Hello everyone,
Sure glad Len Mitsch suggested we get info on Cretin classmates that served in Vietnam.
Since this info was requested we have heard more than 20 guys and their responses are below.
I will continue to update the roster of these brave classmates who served our country in Vietnam as responses come in.
Thanks to all of you who served our country.
Tom Troskey
Any other Vietnam Vets who wish to respond please do and we will be sure to share with your Cretin classmates.
Tom Mahlum
In Viet-Nam as an infantry officer from December 68 until August 70.
I was a platoon commander with Mike Company 3rd Battalion 5th Marines 1st Marine Division. My first company commander was a platoon commander with Lima Company where he knew our classmate Mike Ryan. After 7 months as platoon commander they made me the Battalion 3Alpha for 5 months and then sent me to Shore Party Battalion in Da Nang from which I was sent to Manila as the R&R officer. Then back to Nam and home in August.
Another Vietnam story our classmates may find interesting from Tom Mahlum about classmate Tom Hollihan USMC (deceased 3-31-02)
When I first arrived in An-wha, the headquarters for the 5th Marines, a few days before Christmas 1968, I went looking for Tom Hollihan. Someone (I don’t remember who) had told me that Tom was there. I went to the Enlisted Men’s Club. When I walked in, I asked the bartender if he knew where Tom Hollihan was. He pointed down the bar. I walked down and looked at the backs of three Marines. (They all look alike with the distinguished haircut.) I said, “I’m looking for Tom Hollihan.”
They turned to face me, and I immediately knew Tom wasn’t one of them. But one of them said, “I’m Tom Hollihan.”
I was ready to leave but said, “I’m looking for Tom Hollihan from St Paul, Minnesota.”
He said, “I’m from St Paul.”
I said, “The Tom Hollihan I’m looking for went to Cretin High School.”
I turned to leave, and he said, “I went to Cretin High School.”
Now I was convinced that he was pulling my leg. “My Hollihan graduated in 1963,” I said.
He said, “I graduated in 1964, and your Tom Hollihan is my cousin. He rotated home a few days ago.”
Then he asked me to repeat my name, and when I said Tom Mahlum, he said “Do you know Bob Mahlum?”
“Sure. Bob Mahlum is my brother.”
This Tom Hollihan was in some classes with my brother.
What a crazy small world. You can find a Cretin grad everywhere.
Frank S Lentsch (deceased 1-7-15)
The following info was provided to us by Frank’s twin brother John.
82nd Airborne. He was in Vietnam at the end of Tet in 1968 and 1969. The casualties in 1968 and 1969 were the two years with the highest casualties. During Tet, 400-500 Americans were killed weekly. Frank fought up by the DMZ, the Central Highlands and the Mekong Delta.He said that fighting in The Central Highlands the worst. He was a forward observer on a mortar crew. He said once when the NVA were attacking , he was firing the mortars so rapidly that the barrels got so hot that a round got stuck in the barrel. They had to get the round out before it exploded and killed everyone. He had to disassemble the mortar . He said that was the time that he was most afraid in Vietnam. Also , “Puff the Magic Dragon”, a 130 Gunship , saved their lives many times. He was in combat most of the time he was . Some names of the places he fought, Phu Bai , south of Hue. By Pleiku ,by Danang , the Perfume river and the Delta. It was a terrible. senseless war.
Bob Connor
I served in the US Army in Vietnam from November 1968 to April 1969 when I was wounded and sent back to the States to the Hospital at Fort Riley KS. I served in Vietnam in Quang Tri and near the DMZ.
Dave Britz
I served in the US Navy 1965-1968. I was on the USS INTREPID Aircraft carrier in Vietnam in the Tonkin Gulf from April – November 1967.
Ed Adrian – I was in the Air Force 1964-1968. I was a C130 aircraft mechanic with the 51st OMS MATS. I was stationed in Okinawa 1965 & 1966. Although I was never “stationed” in Viet Nam, I accompanied the plane on its missions to Viet Nam as part of the crew.
John M Hughes
Where in Vietnam Bien Hoa Army Post
Dates in Vietnam Sep 68 – July 69
David M Lieser US Army
Where in Vietnam: Cu Chi
Dates in Vietnam: July, 1967 – July, 1968
Peter J. Zierden 1st Lt Infantry
WHERE: Forward Firebase LZ Liz Quang Ngai Province (90 miles South of DaNang)
August 1970 —June 1971
Ted Tschida
USMC
I was there twice. First time on an aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin and second at Saigon air base. 26 months and such a terrible place. I was an F4D crew member and had 3500 hours air time. 354 successful launches and 352 successful traps. We were a bombing squadron not into air to air combat.
Nov 1965 — Jan 1967
Richard Probst
In the Air Force from 1965 – 1969
I was a aircraft crew chief so I could fly with the plane when I wanted too. I was on a C-130 cargo plane and we went to many bases in Viet Nam dropping off cargo and picking it up.
I was in Viet Nam over a 3 year period 1966 – 1969 but only TDY when we went to Viet Nam it was for 15 days at a time Then went back to the base I was stationed at.
Bruce Jones
United States Marine Corps
In Vietnam April 67 – May 68. Forward Observer Radio Operator – 81’s Mortars. Bravo Company 1st Bn 26 Marines. Hill 55 Da Nang – 1 month. Khe Sanh – 12 months.
Michael D. Ryan (deceased 1-30-12)
The following info was provided by Mike’s close friend Joe Schufman.
Where: Various, last being An Hoa in Quang Nam Province where he was injured.
Dates: 1967-1969 as infantry platoon commander Company L, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division
Branch of service: United States Marine Corp
On Sept. 12, Company L was participating in Operation Mameluke Thrust north of An Hoa in Quang Nam Province when Mike’s platoon came under heavy fire from a North Vietnamese Army battalion. A subsequently issued citation describes what happened next:
During the initial moments of the fire fight, several Marines, including Lieutenant Ryan, were wounded and the platoon was pinned down. Ignoring his painful injury, he skillfully maneuvered his men into advantageous positions and commenced directing their fire upon the hostile emplacements. Establishing radio contact with his company commander, Lieutenant Ryan ably furnished an accurate analysis of the tactical situation, which enabled the Marines to direct air strikes and artillery fires against the hostile force. Steadfastly refusing medical evacuation, he resolutely continued his determined efforts until his platoon’s position was secured and all other casualties had been extracted from the hazardous area. His heroic actions and resolute determination were an inspiration to all who observed him and contributed significantly to the accomplishment of his unit’s mission. Lieutenant Ryan’s courage, aggressive leadership and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of great personal danger were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.
The Marine Corps awarded Mike two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star with a Combat “V” for heroism in combat. He was medically discharged in 1969.
Mike’s combat injuries were severe, leaving him a paraplegic and wheelchair-bound. But he didn’t let this interfere with his life or his renowned sense of humor.
Mike is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Following is another story about Mike Ryan as provided by classmate and fellow Marine Tom Mahlum
Possibly someone else knows more than I do, but I would feel remiss if I didn’t provide the following:
I joined the United States Marine Corps in March of 68 after graduating from the Univ. of Minnesota (along with Bob O’Malley’s wife Barb ). I knew that our classmate Mike Ryan had become a Marine Corps Officer after graduating from St. John’s University. Sometime during my time in Officer Candidate School I learned that Mike had been medevacked out of Vietnam, was paralyzed from the waist down, and eventually was transferred to the Fort Snelling hospital. Our wonderful classmate Bill Jack was kind enough to escort my Mother to visit Mike a few times. Like so many other parents of Cretin grads, my parents knew Mike’s father, Don Ryan, from the fifties and early sixties at the Lex.
When I reported to Mike Company 3rd Btln. 5th Marines, my first company commander was from Virginia, a Lt. Hudson. The first night he asked me to come up to his tent to get acquainted. When I got there, he asked me where I was from. I said Minnesota. He said he knew all about Minnesota and he started talking about an elementary school (I don’t remember which, but I am sure you do), a high school, St John’s University. Now at this point I thought he had called back to the rear and received information about me.
I accused him of this and he said he was not talking about me, Then I said he must be talking about Mike Ryan. He explained that he was a fellow platoon commander with Mike but didn’t know him that well. When Mike was hit in a rice patty, Hudson was close by, and when the corpsman finished tending to Mike, he asked this Hudson to make sure Mike did not go to sleep or he would die. So he began asking Mike questions like where did you go to high school? Where did you go to college? And he had never forgotten any of the answers that Mike gave to his questions, especially the unusual name of his high school, I told him Mike had survived and was in Minnesota.
Many years later I attended a reunion of Lima Company at National City, near the Reagan Airport Washington DC. Since Mike was with Lima Company when he was hit, I had contacted him in Phoenix and suggested he attend. We talked a couple of times and he finally agreed to attend. When he rolled into the room with his wife, I immediately went up to him and shook hands. I had not seen Mike since a party at my home during the winter before he graduated from St. John’s. It turned out that Lt Hudson was there, and the corpsman who saved Mike’s life was there also.
Privately Mike confided to me that he had a real tough time coming into that room. I was the only one he knew and during my short time at Cretin, I only knew Mike slightly. It turns out that he had absolutely no contact with anyone from his days in the Marine Corps. I hope he found that trip to DC was meaningful for him.
Also, Mike moved to Arizona to attend law school there because the University of Minnesota then lacked sufficient access for the handicapped. When still a practicing attorney in Maricopa County, Mike was prosecuting a case involving a Vietnam vet and a drug deal gone bad. As the vet talked about his PTSD being the cause of the murder, Mike sat by and tapped quietly on the arm of his wheelchair. The defense attorney moved for a mistrial because of the tapping. The judge denied his motion.
Mike became a highly-respected Associate Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court, the highest court in the state, and he served there for eight years, until he passed away in 2010.
Mike had a fabulous career as an attorney and judge in Arizona. He was a credit to the Cretin Class of 1963.
Michael Schilling
United States Marine Corps
Where in Vietnam
I Corp – Quang Tri, Dong Ha, Camp Carroll
Dates in Vietnam
May 1968 – April 1969
Gary Stoffel
United States Marine Corps
Da Nang, Donga Ha, Gia Le
Nov.1967—Nov.!968
Gary Pates
I was in Vietnam from Apr 1969 till Apr 1970 . I worked as a Forward Air Controller in 4 Corps at Bien Thuey airport. I flew an O2A . We worked only at night protecting American and Vietnamese outposts. I was in USAF after ST. THOMAS ROTC. PS on my way home from Vietnam I visited Joe Schufman in Japan (also in USAF ) and we went to Worlds Fair together .
Jonathan Steele
USMC, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, Marine Air Support Squadron-2
Where in Vietnam: DaNang, Dong Ha, ChuLai, Marble Mtn, Phu Bai, etc. Iwakuni, Japan.
Dates in Vietnam: 1969-1970
Greg Halbert
I served in the United States Air Force, stationed at Headquarters 7th Air Force, Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Saigon, RVN from 2 Nov 1968 to 7 Nov 1969. In the summer of 1969, USAF 1st Lt. Gary Pates flew into Tan Son Nhut AB from his base elsewhere in RVN.. We enjoyed lunch at the Officers Club before he returned to his air base. One night I entered the Tan Son Nhut Officers Club, walked into the bar and took the only open spot. Talking with the Air Force officer next to me I learned he had graduated from the College of St Thomas probably 1-2 years before I did. Did not know him while at St. Thomas which is unusual as the college had a much smaller enrollment than today. We enjoyed a beer or two, went on our separate ways and our paths never again crossed.
Tom Schwartz
I served with the 82nd Airborne in Vietnam from Nov 1968 – Nov 1969-platoon leader and company commander.
Dave Ross
SPC 1968-69
Basic-Ft. Bliss, El Paso,Texas
AIT – Ft Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas ..Medics
15 Months In Country
Base Camp: Camp Enari, Pleiku, Vietnam, Central Highlands
4th Infantry Division,6/29 th Artillery, Medic
Medical Intervention….Montagnard Village outside Camp Enari;….Flew between 3 Forward Firebase Batteries(105’s) near Cambodian Border;
Tan Cahn Base Camp(ARVN) Special Forces Camp/Airstrip.. South of Dak To,La Drang Valley..,An Khe.
2 R& Rs :Manila, Philippines and Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong, China 19 Months in service….exited Ft.Lewis ,Washington
Memories:
My Buddies….Chase Manhattan Acct,20 lb monsoon boots, Beechnut, dapsone tablets, funny money exchange, my
45,flechettes,liquor card, China Fleet Club, fragging, Black Label, claymores, my M79,drippy dicks, sapper squads,
concertina wire, and most of all….the smells
Joe Clarkin
I was drafted in 1966; due to insufficient GPA. They sent us to medic training; became a combat medic in the Delta. Assigned to CBTRY. 1 /11/9th Infantry Division. Thankful for getting out alive. Cudos to my fellow vets.
I was in Vietnam from 7/7/68 to 8/7/69.
Our unit worked in the Mekong Delta, around Can Tho & My Tho, also Dong Tam. Thanks a lot Tom for your work on the web. We appreciate you keeping us informed.
Jack Erdman (now Jay Morrison)
Navy enlisted, Yeoman clerk, E4
Vietnam- in country December ’69’ to November ’70’. Served 6 months in Danang then 5 months in Saigon. I was lucky…only shot at one time while on guard duty. They missed me. Heard the round go past my right ear. God bless all who served, especially those who were killed or wounded.
Tom Hollihan’s Vietnam story provided by lifelong friend Len Mitsch
Tom was drafted into the Marine Corps.
He went to Vietnam in (1965?).
He was in-country for 11 days.
Here’s what happened.
Tom said, “We went out on a search & destroy mission. 7 helicopters, full of Marines, flying over triple canopy jungle. We’ve got no idea what’s down there, but the Viet Cong know where we are. They can hear us.
We set up a base camp, then went out to patrol “Indian Country.”
We had no enemy contact the first day, but one of our guys dropped from heat prostration.
We called for a medevac and they took him out.
The second day out…no enemy contact, but two more guys were medevac’d due to heat stroke.
On the morning of the third day, our CO told us to leave our flak jackets behind.
They were too heavy and too hot.
That’s just what the Viet Cong were waiting for. They opened fire when they saw we had our flak jackets off.”
Tom was hit in the chest.
A corpsman got to him and applied first aid. A helicopter landed and, as they were lifting him into the chopper, the door gunner saw gun flashes in the tree line and opened fire with the side-mounted M-60 machine gun.
Top was lying on the floor of the helicopter, upper body in, legs still out. His shirt had been torn open and the hot brass from the
ejected M-60 shells started bouncing off his chest and stomach.
Tom said, “That hurt worse than the bullet wound.”
They got Tom to a hospital ship and he has a dim memory of two doctors standing over him and talking.
One doctor didn’t think Tom was going to make it and wanted to triage him.
The other doctor disagreed and went to work. He saved Tom’s life.
Years later, Tom was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The VA allowed that it might have been caused by agent orange and sent him to the Audie Murphy Memorial VA Center in San Antonio, TX for treatment.
Tom lived a few more years, then the cancer came back.
Tom died on Easter Sunday, 2002.
Len Mitsch
You asked about my Vietnam experience.
I was drafted in the Fall of 1968.
The Paris Peace Talks had started, so I kept volunteering for additional training, hoping we’d have a cease-fire before I got sent to Vietnam.
No such luck.
I got my alert orders for Vietnam as the Cambodian invasion was taking place.
As a trained paratrooper and a parachute rigger, I thought sure I was going to wind up in Cambodia with the First Air Cavalry.
Then I did get lucky.
I got stationed in Cam Ranh Bay, the army’s main supply depot.
Security at that time was the duty of South Korean troops. They were highly disciplined and, we were told, the VC were afraid of them. So we had very little trouble when they were around.
A lot of the guys in my unit were just coming back from Cambodia.
The job of parachute riggers in Cambodia was sling loading the captured ammunition and medical supplies
under helicopters for transport back to Vietnam.
My friend, Dale Larson (also from Minnesota) was on “Shakey’s Hill”. (“Shakey” was the first guy killed when the First Air Cav took the hill.) Dale said the nights were the worst because there were constant rumors of a counter attack…but worse than that, there were also food supplies cached in Shakey’s Hill.
They were sleeping in foxholes and Dale said, “Do you have any idea how many rats three tons of uncovered rice will draw?”
Dale said the rats were running over them constantly. One night, he said, one of the guys let out a blood-curdling scream. When the medics ran to him, they found he wasn’t wounded..he just couldn’t take the rats anymore.
Later in my tour, the South Korean troops were re-assigned to a hotter area of the country and that’s when our trouble started. We were right on the coast of the South China Sea. We had concertina wire, with empty Coca Cola cans filled with ball bearings tied to the wire, around our company area. The theory was that Viet Cong sappers would snag the wire and rattle the cans. However, the VC stripped to jockstraps and found that they could get through the wire without disturbing the cans.
But they couldn’t get past our guard dogs. The dogs could hear them and smell them.
One particular night, the dogs went nuts and alerted our sentries. The guys on guard opened fire.
We’ll never know how many VC were planning on slipping through the wire. But we do know that three of them stayed in it.
Our guard dogs may have saved our lives. Whoever called them “man’s best friend” was certainly right.
A few years ago, I read that Senator Al Franken had introduced a bill in the senate to fund therapy dogs for veterans suffering from PTSD. I wrote him a letter thanking him and letting him know that I had a first-hand experience with how important those dogs will be.
After the Cambodian and Laotian invasions, the U.S. started scaling back operations.
The Nixon Administration called it “Vietnamization”, an effort to turn over more and more military responsibility to the South Vietnamese. Another word for it was “Withdrawal”.
Our company strength went from 250 to 125 in the last 6 months I was there. Guys rotated home and weren’t replaced. As a result, we had a couple empty barracks, right near the beach.
One Thursday night a company of combat engineers rolled in from the field to occupy the barracks next to ours and spend a three-day, in-country R&R.
I mentioned our guard dogs. One of them had four pups. They were about 3 months old.
We had them in a little pen alongside our barracks. The morning after the combat engineers settled in, I went out to feed the pups…and one of them was gone.
My first thought was that one of the Vietnamese women, who did kitchen and laundry work for us, had gotten hungry.
But, after asking around, I was told that one of our guys had seen one of the combat engineers come out, take one of our pups and go back into their temporary barracks
Since we were raised on John Wayne movies, and paratroopers, I and a friend decided no dammed engineer could just stroll over and take one of our pups without asking. We went in to get our dog back.
Once inside the engineers’ barracks, I decided diplomacy would be a better course of action.
The corridor was lined with M-16s and M-79 grenade launchers, hanging from pegs on the walls.
I had to remind myself that these guys were combat engineers and, from the looks of their equipment, they’d definitely seen combat.
I asked a couple guys if they knew anything about our puppy. One of them didn’t say a word. He just pointed to the next room on my right.
I stood in the doorway and looked in. The cot was against the inside wall. The engineer was sitting on it with his back to me. He was cradling our puppy in his arms. The pup looked up at me.
I gently knocked on the side of the wall.
The engineer turned to look at me. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to.
The look on his face told me that holding and hugging that little dog was all that was helping that guy keep it together.
“That’s one of our pups,” I said.
“Yeah…he sure is cute,” was all the engineer said.
“Ya’know..” I said, “I think you ought to keep him.”
My friend and I turned and walked away.
The look on that guy’s face is my dominant memory of Vietnam.
I never received a reply from Senator Franken’s office, but a year later I and my family were in D.C. and attended a breakfast hosted by Al.
As we were getting the obligatory “Shak Hands and Grin” photo, I asked him what had happened to the therapy dog bill because I hadn’t read any more about it.
Al said, “The Republicans killed it.