Just wanted to post some of my husband's photos from his time in Vietnam at the Phu Cat air force base in 1968 to 1969. I am glad that I was able to record a few of his memories before they faded away completely. I look at them and think he was impossibly young looking for such a serious mission. At that time there were many young men in this area who signed up for the Air National Guards in hopes of evading brutal combat and the draft. In any case, Roy wound up at a relatively safe air force base. He did tell me that there was gun fire at the perimeter at night but it was not serious, just a type of teasing to show, "Hey, we're out here!" He always spoke about his time there in a light-hearted manner. So when some suggest that my husband is suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, I tend to dismiss this idea. I do remember two young men from Hammonton that lost their lives there: Gerard Palma and Raul Melendez. The following citation describes his work as an aerospace ground equipment repairman.
This is one of his buddies, Fred Green. I have not met this man but I believe he is a councilman in a nearby Absecon.
This is part of a group photo. Roy is the third from the left at the bottom.
Roy wrote on the back of this photo, "Just call me, Captain!" His job entailed getting bombs loaded into jets and loading canisters that were used to get jets started quickly referred to as "hot shots". Roy once found a pilot's pack that contained the pilot's pistol, his maps, and other pertinent items for his mission. Roy returned the lost pack to the pilot and he was so grateful. From then on Roy was allowed to eat with the officers and the pilots in what they called the "ready shack" One tradition that Roy described is that when pilots returned from successful missions they would ink up their butts and then hoist them up to the ceiling to make a butt print. Roy asked about a particularly large print and he was told that it belonged to the base's librarian.
He loved taking photos of the children:
In the background you will find a picture of Roy's first wife, Maureen McAndrews. He was married at 19 before he went to Vietnam. She then began her battle with Lupus and she eventually died. Also, Roy, at three months old, lost his father due to an assault in New York City. After it was a struggle for his mother raising two boys and earned very little as a housekeeper for area residents. Then in 2010 at the age 63, Roy became profoundly impaired due to dementia.
This is a scan of what Roy wrote in the back of this photo.
I miss his notes that he used to leave
for me if he went out--misspellings and all.
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