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Abel Garcia

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After basic training, Abel Garcia was on his way to Fort Eustis with the MOS 67U. Had no idea what it was but it turned out to be helicopter mechanic and flight crew. While he was in training, he would hitchhike into Washington DC and it was on one of these trips that he wound up in a scene straight out of Forrest Gump. (7:02)

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Abel Garcia was in training at Fort Eustis when he was talked into going to a party. He was skeptical but he was promised beer so, hey. While there, his eyes fell on the prettiest girl he had ever seen. (4:37)

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While waiting to board the plane to Vietnam, the green soldiers were waiting in a theater where they were playing Woodstock. Out came the joints. Once he got there, Abel Garcia began his in country training where he saw a guy shoot himself in the foot to avoid combat. Then he had his first guard duty, overnight in the monsoon rain. (6:36)

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When he first got to his unit in Vietnam, he was asked, Cherry Boy! You a juicer or a head? Abel Garcia replied a juicer, I guess. So his billet was with the beer drinkers. His job was maintaining the Hueys and flying as a crew member. On missions, he tried not to think about what a big target that chopper was. (5:50)

Dee Friesen

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His first mission in Vietnam was flying cover for C-123s spraying Agent Orange. Dee Friesen recalls how there was no regard given for the potential danger. Eventually, he was flying operations in Cambodia, including an improvised stint as a Forward Air Controller. (7:12)

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Sky Spot was a terrible mission no one wanted. You flew at night in bad weather dropping ordnance from fifteen thousand feet. Dee Friesen didn't care for that but he felt that the other missions he was flying were making a difference in the war. An atmospheric physicist by training, he made a study of the volatile weather in Vietnam. (5:41)

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Four of his fellow pilots were shot down while Dee Friesen was serving in Vietnam. It seemed almost random, who would be killed because you took this mission instead of that mission? (2:32)

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Each unit had a civic action officer and projects they worked on in the Vietnamese community. Dee Friesen did work at a Catholic school as well as raising money for an orphanage. (7:28)

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Dee Friesen relates a funny story about one of the officers in his unit at Bien Hoa that had to do with painting some barracks. His roommate there was Dwight Kelly, who would sometimes fly missions with him. (3:29)

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Dee Friesen's tour of Vietnam was cut short. It was late in the war and the US was winding down operations. When he got to the airport in San Francisco, he was subjected to the usual harassment from anti-war protestors. (5:03)