Coombs, Robert, SK2

PLEASE DESCRIBE WHO OR WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO JOIN THE NAVY.
My dear mother, and the US Army draft!

Shortly after turning 19, and having received a 1-A classification from the Selective Service board earlier in the year, Mom reminded me that Uncle Sam would soon be knocking at the door with draft notice in hand, and that would almost surely mean

Bootcamp Graduation, Company 66-745 - 1967

duty in Vietnam. Oh, by the way, she said, the Navy recruiter is at the fire station on Mondays!

I was attending college part-time, really disliked school, and was not taking enough credits for a draft deferment anyway, so I was off to see the Navy recruiter.

I had heard the Air Force, Coast Guard, and local National Guard were closed to new recruiting, so Army, Navy or Marines were my only options. As an 8-year-old, I had suffered a bout with asthma, and from then on I really disliked running, so that left only one choice, Navy.

I filled out the application and was grilled about my lack of a police record. The recruiter said I would not be allowed in the Navy if I had as much as a single parking ticket, but my record proved to be clean! I asked about the two-year reservist program but no, take it or leave it, only the four-year active duty enlistment was available. He also said there would be no promises regarding job rating, duty stations or schools. He added my name to the waiting list and said the wait would be a month or longer, and, I would still be subject to the draft while waiting!

A week later, right in the middle of dinner, the phone rang and my mother talked for several minutes, then came out of the kitchen and said it was for me. It was the recruiter with word that someone had dropped off the waiting list, and was I interested in the opening? The catch was I'd be in boot camp a week later, and he again reminded me he couldn't save me from the draft. On December 15th of 1966, the day Walt Disney died, I was on a Greyhound bus on my way to a physical in Los Angeles, then off to boot camp in San Diego. Yes, Christmas in boot camp, but at least that meant one easy day off!

Was the recruiter entirely truthful to me? I don't think I was really still subject to the draft after having enlisted in the Navy. Nor was it true that the Navy reservist program was full, as in boot camp we had several two-year reservists in our company.

WHETHER YOU WERE IN THE SERVICE FOR SEVERAL YEARS OR AS A CAREER, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE DIRECTION OR PATH YOU TOOK. WHERE DID YOU GO TO BOOT CAMP AND WHAT UNITS, BASES, SHIPS OR SQUADRONS WERE YOU ASSIGNED TO? WHAT WAS YOUR REASON FOR LEAVING?
My Navy career began with boot camp in San Diego in December of 1966, which was no piece of cake, but at least it wasn't as cold in the winter as it was at Great Lakes RTC. I was accepted into the Color Guard company, and felt somewhat important wearing

USS Washtenaw County 1968 patch

my Recruit Petty Officer third class crow!

As the flag of my home state of California was already assigned, I ended up carrying the Massachusetts flag during the graduation parade. I didn't know it at the time, but that turned out to be very appropriate as I later discovered I had ancestors who had emigrated to Massachusetts in the early 1600's.

Most members of my boot camp company were destined to become airedales, and even I was designated as a green stripe Aviation Recruit. During career counseling day I mentioned to the counselor that I had a mechanical aptitude and asked about striking for the Aviation Machinist's Mate rating. No, you have defective color vision, so that rate is out.

My backup choice was Machinery Repairman, as I did well in high school machine shop, but that rating had no openings. I graduated from boot camp as a Seaman Apprentice ready to strike for whatever came my way.

After boot camp, I received orders to join Amphibious Construction Battalion One (ACB-1) aboard the Amphibious Base on Coronado Island, California. This was a Seabee battalion that specialized in the construction of pontoon causeways to be used as portable piers for offloading or on-loading LST's, and other amphibious ships, when beach conditions didn't allow LST direct beaching operations.

ACB-1 was composed of about half blue stripe Seabee Steelworkers who did the actual construction of the causeways, and the other half were mostly Boatswain's Mates or strikers like me. We white stripers put the causeways to use side loading them onto LST's, then splashing and connecting them into long piers during beach landing operations.

I was a Seaman Apprentice working in the ACB-1 chain locker where we assembled and maintained all of the gear needed for side loading. I spent much of 1967 with ACB-1, mixed in with three months of temporary duty assignment to the base for barracks cleaning.

In early 1968 I, along with four fellow members of ACB-1, received orders to USS Washtenaw County, LST-1166, home ported in Yokosuka, Japan. After a little time on leave, and a couple of weeks at Treasure Island in San Francisco, we finally boarded a flight to Japan. We checked in at Yokosuka Naval Base but were told the ship was in Vietnam, so the next morning we boarded a plane for Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon!

It was winter in San Francisco, and was certainly dress blues and peacoat weather in Yokosuka, too, but it might as well have been summer in Vietnam as it was warm! We spent nearly a month in transit in Saigon and at the Dong Tam Army/Navy base while waiting for USS Washtenaw County to move to an accessible location. We finally reported aboard on March 4th of 1968.

My first duties aboard the ship were the typical Deck Department seaman jobs of chipping, painting, and swabbing until late in March when the Supply Department lead Storekeeper learned I could type. I left deck force and joined the Supply Department as a Storekeeper striker, or keeper of the keys.

While in Deck Department I was also trained as a gun mount 2nd loader, then I moved up to a 1st loader position and spent many hours on the 3"-50 gun mounts on nightly watches while in the rivers. I retained my gun mount station for General Quarters, nightly watch, and river transit duty after moving to Supply.

That was a very eventful two-year tour aboard USS Washtenaw County I'll never forget, but in February of 1970, I received orders to USS Mobile, LKA-115, home ported in San Diego. I'll go into the details in answer to a later question, but my tour aboard Mobile was very short.

After Mobile, I received orders to help decommission USS Pickaway, APA-222, but only worked aboard APL-9, the barracks ship located next door. I did spend a whole five minutes aboard Pickaway while checking in on the quarterdeck!

Aboard the APL I was responsible for making sure the mess cooks got up in the morning, plus I had to keep track of how many meals were being served each day. That duty was five days on and two off, followed by two on and five off, so it was like taking a vacation every other week!

Thanks to President Nixon's campaign promise of Vietnam War cutbacks, after USS Pickaway was decommissioned I received a six month early out and exited active duty in June of 1970. My total "career" lasted 3 1/2 years!

I chose to leave the Navy after my first enlistment because I didn't feel I was really cut out for a higher leadership role, and I felt my freedoms were somewhat constrained by military regimen.

In looking back, just as high school seemed to go on forever, so did my 3 1/2 years of naval service, but the balance to finish a 20-year career sure did fly by in a hurry! It would have been nice to see more of the world while earning that middle-age retirement check, but at the time the grass just looked a little greener on the civilian life side of the main gate. In the end, it all worked out, as I did retire a few years early from my civilian career.

IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN ANY MILITARY OPERATIONS, INCLUDING COMBAT, HUMANITARIAN AND PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS, PLEASE DESCRIBE THOSE WHICH MADE A LASTING IMPACT ON YOU AND, IF LIFE-CHANGING, IN WHAT WAY?
While attached to ACB-1 the only military operations we were involved in were practice beach landings out on the Pacific Ocean side of the Coronado Silver Strand. These operations included side loading causeways onto LST's, splashing and assembling the causeways into piers to run up on the beach, offloading of

Washtenaw with Mobile Riverine Force 1968

equipment transported by the LST's, and the set-up and defense of a base camp on the beach.

Vietnam military operations during my two years of duty aboard USS Washtenaw County were all combat operations. Over the years 1968 and 1969, we served with all four of the naval task forces that have come to be called the Brown Water Navy, plus we also served with the Marine Ready Groups.

I'll touch upon the operations here and go into greater detail regarding the most impactful events in answer to the next profile question.

Although not aboard ship yet, my first exposure to combat happened on my first day in Vietnam after checking into the transit hotel in Saigon. Located directly across the street was a small supply depot, and a mortar round landed in it in the middle of that first night. Lucky for us it was not an ammo depot!

We were sleeping in bunk beds next to an open window facing the depot, so it was pretty noisy. I sat up so quickly I hit my head on the bunk above! The next morning a few of us were volunteered for a work party and sent over to help clean up the pallets of soda pop that had taken the hit. Welcome to the war!

Near the end of February, our transit group was moved out to the Mekong River where we spent five more days at the Dong Tam Army/Navy base. Upon checking in we were told that a red flare meant ground attack, and green flare meant aerial (mortar or rocket) attack, or maybe it was the other way around, but we were to take cover in a bunker.

Our nights remained quiet, but one afternoon we were out watching the troops play baseball when the base came under attack, which cleared the field in a hurry. The defensive machine gun post well behind home plate opened up on the nearby jungle palms, then a mortar round hit right next to a tank that was making its way across the baseball diamond.

We were way out beyond left field waiting for the last of our group to finish using the head and about that time someone with more sense than we came running by and had us follow him to the bunker.

I didn't hear if Army or Navy was awarded a win, or if they even played enough innings for the game to count!

In early March our transit group finally reported aboard USS Washtenaw County, now anchored in the middle of the Mekong River near Dong Tam. She was serving with Task Force 117, the Mobile Riverine Force, which moved up and down the Mekong River system to wherever the action was. TF-117 was a joint force made up of Navy LST type base ships, Navy crewed gunboats which were mostly modified LCM-6's, and soldiers from the Army's 9th Infantry Division which was reactivated and trained to fulfill riverine duty. TF-117 was tasked with seeking out and destroying enemy forces, and that meant attacks upon the Mobile Riverine Base ships, too, including Washtenaw. We came under fire multiple times during the 1968 Tet Counteroffensive Campaign but were only hit once.

At the end of March, we were relieved by our Landing Ship Squadron 9 sister, USS Tom Green County, LST-1159, then we sailed to Bangkok, Thailand for a few days of R&R. After an upkeep period back in Yokosuka, we were back with TF-117 in June and July of 1968. During this period we were detailed with delivering cargo up river and across the border to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We were not granted permission to cross the border so we dropped our cargo of a few sheets of steel plating on the dock and headed back down river. That turned out to be a tragic trip which will be covered under the next question.

Why was such a large ship used to transport a few plates of steel so far up river when a much smaller boat would have been more efficient at handling the job? Just three months later Mobile Riverine Force boats and base ships were sent up to the Cambodian border zone to support Operation SEA LORDS. In retrospect, we were probably testing the river channels to make sure the larger ships could transit that far up river!

USS Washtenaw County's next Vietnam operations began in October of 1968 in support of operation "Bold Dragon VIII". We were attached to TF-115, the Coastal Surveillance Force, home of the PCF "Swift Boats". We also had a squad of SEAL's aboard. TF-115's primary job was to patrol the entire coastline of South Vietnam to stem the flow of enemy supplies coming in by ship, and the Swifts were joined by Coast Guard cutters.

The SEALs were considered part of TF-116, the River Patrol Force, also called Gamewardens, and home to the PBR's (Patrol Boat, River) which became infamous after the release of the popular movie, Apocalypse Now. Eventually, the Swift Boats moved into the Mekong River system to join the TF-116 PBR's and gunboats of TF-117.

Operation "Bold Dragon VIII" took place at Phu Quoc Island located just off the coastline of the border between Vietnam and Cambodia. Our job was to provide support for the SEAL's and refueling & re-arming of two Army Cobra gunships deployed on board. The Cobra's provided on-call air cover for the SEAL's who were out setting up ambushes, and they also sized up an enemy base camp.

One day during Bold Dragon we joined other ships in the area in shelling the island. The LSMR (rocket ship) put on quite a show, but we were given credit for a few hits ourselves. Shortly afterward all three of our gun mounts sported full and partial Vietnamese "huts" painted on their gun tubs. We also fired a warning shot over a Vietnamese junk sailing in a restricted area.

We had no damage or losses, but one of the Cobra's landed short of the ship, and ended up in the water during a very dark night! Both the pilot and gunner escaped the rapidly sinking Cobra, but that remains another incident etched into my memory, as I watched the whole landing approach take place!

Bold Dragon VIII ended in early November with receipt of an emergency radio message that we were to relieve our sister ship USS Westchester County, LST-1167, ASAP. Westchester was handling our old job with TF-117 and will be covered in more detail under the next profile question. This would be our third deployment to the Mobile Riverine Force, and one that is also impossible to forget!

After December R&R in Hong Kong and another upkeep period in Yokosuka, Washtenaw once again headed to Vietnam in February and March of 1969. This time we joined the newest task force, TF-194, Operation SEA LORDS, which was a combination of boats from TF-115, 116, and 117 along with U.S. and Vietnamese soldiers. TF-194 was tasked with stopping the flow of supplies and enemy troops that were coming down the Ho Chi Minh trail inside the Cambodian border to resupply the Mekong Delta area.

We spent much of our SEA LORDS deployment supporting Swift Boats, including John Kerry's boat, and sent one of our LCVP's out to tow back one of the damaged Swifts. We also provided gunfire support far up one of the Mekong tributaries.

An entire village of Viet Cong sympathizers was taken prisoner and brought aboard Washtenaw. Guess who had to stand watch over women, kids, and old men while armed with nothing more than my Case folding knife? They were held in a compartment with only one way out, up the ladder to where I was sitting one deck above. I would let them come up one at a time to use the head around the corner. The two hardcore, fighting age villagers were locked in the brig!

Washtenaw was offline for several months in mid-1969 while undergoing a complete overhaul in drydock. She was back in Vietnam in September, October and November of 1969 for deployment with the Marine Amphibious Ready Groups of TF-76, the Amphibious Task Force. TF-76 conducted Marine amphibious beach assaults mainly in the I Corps "northern" zone of South Vietnam in 1969.

In September, during Operation "Defiant Stand", we assaulted Barrier Island, just south of Danang, with a tank deck full of Marine LVT's used to carry the U.S. Marines ashore. As the LVT's drove off our bow ramp and into the water, they briefly turned into submarines. No thanks!

As part of phase two of Defiant Stand, we picked up Republic of Korea Marines, and they also ended up on the beach. This was the first joint American/Korean combat operation since the end of the Korean War, or so says the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)!

USS Washtenaw County's duties with all of the units, as mentioned before, would be considered combat operations, and all provided the impact of lasting memories. The multiple riverine operations during 1968, starting with my arrival in-country in early February, continuing on with multiple attacks during the 68 Tet Offense, and leading up to the mining of our sister ship, USS Westchester County, which you'll read about next, made that year the most memorable for me.

I couldn't experience anything more life-changing than to witness that life itself could be taken away in the blink of an eye, and those thoughts and experiences have become impossible to erase from my mind!

DID YOU ENCOUNTER ANY SITUATION DURING YOUR MILITARY SERVICE WHEN YOU BELIEVED THERE WAS A POSSIBILITY YOU MIGHT NOT SURVIVE? IF SO, PLEASE DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENED AND WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME.
There were multiple life-threatening situations! After all, Vietnam was at war, whether declared or not.

The period when I was in danger from enemy action was while serving aboard USS Washtenaw County in Vietnam, and during my time in transit leading up to reporting aboard. As mentioned in answer to the

March 68 rocket hit - Photo by LCDR Al Dillon

previous question, a mortar round hit across the street my first night in Vietnam, February 9th, 1968 while quartered at the Annapolis BOQ/BEQ "hotel" located in the Cholon district of Saigon. The Annapolis was used as transit housing for riverine crew coming and going from their duty stations located mostly out on the Mekong River.

That mortar round was my welcome to Vietnam wake-up call! No one at the hotel bothered to tell us the '68 Tet cease-fire truce had been violated 9 days earlier, or that enemy action had really heated up countrywide because, well, maybe they didn't know either!

A couple of weeks later, while still in transit but now relocated to Dong Tam Army/Navy base out on the Mekong River, another mortar round hit nearby, which was also mentioned under the previous question. It was not easy to sleep at night in the flimsy wood and tin-roofed "hootch's" at Dong Tam, as they offered protection against nothing but the mosquitos! We finally made our way aboard ship on March 4th, and rocket and mortar attacks upon the Mobile Riverine Base ships continued during the month.

USS Washtenaw County was always a beehive of activity while she was attached to the Mobile Riverine Force. We carried hundreds of tons of ammo, high explosives and other war supplies in our tank deck, housed and fed about two hundred 9th Infantry troops as well as supported the Navy gunboat crews tied up alongside, carried a temporary morgue Conex box to handle KIA's, and hosted over two thousand helicopter landings as Army and Navy Huey's came in to be refueled and re-armed.

While still in deck force, I will never forget the face of the unlucky 9th Infantry KIA soldier who was lowered on the deck near me for placement back in the body bag which he was sliding out of. Nor is it easy to forget the many other body bags that came back after just about every 9th Infantry operation out in the field, including the Huey full of so many KIA's, they had run out of body bags out in the field. I'm just thankful I didn't have to help unload that helo. Yes, survivors' guilt comes to mind!

When I first reported aboard in March of 1968, I felt safer anchored out near the middle of the relatively wide river, but that feeling changed a few days later when a rocket hit the side of the ship. It did not penetrate the side, so it could have been a dud but mid-month, while manning one of our 3"-50 gun mounts during the night, as we did every night on the rivers, a series of rounds came our way. All missed, but the MRF command ship Benewah was hit twice that night.

These attacks seemed to come along about once a week, but then I learned that about the time I had reported aboard, lights had been spotted under Washtenaw at night, and concussion grenades were dropped, followed by an examination of the hull. About that time a body was discovered floating down river from us, but that may have had nothing to do with this incident.

None of these events made it easy to sleep at night, so of course, there were a lot of thoughts about our survival, mostly because our cache of ammo in the tank deck, up to 600 or 700 tons, could go high order with just one lucky hit.

Years later those thoughts were substantiated by the writings of Washtenaw's captain during that period, LCDR Alfred Dillon, who wrote "On March 25 we were relieved by the Tom Green County LST 1159. Commodore Robert S. Salzer, CTF 117, came aboard to say goodbye and said: “Al, I never thought you would make it.” He had expected us to get blown up". That must be why we always seemed to anchor a good distance away from the other MRF base ships!

We did take precautions, as each night we weighed anchor after sundown and moved a few hundred yards up or down the river. This was in case the ship had been targeted with aiming sticks along the riverbank during the day for use that night. Changing our anchorage probably helped during dark nights, but moonlight on many nights was most likely sufficient enough to aim enemy rockets and mortars our direction without sticks. We also kept the props turning to increase the flow rate of water moving under the ship in case swimmers made their way out to the ship.

We left the Mekong at the end of March but returned to MRF duty three months later in June of 1968. One evening the general quarter's alarm was sounded, as there was a fire in engine room #1 located directly under the tank deck full of ammunition and explosives. As we stood by manning our gun mount for the next several minutes, you'd better believe many thoughts of that ammo exploding raced through our minds! The fire turned out to be relatively small, but we on the gun crew knew little of the situation until after General Quarters was secured.

It was just a day or two after the fire that we headed upriver with Phnom Penh, Cambodia as our destination. We were about two-thirds of the way to the Cambodian border when the approach of nightfall forced us to anchor for the night. Not far away was anchored what appeared to be an Army LCM-8 "Mike" boat, and as we passed by, from my viewpoint on the gun mount I could see the well deck was loaded with pallets of ammo. The next morning we weighed anchor and continued to the border. As stated under the last question we dropped our cargo of steel plates on the dock and headed back down the river. At nightfall, we once again anchored about where we had spent the previous night. The Mike boat was still there, too, maybe two or three hundred yards away.

I had the "mid" gun mount watch that night, and maybe an hour after midnight, the LCM-8 exploded. I was looking in its general direction and saw a huge bouquet of fireworks spreading up and out over the adjacent jungle, which silhouetted nearby palm trees. About that time the concussion, or shock wave hit us and completely knocked out the hearing of all on the gun crew. My hearing started to return about 15-20 minutes later and was pretty much back to normal by sun up.

The next morning we were called to sickbay for an ear exam, but back then nobody thought to check for Traumatic Brain Injury, as they do now. No blood was spilled so no entry went into our medical records!

We weighed anchor the next morning, and as we passed the LCM-8 I could see only about two feet of one corner of the bow protruding from the water. To this day I can't help but think that there could have been no survivors, but when we passed by on our way up river I saw no crew on deck. Could it have been unmanned, or was the crew taking a siesta out of sight? That is still on my mind to this day and remains a mystery, but I also think we would have been an easier mortar target than the Mike boat.

My most worrisome thoughts of not surviving occurred in November and December of 1968. In early November, about the time Operation Bold Dragon VIII wrapped up near Phu Quoc Island, we received emergency orders to head back up the Mekong River to relieve our sister ship USS Westchester County, LST-1167. Westchester had suffered two mine explosions on her starboard side just below the waterline. With the loss of 26 lives, Westchester was destined to become the largest single incident naval combat loss of the war. I will never forget the sight of her main deck littered with mangled aluminum lockers, racks, and other debris as we pulled alongside to relieve her.

With thoughts of "are we next" each night as I try to get some shut-eye, interrupted by concussion grenades rattling the ship throughout the night, it was impossible to get a full night of sleep until after we were relieved in December. Commodore Salzer's worries had come true, and if Westchester's tank deck load of ammo had gone high order the outcome would have been far worse.

We were also hit by a mortar round in early December during that MRF tour, and the captain, LCDR James Burpo, was hit by a piece of shrapnel as it ricocheted around the pilothouse. He was not injured as the shrapnel had run out of energy by the time it hit flat on his back.

This should cover many of the life or death situations we experienced aboard Washtenaw during my tour. The outcome was minor damage to the ship, and no crew casualties other than major damage to our psyches, although we did lose one crewman to accidental drowning, and there were less threatening accidents.

OF ALL YOUR DUTY STATIONS OR ASSIGNMENTS, WHICH ONE DO YOU HAVE FONDEST MEMORIES OF AND WHY? WHICH WAS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE?
I did not join the Navy to see the world, as many did, but rather to avoid the U.S. Army draft which almost certainly would have meant plodding through muddy jungles while dodging bullets in service to country! I didn't avoid proximity to rice paddies and the jungle, but at

On our way back from Cambodia - June 1968

least I kept my boondockers out of the mud.

While USS Washtenaw County was not serving in Vietnam, I did get to visit much of the Orient, including Japan, South Korea, Okinawa, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, the borders of Red China and Cambodia, and of course there were even some good memories while in Vietnam!

Serving with ACB-1 was also interesting, as we went through what they called "military training" where we put in range time with our M-14's, followed by training with our newly issued M-16's, and we were taught how to throw grenades. We wore greens and 8-point caps during military training and beach training ops, so we looked more like Marines!

My time aboard USS Mobile was over before she could so much as hit the open seas for sea trials one or two days! My five minutes aboard USS Pickaway went by even faster, while that five on/two off and two on/five off duty aboard the adjacent APL was the easiest duty I ever had.

I would have to say my two years aboard USS Washtenaw County held the fondest memories by far, other than while we were in Vietnam. We did have one day of R&R at An Thoi on Phu Quoc Island, and that was the day I stepped on the sea snake while walking along the shoreline in a foot of brown water!

My least favorite duty station was NTC San Diego boot camp during the dead of winter, especially the first two weeks of boot training before our company "crossed the bridge" to the main base. Did it really have to be that disruptive? Did we really have to get up before the chickens just to stand at attention in the dark, with hands out of pockets and freezing, and teeth chattering while waiting our turn to enter the mess hall? It was all meant to see if we'd follow orders without breaking down so yes, much of it was necessary. But that doesn't mean I had to like it, so boot camp is my choice for least favorite!

I would place duty aboard USS Mobile as my second least desirable because it was just so big, compared to my LST, that it was easy to get lost aboard, and seemed very impersonal.

FROM YOUR ENTIRE MILITARY SERVICE, DESCRIBE ANY MEMORIES YOU STILL REFLECT BACK ON TO THIS DAY.
Regretfully, I retain some bad memories of service in Vietnam while serving aboard USS Washtenaw County. I think back to that era way too often whether I want to or not. I'll answer with the more bothersome memories.

While attached to the Mobile Riverine Force, just about every time our 9th

Westchester mine damage - photo by PHC Dodd

Infantry troops deployed out into the field on search and destroy operations, a few soldiers would return to the ship in body bags. We would hoist the KIA's up from the pontoon causeways alongside the ship, and over and down into the tank deck where the temporary morgue was located. I've already mentioned the one soldier's face I shall never forget as he started to slip out of the body bag while being hoisted aboard.

From our MRF deployment in June of 1968, I will always remember the fire directly under our tank deck full of explosives, and my thoughts of the whole crew being gone in an instant, followed by the trip up river that ended with total destruction of the LCM-8 Mike boat. My ears are still ringing!

I also reflect back to the mining of USS Westchester County, as she was one of our Landing Ship Squadron 9 sister ships, and how easily it could have been us!

There are good memories, too! We had great liberty in several ports around the Orient. USS Washtenaw County has held a reunion every year since 2002, and of course, our old sea stories can't be held back!

WHAT PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF FROM YOUR MILITARY CAREER?
I was still in pay grade E-2 a year after graduating from boot camp when most sailors would quite easily make E-3 by then. I blame that on owning a car, plus my first duty station was within easy driving distance of my home town, so spending my weekends at

SK2 taken upon returning home from overseas - 1970

home took away my incentive to "study the advancement books" in my off time.

I did end up completing the advancement questions, which was just a matter of bumping into someone with the list of answers, and I passed the written test for advancement to E-3 while still with ACB-1, but it wasn't until I boarded USS Washtenaw County that I could sew on my new stripe.

After becoming a captive aboard ship I made up for lost time and earned my E-5 crow before I began my third year in the Navy. It did help that we were in the war zone a lot, and therefore time in grade requirements were relaxed.

During my nearly two years as a Storekeeper aboard Washtenaw, I handled all of the various records from Commissary to OPTAR at one time or another, and our department earned the blue "E" with a hash mark or two, which meant we found a way to balance all the books to perfection, or at least with fewer errors than the other ships in our squadron!

OF ALL THE MEDALS, AWARDS, FORMAL PRESENTATIONS AND QUALIFICATION BADGES YOU RECEIVED, OR OTHER MEMORABILIA, WHICH ONE IS THE MOST MEANINGFUL TO YOU AND WHY?

Washtenaw's Navy Memorial plaque with 17 campaign stars

I earned no valor or achievement awards. Those were most appropriately awarded to the gunboat sailors, SEAL's and others who went above and beyond normal job duties.

When Washtenaw County earned the white battle efficiency "E", and the blue supply "E" with hash marks, I received a couple of Letters of Commendation, but I'd have to say the most meaningful medal would be the Vietnam Service Medal, as it says "been there, done that"! The Combat Action Ribbon would be a close second.

It was also an honor to have served aboard USS Washtenaw County, as she was a very highly decorated ship, having earned all 17 of the battle stars (campaign periods) awarded during the war. She did miss the more recently added 18th battle star awarded for Operation Frequent Wind, which covered the evacuation of Saigon in 1975, as Washtenaw had been decommissioned by then!

WHICH INDIVIDUAL(S) FROM YOUR TIME IN THE MILITARY STAND OUT AS HAVING THE MOST POSITIVE IMPACT ON YOU AND WHY?
SK1 Teddy Harada, the lead Storekeeper aboard Washtenaw, had the biggest impact in that he talked me out of possibly becoming a Radioman and into joining his office as a Storekeeper striker, which set my career path for the rest of my enlistment. His relief, SK1, then SKC Maurice Martin, prodded me into climbing up the rank ladder and on to make SK2 before leaving Washtenaw.

I must also mention Mark Pickett, my civilian boss prior to my enlisting. I worked in his supermarket while in high school, and after graduating. Mark served in the Navy during WWII and ran his store like a captain would run a tight ship. Before entering boot camp I knew all about the proper technique of mopping decks, dry mopping and how to take orders!

LIST THE NAMES OF OLD FRIENDS YOU SERVED WITH, AT WHICH LOCATIONS, AND RECOUNT WHAT YOU REMEMBER MOST ABOUT THEM. INDICATE THOSE YOU ARE ALREADY IN TOUCH WITH AND THOSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE CONTACT WITH.
I remember one shipmate, in particular, Sam Hawkins, who was in my boot camp company to start with, then we both ended up at the same first duty station after boot, ACB-1, then traveled to our next duty station, USS Washtenaw County, on the same set of orders.

We had no

Our first Washtenaw reunion - 2002

such luck with our duty stations thereafter, and I lost track of where he ended up, so wouldn't mind bumping into him again just to catch up on old sea stories!

Sam credited me with helping him through boot camp, as he struggled somewhat with the book learning and test-taking part of it, and asked if he could copy my answers while taking one of the harder classroom tests. I told him I'd keep my arm from blocking my answers as I wrote them down, but don't get caught looking! He sat at a desk one row to my right, and one seat back and wasn't noticed! He did well as a BM while we served together.

USS Washtenaw County has held an annual reunion since 2002, so I do get to see many shipmates on a regular basis.

CAN YOU RECOUNT A PARTICULAR INCIDENT FROM YOUR SERVICE, WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN FUNNY AT THE TIME, BUT STILL MAKES YOU LAUGH?
When does a PNSN outrank a Lieutenant?

After finishing my two-year tour aboard USS Washtenaw County, I received orders to USS Mobile, LKA-115, homeported in San Diego. Mobile was brand new and still going through sea trials when I reported aboard in early 1970. I was used to my old LST,

USN photo 1964 - RIP 1970

and this ship was so big I could easily get lost on her, and I felt totally out of place.

I found out she was due to leave for Vietnam as soon as the sea trials were wrapped up. Having just finished a couple of years over there, and still waiting to take delivery of a new car I had ordered through base services in Japan, I was not happy about the situation.

I marched myself over to the personnel building on base, walked down the hall until I spotted an appropriate sounding office name over the door, and walked in. I described my situation to the PNSN behind the desk, and he said "that doesn't sound right", which was music to my ears!
He opened a drawer and dug through folders, then asked if I'd like orders to a brand new Newport class LST which was still being built in dry dock. He said it would be just like shore duty, but the only catch was I would have to extend my active duty enlistment by 9 months.

What else ya got in there? With a little more digging he came up with an old WWII ship, USS Pickaway, APA-222, which was due to be decommissioned in 3 months. He mentioned that since I would have 6 months of active duty left when Pickaway was decommissioned, that would qualify me for a 6 month early out. Of course, I jumped right on that offer, as it was just like drawing a get out of jail free card!

A couple of days later my orders reached Mobile, and the Supply Lieutenant walked up to me and said: "you're not getting away with this". I felt about three feet tall! It turned out the SK filling my billet before me had also left after requesting another duty station, so the Lieutenant was especially unhappy with me.

The next day I was all subdued smiles as I checked off of Mobile and headed to Pickaway, and ultimately APL-9 where the decommissioning crew was housed.

So the answer should now be obvious; when the PNSN works for EPDOPAC (Enlisted Personnel Distribution Office, Pacific). There wasn't a thing the Supply Lieutenant could do to override my new orders!

WHAT PROFESSION DID YOU FOLLOW AFTER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW? IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY SERVING, WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY?
As stated earlier, I had requested to become a machinist (Machinery Repairman) in the Navy because I had always been mechanically inclined while growing up. There were no openings, so that idea flew out the hatch!

The counselor suggested I would figure something out at my next duty station. That

Out for a day hike!

meant Boatswain's Mate striker, which I wasn't too keen on as a career choice, but I learned the ropes, and yes, I even learned how to splice wire rope at my chain locker position with ACB-1.

Aboard Washtenaw County, I became a Storekeeper striker, and left the ship, and ultimately the Navy, as an SK2. The closest civilian counterpart would have been the parts counter guy at a major car dealership, which thankfully didn't enter my mind. I ended up with a summer job as a grain truck and harvester driver, and when harvest season ended I found a more promising job as a mold setter at the local aircraft and aerospace electrical connector company.

The following year that company, the Deutsch Company, started a 4-year toolmaker apprenticeship program which I was accepted into. I graduated with a toolmaker certificate and spent a total of 38 years specializing as a mold maker to start, then a progressive tool & die maker building, designing, redesigning, troubleshooting and maintaining progressive stamping dies. So it turned out I did get to become a Machinery Repairman after all!

I retired in 2008, and have yet to slow down. What am I doing now? I volunteer a few hours monthly helping to maintain the CCB-18 command and communications boat on display as part of the Vietnam Unit Memorial Monument aboard the Coronado Amphibious Base. CCB-18 is the only remaining boat of its kind and represents Task Force 117 at the memorial. We also maintain Swift Boat PCF-104 and a PBR to represent TF-115 and TF-116, along with a wall and monolith honoring all USN and Coast Guard personnel killed in Vietnam. I'm still serving at my old duty station!

Here is a 1971 Navy riverine training video, and CCB-18 and PCF-104 on display at our memorial can be seen in use at the Naval Inshore Operations Training Center (NIOTC) on the Mare Island Naval Reservation across from Vallejo, California:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N68LDSBsTDk&feature=youtu.be

I also maintain a USS Washtenaw County web site (lst1166.com) for our ship's association. For close to 20 years much of my free time went into maintaining a hang gliding and paragliding soaring site here in Southern California. Now I spend a lot of time hiking and backpacking. I recently became a new recruit with the local "PCT Trail Gorillas", an organization of volunteers who build and maintain the southern sections of the Pacific Crest Trail, a hiking trail that extends from the California/Mexican border on up to the Washington/Canadian border. Rain, snow, and wind take a toll on the trail, so there will always be plenty to do!

WHAT MILITARY ASSOCIATIONS ARE YOU A MEMBER OF, IF ANY? WHAT SPECIFIC BENEFITS DO YOU DERIVE FROM YOUR MEMBERSHIPS?

VFW

I'm a lifetime member of VFW, Navy Seabee Veterans of America, Gamewardens of Vietnam, Disabled American Veterans, and Vietnam Veterans of America. I'm also a member of the USS Washtenaw County Veterans Association, and as a work party member of the CCB-18 display in Coronado, I was granted an extended membership in the Mobile Riverine Force Association. In the past, I was a member of the Vietnam Era Seabees, but they now seem to be dormant.

These memberships allow me to keep up with veterans' benefits, and to stay in touch with shipmates I served with. I've also made new friends with similar experiences.

IN WHAT WAYS HAS SERVING IN THE MILITARY INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU HAVE APPROACHED YOUR LIFE AND YOUR CAREER? WHAT DO YOU MISS MOST ABOUT YOUR TIME IN THE SERVICE?

Eagle Rock next to the Pacific Crest Trail - by fellow hiker & Navy veteran Leonard Hernandez

There isn't a day that goes by I don't think back to that era, so military service must have had a very lasting effect I can't quite put to words.

If you want to grow up fast or learn to be a leader, just enlist in any of the military branches!

I do miss being paid to see the world, so I hike it instead!

BASED ON YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO THOSE WHO HAVE RECENTLY JOINED THE NAVY?

Time Flies

If you can stick it out, stay in for a full career. I know, the years seem to pass so slowly at first, just like they did in school, but as you get older time will really begin to fly, and it'll be over before you know it.

If you choose to exit the Navy without making a 20-year career of it, consider joining a local reserve unit to build your retirement and medical benefits.

I failed to do either, but now wish I had at least gone for that reserve duty!

IN WHAT WAYS HAS TOGETHERWESERVED.COM HELPED YOU REMEMBER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND THE FRIENDS YOU SERVED WITH.
TWS can be thought of as an online military association membership which helps me to stay informed.

Just answering the profile questions has helped me to document my experiences before they are forgotten, and that is why my profile goes into lengthy detail!

I haven't bumped into any old friends or shipmates I hadn't already been in contact with yet, but that sure is a possibility.


KC 9.11.20