Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
6:26 | There were two parallel conflicts in Central America while Hank Cramer was serving with Special Forces in the area. The Sandanistas were fighting the Contras in Nicaragua and Manuel Noriega was running Panama like Al Capone.
Keywords : Hank Cramer Special Forces (SF) Signal Corps Communist guerrillas Sandinista National Liberation Front Anastasio Somoza Debayle Nicaragua Cuba Soviet Union West Point Harry Cramer Honduras Contras El Salvador Manuel Noriega Panama Congress Central America
His father was West Point, class of 1946. Wounded twice in Korea and a Silver Star recipient. Then he became a member of a new organization, the Special Forces. Hank Cramer would follow him into Special Forces but first, some history on how that first group of elite soldiers wound up in Southeast Asia in the 1950s.
The first place the newly organized Special Forces made waves was down in Louisiana during Sagebrush, a giant training exercise involving over 100,000 troops and half the state. Hank Cramer tells the story of how their operations completely disrupted the exercise and the price they paid for their effectiveness.
Hank Cramer fought for years to bring recognition to his father's death in Vietnam in 1957 and to have his name added to The Wall. Harry Cramer was a member of the very first Special Forces unit and he died while training anti-Communist refugees from the North. The DOD had stonewalled him at every turn but he persisted. Part 1 of 2.
Hank Cramer had a lot of help on his quest to get his father's name added to The Wall. An investigative reporter, some high ranking staff officers and a Congressman who happened to be the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee all played a part. Part 2 of 2.
When 9/11 happened, Hank Cramer was out of the Army because of a Reduction In Force, a RIF. A sergeant on the phone talked him out of immediately heading to Fort Lewis. He was still in the Reserve and wanted to do something. He finally got his chance as a contractor in Afghanistan.
Hank Cramer had grown up with only a memory of his father. He wanted to be in Special Forces like him but the Army put him in the Signal Corps. He did manage to get to Airborne School and he kept applying for Special Forces, always hoping. Finally, he got the call. It was the First Special Forces Group, the same unit as his father.
Five years was all the Signal Corps would let Hank Cramer stay in Special Forces and he was in the field nearly the entire time. There was no war, but countries everywhere were asking for help. All over Southeast Asia and then on to Central America where no one got along.
What is one sign of a Special Forces success? The lack of a war. If war does break out, they are likely already there. Hank Cramer's father was a member of the very first Special Forces unit and their motto was Everywhere Yet Nowhere.
