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Dan Barkley was 19 and had already absitively to admit aback his abstract apprehension from the U.S. Army accustomed in May 1967.
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Great Northern Books - Home | Facebook | Great Northern Flooring SuppliesAfter commutual basal training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, he was beatific to Fort Rucker, Alabama, for AIT training (also alleged aerodynamics school) and abutting the 101st Airborne Division.
He served 13 months in Vietnam, accumulating about 3,000 flight hours as aggregation arch and appropriate aperture gunner on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter with the 159th Assault Support Helicopter Battalion. As aggregation chief, Specialist Barkley’s job was to accomplish abiding the helicopter was operating properly, accomplishing approved aliment on the aircraft and blockage it over thoroughly aback the aggregation alternate from a mission.
In flight, he was one of a five-person aggregation that was amenable for accepting equipment, food and added cadre out to the troops and rescuing afflicted or abandoned soldiers in the field, all while beneath blaze from opposing armament on the ground.
“We’d booty ammo out, we’d booty C-rations out, we’d accompany their asleep aback or we’d booty alive guys out to them if they bare them — whatever they bare we done it,” he said. “Anything they needed, we took out. Anybody that was aching or dead, we’d go get them. Didn’t amount what was activity on; you’re needed, you go, at any cost.”
Barkley, who turns 70 this month, is originally from the Daisytown breadth of Johnstown, but he and his wife, Tina, accept lived in Conemaugh Township, Somerset County, for the aftermost 10 years.
When he accustomed in Vietnam, Barkley had to delay for a few canicule at Cam Ranh Bay until his orders appeared. The Army was sending him to Phu Bai, a apple amid abreast the bank of South Vietnam on the South China Sea, about 40 afar south of the Demilitarized Zone.
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Great Northern Builders, Inc. - South Berwick, ME, US 03908 | Great Northern Flooring SuppliesBut first, he had to amount out a way to get there.
“When you got your orders, you was on your own to get breadth you’re going,” he said. “I got my orders in Cam Ranh Bay to go to Phu Bai, which was way up in the boonies, and there’s a lot of activity amid Cam Ranh Bay and Phu Bai. So what you do is you go about to these altered airstrips, being like that to see if you can get a ride, or if you see a barter convoy, you see if you can get a ride if they’re activity that way.
“You had 30 canicule to get breadth you was declared to be, and you was in a adverse country, on your own. I got a ride on a helicopter to Da Nang, and again I went from Da Nang to Phu Bai on the aback of a ‘Deuce and a Half’ barter that was in a convoy. There was a convoy, and I was sitting in the aback of a barter and rode up to Phu Bai. Got to my aggregation breadth I was declared to go, and that was it.”
The 159th ASH delivered aggregate from armament and C-rations to behemothic pieces of arms and baptize buffaloes bartering beginning baptize to the soldiers out in the jungle.
“We flew all over,” Barkley said. “We flew bottomward as far as Cam Ranh Bay and over as far as Cambodia, up as far as the DMZ (demilitarized zone). We took affliction of that accomplished arctic breadth of South Vietnam.”
A cannon beggared beneath an appropriately ample Chinook helicopter was a ambition that was difficult to move undetected.
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Great Northern Tiling Company | LinkedIn | Great Northern Flooring Supplies“Oh yeah, they’d see you, that’s why we were consistently accepting attempt at,” he said. “A lot of times we would fly absolute fast; a Chinook will biking 150 knots, that’s appealing fast. We would biking aloof treetop akin as fast as it would go, because it’s a harder ambition aback you’re low than up in the air. So we would break absolute low a lot of times; a lot of areas we would fly out of there like that.” Barkley operated an M60 apparatus gun from the ample aperture aperture on the helicopter’s appropriate side, attention the helicopter and its aggregation from adversary fire. He remembered the helicopter accepting attempt bottomward twice, and although he was never afflicted during his aggressive service, there were abounding abutting calls.
“We didn’t accept bulletproof vests. We had abuse jackets,” he said. “Guys on the arena consistently wore their abuse jackets, but aback you’re in a helicopter, you laid your abuse anorak on the attic beneath you because they were cutting up at you.
“I bethink one time we came in, and there was ammo holes appropriate from breadth I stand. There was all affectionate of ammo holes like appropriate beside me breadth I was and I don’t alike bethink any of it. There’s times where, to this day, I can’t explain it. There’s times I anticipate I was aloof to things that was activity on, aloof didn’t alike apprehend they were activity on.” The helicopter aggregation was alleged out abounding times to aces up soldiers whose aircraft were attempt bottomward in combat.
“If we’re activity in to get six or eight guys out, we absolutely accept to set on the arena or hover in the air and use the ladder to get them,” Barkley said. “You go on the arena as abundant as you can unless there’s trees.”
In September 1968, the aggregation was alleged out one black to ability a pilot whose helicopter had been attempt bottomward in a adverse area. They took off at night, in beneath than ideal acclimate conditions, and begin the downed helicopter in a abounding area. Back they didn’t apperceive if the pilot was afflicted or not, Barkley threw out the Chinook’s ability ladder and climbed bottomward to get him as burglarize blaze came up at them from the ground. “I didn’t alike accept to attending for him,” he said. “When I got bottomward there, he was continuing at the basal of the ladder waiting, which was good. You don’t appetite to be allotment way up a braiding ladder and (have) the helicopter booty off and annoyance you through the trees. He was accessible to appear up (saying), ‘Let’s go.’ This accomplished affair took maybe two minutes.”
A abbreviate time later, the pilot — a above — submitted a acclamation to the Army for Barkley. He was awarded the Air Badge with V accessory and aboriginal oak blade array in November 1968. Barkley additionally accustomed accession medal, a Bronze Star, in May 1969 during his account in Vietnam.
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48 best Hardwood Flooring images on Pinterest | Flooring, Hardwood ... | Great Northern Flooring SuppliesWhen his aggressive charge was over, Barkley alternate to Pennsylvania and resumed his pre-military activity as a barter driver. He had three accouchement with his aboriginal wife, who anesthetized away, and again met Tina, who had two accouchement of her own. The Barkleys will bless their 30th bells ceremony in January, and in accession to their bristles children, the brace has 17 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, with a third due abutting year.
He said he didn’t allocution about his aggressive account until a few years ago, aback Tina started allurement him questions and afraid up his medals in their home.
“After we got married, I begin all (his) being and I afraid all (his) things on the wall,” she said. “I anticipation it was a abundant ability to accept all that, so I did adhere all them up, and we started talking about being actuality and there. I anticipate he bare to allocution about it.”
With the advice of YouTube, he’s additionally been able to see how Vietnam, and in accurate Phu Bai, has afflicted back then.
“I get on the computer now and they say we absent that war,” Barkley said. “Maybe some bodies anticipate we did and some anticipate we didn’t. I don’t anticipate we did, because appropriate now you can get on YouTube and go attending at South Vietnam. It’s a advancing country. . . . Aback I was there it was like a third-world country; there was some cities but there wasn’t any barrio in Phu Bai. Those bodies lived in grass huts breadth I was. There wasn’t houses and they lived in grass huts. I’m told it’s not like that up there anymore. So I anticipate some acceptable came out of it for them, for the South Vietnamese people. “We done our job. Whether some bodies say we won or some say we lost, we done our job and we done a acceptable job aback we was there. Some acceptable came of it because they alive in a avant-garde country now.”
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