Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:26 | Armand Chapeau recalls the time that his unit went water skiing and put the fear of God in the Vietnamese fishermen. He also explains why they wouldn't change the oil in their engines.
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As soon as he went from reserve to active status in the Coast Guard, Armand Chapeau found himself in the Cold War. Deployed during the Berlin Wall crisis and the Cuban blockade, he then began intense training for Vietnam.
Nearly lost in transit with many Army troops to Vietnam, Armand Chapeau and his small Coast Guard contingent finally made it to Da Nang where his ship, the Point Ellis was based. Search and interdiction was the mission.
Patrolling the coast near Da Nang, Armand Chapeau was hit with small arms fire while at the helm. Told he would never walk again, he said, “No, I don’t think so,” and got up and walked down the hospital corridor.
If it had not been for a police line, wounded veteran Armand Chapeau would have been showered with blood and worse by protestors when he disembarked in California. Undeterred by them or his injury, he returned to active duty.
Armand Chapeau had a scare when his Coast Guard unit broke off pursuit of a Vietnamese junk. They decided to practice with the grenades they had armed, and were alarmed when not one fuse worked.
As Executive Officer, Armand Chapeau had to do what was needed, including delivering two babies. The lack of fresh fruit and vegetables was getting to him, though, and when he got leave in Hawaii, he hit a grocery store and had a feast.
Upset that the politicians “gave it away” after the troops had “won the war twice,” Armand Chapeau still had a long satisfying Coast Guard career after his return from Vietnam.
