My Grandfather's life as a SF member

Hi ATS, ive been a lurker on the site for a while but i have never posted before. I decided to post my grandfather's story about his life in order to honor him and his duty to my country. I dont know if this topic is appropriate for this forum, but i dont really know where else to post it, but i geuss you could call him a government project.

He server in the airforce as an airman for a few years, just working on planes in order to support his family. As the Vietnam war started he was recruited for a program that would disperse a certain chemical commonly known by the name of Agent Orange. It was some truely nasty stuff. His group, The Ranchhands, would dump this chemical across jungles in Vietnam to destroy vegetation to make troop movement easier and to destroy hiding places of the Vieatnamese troops they fought. After a while doing this, he was asked to take part in a special forces group, the name of which was never disclosed to me. My gradfather served 2 tours of duty as a SF oprative, and has only shared a few of his stories with me during the time he was alive.

I will now share with you a few of these stories, some of which contain graphic information and if you have a weak stomach you may not want to read them.

At some time in his duties, his unit was transporting a VC prisoner in a helicopter back to their base. Somehow this man had gotten a hold of a hand grenade, pulled the pin, and dropped it in the helicopter. My grandfather reacted by opening the door, then one of his fellow soldiers kicked the grenade out the door. My grandfather then grabbed the prisoner, and allowed him to follow his grenade out the door of the helicopter.

At another time he was in a bar with some of his mates, all the while keeping his eye on a VC officer who had drawn his pistol and begun firing it into the floor, air, and even at patrons. The Officer was very drunk and had not noticed them yet, but since they were off duty, they had taken no action towards him, although my grandfather said to a friend, "If that gun comes our way, im going to kill him.", apperently, the man then noticed the G.I.'s and began cursing at them in Vietnamese, and then he made the last mistake of his life, and pointed his weapon at my grandfather. He drew his .45 service Colt 1911, and fired one shot into the mans head, killing him instantly. He was soon arrested and spent a few months in prison until the U.S. government convinced them to release him.

He told me a few more stories that were rather disturbing, not graphic, but just things that the Vietnamese did to there own people. He told me that he didnt always agree with the war, but someone had to do something about the monsters that were running rampant in the country.

He was awarded 2 purple hearts, and a silver star for gallantry in combat.

My grandfather set a record for having the heaviest bench press for a man his age when he was 62. His record was 453 lbs.

He won multiple trophies for pistol shooting competitions, powerlifting and even racecar driving.

Above all else, he served his country, family, and he fought for the rights and freedoms of people he didnt even know. He is a hero in my eyes.

My grandfather died from cancer that was brought on by the handling of agent orange in 2005.

Rest in peace Papa, you will be missed.

I liked reading this.

Thanks for sharing.

Yes agreed this is a beautiful story well written.

Be sure and write it all down for your kids and grandkids to remember.

You were fortunate to have been so close to your Grandpa.

Thanks for sharing.

Much respect to your grandfather - sounds like he served with distnction and kept the mentality of an SF operative well into his later years.

You should be proud that you got to hear his stories - many veterans don't recount the stories to their family.

great stories,sounds like he was a great man,i love hearing these kind of stories...i have some i was told by my brother,who was in the army,my wifes grandpa,he was a marine,and a friend who was alo a marine,a sniper no less.....i just love hearing as many of these stories as i can....got any more?

reply to post by pureevil81


I do have a few more that i meant to put in my OP, but i ran out of room.

In one he told me about, his unit was trying to make their way through a small village that was supposedly full of VC, and they ended up getting in a firefight and his unit got pinned down in a pig pin. The enemy was firing on them from up above on a hill, and i believe this is when he earned one of his purple heart for being injured in combat. But the most startling thing he told me was that the enemy was using the old men, women, and children as a large human shield to keep what little fire was coming at them from hitting them. He told me that at that point he had to make the choice to either kill the old men, women, and children, or he wouldnt get to go home to his family. So he began firing back along with the survivers of his unit until the VC had retreated, which happend to be when they ran out of human shields. Obviously the whole thing was turned to make it look like the U.S. soldiers had gunned down a village of innocents, but his unit was forced to kill them or die themselves.

He never specified what exactly his missions were, but he told me about one where him and 3 others had to infiltrait an enemy base. When they got to the walls of the base, no one wanted to go over because they thought they would be heard/seen by a guard. So my grandfather left his M-16 behind with his unit, and hopped the fence with his K-BAR fighting knife. Soon after going in he saw a guard with his back turned to him, and cut his throat. He then had to signal to the rest of his men that is was all clear, so he cut off the gaurds head and threw it over the fence. A bit disgusting, but he was brave enough to put his life in danger so he could complete his mission.

And the last one i heard about was that a few VC had gotten into HIS base and killed a few G.I.'s in a barracks. They had killed most of them, but one had run into the ammo dump. He didnt want anyone shooting into the ammo dump, so him and a friend went in with their knives again. After a short search, they found the last guy, who then attacked them. Im not sure if it was my grandfather or the other man, but someone cut the bottom of the mans abdomen, which caused his intestines to fall out. Once again, his war stories were not pretty, but the times i experienced with him were nothing like the Vietnamese war. The first time i went hunting was with him, and that was probably the funnest thing i have ever done. Good times.

[edit on 18-6-2008 by gibbs1189]