This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Barbara Gilmartin-Family
to remember
GILMARTIN, John L. (Gil), GM2.
If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
Contact Info
Home Town Haverhill
Last Address John was born and died in Haverhill, MA USA
Date of Passing Oct 28, 2008
Location of Interment Saint James Cemetery - Haverhill, Massachusetts
John L. Gilmartin passed away on October 28, 2008 at his home surrounded by his loving family after a lengthy illness. He spent 31 years employed by the State of Massachusetts at the Annisquam River Marine Fishers Station before retiring in 2007. John was a true nature lover who spent much of his free time tending his flower gardens with his wife, Sandra, and strolling around the woods of Crystal Lake admiring the wildlife near his home. The entire family took great pleasure in his vast knowledge of all things outdoors. All who knew him will sadly miss John.
While in Vietnam John served with River Assault Squadron 15 as a Gunnersmate onboard C-151-2 from August 1968 to June 1969. He then became a Naval Advisor to the South Vietnamese Navy during his second tour of duty. John was a recipient of the Bronze Star Medal w/V, Navy Achievement Medal w/V, two Purple Hearts and several other unit awards to include the Presidential Unit Citation.
Other Comments:
BATTLE STREAMER : VIET-NAM SERVICE
US Navy Viet-Nam : Seventeen Campaigns
John L. Gilmartin, GMG 2nd Class
Republic of Viet-Nam: 1968-1970
Served in Seven Campaigns, 8 through 14
From August 1968 to June 1969 Mobile Riverine Force/ RAS 15/ CCB151-2
From June 1969 to September 1970 Naval Advisor to Viet Riverine Force RAID73
Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase IV Campaign (68)
From Month/Year
April / 1968
To Month/Year
June / 1968
Description This Campaign period was from 2 April to 30 June 1968. The Naval air and gun fire support to operations such as Operation Silver Mace gave ground units the needed firepower while AirForce units were moved to air operations over Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam. From 7 to 18 April, ground, air, and naval units from each of the American services, the Vietnamese Navy, and the Vietnamese Marine Corps conducted Silver Mace II, a strike operation in the Nam Can Forest on Ca Mau Peninsula. The enemy avoided heavy contact with the allied force, but his logistical system was disrupted.
Enemy air defenses caused aviators more concern for by 1968 the Communists had developed a defensive system that was well-armed, coordinated, and supported. On the ground throughout North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and Laos, the enemy trained skyward thousands of small arms, automatic weapons, and antiaircraft artillery. North Vietnam alone contained 8,000 weapons of many calibers, concentrated around key targets. Beginning in early 1965, surface-to-air missiles (SAM) were added to this defensive arsenal, and by early 1968 over 300 SAM sites dotted the North Vietnamese countryside. The entire defensive system was tied together with a sophisticated network of communications, air alert stations, and early warning, ground control-interceptor, and fire control radars. New and replacement weapons and ammunition were amply supplied by sympathetic Communist countries. The loss in Southeast Asia of 421 fixed-wing aircraft from 1965 to 1968 attested to the strength of these defenses. The aviators killed, missing, or made prisoner totaled 450. The operating environment was especially dangerous in North Vietnam, where 382 Navy planes were shot down, 58 of them by SAMs.
Although only accounting for eight of the Navy's aircraft during this three-year period, the North Vietnamese air units posed a constant threat to U.S. operations, thus requiring a diversion of vital resources for protection. The enemy air force varied from 25 to 100 MiG-15, MiG-17, MiG-19, and MiG-21 jet fighters. The country's jet-capable airfields included Gia Lam, Phuc Yen, Cat Bi, Kep, Kien An, Yen Bai, Son Tay, Bai Thuong, Hoa Lac, and Vinh. The U.S. Navy engaged in its first air-to-air encounter of the war on 3 April 1965, when several MiG-15s unsuccessfully attacked a flight of F-8 Crusaders near Thanh Hoa. On 17 June, two Midway F-4 Phantoms registered the first kills in the long conflict when they downed two MiG-17s south of Hanoi.
