McKee, Darwin, GMG3

TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE, WHAT INFLUENCED HIS/HER DECISION TO JOIN THE NAVY?
I planned on making the military a career for years. I knew I would eventually get drafted into the Army in a couple years and knew I didn't care for that.

My dad had been Navy 6 years, Army Air Corps for 2 years and USAF for 13 years so was well aware of military life. I was a military brat for 15 years. I figured I would be going Navy but just putting it off. I was working with a roofing company and an old buddy of mine showed up one day with a Navy recruiter in tow. He asked me if I would go into the Navy with him on the buddy plan. Since I had nothing that great going on in my life I decided that would probably be an okay move.

I was about 3 weeks short of being 18 so took the papers I needed to be signed by my dad to enlist. Thought the old man would break a leg getting to a pen to sign.

I went to Des Moines to take a physical and test to get in the Navy. After the test, an LT came out and asked which one of us was McKee. My first thought was I must have flunked the test. Then he said, "You scored really well on the test for not being a high school graduate". Don't know what I scored but it was good enough to get in the Navy.

After taking the oath we ended up taking a three-day train ride to San Diego. We stopped in a lot of places picking up other guys on the way to Navy boot. Places like Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona etc. It turned out to be a troop train like the ones that used to go through Iowa in WWII.

TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE DIRECTION OR PATH HE/SHE TOOK IN HIS/HER MILITARY SERVICE. WHERE DID THEY GO TO BOOT CAMP AND WHAT UNITS, BASES, SHIPS OR SQUADRONS WERE THEY ASSIGNED TO? WHAT WAS HIS/HER REASON FOR LEAVING?
Out of boot camp, I was offered EN OJT (On the Job Training) or TM. If I wanted to extend my three-year enlistment to six years I could go Hospital Corpsman which would mean going green. I turned it all down so was sent to NTC Mess Cooking.

I pulled my tour of Mess Cooking, which I kind of liked. I thought of maybe even becoming a cook but I held off.

I was assigned to NTC Base Police. It was very good, clean work. Most of the time I stood gate watches, all spit-polished with AJ squared away uniforms, checking ID's, saluting the officers. Occasionally we had to deal with drunks and out of line sailors!

Then I got orders for Vietnam & ended up with Camp Tien Sha Security. Which means the Navy got me into green after all.

One year later I was assigned orders to the USS Loyalty MSO 457 out of Long Beach. I was a GMG striker and made GMG3. I could have gone SK3 at test time as I had all requirements filled out for both GM & SK. I elected to take GMG 3&2 test.

I was offered missile school, but I would have had to ship over for 6 more years.

IF HE/SHE PARTICIPATED IN ANY MILITARY OPERATIONS, INCLUDING COMBAT, HUMANITARIAN AND PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS, TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE, PLEASE DESCRIBE THOSE YOU FEEL WERE THE MOST SIGNIFICANT TO HIM/HER AND, IF LIFE-CHANGING, IN WHAT WAY.
I was assigned to Camp Security on Camp Tien Sha. We were standing outer perimeter and tower watches, going on occasional patrols. The Camp came under fire several times during my tour. Sometimes a single shot or two and sometimes hundreds of rounds incoming, including an occasional mortar.

The closest I came to getting shot was when we were under red alert and I was making my way to my GQ bunker. An automatic weapon probably AK-47 opened up on me from an old abandoned Buddhist temple just outside our perimeter fence. Several rounds hit right in front of me and I was sprayed by the dirt they kicked up. I dove to the ground and cut my hand on a piece of broken glass. I crawled in behind a stack of plywood and let go with two 20 round clips into the old temple with my M-14 automatic rifle.

The Camp once had a scare of a siege by NVA & VC moving in on us. The Camp CO called for a Naval call fire to deal with the enemy that was spotted on the other side of Monkey Mountain. Jet fighters from Da Nang also came in and no enemy made it to our side of the mountain. It was a little unnerving not knowing if we were gonna have to fight a full-scale battle or not. Watching the projectiles going overhead and hoping they didn't drop one short. Our bunkers shook from the shells hitting on the other side of the mountain.

I seriously don't think we had enough people to hold them off if they would have made it to our side of Monkey Mountain. I even had a grenade bounce off my bunker one night with the pin still in it. Most of the time we just returned fire at other rifle flashes!

OF ALL THEIR DUTY STATIONS OR ASSIGNMENTS, ARE YOU AWARE OF ANY HE/SHE HAD FONDEST MEMORIES OF AND WHY? WHICH WAS THEIR LEAST FAVORITE?
That's a tough one. I consider my hitch in 3 sections. I was on a Kiddy cruise which got extended 2 1/2 months.

My 1st year which consisted of boot camp, mess cooking & NTC Base Police. That year was my introduction to real adult time. Several trips to T.J....(Go figure.) It was a really good duty but not much good for any kind of advancement.

The second year was as far from the Navy as most sailors short of Corpsman serving with the Marines will be. Never dreamed of ever being in country during a war right in the shooting side of it up close. It was the scariest time of my life but the proudest time of my life looking back on it. During the time there your main concern was surviving and looking after your shipmates. I didn't have any urge to return but never regretted being part of the first Navy to provide their own security. We were the pioneers of what became the MA Rate of today.

My third & final period was actually being in the Navy aboard a ship. I choose an MSO on account of being a small ship with a small crew. I was actually able to work in a rate & pass the test for GMG 3&2. It was a great Ship & tight crew. I had a lot of experiences that hadn't been able to partake in my 1st two years in the Navy. I got to be a helmsman, help fire a 40mm gun-mount which I even got to be gun captain on. Even helped a few times running out sweep gear for minesweeping. I loved standing mid-watches at sea. It was quiet and peaceful.

FROM THEIR ENTIRE MILITARY SERVICE, DESCRIBE ANY PERSONAL MEMORIES, YOU MAY BE AWARE OF, WHICH IMPACTED HIM/HER THE MOST.
First one was while standing gate watch at NTC San Diego. Guy came into our gate, white as a ghost, telling about an old man half a block up the street bleeding and hurt. The PO on the gate told me to go with him and check it out. There were an all-night laundromat and the old guy who ran it was laying in the parking lot covered in blood. He had been stabbed & robbed. He was still breathing but not able to respond to me talking to him. I kept him company continually talking to him until the ambulance arrived. He died en route to the hospital and I found out later he was a retired Chief. First time I saw a bleeding and dying person.

Next time I saw bleeding and dying persons was in Vietnam. I was visiting a buddy at the Da Nang hospital and I was starting to leave when a couple dust offs came in loaded with wounded Marines. I pitched in to help with stretchers into the ER. I don't know how many made it because they were really torn up.

A more pleasant thing was the house three of us built for a family down in Son Sa village who had lost their dad - an RVN Captain KIA. Those kinds of things never make it back with the news media.

And my 15 minutes of fame was when Ann Margaret with Johnny Rivers band came to Camp Tien Sha to entertain the troops. I got to dance with her on stage. The picture of that ended up in Stag Magazine 1966.

WHAT PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS DO YOU BELIEVE HE/SHE WAS MOST PROUD OF FROM HIS/HER MILITARY SERVICE?
I would say no. I was just doing my job to the best of my ability never thought too much about medals and such. Maybe I was a little naive. I didn't know we even got a ribbon for serving in Vietnam much less three or more that were available just for being in country. One thing we did talk about a few times was not getting a cheap Purple Heart as that could be unlucky in the long run.

OF ALL THE MEDALS, AWARDS, FORMAL PRESENTATIONS AND QUALIFICATION BADGES HE/SHE RECEIVED, WHICH WERE THE MOST MEANINGFUL TO HIM/HER AND WHY?
The Ribbon which is the pick of mine would be the first one received. National Defense Medal. That one says I took an oath to defend the nation and as part of a select group of people to do so. Without that one, no others would have come along.

I am also proud of my Navy Expert Rifleman as you have to earn those by yourself.

IF KNOWN, PLEASE LIST ANY INDIVIDUAL(S) FROM HIS/HER TIME IN THE MILITARY WHO STOOD OUT AS HAVING THE MOST POSITIVE IMPACT ON THEM AND WHY?
The person who stands out as my biggest impact would be one who was not even there with me, my father. He was a 21-year career man as I said before. My first 15 years of life was with the military as what's called "military brat".LOL

Learned a lot from the old man including how to stand a helm watch and follow a compass heading when I was just 14 years old.

As far as the Navy itself CS2 Barry Watt aboard the USS Loyalty was someone I always admired. I am still friends with him. He retired as a CSC and actually grew up 20 miles from where I live.

My close buddy in Vietnam, YN3 Rogers. We got away with far more than we should have but it was a hell of a ride anyway. We still talk on the phone after almost 45 years past our tour in Vietnam.

ARE YOU AWARE OF ANY PARTICULAR INCIDENT FROM HIS/HER SERVICE, WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN FUNNY AT THE TIME, BUT STILL MADE THEM LAUGH LATER ON?
One night running for my red alert bunker on Tien Sha I fell into a roll of Constantine wire some idiots strung out in the wrong place. Damn thing wrapped around me like a boa constrictor. Took three guys to get me untangled. Lucky it was chilly and I had on a jacket. It took me awhile to get out of the wire the next day.

A similar thing happened to another guy who was making it to his bunker during heavy monsoon rains & walked into a flooded hole clear over his head.

We shaved half of a guy's mustache off one night while he was passed out. Just half...LOL

Another time aboard the USS Loyalty (MSO 457) during war games, we were all in civilian clothes playing the part of a Russian trawler. No hull numbers, Russian insignia on the stack and flying the Cycle & Hammer flag. A Destroyer not in on the game laid off our starboard side on our way out to the games and sent light for us to identify ourselves. Our old man sent back flashing light "Yankee Go Home" I thought "Oh shit, we're about to become splinters in the water".

There are a few more things that even I can't begin to put in this section!

IF HE/SHE SURVIVED MILITARY SERVICE, WHAT PROFESSION(S) DID HE/SHE FOLLOW AFTER DISCHARGE?
I didn't really go into any particular profession right after getting out.

I worked for Oscar Mayer Boning Hams, picnics and blades.

I worked for American Beef gutting cattle.

I worked for Osmundson Manufacturing running a 2000 degree furnace and die making Farm disc blades.

I worked for Local Natural Gas Company laying line, setting tanks and piping houses and lining chimneys.

I worked for City Light and Water of Poplar Bluff Missouri laying lines both water and sewer, reading meters and running service lines.

I also worked for the same city as Assistant Building Inspector, Compliance Officer, and new street construction inspector.

In 1977 I bought into one-third of the family business. McKee Jewelry Inc. in Perry Iowa. My dad was retiring and my brother asked me to buy in with him. I did that for 24 years until my health forced me to retire. We were retail jewelers who sold fine jewelry, watches & clocks. Also did custom casting & made a lot of our own jewelry. I did in-store watch, jewelry & clock repair.

IF KNOWN, WHAT MILITARY ASSOCIATIONS WAS HE OR SHE A MEMBER OF, IF ANY? ARE YOU AWARE OF ANY SPECIFIC BENEFITS THEY DERIVED FROM THEIR MEMBERSHIPS?
NTWS and ATWS are the only groups I belong to.

I never joined the VFW when I got out of the service. At that time a lot of the older vets for some reason didn't welcome Vietnam Vets with open arms. I know some of the reasons and didn't think it was worth arguing over. They have recently changed a lot of their old hang ups but it's mostly because their numbers are fast disappearing.

IF HE/SHE SURVIVED MILITARY SERVICE, IN WHAT WAYS DO YOU BELIEVE HIS/HER SERVING IN THE MILITARY INFLUENCED THE WAY THEY APPROACHED THEIR PERSONAL LIFE, FAMILY LIFE AND CAREER?
I think military training helps you to learn how to work as a team and helps to show you leadership from both being in charge and being under others. I learned a lot observing both good and bad leaders. I have worked for lots of people after my Navy hitch and eventually running my own business.

My military time definitely gave me a leg up that I would not have had if hadn't served!

IF THEY WERE HERE TODAY, WHAT ADVICE DO YOU THINK HE OR SHE WOULD GIVE TO THOSE WHO FOLLOWED IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS AND RECENTLY ENTERED MILITARY SERVICE?
Do the best job you can. With the economy, today, give plenty consideration to staying in. Many of us who served just one hitch and got out will tell you they regret not staying for the twenty. No matter if you're in the service or out in the civilian world, there will always be things to be dealt with that you don't care for.

If you do stay in, remember to save some money for your retirement. Not a bad idea whether you're in or out.

Navy is hard on married life and it takes a special couple to deal with it. The main reason I got out was I knew she couldn't handle it. It lasted twenty-two years but it wouldn't have lasted more than two years if I had stayed in.

HOW EFFECTIVE HAS TOGETHERWESERVED.COM BEEN IN HELPING YOU RECORD YOUR REMEMBERED PERSONS MILITARY SERVICE? DO YOU HAVE ANY ADDITIONAL COMMENTS OR SUGGESTIONS YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE?
Not only has it allowed me the ability to contact old shipmates, it has given some of us long out the chance to relive some of our Navy life. To be able to see what others time in was like.

I have made a lot of new friends that I would never have without the site. From meeting in person, on the phone, email, and on the different threads. There is a connection that all Navy people have with each other that just isn't there with those who never served.

The young folks who are still in are a treat. It's great to see how the Navy of today is different from us old-salts from yesterday.

Very interesting to see how the ladies have entered into the sailor part of the Navy which was not there during my time.

I have learned some helpful things concerning the VA on different sites.

DS 6/5/18