Vietnam
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
I don’t know where Rebecca Kubacki acquired the year of 1964 for the beginning of our Vietnam War. Or that it started under the Kennedy administration. Our country had troops in the China-Burma Theater long before President Kennedy. I personally know of troops there in the late 1950s. President Kennedy ordered General Lamay to reactive the First Air Commando Group from World War II. This began in early 1962 and I was one of the first to be assigned to it. The First Air Commando Group functioned under the Special Air Warfare Center at Elgin AFB outside of Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Elgin was the largest AFB and consisted of several smaller fields. Field Nine was Hurburt Field. The first squadrons assigned to Vietnam after training with Army Rangers, Green Berets, Navy Seals etc. was sent there in early 1962. Many of us flyboys went to paratrooper school. We had combat controllers that were the first “in” to inform others of the whereabouts of the enemy (Viet Cong). We were the beginning of the “battlefield airman.” I was in Vietnam twice, came back in 1963 and went back in 1965. We knew up float that if ever captured...our government never heard of us.
After I left the A.F. a whole new command was created named the Air Force Special Operations Command, with a motto of any time, any place.
If our government marked an official date, we were not aware of it. I guess we were busy protecting our rear ends. At any rate, I hope this is an insight of the war before the U.S. public heard of it. Also, I figure if a former State Representative can blow her own horn, it gives me the opportunity to mine.
Dennis G. Lundgren
former USAF Airborne Staff Sergeant
Warsaw[[In-content Ad]]
I don’t know where Rebecca Kubacki acquired the year of 1964 for the beginning of our Vietnam War. Or that it started under the Kennedy administration. Our country had troops in the China-Burma Theater long before President Kennedy. I personally know of troops there in the late 1950s. President Kennedy ordered General Lamay to reactive the First Air Commando Group from World War II. This began in early 1962 and I was one of the first to be assigned to it. The First Air Commando Group functioned under the Special Air Warfare Center at Elgin AFB outside of Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Elgin was the largest AFB and consisted of several smaller fields. Field Nine was Hurburt Field. The first squadrons assigned to Vietnam after training with Army Rangers, Green Berets, Navy Seals etc. was sent there in early 1962. Many of us flyboys went to paratrooper school. We had combat controllers that were the first “in” to inform others of the whereabouts of the enemy (Viet Cong). We were the beginning of the “battlefield airman.” I was in Vietnam twice, came back in 1963 and went back in 1965. We knew up float that if ever captured...our government never heard of us.
After I left the A.F. a whole new command was created named the Air Force Special Operations Command, with a motto of any time, any place.
If our government marked an official date, we were not aware of it. I guess we were busy protecting our rear ends. At any rate, I hope this is an insight of the war before the U.S. public heard of it. Also, I figure if a former State Representative can blow her own horn, it gives me the opportunity to mine.
Dennis G. Lundgren
former USAF Airborne Staff Sergeant
Warsaw[[In-content Ad]]
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