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An up close and personal interview with U.S. Navy Veteran and Togetherweserved.com Member:
PO2 Norman Stayton US Navy (1969-1973)
WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO JOIN THE MILITARY?
Many of my family were in many of the different branches of the service during WWII, some gave their lives. While growing up I watched many of the WWII movies on TV. Plus both my brothers and I were in Devil Pups (Junior Marines) growing up. Both my older brothers joined the service. My oldest brother joined the Air Force and didn't like it so he went into the Army. My middle brother was already in the Army and had been in Vietnam '67-'68. My older brother re-enlisted to go to Vietnam.
BRIEFLY, WHAT WAS YOUR SERVICE CAREER PATH?
 I saw a photo of one of my uncles in Navy uniform when we would visit my grandmother so it kind of helped me decide to go into the Navy rather than one of the other branches.
He was a cook so I thought I would be also but a counselor in Boot Camp changed my idea. Instead I was sent to Aircraft Mechanic training at NAS Memphis, TN.
I had planned on staying there until I found out what the real Navy was like.
DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN COMBAT OPERATIONS? IF SO, COULD YOU DESCRIBE THOSE WHICH WERE SIGNIFICANT TO YOU?
Yes as a Game Warden - I was a Door Gunner with HAL-3. I went to Vietnam on my Mom's birthday.
Training for it was more horrific than actually being there. We were trained to be willing to become a POW or take our own lives to avoid it.
We were all initially trained  by the Navy at Imperial Beach. I was then sent to the Marines Base at Camp Pendleton, then the Army Base at Ft Eustis. Once we finished those assignments we were put through SERE training. We were sent first to the Pacific coast to participate in a beach environment, then to a brush area in Warner Springs. One training exercise was to try to get from a starting point to Freedom Hill undetected where we were to raise the American flag. In between there were Navy SEAL's in hidden places trying to stop us.
During the exercise, a siren went off which was a signal to turn ourselves in. We were gathered into a group and told to take our clothes off. Then they began a realism process to 'torture' us. We were 'tortured' just as if we were the enemy - water boarded, bamboo whacked, tied to sticks and hung. They then put hoods over our heads put us in the back of truck and driving all over Warner Springs before winding up in a "POW camp". Then they put everyone in a little wooden box.
We were exhausted but couldn't sleep because every ten minutes they would be coming around banging on your box and you had to yell out your number. If you were asleep or answered too late they would drag you out and beat you with a bamboo stick or rough you up.
Everyone went through different types of 'torture' at different times of day and night. We were then all brought together and sent through a group integration. We were all given outside duties - some cleaned the yard, others cooked us oatmeal.
While out there, they preached to us their way was the best. Once we ate a little oatmeal we were brought into a group gathering. Some ching a ling music started and we were told that everyone would salute their flag as it was brought up. Our commanding officer told them we would not salute a foreign flag. As he argued with them, God Bless America began playing and the American flag went up. Everyone stood to attention and saluted the flag. Some were crying others dropped to the ground crying.
I guess we had graduated.
From there, myself and one other guy went to flight school at Imperial Beach and Miramar Naval Base. Once finished, we were ready to be Door Gunners.
When I first got on the plane at Travis Air Force Base it was full. I couldn't understand all these folks going to Vietnam. There were a lot of civilians on board. By the time we got closer to Ton Son Nhut Air Base less people were on the plane and then when we left Guam, there were only five of us still on the plane.
As we got close to the landing area I was expecting missiles and cannon fire to take us down (that;s what I saw in the WWII movies) but there wasn't. The plane just took a steep descent and landed.
The next day, I went to the Navy Entrance Hotel where I was for three days. I walked around Saigon and saw American civilians walking around with their children. I was sure the war was over. Then I was transferred to HAL-3.
HAL-3 was a Helicopter Squadron commissioned and decommissioned in Vietnam. From the home base there were nine detachments. I was assigned to Det. 8. All the Det's were spread all over the Delta. Mine was in Roch Gia on the west coast near Cambodia.
FROM YOUR ENTIRE SERVICE CAREER WHAT PARTICULAR MEMORY STANDS OUT?
To tell the truth, everything stands out. I met more good people than bad. I really liked being in Vietnam with a lot of really great guys..
We all watched out for one another - fighting, sleeping or just staying alive. The only friends we had during our short  strips were the SEABEEs and SEALS. The SEABEEs were right next door. The SEALS were maybe ten clicks away.
No matter what team we flew with we all knew our part in the team. Officers flew the birds, planned the day and flight duties. Enlisted worked on the birds and kept them flying. LCDRs were the team leaders.
I was given the worse job you could ever have in a Fighter Squadron - corrosion control.
WERE ANY OF THE MEDALS OR AWARDS YOU RECEIVED FOR VALOR? IF YES, COULD YOU DESCRIBE HOW THIS WAS EARNED?
Yes - the Navy Cross. My team had just come on duty and found out we had to escort a supply group down the Kien Giang Canal in Kien Giang province - one of the most boring assignments one could be involved in. Usually we flew around in circles for hours observing while the Army MIC boats went between outpost and supply locations delivering supplies.
Our bird was just returning from refueling when all hell broke loose. Flames burst through the air and tracers  were flying everywhere. As our FTL was trying to find out what happened and began firing at everything that moved, the boats took off up the canal leaving behind one boat in flames. It had been carrying 9000 gal of JP4 and had hit a mine. When we turned around I saw a man swimming in the flames from the JP4 which had spilled into the canal. The FTL in my bird shouted the man needed help and I leaped out of the bird into the flaming canal. I then swam underwater to the injured soldier and got him over to the shore. Firing everywhere until my 16 was empty, I tried to pick up the soldier but the skin pealed off his arms - he was fried from head to toe. He had only been wearing a pair of shorts. I was then hit in the leg and dropped to the ground but I was able to get up and picked him up again to try and get him out of there. He yelled at me to pick up his sidearm. I put it in my waist band and took him to a nearby sampan.
As we pushed away from the canal bank my bird came down over me to pick us up but the prop wash kept blowing us away with it's heavy air stream. The pilot decided to drop directly over us and I grabbed the skid.
I wrapped my arms around the skid and the gunner dropped his 60 to reach out to the doldier. He couldn't reach him so I yelled at him to stand up, he said he couldn't. I told him if he didn't we all would be dead. He finally stood up and the gunner grabbed his arm but his skin pealed off again and he fell back into the canal. The whole time percussion grenades were being thrown into the water which added to the pandemonium.
I let the skid go and dropped back into the canal myself and went after him. He was floating upright in the life vest I had put on him. I looked round for a sampan with a motor so I could get him to a safe place. I found one and started it and it immediately stopped. I looked in the fuel tank and it was empty. Happily it wasn't much longer before the gun boats returned and they picked us up. They took us to a pier where the trail bird had landed which then took both of us to a fuel depot before going to the field hospital. After refuelling, the pilot said they were too heavy to take off so I pulled the cord on the rocket pods to drop them and I remained there too.
I laid down on the PSP landing strip and saw blood all over me. Then pain then hit me and I had an extreme headache. I found out not only was I wounded in the leg but I was also bleeding from my ears from the percussion grenades thrown into the canal while I was in the water. I was picked up a little later by my bird and treated by a medic at a SeaBee Compound. A couple weeks later I went for surgery on my ears and nose as a result of the percussion grenades.
Following is PO2 Stayton's Navy Cross Citation:
 Citation: For extraordinary heroism on 26 March 1971 while serving as second gunner in the lead aircraft of a light fire team from Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron Three, flying convoy escort along the Can Gao Canal, Kein Giang Province, Republic of Vietnam. Petty Officer (then Airman) Stayton was participating with his fire team in providing overhead cover for a boat convoy when one of the boats carrying 9,000 gallons of explosive jet fuel struck a mine, detonating the fuel. Two enemy rockets then struck the boat, following which burning fuel spewed across the water. When he observed a wounded man struggling to shore to escape the flames and the hail of enemy bullets hitting the water, Petty Officer Stayton alerted his pilot, took the initiative and dived from the hovering helicopter into the burning canal to carry a life preserver to the survivor. Although immediately wounded in the leg, Petty Officer Stayton nonetheless succeeded in reaching the victim, who had sustained serious burns and was in a state of shock, and shielded him with his own body while attempting to tow him to a recovery site. Thwarted in five attempts to reach the hovering helicopter because of the current, the enemy fire, and the helicopter downwash, Petty Officer Stayton, although close to complete exhaustion, managed to wave his arms and get the attention of a river assault craft which proceeded to rescue both men. By his valiant and persevering efforts in the face of intense enemy fire and almost insurmountable circumstances, Petty Officer Stayton was directly instrumental in the rescue of a seriously wounded fellow serviceman. His heroic actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
OF THE MEDALS, AWARDS AND QUALIFICATION BADGES OR DEVICES YOU RECEIVED, WHAT IS THE MOST MEANINGFUL TO YOU AND WHY? All of them - they show I did what was expected of me. I received all of them in HAL-3.
WHICH INDIVIDUAL PERSON FROM YOUR SERVICE STANDS OUT AS THE ONE WHO HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON YOU AND WHY?
There are way more than one!
John Wayne
LT Joe Love
LCDR Joplin
LTJG Ron Becker
LCDR Henry
LTJG Jack Van Laon
LCDR Frank Mixner
LCDR John Salonen
LTJG Dick Young
LT Jim Joyce
LT John Presses
LT Max Tea
LT Terriono
LT Spence Robbins
LT Terry Ogle
Petty Officer 1st Class Russell "Woody" Underwood
Petty Officer 3rd Class Steve Bell
Petty Officer 1st Class David "Red" Fairbanks
AN Tom Jackson
Petty Officer 1st Class West
Petty Officer 2nd Class John Setters
Father McMahon
Petty Officer 3nd Class McPhearson "Doc" Hazen
Petty Officer 3rd Class Mike "Mad Dog" Madrid
Petty Officer 3rd Class Earl "Rusty" Hawkins
Petty Officer 3rd Class Tom Sessler
These are the ones I remember now - but there were many more.
WHAT PROFESSION DID YOU FOLLOW AFTER THE SERVICE AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW? IF CURRENTLY SERVING, WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT JOB?
It was very hard to find a job when I got out. I had planned to be in Law Enforcement, Fire Service or Mail Carrier but there was a government hiring freeze at the time.
I worked odd jobs and went to college. I had a hard time as a result of dark thoughts and panic attacks. It took me nine years to finish college where I received a degree in Industrial Engineering. During that time I was married and had two children - two girls.
I finished working for a telephone company where I was involved in computer networking. I retired due to a brain tumor and I'm at home now doing whatever I can until the Lord wants me home again.
HOW HAS MILITARY SERVICE INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU HAVE APPROACHED YOUR LIFE AND CAREER?
To do everything you can to provide a good image of yourself. Do everything to the best of your ability.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU HAVE FOR THOSE THAT ARE STILL SERVING?
 Make up your mind in your first enlistment if the Navy is to be your career and at what point you want to get married.
I had made up my mind as long as I was in the service I would not marry. I didn't need more problems at home. I wanted to be able to do whatever I wanted to do and live wherever I might want to live - in another country or another state - without the worry of family responsibility.
IN WHAT WAYS HAS TOGETHERWESERVED.COM HELPED YOU MAINTAIN A BOND WITH YOUR SERVICE AND THOSE YOU SERVED WITH?
I'm very happy to see all those that were willing to serve and very pleased to find a lot of guys I served with.
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I saw a photo of one of my uncles in Navy uniform when we would visit my grandmother so it kind of helped me decide to go into the Navy rather than one of the other branches.
by the Navy at Imperial Beach. I was then sent to the Marines Base at Camp Pendleton, then the Army Base at Ft Eustis. Once we finished those assignments we were put through SERE training. We were sent first to the Pacific coast to participate in a beach environment, then to a brush area in Warner Springs. One training exercise was to try to get from a starting point to Freedom Hill undetected where we were to raise the American flag. In between there were Navy SEAL's in hidden places trying to stop us. 
strips were the SEABEEs and SEALS. The SEABEEs were right next door. The SEALS were maybe ten clicks away.
Make up your mind in your first enlistment if the Navy is to be your career and at what point you want to get married.
