Heroes in Obscurity

A Vietnam Era Junior Officer’s Stories of Unsung Heroes and of Life on Small Navy Auxiliary Ships

by CDR James Duermeyer, USNR-Ret

A Merriam Press Original
Military Monograph 128

• First Edition (July 2011)
• 199 6 × 9 inch pages
• 38 photos
• Paperback (ISBN 978-1-257-80503-7) - #MM128-P —  $21.95
  
• Hardcover (ISBN 978-1-257-84905-5) - #MM128-H —  $36.95
• PDF (Adobe Acrobat) file sent by mail on a DVD data disk - #MM128-PDF — $9.99
• PDF file with immediate download after purchase available here.
• Booksellers: Will be available soon through Lightning Source (Ingram).

Foreword

“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” —Author unknown

There were 8.7 million of us. We came from every city, town, and village across the United States. We came in response to a call from our country. The call came in the involuntary form of a letter, or it came from the heart of the participant. But the results were the same. We naïve young men and women would answer the call to bear arms for our nation in its conflict with communism in the heretofore little known country of Vietnam.

When the millions stepped forward, none knew what was ahead as they entered their respective military careers. They entered various branches of the service, either voluntarily, or involuntarily. But the subsequent tasks assigned to them determined the degree of danger, hard work, and responsibility they would encounter. Many would be assigned to support positions. And many others would face the horrific, indescribable scenes of face-to-face combat with the enemy. More than one hundred fifty-three thousand would be wounded seriously enough to require hospitalization, and fifty-eight thousand one hundred and forty-eight would pay the ultimate price for their bravery and for that call from their country.

Every five years I attend my small high school class reunion. At each reunion the veterans are asked to come forward for a group photo. I am amazed at the number of veterans in my class. Vietnam veterans make up 9.7% of our generation. Yet, almost half of the hundred plus young men in my high school class served in the military during the Vietnam era, with a large percentage of them having served in the Vietnam Theater. I get a lump in my throat each time I go to that reunion, and I am extremely proud of each of them. To think they each gave up a minimum of two years of their lives to serve their country in a time of need, in an unpopular war, is amazing to me. All of these veteran classmates are unsung heroes to me, no matter where they served.

Of the thousands who came forward between 1964 and 1973 to serve in the Vietnam War, by far the toughest job was to be on the ground in Vietnam facing a strong, militaristically skilled, and smart enemy. The men in those positions never knew from one day to the next if they would live or die. Each of those men is a special American hero, deserving of our undying respect.

Many books have been written about the ground campaign in Vietnam. And there have been books about the “brown water Navy” serving in Vietnam. The bulk of the Vietnam books are about the “tip of the spear” operations—the units which were forward-deployed and met the enemy head on. In all branches of the military, these up-front units make the headlines, and, rightfully so, earn the most awards and recognition. I salute the accomplishments and bravery of these extraordinary groups of men and women. This book is most emphatically not meant to take away any of the huge sacrifice of the front line military.

But what about the thousands of men (and women) who volunteered, or were drafted, and did not serve in front line units? Although they did not meet the enemy head on, their jobs in support of the men on the front line deserve discussion and merit, and they are also deserving of credit equal to that given to front line units. These individuals served in a multitude of sometimes boring, mundane, unglorious jobs that were necessary to support the front line warriors. They may have served as a clerk at a desk, a driver, a mechanic, a barber, or a cook. They may have served as postal clerks, supply clerks, religious leaders, or fork lift operators. One of my friends spent his entire Vietnam era service playing the tuba in an Army band. I chuckle at that assignment, but at least he answered the call to arms. All branches of the military had such positions. My anecdotal stories narrate the contributions of a small group of unsung Navy men during the Vietnam era, and pay a small, well deserved tribute to these hard working sailors.

I heard it said once that of all the branches of the military, the Navy receives far less recognition than that accorded to the other branches, especially in the type of conflict being fought in the Middle East today. Assuming this to be true, the Navy continues its specialized business in the war effort without a great deal of fanfare.

In the “haze gray and underway” Navy, there are the forward-deployed combatant ships, such as the destroyers, cruisers, and aircraft carriers. But there is also a category of ships built specifically to provide support to units on the front line. In the Navy’s case, that front line could be on land, at sea, or in the air. These support ships provide services to any of those fronts, and to their forward-deployed brothers, the combatant ships of the line. These supporting ships, at least during the Vietnam era, were classified and called service ships, or auxiliary ships. But to the unsung heroes who served on them, they will always be referred to as “the working Navy!” Because of their mission and status, “Heroes in Obscurity” aptly describes the important roles these units played in the working Navy.

I had the pleasure of serving on three such U.S. Navy ships during the Vietnam War era. Two of these ships were based in Charleston, South Carolina, and the third ship, in which I saw duty in Vietnam, was based at Pearl Harbor. Many of my stories will relate to that third ship, the USS Ute (ATF-76), a fleet salvage tug, classified as an auxiliary ship, operating in and out of South Vietnam ports during the conflict.

For many years I have thought that my unglamorous Vietnam story and anecdotal adventures might warrant a written compilation. A relative advised me that I would need to make the book “sexy.” In other words, spice it up to make it more exciting. Not only is that not necessarily in my nature, but it is not the purpose of this book. There is no fighting or battles, nor is there any outwardly recognized glory in this book. My purpose is to relate some of my adventures (and some misadventures) while serving beside a small group of unsung Navy heroes onboard service ships during the Vietnam War, from my viewpoint as a lowly junior commissioned officer.

To aid in telling the stories from my perspective, the book begins with some personal background. I believe this section will reveal the human side of the thoughts and life-changing decisions that faced all young men in this time period. The stories of shipboard life follow the introduction. This is a group of stories of some unsung heroes, unceremoniously toiling aboard mostly unknown naval ships, doing unglamorous and extremely hard work in support of the “tip of the spear.” In the case of these Navy men, they volunteered to place themselves in harm’s way, answering the call from their country. These unsung heroes truly worked in obscurity.

I write this collection of anecdotes based on as much fact as I recall. I have taken some liberties in telling the stories to make them more interesting, readable, and a bit humorous. I have changed the names of characters in the stories, and the quotations used in the book are not exact. Quotes reflect incidents to the best of my memory and heighten continuity of the stories. And finally, the jokes interspersed throughout the book are from anonymous, unknown sources on the internet and are widely available in public domain. Among many good sources for Navy jokes, one is author Jeff Edwards’ web site, www.navythriller.com. The jokes I have used in my stories, and many other Navy jokes, are widely available at many sites on the internet.

I hope you will enjoy this collection of non-combat stories of life aboard the unglorious, yet hard working, Navy ships on which I served during the Vietnam era.