Rotary Club of Marana Meeting, November 10, 2020
On this day before Veteran’s Day, our meeting began as meaningfully as it ended. Peter Mack honored us with a video he recently took of the Raising of the Flag over the U.S. Naval Observatory, accompanying it with National Anthem. A quick detour to announcements and then we returned to honoring our veterans.
In John’s absence, President Elect Randy facilitated our meeting today.
Club Business
- Discussed adopting a family for the Thanksgiving and Winter holidays. Dan will speak with the MCAT principal for a referral. Dan and Mary will help the parent(s) develop food and gift lists. They’ll encourage the family to reach for the stars.
- Handbag assembly today. To purchase stuffing items meet at 1:00. To assemble meet at Carl’s at 1:30.
- Time for IRS 990 to be submitted – Harold following up with Lynne.
Laura led us in a wonderful exercise today. Each of us remembered a service member in our family.
- Mary’s brother served as a Naval Lieutenant where he was an air traffic controller on an aircraft carrier during the Bay of Pigs.
- Randy recognized two uncles who each shipped out to Europe in WWII. Both were wounded, both were POWs, and both returned home. Randy saluted his grandparents’ era when Americans were whole-hearted in defending our country.
- Both of Dan’s Grandfathers served in WWII, and both able to experience V-Day while abroad.
- Andy has a nephew who currently serves in the National Guard. He is based in Anchorage and Spain, but flies refuelers for aircraft in Afghanistan, one time having the opportunity to refuel his own brother’s plane. Not only does Andy have huge respect for his nephew, but also for FedEx, his nephew’s employer, which has supported his military missions whenever he is deployed.
- Carl’s Great Grandfather, Juan Batiste, served in WWI from 1917-19. He was injured there by mustard gas, which affected him for the remainder of his life. Despite this he was and Carl is proud of his contribution to the success of the war effort. Carl himself served in the Air Force.
- Richie heralds from an extensive military family, most currently including his brother and father. Richie has traced his family’s military service back to the Civil War and to The Revolution. Richie feels grateful to be able to honor his family.
- Don’s son was in the Army, a black hawk pilot and paratrooper. Don’s father was trained at Pendleton and became a career corpsman in the coast guard. Don Sr. founded the first alcohol treatment program to serve the military nation-wide.
- Beckie’s parents are a WWII love-story. Her mother had joined the effort as a WAVE (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) and her father as a merchant marine. Both met at a bowling alley while stationed back East. Beckie’s father was sent over-seas and served as cook on a ship that was blown up. He was adrift in the ocean for 4 days, holding onto a floating fragment of the ship, before he was rescued. After his returned, he was sent to Seattle where he fatefully re-met Beckie’s mother. They were married and on to Salt Lake to raise a family of 7 children. Beckie’s father never spoke of his war experience.
- Peter’s Uncle George on his mother’s side was a submariner in the Royal Navy in WWII. While off the coast of France, Uncle George was 1 0f 20 that survived when their boat was torpedoed by the French. He was sent back out and became the sole survivor of another torpedoed submarine. Peter also recognized his son who served in Afghanistan in the British Armed Forces until he was discharged after being met by an IUD.
- Bob passionately recognized his father who was a B-29 commander at age 21, the oldest in his crew. With only 250 flight hours under his belt, he was ordered to locate the Island of Guam. With no GPS to guide them, he and his 17 year old copilot where able to complete the mission. Bob credits his father for his own illustrious career in aviation and defense, to put it simply.
- Harold’s father volunteered in the Navy in WWI. Because of his expertise, his orders mainly involved building airways and other structures to support the armed forces. Harold also recognized his 101 year old friend who flew 34 missions in a B-17 in WWII.
- Laura’s grandfather was stationed in occupied Germany in WWII. Having owned stores in his home-town of Des Moines and being a semi-professional baseball pitcher, he was charged with the running of a commissary and with developing baseball leagues for the troops.
Our Program today was provided to us by our very dear Randy Brooks, who served in the Navy and Marines in the Vietnam War.
Randy joined the military immediately after graduating high school. He arrived to sign up with the Navy and was asked if he wanted to be a Naval corpsman. After it was explained to him that he could be treating wounded soldiers in a hospital in Japan or Spain, surrounded by nurses, Randy eagerly signed up. I believe the words were, “Heck, yah.” After Randy completed boot camp, he was transferred from the Navy to Camp Pendleton to serve with the Marines. Randy experienced his first, short-lived, singing career while at Pendleton. His commanding officer recognized his voice from his many times passing Randy singing Motown outside of the barracks. Randy was “invited” (commanded) to sing in the Marine Corp choir, where he performed a solo in the Christmas program. As quickly as it came, his career ended, until decades later.
Randy was sent from Camp Pendleton back to the Navy for hospital corpsman training where he received additional specialized training in neuropsychiatry. Following he was sent back to the Marines for Field Medical School. After serving 3 of his 4 year commitment without deployment, Randy received his orders to Vietnam and departed with the 1st Marine Division in November of 1967.
Once in country, Randy stood in a line for his assignment. Randy had proven to be a soldier who tended to follow his own set of rules. Young men/boys, 19 years and younger, were sent to the front because of their eagerness and recklessness. To his commanding officer’s disappointment, Randy, at 21, fell outside the age cutoff, and was instead assigned to the 1st Medical Battalion in Danang.
Danang was a bustling military city. Randy was sent to serve outside of Danang in a full service hospital where he worked in Trauma. This was Randy’s first experience with the sheer overwhelm of the endless quantity of wounded, types of wounds, severity of wounds, and the body parts and fluids involved.
From Danang the 1st Medical Battalion was sent to Phu Bai to work in a smaller, satellite unit. From Phu Bai, Randy was sent with an infantry unit to Hue City.
800 American soldiers were sent to ‘clear out’ 800 North Vietnamese soldiers (NVAs) at Hue City. As the soldiers engaged in battle outside the city gates, the NVAs eased up their fire, allowing our soldiers to enter the citadel. Immediately our soldiers were surrounded not by 800 but by 8000 VMAs. The Battle for Hue City was a horrific battle that lasted 28 days. 70% to 80% of American soldiers were wounded or killed. The USS New Jersey wouldn’t initially intervene because of cultural treasures housed in the citadel. However, at length, it had to intervene as there was no other hope of our troops survival much less success. Randy reported, “We won (the battle) but no one wins.” As Randy shared this story, he revealed that he’s not done so before.
After Hue, Randy spent 8 more months in the bush, finally returning home in November 1968.
Randy’s War Heroes were the helicopter pilots who came to evacuate and transport the injured and dead. Easy targets, a pilot would come, get shot down, and another would replace him again and again, until the task was completed. One of Randy’s biggest thrills was, when being transported by helicopter, jumping out of the hovering craft and running into bush.
Randy “came home a mess.” He drank a lot and was violent when provoked. Randy was a middle weight boxing champ and engaged those skills. He was spit on, called a ‘baby killer’ and ‘scum’, and was beaten up in a bar for being military. He, and other Vietnam soldiers, suffered two traumas: “the war itself and coming home to hatred.” Randy treated his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder unorthodoxly but successfully. He has a love for veterans, knowing they have pledged a commitment to pay any price, including their lives, to protect us and our country.
We are grateful to Randy for allowing us to even slightly comprehend his war experience. We also thank Laura for such a thoughtful exercise. Both brought us closer to comprehending the sacrifices demanded by democracy and freedom. We are indebted to all who have served and to the families of those who have and are serving.
Submitted by Mary Straus,