Former / Active Duty Military Members Roll Call

Dad flew B-24s out of Libya in WWII, his older brother flew Corsairs from a Pacific carrier and Mom's older brother flew B-26s in Burma. All three completed either active duty or reserve careers. Mom's father, for whom I'm named, was an Army Signal Corps test pilot in the 1920s and was killed testing a new airframe.

Seems I'm the last of us. I joined the Texas Air Guard in 1969, intending to get my wings. First, though, I was a machinist and flight line weapons loader. Then I got my commission (Army Guard Platoon Leader course) and became a maintenance officer. Got to UPT in 1976, then flew F-100Ds and F-4Cs for the Guard, followed by F-4Ds and Es and the F-16A with the Air Force Reserve. Retired with 24 years.
 
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First, to all of you have served thank you very much for your service protecting our country!

Mark K said:
Dad flew B-24s out of Libya in WWII, his older brother flew Corsairs from a Pacific carrier and Mom's older brother flew B-26s in Burma. All three completed either active duty or reserve careers. Mom's father, for whom I'm named, was an Army Signal Corps test pilot in the 1920s and was killed testing a new airframe.
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My granddad was an originally the Navigator and eventually the XO on a baby flat-top, USS Corregidor - CVE 58, in the Pacific theater. War is war and I'm not meaning to indicate that any particular generation or deployment suffered more than any other but, to this day, when I look through his photos & navigation maps I continue to be amazed at the scope of the theater they were fighting in during WWII in contrast to how small their ships were.

Maybe it's one of my reasons for my love of Jeeps but, for anyone not familiar with this class of Escort Carriers, they were called "Jeep Carriers" or "baby flat-tops." Here was the Corregidor:

373494A8-879E-486A-BBC2-0BCC3DC55882.full.JPG


If anyone is interested in other photos that he and the official ship photographer took I'll create a separate thread.
 
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VirtualRussel said:
First, to all of you have served thank you very much for your service protecting our country!



My granddad was an originally the Navigator and eventually the XO on a baby flat-top, USS Corregidor - CVE 58, in the Pacific theater. War is war and I'm not meaning to indicate that any particular generation or deployment suffered more than any other but, to this day, when I look through his photos & navigation maps I continue to be amazed at the scope of the theater they were fighting in during WWII in contrast to how small their ships were.

Maybe it's one of my reasons for my love of Jeeps but, for anyone not familiar with this class of Escort Carriers, they were called "Jeep Carriers" or "baby flat-tops." Here was the Corregidor:

View attachment 10981

If anyone is interested in other photos that he and the official ship photographer took I'll create a separate thread.
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I love seeing old photos like this, by all means, post them in a new thread! Maybe you can call it "old military photos" or something. I'm sure a bunch of guys on here (including myself) would have a lot of them to share that have been passed down through the family.
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
Welcome home brother. Hopefully you didn't have to be around Kerry, he was commander of a swift boat there in '69. Kerry lied about what happened to him during one patrol to get an undeserved Purple Heart. Someone in his unit threw a grenade into a cache of rice and Kerry was nicked by a grenade fragment which is not grounds for the award of the PH. Kerry put in for his own PH since he wasn't wounded in action and no one with him would put him in for it. :mad:
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Thanks Jerry. No, don't know Kerry. We use to throw gernades in the water all the time for sappers and snakes. :)
 
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lowranger said:
We use to throw grenades in the water all the time for sappers and snakes. :)
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I was surprised how many sea snakes there were there. I was at Chu Lai a couple times a month and there was a great protected beach just below my hooch so I had my folks send me my mask, fins, & snorkel. The sea snakes were everywhere and eventually I figured out they were actually fairly docile and not aggressive at all. Lobsters were everywhere there so once in a while I would have to gently grab one of the sea snakes to move it out of the way while trying to get a lobster out of a hole. Sea Snakes are close cousins to Cobras and look just like them with the exception of their tail which was flatter for swimming. Just about as venomous too. We had some sappers too, just not in the water. :)
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
I was surprised how many sea snakes there were there. I was at Chu Lai a couple times a month and there was a great protected beach just below my hooch so I had my folks send me my mask, fins, & snorkel. The sea snakes were everywhere and eventually I figured out they were actually fairly docile and not aggressive at all. Lobsters were everywhere there so once in a while I would have to gently grab one of the sea snakes to move it out of the way while trying to get a lobster out of a hole. Sea Snakes are close cousins to Cobras and look just like them with the exception of their tail which was flatter for swimming. Just about as venomous too. We had some sappers too, just not in the water. :)
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When my carrier battle group got sent to the Indian Ocean on extended patrol in the summer of 1978, the BG commander got a wild hair about sea snakes and ordered all of my helicopter squadron's rescue swimmers to wear full wet suits, including hoods and gloves, for all plane guard flights and deck alerts. Our skipper argued against it, since a three hour flight in full wet gear in the kind of heat and humidity found in the I.O. was bound to cause serious issues. The Admiral insisted, so like good little airedales we suited up and tried to stay hydrated. Didn't work out so good. Three of us got sent to sickbay with heat exhaustion in the first two days, and the Admiral was finally persuaded to let us go back to our usual kit - UDT shorts and t-shirts. Amazingly enough, none of us were bitten by sea snakes during the entire tour - I'm sure the Admiral breathed a sigh of relief when we outchopped. God save us all from flag officers with phobias...
 
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Just what swimmers need, an Admiral telling them they had to stay in their wetsuits all day in the Indian Ocean in the summer even when not in the water.

There was only one time in the water off Chu Lai I wish I had a full wetsuit on. While snorkeling a pretty good ways offshore, a large school (hundreds) of Portuguese Man O'War jellyfish blew in between me and the beach, it was hard getting through them back to the beach. That's definitely not something you want stinging you.
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
Just what swimmers need, an Admiral telling them they had to stay in their wetsuits all day in the Indian Ocean in the summer even when not in the water.

There was only one time in the water off Chu Lai I wish I had a full wetsuit on. While snorkeling a pretty good ways offshore, a large school (hundreds) of Portuguese Man O'War jellyfish blew in between me and the beach, it was hard getting through them back to the beach. That's definitely not something you want stinging you.
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I'm going to assume you didn't get stung?
 
Jerry Bransford said:
No, and it sure took a long time to make my way through them all so I didn't. The wind brought them in, they go wherever the wind blows their sails that protrude well up & out of the water.
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Yeah, I've heard those things are pretty deadly if you happen to be unlucky enough to get stung by one.
 
I got tangled up with one or more of those little mothers c1960 on South Padre Island in Texas. We knew to avoid the bubble heads. I was standing in the surf and got the tentacles wrapped around my lower legs, then tangled in my forearms as I tried to get out. Never saw the head, so the tentacles must have been very long. Stung like crazy and I had red welts everywhere. Not deadly, but it's probably why I act this way. :D
 
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Active duty Navy (Surface Warfare Officer). Commissioned via Texas A&M University in 2004. Served on a minesweeper, LPD-17, LSD-41, and embarked on LHD-4 as part of the PHIBRON. Currently at a training command.


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Feel a bit left out this side of the Atlantic. I was lucky enough to serve in the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm in the late sixties and throughout the seventies at a time when we had real Aircraft Carriers and Fast Jets. Plenty of cross deck operations with our American counterparts too.
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Steve Wasteney said:
Feel a bit left out this side of the Atlantic. I was lucky enough to serve in the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm in the late sixties and throughout the seventies at a time when we had real Aircraft Carriers and Fast Jets. Plenty of cross deck operations with our American counterparts too.View attachment 12687
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What an experience that must have been!
 
Cool picture Steve!
Had two USAF jets come and save our bacon when I was in Vietnam. It was cool to see the two of them come in like the Calvary to save the day! And that they did!
 
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