Randy Wallick '69

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27 Nov 2023
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Vietnam War
Bill and Arthur, thank you for organizing this casual conversation - also, thanks to all participants. After the conversation some thoughts crystallized for me - my reflections on those times we all shared include the following. In response to the possibility of being drafted I applied for Naval OCS and entered OCS in August 1969. I served as a supply officer on a Destroyer Escort out of San Diego through March 1973. If not for the draft I would probably have gone directly to graduate school.

Paul Pillar '69

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27 Nov 2023
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Vietnam War
I tip my hat to those in the combat arms who endured the most severe dangers and miseries of the war.  My own experience in Vietnam was less hazardous.  During the last year of the U.S. involvement in the war (April 1972 to March 1973) I was one of the Army officers running a replacement operation on a compound within Tan Son Nhut airbase outside Saigon.  We were the processing point for almost all U.S.

Nick North '69

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27 Nov 2023
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Vietnam War
VIETNAM REFLECTIONS 1971-1972
 
 
Arrival in Nam...a beautiful country, I thought, gazing from the white sands  and bright blue waters of Cam Ranh, my port of entry, toward the rugged green mountains in the distance...and I still thought so, winging southward in the lumbering C-130 toward Saigon until I noticed----
            “What are all those round muddy little ponds, all so close together and perfectly symmetrical?”, I wondered.
 
And then , as it went on that way for miles, I

Jeff Burnett '69

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27 Nov 2023
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Vietnam War
During the summer of 1974, I received a call from a Navy captain on behalf of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO, Zumwalt) to determine if there was a way that I might be convinced to remain on active duty in light of my resignation. The Navy at the time had a shortfall of junior officers aspiring to command.
 
I was 5 years into a very rewarding surface line officer experience.

Steve Barrett '69

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27 Nov 2023
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Vietnam War
I was an eager attendee at last Sunday’s CC about military service in Vietnam, but had nothing to say then because I did not serve. Like many of our classmates, I was pre-med and excused from military service when I went to med school.

69s and the Vietnam War

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27 Nov 2023
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Vietnam War
In the Fall of 2023, classmates Bill Stableford and Arthur Fergenson arranged an online Casual Conversation with several '69s who served in Viet Nam.  Bill described his intent as follows:
 
"While the Vietnam War was indeed long ago, none of us were unaffected by it, so I think that an historical perspective and discussion might be of interest to fellow classmates, regardless of how they felt or what they did about the war.  For the presentation, I thought it would be of interest to hear from those classmates who act
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