July 4, 2019

www.thermopir.com PAGE 9

Veterans reflect on time in Vietnam

by Mark Dykes
Independence Day is one of
several days throughout the
year where we have the time to
reflect on what it means to be an
American, the freedom we enjoy
and the soldiers who made that
freedom possible.
Jeff Strong enlisted in the
United States Air Force in Janu-
ary of 1971. The first three quar-
ters of the year, he said, were
various kinds of training at lo-
cations including Sheppard Air
Force Base, Brooks Airfield and
Lackland Air Force, undergoing
jet engine training and helicop-
ter training along with others.
His first duty station was at
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base
in Tucson.
“I worked on some aircraft,”
Strong said, as he was primarily
a jet engine mechanic, and was
then sent to Vietnam near the
end of 1972 and remained there
through most of 1973, returning
in December.
He was with the 40th Air
Rescue and Recovery Squad
(ARRS), flying what is common-
boat school and survival school.
In December of 1966 he went
to the Philadelphia Naval Ship-
yard for the recommission of the
USS Benewah, APB-35. From
there they went through the
Panama Canal, and pulled into
Vung Tau in February of 1967,
where they became the flagship
for the Commander Task Force
117, the Mobile Riverine Force
operating in the Mekong Delta.
“We had part of the Ninth In-
fantry Division with us,” Slocum
said, with the objective to trans-
port those troops down the river
where they offload them in the
jungle in the Delta. They also
provided fire support, and also
had members of the Air Force
and Navy SEALs. He noted the
Air Force was there to allow for
calling of air strikes when they
were needed.
Slocum received a field pro-
motion in ’67 from E4 to E5, and
was mount captain of Mount
41. “We went to general quar-
ters numerous times, day and
night. It seemed like Charlie
knew when we went to bed was
it in 1968. It was later deter-
mined to be serviceable, so ev-
erything was dismounted and
it was purposely sunk to create
an artificial reef off the coast of
the Philippines.
Slocum also spoke of his fam-
ily, of which there were six boys.
Two of his brothers joined the
Army and served in Berlin from
1960-63. His youngest brother
was also in the Army and died
in Vietnam in 1971.
Strong noted there were a lot
of things that happened in Viet-
nam that people did not hear
about, and the political stat-
ure of the war was imbalanced.
It was the first war where the
cameras were really there, he
said, and the popularity of the
war wasn’t great so much of the
content that came across on tele-
vision was slanted to the nega-
photo by Lara Love
tive side.
John Gerrells joined the Painted planters
Navy on the 180-day delay pro- Sunday at the Thermopolis VFW, these ladies were busy painting and decorat-
gram in May of his senior year, ing their planters shaped like trucks, campers and boots.
leaving for active duty on Sept.
3, 1968. He went to boot camp
in Camp Nimitz and then got or-

Culvert replacement set to start July 8

ly known as BUFFs, or the CH
53 “Super Jolly Green Giants”
lift transport helicopters which
could carry three jeeps and 75
troops. “We would sit out on the
perimeter of a fire fight that in-
volved aircraft heavies coming
in.” They would watch aircraft
come in and rescue pilots who
were shot down.
“I was on [recovery for], I
think, the first B-52 that got shot
down there,” Strong added. “And
that was a recovery mission.”
right after Taps at 10 o’clock.
They’d start firing at us, and
you’d just hear the rounds go-
ing over your head.”
About the third or fourth time
in GQ one night, he recalled
crawling into his gun mount on
the bow of the ship and seeing
his gun crew laying down. He
asked what they were doing and
they called out they were being
shot at. He told them to start
firing back, and if they were hit
he’d get someone else to take
ders to the USS Colonial, LSD-
18, and they left for a Western
Pacific cruise in April of ’69.
“We spent most of our time
transporting troops from Guam
— and their tanks and their
heavy equipment — to Vietnam.
We went up the coast of South
Korea and picked up a bunch
of Korean Marines, and took
them back to Vietnam.” That
cruise lasted until the follow-
ing January.
From there, Gerrells went to
Folks out in the Cottonwood Creek area will be
glad to know the water has receded enough now
that Hot Springs County Road and Bridge Direc-
tor Dave Schlager said work should start on re-
placing the culvert that failed last month.
The road near the “Y” has been closed several
weeks after a huge rainstorm undercut the culvert,
tearing it from the ground and tipping it on its end.
Schlager said the target date to start the work
is July 8.
He also indicated there are three more culverts
down the line where Sand Draw crosses Cotton-
wood that are in dire need of replacement as well
and they will be working up all the paperwork
needed to get that project started as soon as pos-
sible after the initial culvert is replaced.
As for the other culverts in the county, Schlager
said everything else looks to be in pretty good shape.

Have a family plan for Boysen Dam failure

After serving in Vietnam,
Strong was primarily stationed
at Beale Air Force Base in Yuba
County, California then went
to Guam to fly on B-52s back
to the U.S.
“The best thing I can say as far
as my tour of duty over there,”
Strong said, “is I was there to
save lives, not take them. I was
in a completely different atmo-
sphere than 99 percent of the
people that were over there, so
it made the outlook of the Viet-
nam War a lot different for me.”
He noted he was cussed at
and spit on when he returned,
and that it didn’t matter what
you did, if you were in uniform
“you got nailed.” He said, “I knew
what I did. I don’t regret it. Yes,
I would do it again.”
Strong was a sergeant when
he was discharged in January
of 1975.
Rod Slocum enlisted in the
United States Navy in 1965,
went to boot camp in San Diego,
Calif. and in August the same
year he was aboard the USS
Renville, APA-227. In March of
1966, they took 1,500 Marines
to Okinawa, then went along
the coast of Hong Kong, Japan
and the Phillippines and pulled
into Dong Tam, South Vietnam.
“That’s where I first encoun-
tered ‘Nam,” Slocum said.
In August of ’66 they were
headed back to the U.S. for de-
commission of the Renville. Slo-
cum learned five seamen had
been requested for river duty
in Vietnam and volunteered.
He got off his ship at Pearl Har-
bor and went back to the main-
land, attending school for three
months at Norfolk, Va., for coun-
terinsurgency, jungle warfare,
their positions — this included
his own. Following the attack,
he said, they fortunately found
none of the crew had been hit.
Another night, two V 40 rock-
ets hit the mess hall shortly af-
ter 10 p.m.; the hall had been
cleared out, so there were no
casualties.
“Our nickname was the
Brown Water Navy,” Slocum
said, which reflected the color
of the rivers he and his crew pa-
trolled. His tour of duty was up
in August of 1967, but he stayed
until August of 1968, spending
two years aboard the Benewah.
The ship was among the most
decorated in the Vietnam War,
receiving three Combat Action
Ribbons, four Presidential Unit
Citations, a Navy Unit Com-
mendation Ribbon, a Meritori-
ous Unit Commendation, a Na-
tional Defense Service Ribbon,
a Vietnam Service Medal with
14 Battle Stars, a Vietnam Gal-
lantry Cross with Palm, an RVN
Civil Action Honor Unit Citation
with Palm and a Vietnam Cam-
paign Ribbon.
In August of ’68 Slocum flew
back, coming in to Travis Air
Force Base, and was told it
would be a few weeks before
he got out, even though he only
had a week left. Instead, he flew
to Olathe Naval Air Station in
Kansas, about 125 miles from
his hometown.
Slocum received his dis-
charge in March of 1971, after
serving six years, at the rank of
E5, Second Class Petty Officer,
Gunner’s Mate. As for his ship,
Slocum noted the Benewah had
been hit twice — both times he
was off-ship — and it was hit
numerous times after he left
air conditioning and refrigera-
tion school for eight weeks, then
got on the USS Turner Joy, DD-
951, in April of 1970 and went on
another Western Pacific Cruise
in June that same year.
“What we did mostly there,
that being a Destroyer, is we
would go up and down the coast
— they called it the gun line —
and we would give support fire
to the Army and the Marines
wherever they needed it.”
Gerrells further added the
Turner Joy’s “claim to fame”
was being in the Tonkin Gulf
incident which sparked the U.S.
involvement in Vietnam. It also
gave the last support fire when
the war ended, “so it was pretty
much there for the duration.”
It is now a museum in Bremer-
ton, Wash.
Gerrells was discharged on
Sept. 3, 1972, a full four years
after enlisting. He noted he went
to school in Bridger, Mont. and
in his class there were only 12
boys and 12 girls. Of those boys,
six went into the military direct-
ly out of high school as the draft
was in full effect at that time.
“We were over there twice,”
Gerrells said. But, he doesn’t re-
gret his service and really feels
everyone should have to serve
some time in the military.
“The American public,”
Strong said, “not that they were
in favor of the war, but they
didn’t understand even what we
were doing there. And there was
such a political aspect, as it was,
that a lot of us that were there
didn’t understand why we were
there. We know we were told to
be there. We know we were told
to do a job, and we did it to the
best of our abilities.”
by Cindy Glasson
One of the most devastating
but least likely to happen di-
sasters in Hot Springs County
would be the catastrophic fail-
ure of Boysen Dam.
Completed in 1952, the 220-
foot tall earthen-filled dam
was built for flood control and
irrigation along with a 7,500
kilowatt hydroelectric power
generation plant.
Hot Springs County Emer-
gency Management gives Boy-
sen Dam a unique category in
the list of threats to our county
as the failure of the dam poses
the highest risk of widespread,
total carnage in the county.
No matter how slight the risk
of the dam actually failing, the
possibility of catastrophic fail-
ure makes it imperative to have
a community plan in place.
According to Emergency
Management Coordinator, Bill
Gordon, in the event of dam
failure, the water level in the
river in Thermopolis would be-
gin to rise an hour and fifteen
minutes after notification the
dam had failed.
An hour and a half later, the
water would be 71-feet deep at
the stoplight.
Red Lane, Lucerne and half
of Kirby will be under water.
The only option for those
along the river will be total
evacuation.
Our community, in essence,
will be gone. Utilities will cease
to operate. No groceries. No
water. No sewage. No power.
No cell service. No telephone.
No 9-1-1. No ambulance. No
hospital.
Fortunately for us, Gordon,
things is to make sure your ve-
hicle is ready to go, 24/7. Evac-
uation will be the only way to
survive, so your vehicle has to
be ready to hit the road out of
town within a few minutes.
Have a plan with your fam-
ily that includes the children.
If they are playing elsewhere
and they hear the hi-low siren
for a dam break, teach them
they need to come home im-
mediately. Its also a good idea
to check with your neighbors,
especially those who are el-
derly or may need assistance,
to see if they need help getting
out, too. Don’t forget your pets.
They will die if not evacuated
with you.
There are a couple of routes
that are recommended for evac-
uation – the highway to Cody
or the highway to Worland. The
waters will not reach Worland
until several hours later.
It isn’t going to be enough
to just drive to higher ground
away from the river. You will be
stranded there and there will
be neither shelter nor medi-
cal operations in Thermopolis
to help you.
Leave Hot Springs County
and don’t expect to come back
any time soon.
The school district is pre-
pared to evacuate students. Do
not go to the school to pick your
child up as you will just be hin-
dering evacuation plans. Make
sure you do have a location for
a parent and child reunion.
Ranchers should cut their
fences to allow livestock mul-
tiple opportunities for escape
to higher ground.
The aftermath of a dam fail-
ure will not be pretty.
Most of the town will be de-
stroyed. Vehicle travel in the
Wind River Canyon may take
months to reinstate. The rail-
road will be destroyed.
The lake and the river will
be very deep and toxic as well.
There will be nothing to re-
turn to for at least a month,
possibly forever.
Make sure you have a plan
in place now, even if you never
have to use it. Know where you
will go, how you will get there
and have everything settled
now rather than last minute.
So how will you know if
there’s a dam break?
Emergency Management
has a special siren sound that
will indicate just one thing –
dam failure. The sound is a
high-low siren which can be
heard online on the county’s
website.
You will also hear it through
your NOAA Weather Radio,
possibly the device that will
virtually be the quickest way
you can be notified. There will
also be a CodeRED message
sent out and an interruption
on television and radio.
Gordon has a test of the
specific siren for a dam break
planned this Saturday at noon.
Stop and listen to it so you will
know in the future what is hap-
pening. It is completely differ-
ent from the fire siren and tor-
nado siren.

Senior Center providing rides for veterans in coordination with other local
agencies, has created a plan to
save as many lives as possible
The Hot Springs County Se- in the state, and the rides are the senior center vehicles, and at in the event of a dam break,
nior Center is now available to free. Through the Highly Rural least two days notice is required. but it is up to each individual
provide rides for veterans to get Transportation Grants program To schedule a ride, contact the to create a plan as well.
to medical appointments. through Prairie Hills Transit, the center at 864-2151. One of the most important
Center Director Trenda Moore center receives reimbursement.
said the appointments must be Rides will be provided using

SAME-DAY DENTURE SERVICE

DENTURES............................ $395.-.$850.per denture
RELINES........................................... $300.per denture
CROWNS............................................ $930.per crown
IMPLANTS................................ $600-$2,600.per unit
Susan.J..Baker,.D.D.S.
933 Main St., Lander
(307).332-3434
2019 REQUESTS FOR FUNDS
We are currently accepting community Requests for
Funds. If you or your organization has an educational
project or need, please submit your request through the
Community Request for Funds tab on our website:
www.hotspringsendowment.org
Extended Deadline of July 10, 2019
If you have questions email: hotspringsendowment@gmail.com