietnamese forces under the command of the General ăn Tiến VDũng began their final attack on Saigon, which was commanded by General Nguyen Van Toan on April 29, with a heavy artillery bombardment. This bombardment at the Tân Sơn Nhứt Airport killed the last two American servicemen that died in Vietnam, Charles McMahon and Darwin Judge.
The last U.S. troops are withdrawn from Vietnam.
PHOTO: NATIONAL ARCHIVES
May 22, 1970 Da Nang, Vietnam: Marine Corps Sgt. Robert E. Fears clears an area using his flamethrower.
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VETERAN PROFILE
Jack Murphy By LESLIE KELLY It’s been years since Jack Murphy was in Vietnam, but the memories are as close as today. “They come and visit
me every night in the form of nightmares,” said the 64-year-old Murphy. “They are memories I wish I didn’t have.” Murphy spent most
of 1969 in Vietnam. He enlisted in the Army and was stationed at Fort Brag, North Carolina. He was a part of the 199th Light Infantry Brigade and served two years.
In Vietnam, he was an RTO, which means he carried the radio through the fields as an infantry foot soldier. Three months into his time in Vietnam, he was hit with shrapnel
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in the face, arms and legs and was sent to the 3rd Airfield Hospital in Saigon. After several weeks in the hospital, Murphy went back to the war and finished out his year in Vietnam. He came home to Palmerton, Penn., and went to work in the steel mill. “It was really the only work I could get,” he said. “But then the mills began closing.” Murphy was able to get work with the Navy in a civilian position. He drove a van for a Navy medical clinic. He met a woman, got married, had a son and a daughter. But that marriage didn’t last. In 2000, he retired. It was at about that time that he began having severe symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. “I’d probably had it all along,” he said. “But I tried to hide it. It was when everything started up with the first Gulf War that it became real to me again.” He sought help from the VA and has been treated for PTSD since. That treatment brought Murphy to remember many things he’d tried to forget. “When I came back from Vietnam, my mother and brothers and
sister came to greet me,” he said. “But everyone else, they wouldn’t look at me. They’d turn away. They hated soldiers.” Murphy had been warned of that. “When we left the Army, they told us as soon as we got home to take off our uniforms and not wear them out in public,” he said. “They said don’t walk around in them. So I put it away in the closet.” Although Murphy still has his uniform, he doesn’t often look at it. He does remember, however. He always loved music, wrote songs and played the guitar. When he came home from Vietnam, he found he couldn’t write about the war. “I’d played since I was 15,” he said. “But my feelings about the war — they just wouldn’t come out. Then one night, I sat down on my bed and it all fell out.” The result was the song, “The Promise.” It’s a song about the ‘Welcome Home’ that we never got.” It’s about two soldiers in Vietnam talking about girls and a ‘57 Chevy, making a pact to share a beer when they get home. One doesn’t make it and the other goes to the wall to find his name, with two beers in hand. After he wrote the song, he recorded it on CD and made several hundred copies. Since then he’s been handing them out to any Vietnam Veteran who wants one. He’s probably given out 1,000 at his own expense, he said. In 1996, when he went to an annual gathering of Vietnam Veterans at the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C., he handed a copy to Jan Scruggs who helped to fund the wall. “He told me he’d play it and he did, at the wall,” Murphy said. That led to another Vietnam Veteran, David Hernandez, using the tape for a ceremony in California and making a video to go with the song. It was put on YouTube and has become quite well known. On that same CD are
THE PROMISE On a bunker in the evening breeze, We sat and watched the trees. We talked of home and the girls we ’ve known, And a ‘57 Chevy that you once owned. We were young and so far from home, In a place that we had never known. Contributed photo
Jack Murphy makes a radio call as an RTO serving in Vietnam in 1969. two other songs, one that is an up tempo song about Vietnam and a third song, “A Veteran’s Pledge,” that is a poem his friend Bill Henning wrote. Henning also suffers from PTSD. Murphy, who has since remarried, said he gives away the CDs because he “can’t give them to the ones (soldiers) who are not here.” “A lot of guys went to Vietnam and
didn’t come home,” he said. “They weren’t as lucky as I was. I owe them something and if I can give away my music in their honor, then I’m proud. It’s the least I can do.” To hear Murphy’s song “Welcome Home,” go to YouTube, Welcome Home Vietnam LA Event 2012. You can email him at rainmanJ@ptd. net.
But we were happy and scared and so alone. We made a pact that very night, Amid the panic of a firefight, To get together when we got out of here. We’d meet in Philly and I’d buy you a beer.
But that would never happen.
It’s gonna feel so good to be back in the world.
We got so close in such a very short time.
I’ll finally see my family,
What was mine was your’s and what was your’s was mine.
And my favorite girl. Now all that ever mattered was going home.
You always shared the packages you got from home,
Well, that was twenty-four years ago.
A can of spam, some Koolaid and a plastic comb.
Why things happened that way I don ’t really know.
It meant so much to hear from home.
Now here I am staring at your name,
Six months down and six to go.
Standing at THE WALL in the pouring rain.
It won ’t be long now before it’s time to go.
The tears won’t stop and I can’t see clear,
We ’ll be standing on the corner of our old home town,
But here I am holding on to two cold beers.
Gassin’ up that Chevy just to cruise around.
Welcome home to you my brother.
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VETERANS LIFE | 7
‘Welcome Home’ Day set for Vietnam Veterans By LESLIE KELLY It was a different time, admits State Rep. Norm Johnson. When Vietnam Veterans returned from war, there were no parades. No streets lined with folks waving American flags. No confetti and no “Welcome Home” from patriotic citizens. But there is still time to make up for that. That’s why Johnson introduced House Bill 1319 last month, and the House unanimously approved it making March 30 “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day” every year throughout Washington state. The State Senate’s Governmental Operations Committee approved the measure and sent it to the full Senate for action. It was expected to pass the Senate this week. Johnson said he introduced the bill after Gil Calac, a constituent in his Yakima-area district, suggested a day for Vietnam Veterans. “We need to realize that these young men and women who were called to go to Vietnam didn’t go because they necessarily wanted to go,” Johnson said. “They went to serve this great nation of ours.” Calac, a Vietnam Veteran himself, and a member of the Yakama Warriors Association, said he wants to make sure Vietnam Veterans
are not forgotten. “We were looked down on when we came home from Vietnam,” he said. “That still lives inside many of us today. To have a day that we are recognized for what we did for the nation, that would bring closure and help us put away the guilt.” The Yakama Warriors are a group of American Indian Vietnam Veterans who support each other and veteran causes, he said. As the group’s cultural representative, he took on working with the State Legislature to see that the day be proclaimed. Calac said a similar day was designated last year in Oregon and in California, and he is working with others to try to get a national day of recognition passed by the U.S. Congress. Here in Washington state, once the bill passes the Senate, it will be signed into law and a proclamation will be issued by Gov. Jay Inslee. Events are being set for Friday, March 29, to precede the March 30 date when the proclamation will designate that the American flag, the Washington state flag and the MIA/POW flag will fly over all state buildings, including the Capitol in Olympia. On March 29, the Yakama Warriors, any other Vietnam Veterans and their families are invited to the Capitol where they will carry in
the flags to the House and Senate chambers. Following a short ceremony, veterans and family members will gather at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Statehouse grounds. There will be a pow wow drum ceremony and a circle of life will be formed by the religious leaders who are on hand. Calac is hoping to have pins and ribbons for all Vietnam Veterans to wear. While it’s not a “Welcome Home” parade, Calac thinks it will go a long way to heal old wounds. “The treatment we received when we came home still haunts us,” he said. He served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970 and received a Bronze Star. “We need this to help us move on.” Johnson agreed. “The way the Vietnam Veterans were treated when they came home is something that, today, we know was wrong,” he said. “I’ve heard horror stories about people yelling at them that they were baby killers. “It was a very different time then. But now it’s time to thank them for their service and honor them once a year with their own day.” More information about the Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home events is available at the Washington State Veterans Affairs office at www.dva.wa.gov.
Groups host a Stand Down in Bremerton for veterans Veterans and their families are invited to the spring 2013 “Stand Down for Veterans” on April 27 at the Sheridan Park Community Center, 680 Lebo Blvd., in East Bremerton. Sponsored by the Kitsap County Veterans Program and the Kitsap Area Veterans Alliance, the Stand Down will run from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and will offer free services for veterans and their family members.
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Included will be legal assistance; information about child support payments; clothing for women, men and children; hot meals; information on dealing with foreclosures; hygiene items; groceries; haircuts; and help with VA health benefits. Also offered will be employment referrals, dental screenings, vision screenings, financial assistance information, sleeping bags and camping gear, housing
options, DHSH enrollment and information on dealing with driver’s license suspensions. Free voicemail and free mailing address information will be available. To participate, veterans should bring several copies of their DD214s, or discharge papers and photo identification. All branches of the U.S. military are welcome to participate.
VETERAN OWNED BUSINESS
Vietnam-era veteran is quite a sport
By LESLIE KELLY When Ralph Rogers graduated from high school, he decided that joining the U.S. Navy was the next thing he would do. “My draft number was three,” he said. “I didn’t want to be drafted into the Army. I decided that the Navy was better. My Dad had been in the Navy in World War II and I decided to go that route and enlist in the Navy.” Rogers took a delayed entry and had the summer off before heading to San Diego for boot camp. There he was selected for the nuclear weapons program and went to advanced training in the Great Lakes, following which he went to weapons school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was then assigned to Moffit Air Force Base in California. It was there that he married his wife and began a family. He re-enlisted and was sent to St. Mogens in Newquay England where he worked with the Royal Air Force for three years. After England, he and his family moved back to California where he was stationed on the USS Enterprise. By 1978 he found himself re-assigned to Bremerton where he worked at Bangor with SWFPAC. He was chosen to be a traveling instructor in the nuclear weapons training program.
“It was a great assignment,” he said. “I was part of a team that traveled and met up with ships and taught about terrorism, incident procedures and special weapons. We would fly into the nearest country and fly (by helicopter) out to meet the ship and then fly back to the shore.” Some classes were taught in port and some at sea. Among the favorite places that Rogers got to go were the Far East, Europe, Korea, Singapore, Hawaii and Australia. While he was teaching, he was based in San Diego, but his family stayed in Bremerton. “The kids were all in school and we had a home here,” he said. “So every three of four weeks, I’d get to come home. My kids were in the car a lot in those years, driving down to McChord (Air Force Base) to pick me up.” During this time his wife, Sandra, worked for the Bremerton School District and his five children continued their education. After three years teaching, Rogers was re-assigned to SWFPAC at Bangor. He began looking for a business that he could own when he retired from the Navy. That was when he found J&J Embroidery and purchased the company that embroiders names on uniforms and other clothing. That business grew and in 1987 he opened a sport-
ing goods store which sells all kinds of retail sporting goods, uniforms, equipment, banners, decals and posters. He has a full time artist and can create custom embroidery and designs on just about any fabric. His business offers full service screen printing too. “It was just a natural progression from the embroidery business,” he said. “We thought there was a need for a sporting goods store here in Bremerton.” Now, 25 years later, Team Sports is still operating at 1550 NE Riddell Rd., Suite 110. While all of his children have worked at times in the store, his two sons, Matt and Bryan are current employees. For awhile they also had a T-shirt shop at Fred Meyer, but a slow economy caused them to close that store. Keeping the store open has been difficult, Rogers said. “In the past few years, sales have been down almost 50 percent,” he said. “But it’s not just the economy. We’re being hurt by the Internet. So many people are shopping online instead of around the corner.” He’s working on having the store enter the online age by getting a Website up and running and a Facebook page. He also is trying to work with local school districts to come back to doing business with him.
“Some of them have left because they are getting deals through Nike online,” he said. “We’re trying to compete with that but it’s hard. I just think the local schools should support the local businesses.” The store offers T-shirts and sweatshirts with the local schools mascots printed on them. The store has a full stock of baseball needs for the upcoming season and many other things, such as discs for ultimate (Frisbee) competitions, soccer needs, and all the extras. He sells uniforms to doctors and dentists employees and embroiders names on them, and he make shirts for contractors and landscapers who want to advertise their company while employees are working. Golf shirts also are a big
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part of his business. And he gives discounts to customers who are veterans and active military. Rogers said with his Navy retirement and his wife’s income they can manage to keep the store going, but for how long, he’s not sure. “We haven’t taken a paycheck in years,” he said. “My hope is just to be able to pass the store on to my sons.” Rogers participates in the American Legion Post 149 in Bremerton and he enjoys time with his seven grandchildren.
He has quite a collection of autographed footballs and softballs including signatures from Warren Moon and Norm Johnson. He also collects bobble heads and fire house memorabilia because he serves as a fire district commissioner. Rogers is grateful for the time he spent in the Navy and the places he was able to see. England was especially wonderful. “I think that’s why we ended up in the Pacific Northwest,” he said. “Because the weather is so much like England.”
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Montez’s suffering really began after he returned home Former Port Orchard marine earned three Purple Hearts from his service in Vietnam By CHRIS CHANCELLOR
Chris Chancellor/ Staff Photo
Roger Montez supports veteran causes through the VFW Post 2669.
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He has three purple hearts from his service as a Marine. But for Port Orchard’s Roger Montez, his greatest pain from serving in Vietnam came when he returned home. “As our aircraft was approaching, all of us were jubilant to be home,” Montez said. “Once we left the confines of the post, we were spit on and had urine thrown on us by protesters.” That continued when Montez traveled to a restaurant and was told to leave because “they don’t serve baby killers.” Montez, who now is a regular at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2669 on Bay Street in Port Orchard, said the aftermath of the war impacted him for years. After serving from 1967-76, Montez said he worked in a variety of “menial” jobs simply because he did not want to interact with people anymore. “I would say most of my pain was from the way we were treated by the American people when we
came back home,” said Montez, adding that therapy eventually helped him to where he was comfortable around others. Montez now often engages with others from his era — and more — at the VFW. It almost was a missed opportunity. While on a joint mission in Vietnam, his battalion’s sister company confused them with the enemy and notified aircraft support. He and several others were struck before they popped green smoke to notify the aircraft that they wounded U.S. soldiers. Montez nearly was killed again in April 1968 when he was wounded during the Battle of Khe Sanh. “Our whole platoon was pretty much wiped out,” said Montez, who recovered in a sanctuary first in the Philippines and then Guam until he was released that October. Later that month, Montez again was shot — this time by a sniper. “From that point I was sent home,” he said. “I didn’t see much combat, but the combat I did see was pretty heavy.”
Montez said he has no regrets about his service and understood the risks he was taking when he enlisted. “Of course everyone was scared,” he said. “You live your life day-to-day. There’s no future for you.” After returning to Camp Pendleton in California, he served as a demolitions instructor before he was transferred to the Marine barracks. Montez later returned to Camp Pendleton as a corrections specialist. Montez, whose son-inlaw served in Iraq, now works with some younger veterans at the VFW and appreciates that military personnel receive a much better reception when they return from service. He credits a lot of that to the parade-like environment that they receive, where service members often are greeted upon arrival by their spouse and children. It is an atmosphere much different from the one he remembers. “They’ve got a great experience when they come back,” Montez said. “There’s been huge changes. They’re a lot more lenient than they used to be.”
By Leslie Kelly When Chuck Manley visits the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Olympia, he sees much more than most. Not only is he a Vietnam Veteran, but he is someone who has been been with the project from the very beginning. And today, he is chairman of the Washington State Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee. Construction of the memorial began in 1986 and it was dedicated on Memorial Day, May 25, 1987. It was designed by Kris Snider, architect with EDAW, Inc., a firm in Seattle. It is a semi-circular wall that stretches partially around a 45-foot base on a rolling course, seven feet tall from the apex, one foot at its lowest point. According to the State of Washington, the top of the wall represents the highs and lows of the life of the nation until it is interrupted by a jagged line in the outline of Vietnam, symbolizing the break in the circle of life caused by the war. Sixteen green granite slabs make up the wall and are positioned so that they are accessible to all who come to reflect and remember. The wall is engraved with the names of 1,051 men and women from Washington state who never returned home. The names are listed in chronological order from 1963 to 1975, the order in which those veterans gave their lives. A small cross has been engraved next to the names of those who remain missing in action. Manley knows the wall well. “There was previously another memorial,” he said. “It was encased in glass and had the names of those killed in action inside it. But many Vietnam Veterans felt that having those names sealed in stone was like burying them again.
Watching over the Olympia memorial Chuck Manley makes it his calling “So we started a campaign to create a memorial where the names could be more prominently displayed.” The original memorial was dedicated in 1982. The veterans group raised more than $178,000 -- the cost to build the new memorial -- through private and corporate donations. The new memorial was built on a grassy knoll east of the State Insurance Building on the Capitol Campus, near the Winged Victory Monument. It took the group more then 18 months to raise the money, Manley said. Once the memorial was built, the group, Vietnam
Veterans of America Post #130, disbanded, having done what they formed to do. But Manley and some others decided a committee had to remain to make certain that the memorial continued to be cared for and watched over. “We are the watchdogs,” he said. “It’s our duty to make sure that the memorial doesn’t fall into disrepair.” If they see something wrong, they go to the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs and ask that it be repaired. There have been few incidents of vandalism to
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the memorial, he said. But about a year ago, the committee had to weigh in on a request that a memorial to the Republic of South Vietnam be built near the Vietnam Veterans memorial. “It was decided that that wasn’t something we wanted to have happen,” he said. A compromise was made, and they were allowed to place a plaque on flag poles near the memorial. Eventually the flag poles were placed and the American Flag, the Washington State flag and the POW/ MIA flag are prominently posted near the memorial.
“It became quite a battle to stop the placement of a 12-foot long engraving by the group that wanted to memorialize the Republic,” he said. “But we really didn’t think that was something that was right and represented the Vietnam Veterans very well.” Manley calls the committee a “silent committee” unless an issue comes up. He said many demonstrations have taken place near the memorial, but in order to do that, a permit has to be issued by the State Visitor’s Center. Manley, who grew up in Kansas, volunteered for service in Vietnam. As a highschool dropout, he enlisted
in the Army. “I didn’t have to go because I was the only surviving male in the family and at the time, that meant I was exempt from service. But I felt I needed to go.” He was in Vietnam 13 months and three days and was wounded three times. As the memorial was built, he was there taking photographs almost every day. “For me it was a way to ‘face the dragon,’ as they say,” Manley said. “As hard as it may be, you have to. There’ll always be good memories and bad memories for those of us who were over there.”
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Veterans are returning home in greater and greater numbers, but for many “home” is nothing more than an abstract. For many veterans there is no place to call home. Homelessness is not a new issue for veterans. Statistics have been gathered and studies have been done since the 1980s. After veterans began returning home from the Vietnam War in the ‘70s the problem of started to rise to a more noticeable level. The post-Vietnam era wasn’t the first time large numbers of veterans had been homeless, but it was a time when the problem reared its head greater than almost any other moment in the United States. Studies from the 1980s and 1990s found that Vietnam and post-Vietnam vets were over-represented in the homeless population, while veterans of World War II and Korea were less likely to be homeless than civilians of the same age. Some of those worrisome figures still haven’t changed. A 2009 study by Veterans Affairs found that Vietnam and post-Vietnam era veterans are still over-represented in the homeless population. However, no one seems to be able to say exactly what it is that causes this risk. Even the VA seemed at a loss, saying in its study that more research needs to be done. “The presence of additional risk for homelessness specifically associated with Veteran status is puzzling,” the study says “in that it occurs among a population that shows better outcomes on almost all socioeconomic measure and that has exclusive access to an extensive system of benefits.” It’s understandable that the VA might be baffled that the services it administers aren’t as successful as
it might hope. Whichever way the VA chooses to look at veteran homelessness, though, the issue won’t simply go away without additional effort. At the moment the problem persists, in spite of the VA’s puzzlement. Estimates in 2010 by the Department of Housing and Urban Development indicated nearly 150,000 veterans had lived in shelters at some point in the year. The exact estimate (if there can be such a thing) was 144,842. Based on estimate confidence, though, this number could be as high as 178,208. According to the Olympic Workforce Development Council, 684 veterans in Kitsap County are on unemployment insurance. That’s 20 percent of total number of persons on unemployment in the county. One in five people on unemployment in Kitsap County is a veteran. In January alone Housing Solutions Center of Kitsap County worked with the households of 28 veterans who were homeless or at risk of losing their housing. Half of those households had absolutely no income or were living on less than $350 per month. These numbers are only the households that have come for help. All signs indicate there are others who are not receiving aid. “Somebody that’s homeless and not identifying themselves — it’s kind of hard to track,” said James McKenna at Kitsap County WorkSource. McKenna said housing is often the most pressing need for veterans who come in looking for help. That, and employment. McKenna and his staff work to help veterans get employed, but often veterans with other needs come in to their office in East Bremerton seeking help. McKenna said, even if he
Vet employment bill passes state House House Bill 1537, proposed by Reps. Steve O’Ban and Jan Angel to help military men and women transition from their jobs in the armed services to those in the private sector, passed the Washington State House of Representatives unanimously last week. Current law requires the service member to be fully separated from the military before receiving the preferential hiring
can’t help somebody he will work to find them someone who can. “If somebody comes in and they’re not looking for employment, but they don’t know where to go, we’ll certainly point them in the right direction,” he said. In Kitsap County there are a number of housing resources. So many, in fact, it would be hard for an individual with significant resources to keep track of them all — let alone an individual with no car, no money and no home. Luckily, Kitsap Community Resources works in conjunction with all the local housing resources through its Housing Solutions Center. There are five centers operated throughout the county: two in Bremerton, two in Port Orchard and one in Poulsbo. Housing Solutions helps provide transportation assistance as well as maintaining a community-wide waiting list for shelters and affordable housing. They can be reached in at 360-473-2035, or go to 1201 Park Avenue in Bremerton. Throughout the year, many of the local resource groups get together and host what are called a Stand Down for veterans in need. The next one will take place at the Sheridan Community Center in Bremerton on April 27, McKenna said. “A number of us resources get together and have clothing, food, haircuts, dental and medical services … just for veterans and their families,” McKenna said. President Obama has called to reduce veteran homelessness on a national level. The amount to which that effort has succeeded is not totally clear yet — but one thing is evident, without a concerted effort and help from community members at a local level a national campaign cannot succeed.
benefit. House Bill 1537 would move up the timeframe service members could apply for and be considered for civilian jobs and receive the preferential benefit before their service ends. This change would allow service men and women to accept a job in the private sector prior to their separation from the military and would eliminate potentially months of unemployment for our service members. The bill will now be forwarded to the Senate for consideration. For more information, visit www.houserepublicans.wa.gov.
Tri-State Stand Down set for May On a chilly and blustery Saturday morning in May more than 1,000 veterans and family members gathered at the Sanders County Fairgrounds in Plains, Mont., for the first ever Tri-State Veterans Stand Down. On hand to meet with them were nearly a hundred volunteers, officials from the Veterans Administration and leaders with groups such as Wounded Warriors Project and Oath Keepers. To kick off the two day event, a hot breakfast was served. Billy Hill, of rural Trout Creek, Mont., planned and promoted that event, which has been credited with being one of the largest such Veterans Stand Downs ever held in the state — and one of the best organized and smoothest running. Hill is now hard at work pulling things together to make the second Tri-State Veterans Stand Down even larger and more successful. The event is scheduled for May 4 and 5 — and will again be held at the Sanders County Fairground in Plains. At the 2012 Tri-State Veterans Stand Down, more than $1 million in surplus military clothing and gear was redistributed to the veterans attending the event. The array of surplus items included boots, sleeping bags, packs and frames, insulated underwear, wool socks and blankets, pants, shirts, hi-tech polar fleece, gloves, camping gear, extreme cold weather wear and more. According to Billy Hill, this year’s event will offer more than twice that amount of surplus wear and gear to qualifying military veterans and their family members. To qualify, a veteran simply needs to have a VA or military ID card, a copy of their discharge papers or a copy of their form DD214. “It is the need for much of the clothing, footwear and other surplus gear that brings these vets to the Stand Down events,” Hill said. “The distribution of all that surplus
gear is the incentive to pull together so many veterans in one place at one time, giving the Veterans Administration an opportunity to share with them the benefits and health services available to military veterans.” The Thompson Falls Food Bank and the Montana Food Bank worked together at last year’s Tri-State Veterans Stand Down to distribute several hundred food baskets. Working around sequestered federal funding, an effort is now being made to be able to offer those baskets again this year. Hot meals will be served both days, and for those who have really been down on their luck and have been forced to live out in the elements, hot showers and haircuts will also be provided. Wounded Warriors Project and Oath Keepers will also be on hand again to provide moral support and guidance to those veterans who have found it difficult to cope with post military life. Likewise, those vets seeking employment can receive some guidance and assistance at the 2013 Tri-State Veterans Stand Down. As planned and hoped for, the 2012 event drew military veterans from Montana, Idaho and Washington. Hill feels the success of last year’s stand down will encourage others to attend this year. Hill thinks there are 4,000 to 5,000 in need who could car pool to this year’s event. “If they do...they need to allow room for all of the great gear they’ll be taking home with them,” he said. The 2013 Tri-State Veterans Stand Down takes place May 4 and 5, at the Sanders County Fairgrounds, located at 30 River Road in Plains, Mont. The event runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. For information contact Billy Hill at 406- 847-2407, or 406542-9751, or email lobowatch1@gmail.com.
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Ridership group another avenue to give back By CHRIS CHANCELLOR He remembers arriving home not to receive praise, but scorn. After returning home from serving in the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment during the Vietnam War, Port Orchard’s Michael Licari heard the hecklers. The ones that referred to him and fellow veterans as “baby killers” and spat on them. Licari, who served from 1967-68 and 1970-71, said he seeks a more positive experience for veterans when they return. That is one reason why he joined Veterans of Foreign War Fred Needham Post 2669’s “rider” chapter. Post commander John Weatherill said Port Orchard’s Post is one of only three with riderships in the state. The others are on Whidbey Island and Redmond. In June, the three groups will converge in North Bend to travel together to the state’s VFW convention in Yakima. The ridership — not biker — group is about more than camaraderie, though. Weatherill, who was a patrolman from 1980-91 for the Bremerton Police Department, is weary of any connotation toward gangs when he drives around his blue 2006 HarleyDavidson Electric Glide motorcycle. The patch on his black leather vest reads “LAWMAN” and he is clear the group’s only work is geared toward assisting veterans.
They provided the motorcycle escort last September from Silverdale to place two steel beams from the World Trade Center as the centerpiece of a 9/11 memorial slated for Bremerton’s Evergreen Rotary Park. He often can be found riding his Harley through Port Orchard en route to his latest civic endeavor. Weatherill worked with the late Joseph Hovey and his brother to construct a 1,200-brick Veterans Wall of Honor, which is 28-feet long and about six feet high, at Marina Park along the Port Orchard waterfront. The project, which was finished a year ago, was successful enough that Weatherill planned a new, single-faced wall with 508 bricks behind the original wall. Weatherill, 66, and Licari, 64, said they are more active than most of their fellow riders because they are retired. The ridership group, which runs through VFW, is trying to raise money during a time when the organization’s membership is declining. G eorge “Cork y ” Berthiaume, who is the VFW’s office manager for Washington state daily activities and a member of the national council of administration for our state, Idaho and Montana, said last year that local posts have fared better than most. The VFW has 29,000 members statewide, which is about a 15 percent decline during
Chris Chancellor/ Staff Photo
Port Orchard’s Michael Licari, left, and John Weatherill pose with their motorcycles. the last decade. Berthiaume said many states have seen 40 to 50 percent declines. That has not meant a reduction in demand for services, though. Licari said the aftermath of the Great Recession has left many veterans in need. When Licari climbs onto his red 2005 Kawasaki toward Post 2669, his aim is to do much more than have a good time. “A lot of people think all we do is come in and drink,” he said. “That’s not the case. We are out there pushing the streets to help veterans. A lot of these veterans don’t have anything.” To help combat that, Licari, Weatherill and others went to local merchants and asked them for donations as they began planning for their
first bowling tournament to benefit needy veterans in 2011 at Port Orchard’s Hi-Joy Bowl. The second tournament was held in November and Weatherill said they plan for it to be an annual event. Hi-Joy Bowl owners Don and Mickie Hoem allowed the VFW to keep the $15 charge per person from the tournament. While only 30 people participated in the event, Weatherill said enough money was raised for the VFW to donate $4,000 in Safeway food and gas gift cards to needy veterans. “The community came together,” he said, adding that the VFW recently held a dinner to thank the donors. “It’s a really good feeling.” While members of Post
2669, which was established in 1932, will help “any veteran that walks through the door,” they do verify that the individual actually needs assistance. “We don’t just dish out money,” he said. The ridership’s reach extends to individuals in need of assistance. Weatherill said one veteran was seriously injured in an accident on Mile Hill Drive in Port Orchard. The group went to his house, constructed a ramp and donated an electric wheelchair. For Licari and Weatherill, the ridership is just another way to stay involved with assisting veterans. Weatherill retired on disability after he fractured five vertebrae in his back
when he went off a rock wall while chasing a suspect on Kitsap Way. Even when he is on his Harley, Weatherill looks for ways to help his peers, who range from 30 to 69 years old. Whenever the ridership is together, he stays on the tail to ensure that “if someone pulls off, they don’t get left behind.” Similar to Weatherill, Licari is grateful that he has another opportunity to ride. He drove a motorcycle for the first time when he was 16 years old and wanted to join Post 2669’s group because of “the work they do.” A patch on his black leather vests reads “ZIP.” “They gave me this name because I’ve been cut open so many times,” said Licari, referring to heart surgery. The wounds for Licari often go beyond surgical incisions. Similar to other veterans, Licari has suffered through years of nightmares — the after affects of war and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He said he is grateful to his wife, psychologist, the ridership and VFW for their help. “This is the best I’ve been,” Licari said. “I come in here and I get everything out. I’ve paid my dues and I want others to understand there is help.” Weatherill agreed. “A veteran can understand where a veteran has been,” he said. “You ain’t gonna embarrass us with what you have to say. We just sit down and talk. It’s a healing process.”
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Run to Tahoma set for May 25
The Unforgotten
Plans are underway for the Run to Tahoma which has become a tradition for area veterans. On Saturday, May 25, at 10:45 a.m., the Kitsap County Veterans Advisory Board and Chapter 5, Combat Veterans International, will receive the unclaimed remains of deceased veterans and take them to Tahoma National Cemetery. The event, known as the Run to Tahoma includes a military honor escort. Prior to departure, there will be a “celebration of their lives” with a brief service outside the coroner’s office in West Bremerton. Kitsap Veterans Advisory Board officials said the event is to honor veterans who are passing without family. More than 300 fellow veterans participated last year and are expected again this year. To be a part of the event, contact the Kitsap Veterans Advisory Board at 360-801-6086 or email momuddog@yahoo.com.
Taylor gets award Ray Taylor was presented with the Peggy B. Craig award recently. Taylor enlisted in the Seabees when he was 17 and achieved the rank of Master Chief Constructionman by the time he was 32. Taylor deployed to Vietnam five times. As a Chief Petty Officer assigned to NSA Saigon, he led the mobile maintenance crew responsible for building advanced tacti-
Patrick McDonough/Staff Photo
Above, the remains of one of five veterans is carried before a Marine Color Guard during “The Unforgotten, Run to Tahoma III,” last year in Bremerton. Right, A folded American flag rests atop the remains of a veteran honored during a ceremony held last year in Bremerton. ‘The Unforgotten, Run to Tahoma III,’ was held to commemorate the sacrifice of veterans who might not otherwise be remembered. This year’s Run to Tahoma is set for May 25.
cal support bases. These floating barges provided critical messing and berthing facilities in the South Vietnam delta region. Upon Taylor’s retirement from active duty service in 1982, he was hired as a Construction Representative by Engineering Field Activity Northwest and continues to serve NAVFAC Northwest today as an engineering technician.
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Vietnam War depicted in films By DANNIE OLIVEAUX The Vietnam War has been a favorite subject of many screenplays and films. Since 1964, there have been more than 80 films made about the controversial war and some about coming home after the conflict. Not only was the war a subject of movies, but also of documentaries. Dozens of documentaries about the war, life during and after the war have been produced in the past 50 years. The first movie about the Vietnam War was “A Yank in Vietnam” released in 1964 and filmed entirely in South Vietnam during the war. The film is about a Marine Corps pilot played by Marshall Thompson, who is shot down over the Vietnamese jungle. In his endeavor to get to safety, he meets a female guerrilla fighter and a nationalist named Hong. The movie is based on a story by retired Marine Jack Lewis, one of the movie’s screenwriters. One of the first major films based on the war to hit the big screen was “The Green Berets” released by Columbia Pictures in 1968. It starred John Wayne, David Janssen and Jim Hutton. Wayne, who co-directed the film, visited South Vietnam in 1965 and decided to produce a film about Army Special Forces. Several movies about the Vietnam War have received Oscars during past Academy Award ceremonies. One of the best Vietnam War movies – “The Deer Hunter” — captured five Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Sound in 1979. Portions of the movie were filmed in the Northern Cascade Mountains. It was named by the American Film Institute as the 53rd “Greatest Movie of All Time” on the 10th Anniversary Edition of the AFI’s 100 Year’s 100 Movies
Academy awarding-winning movie Apocalypse Now is a story of Army special operatives. PHOTO COURTESY OF UNITED ARTISTS list. Other Vietnam War movies to receive Academy Awards were: • “Platoon:” Best Picture, Best Director, Best Sound, Best Film Editing (1986) • “Apocalypse Now:” Best Cinematography, Best Sound (1979) • “Born on the Fourth of July:” Best Director, Best Film Editing (1989) While most movies made about the war are not based on actual events, there are a few. “Casualties of War” is a 1989 movie based on the actual events of the incident on Hill 1962 in 1966 during the war involving five soldiers in the kidnapping, gang rape, and murder of Phan Thi Mao, a 20-year-old Vietnamese woman. Former soldier Robert Storeby, one of the five soldiers involved in the incident, reported the crime which resulted in a court-martial. Two of the four
soldiers were convicted of rape and murder, another for murder, and the other, who actually killed the girl, was convicted of murder and received a life sentence. All of the soldier, except Storeby, were dishonorably discharged from the military. “Born on the Fourth of July” was based on the autobiography of Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic. Kovic, born on July 4, 1946, is an anti-war activist and writer who was paralyzed during the war. “We Were Soldiers” was based on the Battle of La Drang, the first major engagement of U.S. troops in the Vietnam War. The film looks at more than one side of the war. It is a close look at the Vietnamese command and heavy combat. The story switches between battle field and home front where wives wait for the letters who that inform them they have become widows. The latest movie made about
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the Vietnam war was made in 2007. “Rescue Dawn” is based on the story of U.S. Navy pilot Dieter Dengler, who was shot down in Laos during the Vietnam War. He and another POW escaped and were later rescued by U.S. military troops. He died in 2001. According to AMC (America Movie Classics) the best Vietnam War movies are: 1. “Full Metal Jacket:” It is one of the best Vietnam War movies, based on the novel “The ShortTimers” by Gustav Hasford. The movie follows Marines through training camp and into the Vietnam War. The movie features a memorable performance by R. Lee Ermey as a drill instructor. It was directed by Stanley Kubrick. 2. “Platoon:” Oliver Stone directed this movie based on his own time served in the Vietnam War. It’s a riveting portrait of the effects the Vietnam War had on those soldiers forced to fight in
it. The film stars Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger and Willem Defoe and was the first of Stone’s trilogy of Vietnam War movies. The movie won the Oscar for Best Picture, the only Stone movie to win that award. 3. “Apocalypse Now:” One of the greatest Vietnam War movies ever made. The movie follows an Army special operative who is sent to assassinate a rogue U.S. Colonel. Inf luenced by the novel “Heart of Darkness,” it was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film was also deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” and was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry in 2000. It won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Sound. 4. The Deer Hunter: The 1978 ware film is about a trio of Russian American steelworkers and their infantry service in the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert DeNiro, Christopher Walken, John Savage and Meryl Streep. The story takes place in a small Pennsylvania town, then in Vietnam, somewhere around Saigon, during the war. It deals with the men who fought in the war and the mental illness that inflicted a number of them. 5. “Hamburger Hill:” This movie remains one of the best Vietnam War movies, focusing on a single attack by the famed “Screaming Eagles” division of the U.S. Army. The movie is an unflinching look at the horrors of war and the effects of death on the men who fight for our freedom. 6. “Good Morning, Vietnam:” Robin Williams stars in this comedy-drama, one of the top Vietnam War movies ever made. Williams plays a radio DJ for Armed Forces Radio who takes it upon himself to keep the troops’ morale high. Many superiors found his broadcasts irreverent and sought to shut him down. The story is loosely based on the
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experiences of AFRS radio DJ Adrian Cronauer. 7. “The Boys in Company C:” The movie follows the lives of five young Marine inductees from training in boot camp in 1967 through a tour in Vietnam in 1968. Things quickly devolve into a hellish nightmare. Disheartened by futile combat, appalled by the corruption of their South Vietnamese ally, and constantly endangered by the incompetence of their company commander, the men find a possible way out of the war. They are told that if they win a soccer game against a South Vietnamese team, they can spend the rest of their tour playing exhibition games behind the lines. Once the soccer match starts, nothing in Vietnam is as simple as it seems. 8. “Casualties of War:” This film is based, we are told, on an actual event. A five-man patrol of American soldiers in Vietnam kidnapped a young woman from her village, forced her to march with them, and then raped her and killed her. One of the five, played by Michael J. Fox, refused to participate in the rape and murder, and it was his testimony that eventually brought the others to a military court martial and prison sentences. 9. “Born on the Forth of July:” Oliver Stone won Best Director Oscar for this movie, the second in his trilogy of Vietnam War movies. The movie details a veteran, played by Tom Cruise, returning home paralyzed and disillusioned by the entire war efforts. He soon becomes a war protestor, completely turning on his prior beliefs. 10. “Rescue Dawn:” Christian Bale stars in this 2007 film, one of the best Vietnam War movies of all time, which centers on a pilot shot down in enemy territory. When he is captured and refuses to renounce America, he is imprisoned in a prison camp. The movie was directed by Werner
A scene from the movie Full Metal Jacket which depicted Marines from boot camp to the Vietnam War. PHOTO COURTESY OF WARNER BROTHERS pictures Herzog. Among documentaries about the war are: • “The Vietnam War with Walter Cronkite/ CBS News:” Walter Cronkite is the host with on-the-scene reports by correspondents Ed Bradley, Charles Kuralt, Dan Rather, Morley Safer and Bob Simon. This is a complete history of the Vietnam War, as chronicled by CBS News correspondents, from its genesis in the days after World War II to its conclusion with the fall of Saigon. Includes interviews with combat veterans. • “Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam:” Documentary account of the Vietnam War from the actual letters of the men and women who served there; also uses home movies, news footage and music of the period. • “Four Hours in My Lai:” This is an extraordinarily powerful film about one of the most tragic episodes of the Vietnam War, the My Lai massacre of March 16, 1968, in which American troops killed nearly 500 unarmed Vietnamese
women, children, and old men. • “Experiencing the Darkness:” Video of an oral history panel conducted during the conference, “Facing the Darkness, Healing the Wounds : My Lai 25 Years After” held at Tulane University in 1994. The panel includes: Hugh Thompson, a helicopter pilot who tried to stop the massacre; Ron Ridenhour, a soldier whose letter to Congress and the Pentagon prevented a cover-up and William Eckhardt, the
chief prosecutor of the My Lai case. • “Wings over Vietnam:” This documentary takes you back for one of the most intense air campaigns ever waged. From “Flaming Dart” to “Rolling Thunder,” the skies over Vietnam exploded with incredible air attacks while ground forces dug into the trenches. • “Vietnam’s Unseen War:” Pictures from the Other Side - Journey deep behind battle lines to experience a different side
of the Vietnam War — the side seen only through the lenses of North Vietnam photographers. Renowned British photojournalist Tim Page travels back to the land where he nearly lost his life to meet with North Vietnamese war photographers, revealing remarkable, never-beforeseen photos and personal stories long hidden by time and tragedy. • “Vietnam, The Secret Agent:” Looks at dioxin, the deadly contaminant of the defoliant code-named
Agent Orange used during the Vietnam War. Focuses on the devastating effects of this chemical on American soldiers and the Vietnamese p opu l a ce , a nd interviews impaired Vietnam veterans who feel they should be fully compensated. • “Vietnam: In the Year of the Pig:” Directed and produced by the famous and controversial Italian film director, Emile de Antonio. One of the most powerful films ever produced about Vietnam — so powerful, in fact, director de Antonio was nominated for an Academy Award and was placed on Richard Nixon’s enemy list. • “Vietnam: The World Beneath the War:” A study of the use of tunnels by the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. Rather than flee their ancestral homes, the villagers dug tunnels and moved their communities underground. Includes interviews with the tunnelers and an American POW held in the tunnels. Follows an artist who takes his son back to Vinh Moc village and explains life during the war years. An American Air Force historian and a female guerrilla commander also provide their perspective on tunnel warfare. Includes archival film footage.
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V E T E R A N S L I F E | 17
The Bond
The Powder Blue Coat I stored these duds at the site of the party
Now the moral to this poem is obvious to all
At the luau I knew I would look hale and hearty
Vanity and ego you must forestall
I fantasied about a girl in a pretty dress
I never did wear the powder blue coat
One that would not be too hard to impress
It disappeared from Honolulu on the very next boat
And on this day, our annual inspection was no fun
But what about the 5th when the trouble started
She who took it lives in Idaho
CUT IT SHORT, the Old Man imparted
Maybe Boise or even Pocatello
The 7th of course was the Day of Infamy
My barber obeyed with sadistic glee
If I find her, I’ll write a nice note
By Maynard C. Hoffmann It was the 6th and the 7th in the month of December Two eventful days I will always remember The 6th was a Saturday, the year 41
Good God, what a mess he made of me
Honey, I’ll say, what happened to my powder blue coat?
My time was not up - I was not struck
On the morning of the 6th, the Old Corps marched
Two weeks before came an unusual invitation
In cadence we counted with Springfields erect
-Major Maynard “Rocky” Hoffmann is a retired Marine who lives in Bremerton and is a Pearl Harbor survivor. He was featured in Veterans Life in April 2012.
I was strafed four times, escaping injury I have reflected many times my amazing luck
Spit shined shoes and khakis starched
To attend a luau with a girl Caucasian She had just arrived from a far-off state
We trooped the line, nary a flaw to detect
I did not mind that she was a blind date
Now later that day, I looked in the mirror
So off I went to the town of Honolulu
With much reluctance, I cancelled my date
And what I saw left me in a furor
Buying civvies – Marine Corps khakis would not do
And on December 7, I cursed my fate
White shoes and a shirt plus a powder blue coat For fifty some bucks, a check I wrote
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We want to acknowledge two local Pearl Harbor survivors who recently died. Gerhard “Jerry” Jensch, of Poulsbo, died Feb. 21 at the age of 93. Don Green, of Allyn, died Feb. 25. Jensch was a gunner’s mate on the USS California. Green was a shipfitter on the ammunition ship USS Pyro.
Female air advisor carries on family tradition of service By Capt. Tristan Hinderliter KABUL, Afghanistan -- Before Captain Anastasia Wasem goes to work in the morning, she puts on body armor, straps on her M9 pistol and slings her M4 rifle. She carries 180 extra rounds of 5.56 ammo, 45 extra rounds of 9mm ammo and a first aid kit on her vest. In her backpack, she carries a laptop computer, a folio, ballistic glasses, a voice recorder and Dramamine. All this gear weighs 72 pounds, which is more than half her body weight. She’s required to wear this to go from the coalition side of base, where she lives, to the Afghan side of base, where she works. Wasem, the chief of public affairs at the 438th Air Expeditionary Wing, is an air advisor. Her job is to train and advise the Afghan Air Force on how to conduct public affairs. “Advising is not easy,” said Wasem, whose Afghan counterpart is Lt. Col. Mohammad Behadur, the AAF director of public affairs. “It’s very challenging. But I love working with the Afghans, and this job allows me to feel like I’m making a difference.” Wasem has been working with Behadur and his fiveperson staff, which she has nicknamed “the A-Team,” on basic public affairs capabilities and how to organize media events. She recently helped them facilitate media coverage at an event for International Women’s Day, which celebrated the role of women in the AAF. “There are significant cultural differences, but I feel like we’ve been able to make progress,” she said. “In the Afghan culture it’s important to develop a personal rapport with someone before you can talk about anything work or business related, so I’ve been trying to meet with them regularly to develop that relationship.” In preparation for this deployment, Wasem attended a 28-day course at the Air Advisor Academy at Fort Dix, New Jersery, where she was trained in cultural awareness, language, hand-to-handcombat, weapons, convoys, IED recognition and defensive driving. “The Academy instructors were great, but it’s still a challenging job to prepare for,” she said. Wasem is deployed from Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, where she serves as
deputy chief of public affairs at the 27th Special Operations Wing. She commissioned in 2008 from the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at the University of Washington, Seattle. As the daughter of two Air Force officers, Wasem
has always been close to the military. Her parents, Vaughn and Marcia Wasem, both retired as lieutenant colonels. Her father was an enlisted Chinese linguist, then became a B-52 navigator and transportation officer. Her mother, a supply officer, was in
the first class of the University of Idaho ROTC program to commission a female officer. Wasem’s grandfather, Don Hart, was a P-47 and P-51 fighter pilot based at Duxford, England, during World War II. After the war ended he stayed in the reserves and retired as a
lieutenant colonel. “I always adored my grandfather growing up and wish I had talked to him more about what he did in World War II and the Air Force before he died,” she said. “If I could have one day over again, I would want to talk to my grandfather.
I was so close to him, but I never asked him about the war. Everything I know about his military experience I know from my parents.” Both of her greatgrandfathers on her mother’s side served in the military during World War I.
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The Bainbridge Island Review newspaper seeking quality motor route carriers. Thursday night delivery. No collections. Must be at least 18 years of age. Reliable people with reliable vehicle please call Brian. 206-842-6613 Employment Marketing
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Sound Publishing, Inc. is seeking an experienced Part Time Inside Sales Consultant. Position will be based out of our Poulsbo office. We are looking for candidates who are assertive, goaldriven, and who possess strong interpersonal skills—both written and verbal. Ideal candidates will need to have an exceptional sales background with, strong customer service and phone solicitation skills; Employment print media experience Transportation/Drivers is a definite plus. Must be able to work independently and as part of a Drivers… team. If you thrive on calling on new, active or REGIONAL RUNS inactive accounts; are Western States self-motivated, well or- Excellent Pay Package ganized, and want to join Great Bonus Potential a professional, highly Great Equipment energized sales team, Steady Freight we want to hear from Family Atmosphere you. Compensation inCDL-A, HazMat, cludes a base wage plus 1 yr. exp. commission, paid vacation, sick leave and holiSOLOS & TEAMS days. EOE Call Holly or Carolyn! Please send resume with cover letter in PDF or Text format to
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EDITOR We have an immediate opening for Editor of the Vashon Island Beachcomber community newspapers with offices located on Vashon Island, Washington. This is not an entry-level position. Requires a hands-on leader with a minimum of three years newspaper experience including writing, editing, pagination, photography, and InDesign skills. The successful candidate: • Has a demonstrated interest in local political and cultural affairs. • Possesses excellent writing and verbal skills, and can provide representative clips from one o r m o r e p r o fe s s i o n a l publications. • Has experience editing reporters’ copy and submitted materials for content and style. • Is proficient in designing and building pages with Adobe InDesign or Quark Express. • Is experienced managing a Forum page, writing cogent and stylistically interesting commentaries, and editing a reader letters column. • Has experience with newspaper website content management and understands the value of the web to report news on a daily basis. • Has proven interpersonal skills representing a newspaper or other organization at civic functions and public venues. • Understands how to lead, motivate, and mentor a small news staff. • Must relocate and develop a knowledge of local arts, business, and government. • Must be visible in the community. This full-time position offers excellent benefits including medical, dental, 401K, paid vacation and holidays. Please send resume with cover letter and salary requirements to hr@soundpublishing.com or mail to VASED/HR, Sound Publishing, Inc. 19351 8th Ave. NE, Suite #106, Poulsbo, WA 98370 EOE
EDITOR The For ks For um is seeking a versatile, selfstarting editor for a rural weekly community newspaper located in the town of Forks on the West End of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Five-plus years of editing and reporting experience, along with leadership experience r e q u i r e d . N ew s p a p e r website operation and p o s t i n g ex p e r i e n c e a p l u s. We e k l y r e s p o n sibilities include reporting, photography, web posting, editing, pagination, circulation, opinion page editorial writing, involvement in the local community, and crossc u l t u r a l i nvo l ve m e n t . Ability to work closely, efficiently with a small staff. The scenic Forks region is the heart of the local timber industr y, and also an environmental wonderland. The region offers world-class salmon and steel head river fishing, seasonal elk hunting, mountain and coastal hiking in the rain forests of the Olympic National Park, surfing and summer time beach going. Vancouver Island, British Columbia is a ferry ride away to the nor th; Seattle is about 4 hours to the east. The reservations of the Quileute, Hoh and Makah coastal tribes are within the coverage area. Benefits include medical, dental, life, paid holidays, vacation and sick and 401k. Send resume, clips and letter of interest including salary requirements to hr@soundpublishing.com or by mail to Sound Publishing, Inc., HR Dept., 19351 8th Avenue NE, Suite 106, Poulsbo, WA 98370
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| APRIL, 2013 MARCH, @
Employment Media
CIRCULATION MANAGER This full-time position is located in Silverdale, WA. Must be a reliable self-starter with excellent customer service skills and the ability to lift up to 50 pounds repetitively with bending and twisting motion. ResponHome Services sibilities include sales, Hauling & Cleanup service and field supervision. Position also conGOT CLUTTER? tracts, trains and supervises adult motor route WE TAKE IT ALL! d r i ve r s a n d c a r r i e r s . Junk, Appliances, Must be well organized, Yard Debris, etc. detail oriented, deServing Kitsap Co. pendable and able to Since 1997 work independently. Re360-377-7990 l i a bl e a u t o m o b i l e r e 206-842-2924 quired plus proof of insurance and good driving record. Supervisory ex- &INDĂĽ)T ĂĽ"UYĂĽ)T ĂĽ3ELLĂĽ)T perience helpful. This ,OOKINGĂĽFORĂĽTHEĂĽRIDE OFĂĽYOURĂĽLIFE full-time position inWWW NW ADS COM cludes excellent bene ĂĽHOURSĂĽAĂĽDAY fits: medical, dental, life insurance, 401k, paid Home Services vacation, sick and holi- House/Cleaning Service days. EOE. Please send resume with cover letter Spring Cleaning to hr@soundpublishing.com $2 AN HOUR OFF or mail to:
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Go online to www.nw-ads.com or look in The Classifieds today. APRIL, 2013
| VETERANS LIFE
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Cemetery Plots
Jewelry & Fur
OAK HARBOR
2 CEMETERY PLOTS side by side for sale. Maple Leaf Cemetery in O a k H a r b o r. L o c a t e d along the road, a short distance South of the cannons. Grave plots #10 and #11. Nicely maintained grounds and fr iendly, helpful staff. $900 each. Call 425745-2419.
flea market Jewelry & Fur
I B U Y G O L D, S i l ve r, D i a m o n d s, W r i s t a n d Pocket Watches, Gold and Silver Coins, Silverware, Gold and Platinum Antique Jewelry. Call Mic h a e l A n t h o ny ’s a t (206)254-2575
Must sell Beautiful Ladies size 8 Diamond Ring White Gold Band. 1/2 karat surrounded by (4) 1/8 karat Diamonds. Total weight little over 1 karat. Paid $4,000 asking $2,000 OBO. Unique & Georgeous Ladies size 8 Diamond Ring 2 White Gold Bands. Layers of Diamonds! 2 Large Diamonds fit together and make a Diamond Shape Over a 2 nd band with 11 Point Diamonds! Paid $2,500 asking $1,250 OBO. Are you a Princess? Ladies size 7.5 Diamond Ring White Gold Band. GEORGEOUS Princess Cut Diamond Solitaire! Paid $3,000 asking $1,500 OBO. Call 253-579-3460
Home Furnishings
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NEW QUEEN pillowtop mattress set w/warranty. Sell $149. 253-537-3056 --------------------------------KING PILLOWTOP mattress set, 3 piece, brand new in wrap. $249. 253539-1600 --------------------------------NEW CHERRY Sleigh bedroom set. Includes dresser, mirror & nightstand. Still boxed. Will let go $599. 253-5373056 --------------------------------NEW Microfiber Sectional, Scotch Guarded, kid & pet friendly, $499. 253-539-1600 --------------------------------N E W A D J U S TA B L E b e d w / m e m o r y fo a m m a t t r e s s. L i s t $ 2 8 0 0 . S a c r i f i c e, $ 9 5 0 . 2 5 3 537-3056 --------------------------------L E AT H E R S O F A & loveseat, factory sealed. Delivery available. Must sell $699. 253-539-1600
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AVAIL NOW 2 LITTERS Of Full Euro’s; one litter of blues and one of mixed colors. AKC Great Dane Pups Health guarantee! Males / Females. Dreyrsdanes is Oregon state’s largest breeder of Great Danes, licensed since ‘02. Super sweet, intelligent, lovable, gentle giants $2000- $3,300. Also Standard Poodles. 503-556-4190. www.dreyersdanes.com
AKC POODLE puppies, brown standard. Healthy, happy, outgoing and playful. First shots and wormed. Males and females available. Have good hips, elbows and eyes. $1200 each. We also have a beautiful black 2 year old female. Call Roberta: 360-4432447 or 360-865-6102. www.topperspoodles.net topperspoodles@aol.com
MINI LONGHAIR Dachshund puppies, AKC registered. 9 weeks old. 2 females, 2 males. First shots, wormed and vet h e a l t h c h e ck . 2 ye a r health guarantee. Lifelong return policy. $600 3ELLĂĽITĂĽFORĂĽFREEĂĽINĂĽTHEĂĽ&,%! each. Go to: www.windTHEFLEA SOUNDPUBLISHING COM shadows.net for more info and pictures or call: &INDĂĽIT ĂĽ"UYĂĽIT ĂĽ3ELLĂĽIT 360-985-7138 or email: jan@windshadows.net NW ADS COM
OUR BEAUTIFUL AKC English Cream Golden Retriever puppies are ready to go to their new homes. They have been r a i s e d a r o u n d yo u n g children and are well socialized. Both parents have excellent health, and the puppies have had their first wellness vet check-ups and shots. Both parents are full English Cream Golden. $1800 each. For more pictures and information about the puppies and our home/ kennel please visit us at: www.mountainspringskennel.weebly.com or call Verity at 360-520-9196 2EACHĂĽTHOUSANDSĂĽOFĂĽ READERSĂĽWITHĂĽONEĂĽCALLĂĽ ĂĽ
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AKC POODLE Standard Super sweet puppies, very itelligent and family raised! Two year health garuntee. Adult weight b e t we e n 5 0 - 5 5 l b s. Black coloring; 4 Males & 3 Females. Accepting p u p py d e p o s i t s n ow ! $1,000 each. Also, Great Danes available. Please call today 503-556-4190. www.dreyersdanes.com
t 'BY
1981 Europa 33’ Trawler, Canadian built by Ontario Yachts, Ltd. Fiberglass downeast style hull. Single Volvo diesel. Excellent condition. Upgraded electronics include autopilot, radar, fishfinder, PC running Coastal Explorer, VHF/DSC, Garmin GPS. Espar heat. Propane range. Exceptionally clean and capable boat. Asking $74,500. Located in Oak Harbor. Call 360279-1551.
Reach thousands of subscribers by advertising your landscaping business in the ClassiďŹ eds. Automobiles Call 800-388-2527 Mazda to place your Service 2008 MAZDA 3 hatch- Directory Ad today.
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Transitioning Out of the Military? The Port of Seattle Can Help! Veterans Fellowship Program The Port of Seattle’s Veterans Fellowship Program assists veterans in transition from active duty to the civilian work environment. The program supports you through exposure and experience in the civilian workplace while refining skills and abilities necessary for successful integration into civilian organizations. Through career guidance from the Port of Seattle, backed by the dedication and work ethic reflective of your service in the armed forces, you will have the opportunity to successfully transfer your military experience into the civilian workplace in a six-month fellowship. WHAT AWAITS YOU AT THE PORT OF SEATTLE While gaining invaluable on-the-job experience and training during your fellowship with the Port of Seattle, you receive individualized career assistance through: t &YQPTVSF UP UIF DJWJMJBO XPSL FOWJSPONFOU BOE UP DPSQPSBUF CVTJOFTT QSBDUJDFT t *EFOUJGJDBUJPO PG ZPVS USBOTGFSBCMF TLJMMT t 3FTVNF XSJUJOH HVJEBODF BOE JOUFSWJFXJOH QSBDUJDF t 1MBOOFE BOE JOGPSNBM OFUXPSLJOH PQQPSUVOJUJFT XJUI PUIFS PSHBOJ[BUJPOT BOE DJWJMJBO FNQMPZFFT As a fellow you receive appropriate compensation for your work. Basic health care benefits are provided for you and your dependents. Our program is recognized as a best practice by Hire America’s Heroes, a Seattle-based consortium dedicated to helping men and women leaving active duty to refine their skills and focus on the abilities necessary for the current business environment.
For more info or to apply today visit http://www.portseattle.org/Jobs/Students-and-Veterans/Pages/Veterans.aspx
You Served Our Country, Now Let Us Serve You. 22
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VETERANS LIFE
| APRIL, 2013 MARCH, @
VETERAN PROFILE
Vietnam Vet has travelled the globe By JESSICA GINET
When Pete Cholometes departed the airplane in San Francisco he never felt so discouraged in his entire life. Cholometes had just returned to the United States aboard a commercial flight in 1968 in full dress uniform from Vietnam. Cholometes remembered he felt proud of his service. Yet the passengers on the plane wouldn’t look at him or talk to him. That event has stuck with him ever since. “I stepped off the airplane and walked down the steps,” he said. “One civilian spit on me and said, ‘Thanks, [expletive], for fighting the war for me.’” Pete Cholometes enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in January 1960 in Detroit. Cholometes spent 23 years in the USAF, with duty stations in Morocco, England, Germany and Alaska. He served in Vietnam from March 1967 through March 1968 and was sent to Bien Hoa, South Vietnam. Cholometes, a first generation American, whose family originated in Greece, was in country during the Tet Offensive. After basic training, Cholometes was sent to Air Intelligence School at Sheppard AFB in Texas. His first tour, from May 1960 to May 1961, was in Morocco and North Africa. There Cholometes briefed the B-47 crews on operational missions against the Soviet Union, “So they wouldn’t attack us,” he said. These missions were 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Cholometes plotted targets for the combat missions. He briefed pilots on missions prior to takeoff and debriefed the pilots once they landed. These included preplanned targets like missile depots and other components of what he called the “Russian war machine.” After returning home to Michigan for a brief respite, Cholometes’ next assignment was at Wurtsmith AFB in Michigan in 1962. Using the newest model B52H (the H model is still in the Air Force inventory and is assigned to Air Force Global Strike Command and the Air Force Reserves), Cholometes once again plotted targets as if the U.S. was going to war with Russia. From Wurtsmith AFB, Cholometes was ordered to
Alconbury, England, AFB. Alconbury, a Royal Air Force (RAF) base run by the U.S. Air Force, was his home for the next three years. It was at Alconbury AFB that Cholometes worked intelligence with RB-66 (recognizance bombers) that flew from England to Russia. The RB-66 would come close to Russian air space and then turn, using the SLR (side looking radar) to look deep inside Russian borders. Cholometes was stationed at Alconbury AFB when he volunteered for Vietnam in 1967. His younger brother was in college and Cholometes chose to go to Vietnam so his brother could finish his degree. When Pete returned from Vietnam his brother was drafted three months later. “My first impression of Vietnam was when I arrived in Saigon,” Cholometes recalled. He remembered jungle everywhere and that it was dirty by U.S. standards. “The rivers flowed with feces and trash,” he said. “It was terrible.” In his role as Operational Intelligence, Cholometes briefed every aircraft command twice daily (at 5 a.m. and again at 7 a.m.) for flights defoliating areas of Vietnam with Agent Orange. The dollar stretched far in Vietnam. “Everything was cheap,” he said. “For one dollar you could get a full meal. Beers were 50 cents. So you could buy a drink for all your buddies.” The Vietnamese people were desperate to obtain American currency. “When they saw an American, they saw dollars,” he said. “They would wash, iron and starch 15 shirts for two dollars. Those dollars could easily triple their income.” One morning Cholometes rolled out of bed and narrowly escaped death. “A Soviet rocket came through the hooch, went through my pillow and my mattress and landed in my locker,” he said. He still has a piece of the 122mm rocket with the Russian markings on it. Cholometes, a Catholic,
has fond memories of visiting local children whose parents were off fighting with the Vietcong or those left orphaned. Throughout his entire tour, four times a month Cholometes would take candy to those kids. “I liked bringing joy to the kids that had no mom and dad,” he said. While in Vietnam, Cholometes looked forward to receiving letters from his wife, Marge. They will celebrate their 50th anniversary March 30. When he returned to the United States he was not the same person he was when he left. “I was angry at America,” he said. “I was mad at the politicians and actors. Nobody was thankful when I returned.” He described his Vietnam experience as a part of the bad times in America, when it was more right to do what was politically correct than to win the war. “We had the power, we had the military, and we had the resolve early on – but then, as a nation, lost the resolve,” he said. When he was spit on by the civilian in San Francisco, Cholometes took matters into his own hands. His AWOL bag contained a heavy Buddha statue from Vietnam and he dropped the bag on the civilian’s foot. Cholometes then hit the man in the head, which knocked the jeering taunter backward into a cement wall. He recalled with gratitude that the military police (MP) who intervened let him walk away. Post-Vietnam, Cholometes returned once again to Michigan while on leave. From there it was off to Florida. He was stationed at Eglin AFB and it was there that Cholometes worked with special operations and obtained his jump wings, which was required. He taught pilots and crews in SERE (Survival, Evasion, Escape, Rescue) techniques in the swamps of Florida in preparation for their tours in Vietnam. Cholometes had an interesting 23 year career
“When they saw an American, they saw dollars.”
with the Air Force. He served at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, Alaska, from 1969 to 1974 and then worked for NORAD inside the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. After serving at Stuttgart, Germany, for four years, under General Alexander Hague, Cholometes returned to his favorite duty station, Elmendorf AFB where he served out the remainder of his career. Cholometes retired from the USAF as a Master Sergeant in 1983. Cholometes stayed in Alaska after retirement. An avid outdoorsman, Cholometes hunted deer and moose and fished for salmon and halibut. Other pursuits included snow machine racing and piloting his own plane, a Cessna 172. Because of a desire to live closer to their children and grandchildren, Cholometes and his wife moved from Alaska to Bainbridge Island in 2004. Their daughter is a math teacher for the Bainbridge School District. He is a member of the VFW Post 239 in Bremerton, a member of the Bainbridge Island Sportsmen’s Club and active with the Bainbridge Rotary. In 2006 and 2007 Cholometes participated in a Bainbridge Rotary project that dug wells in Uganda, a place he described as being the closest thing to his Vietnam experience. Cholometes has advice for future retirees of the US Armed Forces. “Use your military discipline to your advantage,” he said. “You have the upper leg when it comes to discipline in comparison to most civilians. The fact that you have traveled leaves you with a valuable asset. “In the service, most (people) are proactive while I feel that most of those outside of the services (tend) to be reactive to situations.” Building upon the discipline instilled through 23 years in the Air Force, Cholometes encouraged future military retirees to begin actively looking for employment almost a year prior to retirement. “Do not wait until you’re three weeks from leaving and expect a job waiting for you,” he said. “Chances are, it won’t be there.”
Contributed Photo
Pete Cholometes helps prepare shots for dental patients.
Contributed Photo
Cholometes dances in the streets with Ugandan orphans. He has gone to Uganda several times on service trips with the Bainbridge Rotary Club.
Contributed Photo
Cholometes in his earlier years, during which he served in Vietnam.
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Harrison HealthPartners primary care clinics. We’ve got you covered all across the Peninsula.
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Poulsbo Internal Medicine, Adult Primary Care & Rheumatology 22180 Olympic College Way, Suite 102 Poulsbo, WA 98370 360-779-4444 Forks Family Medical Center 461 G St. SW Forks, WA 98331 360-374-6224
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