This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Daniel L Arnes, CMDCM
to remember
Heard, Perry Maxwell, Sr., PO2.
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 Lanett, AL
Last Address Lisbon, ME
Date of Passing Dec 18, 1997
Location of Interment Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery - Augusta, Maine
AE2 US NAVY VIETNAM
Perry M. Heard Sr., 63, of Farnsworth Street died Thursday at Central Maine Medical Center, Lewiston. He was a retired Navy aviation electrician's mate, 2nd Class.
He was born in Lanett, Ala., and attended Lanett schools.
Mr. Heard served during the Vietnam War as a helicopter gunner and retired from active duty on Feb. 12, 1975, after serving 21 years. He received four Good Conduct awards, a Naval Achievement Award, two letters of commendation, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Bronze Star, the expert rifleman and pistolman medal, and in 1971, received a letter of commendation from a rear admiral while stationed with the Helicopter Patrol Squadron at San Francisco Naval Air Station.
Mr. Heard moved to this area in 1975. He was employed as a maintenance person for the Brunswick Housing Authority for many years and later for Topsham Fair Mall. In 1975, he attended Sears Electronic & Refrigeration School.
He was a member of the Fleet Reserve and Chuna Vista Fleet Reserve, San Francisco. Mr. Heard enjoyed bowling.
Surviving are three sons, James A. of Bath, Perry M. Jr. and Edward N., both of Brunswick; a daughter, Mrs. Ben (Cassandra C.) Tate of Brunswick; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Brackett Funeral Home, 29 Federal St., Brunswick, with Navy Chaplain Timothy Lantz officiating. Burial, with full military honors, will be in the spring.
Per Dan Arnes 7/31/2015: Son of Perry Maxwell Heard and Ethel M. Toles. Aviation Electrician's Mate Petty Officer 2nd Class, (AE2) Perry Heard Jr. served with Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron Three, HA(L)-3 in Vietnam as a helicopter door gunner from 1970-1971. Various records list him as Sr. and Jr. (His father was Perry Maxwell and he has a son Perry M. Jr.)
Source: Bev Winship, Find A Grave
Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase VII Campaign (70-71)
From Month/Year
July / 1970
To Month/Year
June / 1971
Description This Campaign was from 1 July 1970 to 30 June 1971. In July the Vietnamese Navy assumed sole responsibility f or the Ready Deck operation, which was given a Tran Hung Dao designator like the other former SEALORDS areas. Also in July, the U.S. Navy ceased its combat activity on I Corp's Cua Viet and Hue Rivers. The Americans then transferred the last combatant vessels of Task Force Clearwater to the Vietnamese. A final turnover of river craft at the end of 1970 enabled the Vietnamese Navy to take charge of the Search Turn, Barrier Reef, and Breezy Cove efforts deep in the Mekong Delta. Except for continued support by HAL-3 and VAL-4 aircraft and SEAL detachments, the U.S. Navy's role in the SEALORDS campaign ended in April 1971 when Solid Anchor (previously Sea Float and now based ashore at Nam Can) became a Vietnamese responsibility.
The Vietnamese Navy, which grew from 18,000 men in the fall of 1968 to 32,000 men at the end of 1970, instituted organizational changes to accommodate the new personnel, material, and operational responsibilities. The Vietnamese grouped their riverine assault craft in riverine assault interdiction divisions (RAID) and their PBRs into river interdiction divisions (RID) and river patrol groups (RPG). They also augmented the existing RAGs and coastal groups, the latter now consolidated into 20 units for lack of sufficient patrol junks.
This dramatic change in the nature of the allied war effort reflected the rapid but measured withdrawal from South Vietnam of U.S. naval forces. NAVFORV strength dropped from a peak of 38,083 personnel in September 1968 to 16,757 at the end of 1970. As Admiral Zumwalt transferred resources to the Vietnamese Navy, he disestablished U.S. naval commands and airlifted personnel home. With the redeployment of the Army's 9th Infantry Division and the turnover of 64 riverine assault craft in June 1969, the joint Mobile Riverine Force halted operations. When the Riverine Assault Force (Task Force 117) stood down on 25 August 1969, it became the first major naval command deactivated in Vietnam. By December 1970, COMNAVFORV had transferred to Vietnam the remaining river combatant craft in his command, which included 293 PBRs and 224 riverine assault craft. That month, the River Patrol Force was disestablished and the Task Force 116 designator reassigned to Commander Delta Naval Forces, a new headquarters controlling SEAL and naval aircraft units still in-country.