Gender

Male

Birth date

1937-11-25

Place of birth

Waimea, Kauai HI, U.S.A.

Inducted

, Honolulu HI

Enlistment type

Volunteer

Service branch

Army

Service type

War

Unit type

Combat

Units served

Company C, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne); 1st Special Forces, Ft. Bragg, NC

Military specialty

051.63, Intermediate Speed Radio Operator, Special Forces Qualified

Stationed

USA - Ft. Ord, CA (Basic); Ft. Monmouth, NJ (AIT); Ft. Lewis, WA; Ft. Benning, GA (Airborne); Ft. Bragg, NC; Vietnam

Separated

Honolulu HI

Unit responsibility

Special Forces A-Team - provided anti-guerilla training to Vietnamese villagers and later provided surveillance along the Cambodian border in the Phouc Long Province, South Vietnam

Personal responsibility

Radio Operator sending and receiving reports from SF HQ-Saigon. Was also cross-trained as a medic.

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

6 month mission in South Vietnam 1963

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

Combat Infantryman's Badge; Good Conduct Medal; Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal - Vietnam; Parachutist Badge

Living conditions

We had bamboo huts that were built by VN villagers and army cots to sleep on. Our bathing facility was two 55 gallon drums that had to be filled everyday. Meats were purchased on the VN economy and supplemented by Commissary runs to Saigon every two weeks. We played a lot of Monopoly, read books and watched movies when available. Bought a cheap Korean made ukelele in Saigon and also had a pet monkey.

Most vivid memory of military experience

While driving to a meeting with a village chief our A-team Captain was killed in an ambush on 3 Oct. '63 along with two VN soldiers and a VN interpreter. There were also two A-Team members in the next truck and we presumed they were captured but later found out that they had escaped and were unhurt.

Missed most whilst in the military

My family, Japanese and Hawaiian food.

Most important thing, personally, to come from military experience?

I did my job as a soldier. Didn't know too much of the politics of that era but knew that the South Vietnamese people and the Montagnards were being oppressed by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army. I felt we did our best in the areas that we were in by providing medical help as well as helping improve the sanitary and health condidtions of the Montagnards.

Additional information

I was in Saigon when the Diem brothers were overthrown, and saw the aftermath of the destruction in Saigon. I was also in Nha Trang getting ready to leave VN when we heard that President Kennedy was assasinated - we had to delay our trip home because the air transports that were to take us back were re-routed to take dignitaries to Kennedy's funeral.