My Dad was a Vietnam vet, and served from 1968 to 1970, attaining the rank of Sergeant in the USAF. He was involved with electronics in some capacity, stationed in Cambodia. Oddly, this is essentially all I know of his military career.
He never spoke of his time there, or what he did. I expressed interest in possibly joining the USMC after high school (prior to finally deciding to go to college for engineering), to which he was very opposed for some reason. We never spoke of his military career, really, and it was never brought up by him.
Upon his recent, untimely death, my brother, mother, and I discussed this at length. Surprisingly, even my Mom has no idea what he was doing over there to this day. Apparently he had a very high security clearance, and was forbidden to discuss anything; the military had moles everywhere listening for leaked information. He carried the secrets to his grave. My brother and I somewhat laughingly think his obsession with James Bond movies seems a little more suspect now.
Anybody got a clue if and how I can find out more? Wouldn't this all be declassified by now? I have his discharge papers, but that's about it in terms of any military records.
It would be interesting to know more.....
pm sent
or
maybe you don't want to know what he did over there
he didn't want you to know
might think about just leaving it there
It is kind of weird to never know,
No one ever found out why my grandpa spent a few years in South America after WWII -- but being still inlisted and active.
Quote from: Mother on January 06, 2009, 05:26:32 PM
or
maybe you don't want to know what he did over there
he didn't want you to know
might think about just leaving it there
This has crossed my mind.....
Quote from: wbeck257 on January 06, 2009, 05:27:38 PM
It is kind of weird to never know,
No one ever found out why my grandpa spent a few years in South America after WWII -- but being still inlisted and active.
What Country he was in could give a clue.
Quote from: kopfjager on January 06, 2009, 05:28:50 PM
What Country he was in could give a clue.
?
the south africans were aligned with GB
and fought against the italians
doh
I'm a moron
I should learn to read
Quote from: wbeck257 on January 06, 2009, 05:27:38 PM
It is kind of weird to never know,
No one ever found out why my grandpa spent a few years in South America after WWII -- but being still inlisted and active.
de nazi's fled to south america after the war
You might try asking your questions over at www. military.com. I think Viet vets have a close knit online community and someone may be able to help.
It seems like having unanswered questions after a parent goes is almost universal. My dad died a few years ago and although in his later years we talked a lot more than we did while I was growing up, a lot of "Why didn't I ever ask him that?" type of questions still pop up all the time.
Cambodia was a hornets nest for intelligence and military entanglement. I could only speculate, but there were some KEY operations centered in Cambodia (Tiger Force, Phoenix, Etc). The above suggestion to check out military.com might bring results. Check out the Toledo Blade's reports on Tiger Force if you get the chance - it's good reading.
It could have been something that he didn't want to talk about, or that he just wasn't permitted to talk about.
Have to keep smart about where your search is going.
As Mother said, you may figure out that it's something you don't want to know.
My dad didn't work on any crazy stuff, but some of it he wasn't supposed to talk about.
He never said much about what he did at work.
He wasn't in the military, but he did work on satellites and spacecraft.
Quote from: kopfjager on January 06, 2009, 05:26:00 PM
pm sent
(listening on computer monitor with a glass to see if I can hear the pm...shhh!)
my dad was a punk ass pilot during that time. he didn't have a high clearance, but he also will never talk about what went on. my best friend's dad was in the special forces and watches all the movies and shows about vietnam, yet he won't talk about what his time over there.
i'm fairly certain that it's difficult to come to terms with killing people, esp when it's hard to tell civilians from fighters, because you were told to. i wouldn't want to talk about it and relive that, would you?
i say let the secrets die with him. if he was in the intelligence section it prob won't be declassified until your kids are looking for what you did in your lifetime if at all.
My clearance wast very high either. Your not supposed to talk about whatever it is. Some stuff is like this for example. Not supposed to talk about that container brought on board the aircraft by some SEALS. It's chained & padlocked, & listed on the manifest as secret. The Aircrew doesn't know whats inside..never the less, the existence of said box is secret. This keeps things compartmentalized so that folks that aren't supposed to know can't connect the dots. Meanwhile Those SEALS likely don't know what the aircrew has been doing prior to their ride.
Just an example....
I supposed it depends on the person. My dad was a Cobra gunship gunner and then pilot. When he got home
he had nightmares and couldn't/wouldn't talk about what went on over there. Now is a different story.
He'll talk openly about good times and bad times that went on. +1 on www.military.com
As a boy i collected the serial numbers off the tails of USA airplanes at the local base (Burtonwood) in Lancashire
and one thing that has remained in my memory was the writing on a large sign as you exited the base -
"Whatever you see, Whatever you hear, Whenever you leave, You leave it here."
Good luck with your search.