Alice Bixler Alice Bixler, 94, of Anita, Iowa, passed away Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, at Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, Iowa. Graveside services will be held. In Country - Stories of Vietnam from the Veterans who lived it. Below, you will find an. Vietnam War told by the sons and daughters. South Dakota as they lived it through personal experience. Thank you Governor Daugaard and to. It is very much appreciated. Shortly after high school. THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBRARY. Home > Browse Subjects. I was drafted. I was living on my. Seneca, South Dakota. Faulk County. Time goes by so quickly. There was. a time when 2. Squadron, 1. 0th Cavalry Regiment. Infantry Division. II Corps. Pleiku, Ban Me Thout, Kontum Republic of South Vietnam. March, 1. 96. 8 through March 1. For a farm girl with three sisters it was. I have never regretted. I have wonderful memories of. Everyone worked together, the chief nurse. Since it was a draft. My hope was an assignment in Vietnam. I was sent to Germany where. I hope this is the last. I met my husband in Spain during. I got after being promoted to Captain. After 2. 8. years of marriage it was one of the best things that I . This story is not about me, but a. I only knew by his last name. In Vietnam, there were more KIA. Back in the United States, the. Martin Luther King and Bobby. Kennedy, and the riots of the Democratic National Convention in. Chicago. A year earlier, Muhammad Ali refused induction. It was. a difficult time on both sides of the Pacific. Against that backdrop, American. However, when not on a. My experience was that soldiers of all races generally. Nonetheless, I. recall instances of racial tension between white and black. This is where Adams comes in. He was. barely five feet tall. He was black and hung around with other. Any time trouble seemed to be. When I heard Adams got killed I thought what. I think Adams had a lot to offer had he lived. I joined the US Marine Corps in. I just graduated from Freeman high school. There were two. from our 1. Marines. Like all. Why did I do this? My parents. were against me joining the Armed Forces and especially the. Marines. For a while I thought they were correct. I learned to. accept my situation and to make the best of it. The training was. Because of this training, I was looking. South Vietnam. The Vietnam War for me was. My experience there has stayed with me. I believe I have come to terms with the. I am proud to have. Vietnam. There are very few Americans and very few. Adrian, Sioux Falls, SDI attended Army basic training. AIT, then Officer Candidate School after graduation from SDSU. I. was accepted into flight school after OCS and trained in the. OV- 1 Mohawk surveillance airplane, a twin- engine turbo prop. Grumman. The Mohawk conducted day and night low- level. I flew missions in the I CORP region including the. DMZ, Ashau Valley, Ho Chi Minh trail, and also in Cambodia. One. well- remembered mission included photo recon of the Angkor Wat. Cambodia which had fallen into Viet Cong hands. Due. to distance from our airfield, we had to fly to the Air Force. Ubon Thailand to refuel before returning to Vietnam. The Mohawk was retired from. Army duty in 1. 99. American historic aircraft museums. Watch for a Mohawk in the memorial dedication. That will be the second time a Mohawk has been. Pierre. Thank you South Dakota for remembering the Vietnam. Anderson, Pierre, SDIn Tay Ninh Province, III Corps. RVN, we were doing an ARVN Infantry search operation on Nui Ba. Dinh (black mountain), and I (MACV advisor) was riding in a. UH- 1. D helicopter to bring in some supplies to our MACV infantry. M- 6. 0 door gunner and went. I enlisted in the Air Force at. I established many life- long. Vietnamese children. Four of my friends. I spent most every weekend at the beach, weather and other. When one or two of the. When I left Vietnam, I gave. Brandriet, Watertown, SDIt somehow. I am writing this for my husband. David. David (Diane) Hansen. Kristi Hansen Turman. Cathy Hansen Stahl. Hansen, Pierre, SDLet us never forget our mistakes. Braun, Pierre, SDI Served with Commander Coastal. Surveillance Forces (CTF 1. River Flotilla One. Served in. Operation SEA FLOAT III. I was in- country October 1. September 1. 97. 0. While in Vietnam, my youngest daughter was born. I saw her for the first time. Castle, Sioux. Falls, SDI went into the service with Ron. Jirsa from Mitchell, SD. We went to basic training together. He. went to Fort Sill, OK and I went to Fort Lewis, WA and we met up. Fort Lewis. He went to FDC and I ended up being a Medic. Battery. We left for Vietnam together on the. USNS General John Pope. We landed in Vietnam together and served. He went home to. Mitchell and I went home to Chamberlain. Its unusual for two men. Vietnam experience together from the same. Clark, Sioux Falls, SDIn the 1. Many of our parents had been. WWII and their patriotism was reflected in the. The idea that if our country. I remember being a college student 1. Roger Jensen, had been killed in Vietnam. Yet, we were soldiers. We saw a lot and learned a lot. I for one feel good that I served my country, and sad that. I am proud to have served, and. American. Let no person ever take for granted what we have. America, and don. Celebrate and appreciate your veterans, who gave what. United States of. America. People like her are as. As. Americans, when called to serve, we do so, and are proud of it. They really do need the. YOU'RE THE BACKBONE OF THIS FAMILY!! Now. years later I see it wasn. David, Hot. Springs, SDI was a Fuel Specialist while. Taiwan. Tainan AB was a repair station for planes. Vietnam. I refueled countless planes that. My platoon acted as engineers. We. were told to construct a base for artillery support. We did not. have axes or saws. We wrapped C4 around the trees and detonated. C. Rations and the Army artillery people were eating steaks. Once, we had one company. NVA firing on us and two more coming up the hill from each. It was. the Lord Jesus who spared my life that day. I never intentionally sat or laid down. If I did I might not hear . But of course I. would nod off, one of my worst non- combat feelings during my. I woke up from a dream that I was back home in my. It was so. incredibly real. Then I woke up staring at the beams in the roof. God, that was such a low. Gage, Sioux. Falls, SDI spent approximately two years. Strategic Air Command at Fairchild AFB, Spokane, WA in. I was then transferred to Clark AFB PI. South East Asia Military Altitude. Reservation Facility in 1. We coordinated the airspace for. Arc Light Missions and the Blackbird missions in SE. Asia. Sixteen years after leaving the USAF, I joined the South. Dakota Air National Guard where I worked as a controller in the. NCO prior to my retirement in. Hall, Pierre, SDIf you can imagine the whole 7th. South China Sea at one time it was quite. There were over 5. On the. Dubuque, the ship I was on, the people coming out to the. I had pictures but they were. Henle, Sioux Falls, SDI was drafted from Gregory, SD. My training was taken at Fort Lewis, Washington. Fort Benning, GA. I was sent to Vietnam in May 1. Big Red One (mechanized) (A- 2- 2). Almost two. months to day after arriving in Vietnam I was injured in the. Nui Ba Den (Black Virgin Mountain) on July 1. After spending nine. Fitzsimmons, I was. Army on April 1. 7, 1. I am a very proud. DAV and am a life member of the DAV, VFW, and a member the. American Legion. I retired from the teaching profession in 2. Broken Bow, NE, since 1. When I got home in a medevac bus in. California, we were egged at the base front gate. America and Jane Fonda. I see you folks are doing well. Jane was put up for. Woman of the Year'. I guess there must be payback in the next. I know I sound angry but I did find happiness before my. God and my children. I have a copy of the Pacific Stars and. Stripes Volume 2. Number 3. 1 with the headlines . Cartoons in that edition included Blondie, whose. My memories include Bob Hope and. Raquel Welsh (both during Christmas 1. Cam Ranh Bay; Spooky (cool gunship); lots of youngsters. In retrospect, I do forgive all. I do not feel I was blind to the issues, accepting my. Those who. repudiated their duties to their county will have to live with. As will I have to live with those. I was asked to do for the United States. Thank you for. the gifts of AMERICA. Thank you for the gift of being born here. Logan. Rapid City, SDI was on duty in Korea when I. TDY into Thailand to serve at Camp Friendship to help. Ghost Division. When regular troop replacements. I was told that I could leave. Without a passport, I. I could not go out through normal challenges. One. night about 9pm I was called to company headquarters. Madsen, Gettysburg, SDI remember arriving in- country. When we stopped in front of the terminal, all. We were in. total blackout so we weren. We stepped from the plane and I will never forget the. It was unbelievably hot and humid. I was never so. scared in my entire life. Twenty- two months later, I was on the. I lost way too many friends. Mardian, Sioux Falls, SDMany young men grew up fast in. Vietnam. I was only one of them, and I made it back home. Friends were made very fast in Vietnam, and some of. To find friends from Vietnam is. I had the opportunity to meet the. I was honored and. The event was even more saddened by the. His father, too, was a. When I arrived in Vietnam, I was. Canton, SD. I knew that very few. South Dakota, let alone Canton. He took care of his men. He had been transferred. When I was sent to our forward. The events that. occurred after we met are not important. What was important, was. I finally got to thank Captain James Hurley. It. completed and laid to rest many emotions that I still carried. This might sound dumb, but I would like to publicly. Captain James Hurley for being in Vietnam and saving the. Martin, Sioux. Falls, SDI have a lot of stories and. USS Constellation and the short. I was in Da. Nang, Vietnam. Ollerich, Sioux. Falls, SDTwo memories: #1... Bob Hope. A special thank you to Mr. Hope for bringing Christmas. Seeing my Freedom Bird on. Olson. Martin, SDWhat I remember most about my. Vietnam was the 2. Travis Air. Force Base and the blast of heat when the doors opened on the. From then on it was one day at a time. Trust was the most. If someone directed you to go around another vehicle. Trust was. everywhere.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
August 2017
Categories |