Re: HMM 165 Deployment History in "69

Merlin,
Wish I could help, but I left in November of 1968. There are '165 members on board from 1969 and I'm sure they'll help. I remember Charlie Vesey very well, he flew gunner with me once or twice and was a genuine nice guy. RIP Charlie......

Re: HMM 165 Deployment History in "69

Joe Reed;31655 wrote: Merlin,
Wish I could help, but I left in November of 1968. There are '165 members on board from 1969 and I'm sure they'll help. I remember Charlie Vesey very well, he flew gunner with me once or twice and was a genuine nice guy. RIP Charlie......

Joe,

Actually, I think I flew gunner with 165 in '68. I was flying gunner with one or two squadrons before I started flying the "Sniffer" missions in '68 when I was with H&MS-16. I extended my tour on condition that I could transfer to HMM-165 for the duration of the extension because I liked the squadron and flying with you guys.

I remember Charlie well, because he was easy going and seemed to be a good guy, I was actually with him most of the day that he was killed in the rocket attack. I also remember that he was going through some personal problems and down because of these other issues.

Hopefully some of the other guys from the squadron will weigh in here and help refresh memories.

Did 165 fly 34's in '68? If not, do you remember which squadron did fly the 34's during the summer of '68. I flew some missions as gunner on the old recips back then, but once again, don't remeber which squadron it was.

Regards,

Merlin

Re: HMM 165 Deployment History in "69

165 was a good Squadron. If I could have extended again I would have gone to it. There was never a time I didn't know which Bird, and from which Squadron I was Flying with. I made sure I rememberwed it all even before I started Flying. The whole 20 months. Semper Fi, and READY-APP.

Re: HMM 165 Deployment History in "69

Hope this helps

http://hmm165whiteknights.com/history.htm

Re: HMM 165 Deployment History in "69

Did 165 fly 34's in '68? If not, do you remember which squadron did fly the 34's during the summer of '68. I flew some missions as gunner on the old recips back then, but once again, don't remeber which squadron it was.

Merlin,
HMM-165 hasn't flown '34s since 1964 or 65. THe '34 squadrons in RVN were both at Phu Bai,, at least for a time. They were: HMM-362 Ugly Angels and HMM-363 Lucky Red Lions. Both great squadrons, know folks from both and went to recip engine school with some of them....That's another story....
You could tell them apart pretty easily. The 363 birds had the red Lion on the front clamshell doors covering the engine and the "turtleback" behind the main rotor was painted red. THe 362 birds had the "ugly" face on the pylon and a "como" look turtleback.
Hope this helps.

Re: HMM 165 Deployment History in "69

[QUOTE=Joe Reed;31887]Merlin,
HMM-165 hasn't flown '34s since 1964 or 65. THe '34 squadrons in RVN were both at Phu Bai,, at least for a time. They were: HMM-362 Ugly Angels and HMM-363 Lucky Red Lions. Both great squadrons, know folks from both and went to recip engine school with some of them....That's another story....
You could tell them apart pretty easily. The 363 birds had the red Lion on the front clamshell doors covering the engine and the "turtleback" behind the main rotor was painted red. THe 362 birds had the "ugly" face on the pylon and a "como" look turtleback.QUOTE]

Joe,

Thanks for the info. I know I didn't fly with 362 or 363. Because their logo rings no bells at all.

I'm thinking maybe 163 because I remember those "evil eyes".

What confuses me is the info in my military records stating that I received my wings for flight service between Jul '68 and Dec '68 in HMM-165. Because, I definitely flew in 34's during that summer behind an M-60. And as you indicated in your previous reply, 165 didn't have 34s in '68.

Re: HMM 165 Deployment History in "69

Merlin, it took longer than we thought to get the wings. Semper Fi, and READY-APP.

Re: HMM 165 Deployment History in "69

Merlin,
You couldn't have flown with HMM-163 in mid 1968, I don't believe.The "Evil Eyes" were winding down in 1967 and left their birds when the squadron stood down and reactivated at Santa Ana with CH-46Fs in 1968. That is where I went when I returned to the states to finish my enlistment.

Re: HMM 165 Deployment History in "69

Joe Reed;31909 wrote: Merlin,
You couldn't have flown with HMM-163 in mid 1968, I don't believe.The "Evil Eyes" were winding down in 1967 and left their birds when the squadron stood down and reactivated at Santa Ana with CH-46Fs in 1968. That is where I went when I returned to the states to finish my enlistment.

Joe,

According to the Command Chronolgy report for HMM-163 in '68 from the Marine Corps Hsitory Division, 163 was flying missions out of MMAF through August of that year. August '68 was the last entry for VietNam service. However, there are no "After Action reports" listed beyond August of '67. I find that there are many gaps in squadron "After Action Reports" via this site listed below.

http://www.recordsofwar.com/vietnam/usmc/HMM-163.htm

Are there better sites to get this information?

The last entry was for

Re: HMM 165 Deployment History in "69

Merlin,
I was a couple of months off. KD Logue said, on another post, that they were there until Sept or so, either way you get the point. You could have flown with them during the summer. Remember the m-60's???

Re: HMM 165 Deployment History in "69

Joe,

Do you know where to find the 165 "After Action Reports" for '68?

The site that I referenced earlier....
http://www.recordsofwar.com/vietnam/usmc/HMM-163.htm
doesn't have any reports listed for '68 at all. I know that they must exist somewhere.

Re: HMM 165 Deployment History in "69

mclayton;31922 wrote: Joe,

Do you know where to find the 165 "After Action Reports" for '68?

The site that I referenced earlier....
http://www.recordsofwar.com/vietnam/usmc/HMM-163.htm
doesn't have any reports listed for '68 at all. I know that they must exist somewhere.

The stuff on that site and on the Texas Tech Virtual Vietnam Archive are from the records scanned by the History and Museums Division several years ago. The complete list is in a pdf file: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/1201/index.pdf . If the records you're looking for aren't on that list, they're gone. Several years ago the records (originals) were transferred to the National Archives.

Edit: I just checked the National Archives site and they have command chronologies for 165 through 1975 but only two after action reports, and those are for operations (Badger Hunt and Daring Endeavor). No crew reports.

Re: HMM 165 Deployment History in "69

Merlin,
I went on the Texas Tech site many moons ago and have most of my flights from all of 1968 even one or two as left seat on test hops, it was all there form 67-68-69.