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Daniel L Arnes, CMDCM
to remember
Frandsen, Curtis William, LT.
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Contact Info
Home Town St. Paul, MN
Last Address Attleboro, MA
Date of Passing Aug 17, 2008
Location of Interment Sunset Memorial Park - Minneapolis, Minnesota
FRANDSEN, CURTIS W
LT US NAVY
VIETNAM
DATE OF BIRTH: 07/11/1944
DATE OF DEATH: 08/17/2008
BURIED AT:
SUNSET MEMORIAL PARK
2250 ST ANTHONY BLVD NE MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55418
(612) 789-3596
Other Comments:
ATTLEBORO - Curtis William Frandsen, 64, of County Street, Attleboro, died unexpectedly on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008 while doing what he loved and cherished doing, scuba diving for lobster off the coast of Gloucester.
Born in St. Paul, Minn. On July 11, 1944, he was the only son of Muriel (Kulenkamp) Frandsen of Roseville, Minn. And the late Charles W. Frandsen. He was raised and educated in Minnesota where he received his BSEE from the University of Minnesota and was later awarded his MBS from Bryant College in Smithfield, R.I.
He served for more than 20 years in the U.S. military, having been a naval aviator in the U.S. Navy and earning the rank of lieutenant during the Vietnam era. He also served in the U.S. Army Reserves and retired as a captain from the U.S. Uniformed Services.
Mr. Frandsen was most recently employed as the materials manager for Franklin Fixtures in West Wareham where he worked from 2001 to 2007. Over the years he was employed by numerous companies including: Corpay Solutions in Norwood; Design Contempo Inc. in Lisbon, N.H.; Spirol International Corporation in Danielson, Conn.; Wagner Brake/Cooper Industries in Brighton and the Polaroid Corporation and Codex Corporation.
He was a resident of the City of Attleboro for the past 12 years, having previously resided in Plainville, Franklin and throughout the United States and the world, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during his tenure with the U.S. military.
Mr. Frandsen was a member of the Franklin Federated Church where he served his church community as a member of the church choir.
He was a member of M.O.A.A. of Fall River and was a frequent volunteer at the Plainville Senior Center where he assisted as a data entry specialist and librarian.
His love for music was not only demonstrated in church, but he enjoyed playing the piano and was a member of the Cumberland-Lincoln Community Chorus.
An ardent scuba diver, he dove for many years throughout the world and this summer had participated in the most dives of any season, including a dive off the Isle of Shoals in Rye, N.H. only weeks ago where he experienced the joy of swimming amongst a pod of leopard seals. He later stated that this was one of his life's most memorable experiences.
His most passionate pastime was the time spent in the water in search of lobster.
He took great pride in his flower and vegetable gardens, probably from his experiences during his youth on his uncle's farm in Minnesota.
Burial with full military honors will be held at Sunset Memorial Park, St. Anthony, Minn. At a later date.
Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase VI Campaign (68-69)
From Month/Year
November / 1968
To Month/Year
February / 1969
Description This Campaign period was from 2 November to 22 February 1969. When Admiral Zumwalt launched SEALORDS in October 1968 with the blessing of the new COMUSMACV, General Creighton Abrams, allied naval forces in South Vietnam were at peak strength. The U.S. Navy's Coastal Surveillance Force operated 81 Swift boats, 24 Coast Guard WPBs, and 39 other vessels. The River Patrol Force deployed 258 patrol and minesweeping boats; the 3,700-man Riverine Assault Force counted 184 monitors, transports, and other armored craft; and Helicopter Attack Squadron Light (HAL) 3 flew 25 armed helicopters.
This air component was soon augmented by the 15 fixed-wing OV-10 Bronco aircraft of Attack Squadron Light (VAL) 4, activated in April 1969. The lethal Bronco flown by the "Black Ponies" of VAL-4 carried 8 to 16 5- inch Zuni rockets, 19 2.75-inch rockets, 4 M-60 machine guns, and a 20-millimeter cannon. In addition, five SEAL platoons supported operations in the delta.
Complementing the American naval contingent were the Vietnamese Navy's 655 ships, assault craft, patrol boats, and other vessels. To focus the allied effort on the SEALORDS campaign, COMNAVFORV appointed his deputy the operational commander, or "First SEALORD," of the newly activated Task Force 194. Although continuing to function, the Game Warden, Market Time, and Riverine Assault Force operations were scaled down and their personnel and material resources increasingly devoted to SEALORDS.
Task Force 115 PCFs mounted lightning raids into enemy- held coastal waterways and took over patrol responsibility for the delta's larger rivers. This freed the PBRs for operations along the previously uncontested smaller rivers and canals. These intrusions into former Viet Cong bastions were possible only with the on-call support of naval aircraft and the heavily armed riverine assault craft.
In the first phase of the SEALORDS campaign allied forces established patrol "barriers," often using electronic sensor devices, along the waterways paralleling the Cambodian border. In early November 1968, PBRs and riverine assault craft opened two canals between the Gulf of Siam at Rach Gia and the Bassac River at Long Xuyen. South Vietnamese paramilitary ground troops helped naval patrol units secure the transportation routes in this operational area, soon named Search Turn.
Later in the month, Swift boats, PBRs, riverine assault craft, and Vietnamese naval vessels penetrated the Giang Thanh-Vinh Te canal system and established patrols along the waterway from Ha Tien on the gulf to Chau Doc on the upper Bassac. As a symbol of the Vietnamese contribution to the combined effort, the allied command changed the name of this operation from Foul Deck to Tran Hung Dao I.
Then in December U.S. naval forces pushed up the Vam Co Dong and Vam Co Tay Rivers west of Saigon, against heavy enemy opposition, to cut infiltration routes from the "Parrot's Beak" area of Cambodia. The Giant Slingshot operation, so named for the configuration of the two rivers, severely hampered Communist resupply in the region near the capital and in the Plain of Reeds.
Completing the first phase of the SEALORDS program, in January 1969 PBRs, assault support patrol boats (ASPB), and other river craft established patrol sectors along canals westward from the Vam Co Tay to the Mekong River in Operation Barrier Reef. Thus, by early 1969 a patrolled waterway interdiction barrier extended almost uninterrupted from Tay Ninh northwest of Saigon to the Gulf of Siam.
