Gene is entitled to wear 2 Oak Leaf Clusters on his Presidential Unit Citation and two stars on his Europe/Africa/ Middle East Campaign Ribbon. The webmaster has so far been unable to locate suitable artwork. 

Sgt. Harrison, Gene
Hq 1st Bn 254 Inf 63 Div
United States Army
"Death before Defeat"

See all of Gene's Old War Dogs posts in one place here.

"Gene Harrison" is the nom de guerre of a WW II veteran who served in Europe with Hq 1^st Bn, 254^th Inf, 63^rd Infantry Division from Aug 1943 to June 1945, and then with SHAEF until April 1946. His regiment was attached to the First French Army for the Colmar campaign.  He and his battalion were awarded the Croix de Guerre by General Charles de Gaulle.

The 63^rd made the first break in the Siegfried Line near Ensheim Germany, where Sgt Harrison received a Bronze Star for gallantry in action on March 19, 1945. When the war in Europe ended, a chance meeting of an old friend resulted in his transfer to SHAEF Signal Corps, where he served with General George S. Patton, Jr., until Patton’s death in December 1945.

On his return to Com Z he used the GI bill to train up through the PhD. That degree opened various faculty appointments in several Ivy League universities. His CV boasts more than 100 publications, including original work in peer-reviewed journals and several widely quoted books. He is, without question, a blot on the “liberal,” academic landscape.

GMG3 Gardner, Steven M.
U. S. Navy Feb. 1965 to Feb. 1971
Vietnam Service: 1966-1967 Cam Ranh Bay,
1968 – 1969 An Toi , Cat Lo, Vung Tau
   "Other than 3months in GMG A school and 4 months aboard the USS Nereus AS-17 the rest of my time was spent in the Republic of Vietnam aboard  Three different divisions of Coastal Squadron 1."

See all of Steve's Old War Dog posts in one place here.

Steve Gardner, known in some circles as "the tenth brother," served in the U. S. Navy from 1965 to 1971, spending almost the entire time patrolling the rivers and canals of Viet Nam as a swift boat crewman, including 2.5 months as John Kerry's gunner on PCF 44. He came home to raise 3 loving children and 4 loving grandchildren, whom he visits as often as he can get to Cincinnati. He worked and ran boat dealerships in three different states prior to the Kerry wars, after which he spent two years out of work; the company he's now with hired him knowing all about his background and he now covers three states and loves what he's doing.

SSgt (E-5) Faith, Billy D.
USAF 1970 - 1974, USAFR 1974-1975
Viet Nam, 1971-1972
(14th, 8th Aerial Port SQs, PACAF)

See all of Bill's Old War Dogs posts in one place here.

In the spring of '70, with American troops in Cambodia, National Guardsmen at Kent State and hundreds of long haired smelly people running around with "If you aren't part of the solution you're part of the problem" signs Bill Faith decided college just didn't seem "relevant" any more and enlisted in the Air Force. After training and a few months at Kelly AFB to practice what he'd been taught, Bill arrived at Cam Ranh Bay Air Base in November of '71 for six months of shuffling papers around trying to look busy. When the air base was shut down as a result of Congressionally mandated troop cuts right in the middle of the NVA's spring offensive, Bill was reassigned to Ton Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon for 90 days Delay Enroute on the way home. Tired of shuffling papers, he volunteered at that point for the 8th Aerial Port Squadron's Mobility (Bare Base) Team and got an opportunity to do some site-seeing in such beautiful exotic places as Cam Ranh Bay (where the Mob team was the only Air Force presence; the base was shut down, remember?), Qui Nhon (likewise) and Kontum (where there'd never been a real air base to begin with). The highlight of Bill's Viet Nam experience was not dying at Kontum. After Viet Nam, Bill spent several boring months looking busy at Bergstrom AFB waiting for his ETS date.

When he returned to civilian life the GI Bill made it possible for Bill to spend two years at the University of Texas, earning a BSEE with Highest Honors degree in 1976, and later an MEEE degree from UT Arlington. After stints with Motorola in Fort Worth, Emerson Electric in St. Louis, and Rockwell International in Cedar Rapids, Bill was given an opportunity to "explore his interests in other areas" when Defense Secretary Cheney told Congress it would be OK to cut the defense budget a little and Congress overreacted. After a few months of odd jobs and freelance computer programming Bill settled into a technical support role, first spending 8 months answering a Microsoft telephone and later at an "outsourcing" contractor which provided technical support for several major PC and peripheral manufacturers. When Bill's health problems became worse about the same time someone realized Indians can answer email and some Canadians sound American enough to answer the phone, Bill entered early retirement. The VA considers Bill "Totally and Permanently Disabled" (non-Service Connected) and sends him just barely enough money to survive on every month. To the extent his health permits, between occasional trips to Ft. Worth to visit his daughter and grandson he spends the bulk of his time surfing the web and blogging. Prior to becoming webmaster for Old War Dogs, Bill blogged at Small Town Veteran, and before that at In Bill's World. *** Update: Bill is also now blogging at an OWD satellite site, Bill's Bites.

Sgt Dog, Gray
USAF 1970 – 1974, USAFR 1974 – 1976
5008th Tactical Support Squadron, Elmendorf AFB, AK
3902nd Air Base Wing, SAC HQ, Offutt AFB, NE

See all of The Gray Dog's
Old War Dogs posts in one place here.

The Gray Dog was born in West Virginia but grew up in the Detroit area.  After graduating high school in 1969 with a student deferment in hand, he entered Wayne State University as a Music Major.  After a sudden illness in his second semester forced him to withdraw from classes, the Selective Service saw fit to reclassify him 1A.  With a low lottery number and a new draft status, Mike decided to be proactive and enlist in the Air Force in July 1970.  His hopes of becoming an Air Traffic Controller were dashed when he didn’t pass the vision test, thus the Air Force armed him computer training and shipped him off to Alaska.

At Elmendorf AFB all newly arrived airmen were assigned to a Security Police Augmentee Team. So when he wasn’t defending the country from behind a computer console, The Gray Dog was issued an M16 and walked guard duty during the long Alaskan nights.  Two years later he was reassigned to SAC HQ at Offutt AFB, NE.  There, he was an Operations Supervisor assigned to the 3902 Air Base Wing.

After leaving the Air Force, The Gray Dog remained in the computer industry as a mainframe software developer which he still does today, making him a dinosaur in the industry.

In 2004, with the maniacal rants Michael Moore and John Kerry proliferating through the air waves, The Gray Dog decided to add his voice to the conservative blogs that were springing up throughout the country by starting his web site and assisting and contributing to his son’s site, IHateJohnKerry.net.  He  also was a contributor at Reject Liberalism and it was also during this time that he began regular correspondence with Old War Dog Jim Bartimus.    The Gray Dog and Jim became fast electronic pen-pals and contributed frequently at each others site.  The Gray Dog has recently resurrected his own fine site, The Gray Dog

Del is entitled to wear a V for Valor device on his Navy Commendation Ribbon. The webmaster has so far been unable to locate suitable artwork.

Cpl. Del Vecchio, R. J.
U.S. Marine Corps 1966 - 1968

See all of Del's Old War Dogs posts in one place here.

When R. J. Del Vecchio entered the Marines in 1966 the Marine Corps decided to make use of his BS and MS in chemistry and assigned him to a Photography MOS. He spent from Dec '67 to Nov '68 in Viet Nam, working as a Combat Photographer for the 1st Marine Division, based in Da Nang, and traveled over most of I Corps, from An Hoa in the southern tip to Hue most of the way north. Many of his photographs are in the National Archives, College Park, MD.

After his service in Vietnam, Del continued working in the field of chemistry and became a pro-veteran activist using his experience and knowledge of the conflict in SE Asia. His book, Whitewash/Blackwash: Myths of the Viet Nam War, co-authored with Mr. Bill Laurie, explodes many of the major myths of the Vietnam War. Now active in veteran circles, also Director of a charity for disabled ARVN vets suffering still in Viet Nam, been back there twice in the last 15 months to find and help them. He is also a regular lecturer in high schools and colleges on the history of the war.

Learn more about Whitewash/Blackwash, including ordering information, here. Learn more about The Vietnam Healing Foundation, which Del directs, here. Click here and here while you're at it.

MSgt (E-7) Craig, Bobbie
USANG 1973-1976, 1982-2004
Desert Shield, Desert Storm 1990-1991
Various periods of Active Duty 1973-2004

See all of Bobbie's Old War Dogs posts in one place here.

("Bobbie Craig" is the nom de blog of a retired Air National Guard NCO who prefers to keep her real identity secret for reasons the webmaster knows and considers perfectly valid.)

As the daughter of a career Army man, it was a family joke that whatever "Bobbie" grew up to be, it would be in the Army. Years later, Bobbie was expecting to pursue a career in federal law enforcement and found that the competition usually included military police experience. In order to keep up, in spite of the fact that we were in the midst of a serious conflict in a little place called Viet Nam, Bobbie tried to enlist, but insisted that it would be for military police training. The Air National Guard finally called and said that they could guarantee her a slot in that career field. So, it was off to Lackland for basic and SP training in 1973. That was the beginning of a very satisfying career with the ANG, to include interesting trips to some fascinating places in a wide variety of assignments.

Special memories for Bobbie include being one of the first 4 women to graduate from USAF Law Enforcement technical training (back in the day when women were not issued combat boots. Ever done the low crawl in regular shoes, guys?); packing C-130's for deployment all over the world in support of every imaginable contingency; riding those hulking birds all over the world, wearing out 5 laptops doing load plans during Desert Storm, printing the final ones to get the units home with no screen; and getting to drive to DC on 9-12-01 to support operations there.

After retirement in the spring of 2004 it was Bobbie's honor to stand with other veterans who opposed the lunacy of Kerry running for the presidency. That group continues operations in opposition to the Idiots for Peace as they work to undermine all the sacrifices we have made.

CPT Briscoe, Shane
U.S. Army, 1971-1976
2/34 Armor, Ft. Carson
4th Infantry Division Headquarters, Ft. Carson
1/77 Armor, Ft. Carson
2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Nuremberg

See all of Shane's Old War Dogs posts in one place here.

Shane Briscoe is the pseudonym (for purely business reasons) for a West Point graduate (Class of ’71) and former Army Captain who, though he signed up at the height of Vietnam, ended up missing combat altogether.

The son of an Army officer (we call them “Brats”), Shane grew up on Army Posts around the world, from Germany to Hawaii and in between.  He sought nomination to West Point with the goal in mind of a military career, but such was not to be.

“Vietnam changed the Army, and not for the better,” Shane says.  “Fighting a war with one hand tied behind your back and no strategy for clear victory will do that to any army.  Having said that, I thank my West Point classmates and everyone else who stayed in and fixed things so that we have the professional, dedicated, lethally effective force we have today.”

Commissioned an Armor officer, Shane served as a Platoon Leader and Executive Officer in two Fort Carson tank units and later at 4th Infantry Division Headquarters as a Public Affairs and Information Officer (“I was setting myself up for civilian employment”) before being posted to Germany in 1974.  “My Dad always told me volunteering was bad luck, but I wanted a short tour so I could be in the United States to find a civilian job when my commitment expired in 1976; I volunteered for Vietnam first, and then Korea.  They told me, ‘Lieutenant, you’re on orders for Germany,’ and that was that.”

Shane was assigned to the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, the oldest regiment on continuous active service in the U.S. Army.  Its mission at the time:  Patrol the southern sector of the East German Border, along with the Czech Border as the very frontline NATO force.  "In other words, we were the tripwire tasked with delaying the Warsaw Pact until our heavy divisions could organize.  Gen. Tommy Franks of Iraq War fame was a fellow regimental staff officer."

Leaving the military in June 1976, Shane went into corporate public affairs, serving first as speechwriter for the chairman of a major utility company before finding his true calling in the oil business in 1980.  He now works as a senior executive with an international oil and gas company headquartered in Houston.

“There is nothing more important than fighting and winning the War on Terror,” Shane believes.  “This is World War III and the stakes are every bit as high as in World War II, the American Civil War and our Revolution.  The rest of the world is too decadent and too socialist (same thing) to recognize it, but this war is also a fundamental clash of civilizations—the modern, Judeo-Christian, human-justice forces of Western Civilization against barbarians, pseudo-religious zealots stuck in the Middle Ages with no morals and, more important, no restrictions on their behavior.  Winning this war, and winning it decisively, is the only option.  It is the challenge of our age and a life or death struggle for our way of life.”

Shane also has his own blog at AyesRight.

Karl is entitled to wear an Oak Leaf Cluster on his Air Force Commendation Medal, 3 bronze stars (instead of the one shown) on his Vietnam Service Medal, and 4 Oak Leaf Clusters on his Air Force Service Longevity Medal. The webmaster has so far been unable to locate suitable artwork. 

LTC (Ret.) Bossi, Karl R.
Enlisted, U.S. Air Force Reserve 1959 – 1962
(94th Troop Carrier Wing - Hanscom AFB, Bedford, MA)
Officer, U.S. Air Force 1962 – 1982
(Japan, Vietnam, Spain, Turkey, U.S.)

See all of Karl's Old War Dogs posts in one place here.

The youngest of three brothers, Karl Bossi was born and raised in Boston in the predominantly Irish section of Dorchester, a few years prior to the start of World War II. His brothers served in the USAF but Bossi chose to make the military a career. He could never know that the C-119 flying boxcars he supported as an airman would one day fly combat missions as AC-119 Gunships from his base in Vietnam.

As a nuclear weapons/conventional weapons maintenance officer and later an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) officer, Bossi worked in various squadron-level and staff assignments. He managed nuclear and conventional weapons operations, performed operational testing of new weapons, led a munitions squadron in Spain, advised the Turkish Air Force, and directed nuclear weapons stockpile activities. In 1968 after graduating from the Navy EOD School in Indian Head, MD, Bossi volunteered for Vietnam and was assigned to the 14th Special Operations Wing at Nha Trang Air Base. As the officer in charge of the EOD Team he gained first-hand knowledge of Viet Cong bombs, bullets, and booby traps.

In 1982 Bossi retired at Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, New Mexico as the Chief, Maintenance and Quality Assurance Division, Field Command Defense Nuclear Agency. He landed a position there as an aerospace logistic engineer at Sperry Flight Systems, later Honeywell Defense Avionics Systems Division. Over the next 15 years Bossi contributed to many key defense avionics programs involving the B-1B bomber, OH-58D helicopter, F-117 stealth fighter and C-17 transport aircraft.

Bossi holds graduate degrees in counseling and guidance and procurement management and is a published writer and author of a 5-star memoir, entitled Just Call Me Moose. Bossi's articles with photos have appeared in the Albuquerque Journal, Albuquerque Tribune, Albuquerque Business Journal, New Mexico Magazine and the nationally syndicated Country Woman Magazine.

Learning conservative principles started early for him. Fifty years ago as the Editor of the Yearbook at Boston Technical High School, Bossi ended the prologue with these words: “May God grant us strength to surmount the obstacles which lie ahead in a world made difficult by conflicting philosophies and aggressive governments.” Today every American must fully grasp the consequences of failing to win the war on terrorism. The Old War Dogs who launched this website understand.

SP/4 Bartimus, James R.
U.S. Army 1970-1973
Vietnam June 71-March 72
102nd Engr Co. 815th Engr Bn Camp Dillard
Co E, 1st Engr Bn, 1st Inf Div Ft. Riley, Ks.

See all of Jim's Old War Dogs posts in one place here.

Jim Bartimus was born and raised on a farm in the hills of Illinois. He enlisted in the Army during his junior year in high school. He was trained as a crawler tractor operator (62E20) with the combat engineers at Ft Leonard Wood. From there he went to NCO schooling for senior operators and was deployed to Viet Nam in 1971 as a SP/5 with the 102nd Engineers CS at Camp Dillard in the central highlands near Da Lat. The mission at hand was to build QL-20, a main corridor to the southern part of the country. This was a full circle operation with rock crushers, asphalt plant and an off compound rock quarry. The sergeant running the drilling and blast crew in the quarry rotated out and Jim replaced him after learning the tricks of the trade. He received his hard stripe E-5 ranking with an MOS for quarrymen (62G30) and also did the EOD work when required. Using time delay caps on 200 shot patterns with between 2000 and 3000 lb of TNT you can pretty much pile the rock anywhere you want it, and we were good at it. Those three steps are still in the side of that hill and will be forever. The 102nd was slated to stand down in 72 and some of the upper echelon changes didn’t seem to agree with those that were working off compound in the real war zone. (long story).  JB got demoted to SP/4 and was replaced with an E-6 and continued with his work in the quarry. The day he held that badly wounded mans (Sgt Roher’s) head in his lap shielding his eyes from the sun will never be forgotten. He ran a track drill over a booby-trapped 81mm mortar round that was meant for me. We also lost the life of an old papasan that day that was very dear to me. I will never forget the Vietnamese friends that I had over there and the compassion we had for them. They weren't all the enemy.

Jim rotated back to Ft. Riley Kansas in March of 72 after the 102nd stood down and was assigned to Co E 1st Engr Bn 1st Inf Div, which was a floating bridge unit.

After leaving the military Jim returned to Illinois and married a nice Irish girl, and worked as a mechanic in the automotive and the trucking industry. He accepted a position in Texas doing engine (irrigation) rebuilds & machine work and spent 12 years working there and raising their son in a good environment.

JB is back in Illinois now and works for one of the largest independent oil field operators working the Illinois basin. His current job is process management and control stuff and taking care of the onsite 3 Megawatt power generation facilities and doing computer work and web authoring after hours for entertainment.

Jim is also the proprietor of the fine Fractured Fairy Tales site.

Capt. (O-6) Bailey, Larry
U.S. Navy 1962-1990

See all of Larry's Old War Dogs posts in one place here.

A native of East Texas, where he graduated from Marshall High School and Stephen F. Austin State College, Larry Bailey was raised on a dairy farm, where he milked an estimated 300,000 Holsteins and Jerseys. Upon graduation from college, he went to Navy Officer Candidate School and was commissioned an ensign in 1962.  After a less-than-stellar eight months as a destroyer sailor, he volunteered for Underwater Demolition Training at Little Creek, Virginia, and graduated therefrom in January 1964.  After spending a year at UDT-22, he transferred to SEAL Team TWO, where he spent the next three years.  Among his deployments at that command were combat tours to the Dominican Republic and Viet Nam.

Larry's 27-year Navy career saw him stationed in Panama, Bolivia, Scotland, the Philippines, and Viet Nam, in addition to various stateside postings, which included Little Creek, VA; Coronado, CA; and Ft. Bragg, NC.  He commanded Naval Special Warfare Unit TWO in Machrihanish, Scotland, and Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado.  He retired from the US Special Operations Command in 1990.

Since retirement, Larry has worked as a consultant, speechwriter, fundraiser, and general gad-about.  His most notable activities included presiding over Vietnam Vets for the Truth, which campaigned against John Kerry in 2004, and over Vets for the Truth, which unsuccessfully tried to deny John Murtha a 17th term in Congress.

Larry and his wife Judy are the parents of two adult children: Tucker and Hallie.

Arch is entitled to wear an Oak Leaf Cluster on his Distinguished Flying Cross and 10 Oak Leaf Clusters on his Air Medal. The webmaster has so far been unable to locate suitable artwork.

Major Arthur, Arch
U.S. Air Force 1967-1987

See all of Arch's Old War Dogs posts in one place here.

Arch Arthur was born in Birmingham, Alabama – the son of an infantry lieutenant who was wounded in Normandy, and again on the first day of the Battle of the Bulge, then gave his life for his country in April 1945. Two years later, Arch's mother married a career naval officer who spent WWII island-hopping the Pacific as a Seabee.

His family moved from Gulfport to Guam, Washington DC, Boston, New York and Norfolk. Arch attended public schools and two military academies, graduating from high school in Newport RI. He earned a BA in Asian Studies at the University of Oklahoma and married Judith Kennedy – the daughter of a retired artillery officer.

In 1967, 2LT Arthur graduated USAF officer training school. He attended undergraduate navigator training and the F4 aircrew training course before volunteering for South East Asia. He was assigned to Homestead AFB, FL.

In 1971 while TDY to Phu Cat, he got orders to the 366 Tactical Fighter Wing at DaNang AB, RVN. During his tour, he flew 164 ½ combat missions.

During the 1972 Eastertide Offensive Arch flew Linebacker and strike missions. As a Stormy Forward Air Controller, he and Cisco, his aircraft commander, made 7 passes on a SA-2 site the North Vietnamese set up just south of the DMZ. A site across the border fired five missiles; they saw three. The fourth detonated just below their aircraft. Both engines caught fire and stuck in full afterburner. Flight controls failed crossing the beach and the nose pitched up. As the aircraft slowed to 450 knots, they both ejected and parasailed about 1 Km feet wet. NVA artillery shot at their rafts for half an hour until HH-53s from the 33 ARRS rescued them. After recuperating for 10 days, he returned to Stormy.

After Vietnam, he was assigned to 58 TTW at Luke AFB, teaching aircrews to operate the F4C. In 1975, he moved to Clark AB, Philippines in an operational test and evaluation unit – the 1st Test Squadron. In 1978 he served in the 4th TFW at Seymour-Johnson AFB, NC.

After 13 years in the cockpit, he accepted an overseas assignment as a US military-political affairs officer in Central America. Returning to CONUS in 1981 with three overseas tours, he finished his career as a staff officer in Air Defense Weapons Center at Tyndall AFB, FL. From concept to operational status, Arthur was responsible for three major range improvement programs – formation drone control, vector scoring and telemetry relay.

Before retiring in 1987, Major Arthur had earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism and another for extraordinary achievement, the Purple Heart, the Air Medal with 11 oak leaf clusters and other citations. He held aeronautical rating of Master Navigator and a Top Secret SBI clearance.

After retiring from the Air Force, Mr. Arthur accepted an executive position with LTV Aerospace and Defense – Missiles and Electronics Group/Sierra Research Division in Buffalo, NY. At Sierra, he was program manager and product line manager of avionics with full profit-loss, orders, sales and performance responsibility for $100 M in active US DoD, foreign military and commercial contracts. In 1999, he was promoted to director of business development, marketing wideband time space position information technology.

In 2004, Arch accepted early retirement and founded his own defense electronics firm. In December 2006, he moved from Buffalo to a rural town south of Birmingham.

(Unit patches pending)

OST-6 "Antimedia"
U.S. Navy 1968-1974

See all of Antimedia's Old War Dogs posts in one place here.

Antimedia served in SOSUS, which was secret but has now been declassified.  His entire service was shore-based - one year and three months in training, two years and nine months in Cape Hatteras, NC and two years in Newfoundland, Canada.

Antimedia also has a great blog of his own, Media Lies.

Sgt. Andrew, Martin
Royal Australian Air Force, 1977-2005

International Military Liaison Darwin
October 1999 – July 2000

RMAF Base Butterworth
July 1982 – November 1984

See all of Martin's Old War Dogs posts in one place here.

Martin Andrew is an Aussie ring in.  Best known for his GI Zhou Newsletter and his contributions to the Jamestown Foundation's China Brief he spent 28 years in the Royal Australian Air force rising to the rank of Sergeant.   A dedicated REMF or Pogue, postings during his career included Malaysia where he received an Australian Service Medal for liver abuse and getting married, and eleven and half years in the Northern Territory. The highlight of his career was being an International Military Liaison Officer from October 1999 to July 2000 in Darwin, during Australia's involvement in East Timor the first time.  He worked as a liaison officer with elements from various forces including the Jordanian Special Forces, South Korean Rangers, Irish Rangers, Canadian Defence Force and the Fijian Defence Force.

Martin holds a Masters Degree in Asian Studies and has been to Harvard University as a Research Affiliate on North Asia.  His contributions will be in the area of North Asia, modern weaponry notably infantry weapons ,and modern warfare.  He was trained in many small arms during soujourns to Fabrique Nationale and Heckler and Koch in the 1980s and travelled extensivelly around East Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei from 1991 to 2003 collecting much information about the region for his university research. 

He looks forward to contributing to the Old War Dogs but acknowledges he is a pup - he owns a half Staffordshire Terrier/half Australian Red Heeler who is his best friend and companion.

Martin Andrew has resigned from the Old War Dogs site effective 23 Nov 2006.

Gary is entitled to wear 3 Oak Leaf Clusters on his Air Medal, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze OLC on his Air Force Good Conduct Medal, 2 OLCs on his Army Good Conduct Medal, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze OLC on his Air Force Longevity Medal and 3 OLCs on his Outstanding Unit Award ribbon. The webmaster has so far been unable to locate suitable artwork.

SMSGT Adams, Gary ("Boomer")
U.S. Air Force 1956-1986

See all of Boomer's Old War Dogs posts in one place here.

Gary was born and raised in Ashland, Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Superior (some call it Gitcheegumee). He enlisted on June 12, 1956 upon graduation from high school.  Basic training was at Parks AFB, Pleasanton, CA and was one of the very last classes before the base was closed and all basic training moved to Lackland AFB, TX. 

Gary's first assignment was to be Itazuke AB, Japan.  He departed Oakland by ship (MSTS M.M. Patrick) and spent 17 days, three days in a typhoon, enroute to Yokohama, Japan.  At Tachikawa his assignment was changed to Kadena AB, Okinawa where he spent the next four years (Dec 56 - Dec 60).  While there he met his Miss Okinawa in 1958 in the Airman's Club. Gary comments: "It took three months of trying to get her attention before she finally spoke to me and three more to get her to go on a movie date". They were married on March 16, 1959 and have one son (48), one daughter (46), eight grandchildren and one great-granddaughter who lives with them.

Other assignments:  Fairchild AFB, Spokane, WA (Dec 60 - Sep 64), Pease AFB, Portsmouth, NH (Sep 64 - May 66), Ching Chuan Kang AB, Taichung, Taiwan (May 66 - Jun 67), Travis AFB, Fairfield, CA (Jun 67 - Dec 70), Grissom AFB, Peru, IN 9 (Dec 70 - May 72), a second tour at Kadena AB, Okinawa (May 72 - May 80) and finally Andersen AFB, Guam in May 1980 where SMSGT Adams assumed the position of his career as Chief Boomer, Pacific Tanker Task Force.  He retired on March 1, 1986.

Gary logged 212 combat support missions (800+ hours) in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam conflict.  Notable historical events he participated in:  Frequent Wind (the withdrawal from Vietnam) - flew 12 hour communication relay sorties on the last two days, 29 and 30 April 1975. He also participated in 8 of the 11 days in December 1972 during Linebacker II when the B-52's conducted an intensive 11 day bombing of North Vietnam.  An unforgettable 11 days it was.

After Gary retired he was hired by Pacific Stars & Stripes as the Guam Area Manager.  He held that position until he resigned in December 1989.  Gary is now 100% retired and stays home to take care of his many canine friends and play with his great-granddaughter who will someday be a pilot and take him for a space ride (she already loves airplanes).

Webmaster's note: This post may change as time goes on without being re-dated. I'm still looking for better pictures of some of the ribbons and badges, and the post will grow as we recruit more Old War Dogs.