Maj Stephen V Pless MOH was a helo pilot. He was assigned to 1st Anglico in April 1966 at Kaneohe, Hawaii. In August 1966 he was assigned as OIC ROK detachment and later Brigade Air Officer 1st Anglican Sub Unit 1 Korean M.C. at Chu Lai, Vietnam.

Thanks Jack,

I think I may have a photo of him, but never met him myself. Would you recognize him? If so, I'll post it and see if you can verify.

Sorry I missed your post way back, too busy maintaining two ANGLICO websites. Any information is appreciated and will be posted on the ANGLICO forum, including your info below. His story found a place in Tom Petri's recent book "Lightning from the Sky, Thunder from the Sea", along with stories about some of the heroic helicopter pilots who came to the rescue of the ROK Marines.

Semper Fi,

Vance

Jack Ubel;23006 wrote: Maj Stephen V Pless MOH was a helo pilot. He was assigned to 1st Anglico in April 1966 at Kaneohe, Hawaii. In August 1966 he was assigned as OIC ROK detachment and later Brigade Air Officer 1st Anglican Sub Unit 1 Korean M.C. at Chu Lai, Vietnam.

I can identify him as well as many others on this sight. Post the picture. There should also be pictures on this sight.

Maj Pless

Jack Ubel;25103 wrote: I can identify him as well as many others on this sight. Post the picture. There should also be pictures on this sight.

Don't know if this is him, Jack. Please let me know. I don't know why this sticks in my head after 40 years, but seems like it might be him.

Also, if you ever hung around any of the ANGLICO AO's or their Korean Marine sidekicks, you might recognize one of these:

Go to the popasmoke.com homepage. On the left side find Vietnam war photos. Under that find Pless crew. You will find a good picture of Steve Pless and his citation. I couldn't get your photos to come up.

pics not visible

Jack Ubel;25134 wrote: Go to the popasmoke.com homepage. On the left side find Vietnam war photos. Under that find Pless crew. You will find a good picture of Steve Pless and his citation. I couldn't get your photos to come up.

Sorry about that Jack. I checked, and both my photo albums are "public" and not "private" so the images should be accessible. Also I experimented with html code instead of BBCode and that didn't work at all.

Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!!!

2010 is the Year of the Tiger!

Semper Fi

Re: Any ANGLICO officers

Vance,
You may want to check Colonel Kermit W. Andrus' records and history. Prior to taking HMH-361 to Vietnam in 1969 he was CO, 2nd ANGLICO at Camp LeJeune. Records that I found state he was CO at Lejeune in 1967.

I kept his log book as 361's Ops clerk and remember asking our Operations Officer what ANGLICO was when Andy took command of our squadron. I got a very pointed lesson from Major Martin E. (Gene) Salter what ANGLICO was and what it meant to be associated with them. Don't recall many helicopter pilots being involved, but "Andy" is top notch.

Re: Any ANGLICO officers

Nothing Andy Andrus did would surprise me. He was my C.O. in HMM-365 in New River in 1966 as a Major and was selected for Lt. Col there in 1967. Hell of a Marine and a Commander! Certainly, ANGLICO was better for having him the short time that they did! During 1966 he commanded a UH-34D squadron that transitioned in to CH-46Ds in 1967, got promoted, then moved to ANGLICO, must have been 1968, then moved in 1969 to a CH-53 squadron and led them into combat....Lots of personal changes in there as well as command duties!!! A/C transitioning isn't the easiest thing and he did it three times, changed his command of units three times including changing of bases and his bosses three times all in UNDER three years!!! Damn, he would've been a GREAT CMC!!!

Re: Any ANGLICO officers

Reported in to 2nd ANGLICO [ Courthouse Bay, Camp LeJeune] as a Captain-select in Jan '68 [ I flew with '263- H-34's in country]. CO of ANGLICO was LtCol Bert McCauley [ HMM-263 S-3 before] XO was a Maj Brown [ fixed wing type]. Assigned to 2nd Platoon then at Gitmo [lovely place] attached to Gitmo base defense. Platoon commander was Capt Simon "Smokey" Stover [ H-34/H-46 pilot], Artillery officer was 1st Lt Gene Darling [LDO promoted from Staff NCO rank]. Naval gunfire was an Ens Gary forgot the last name. I was lucky enough to be the Base Defense Duty Officer Easter Sunday '68 when 22 Cubans decided to make a freedom break and climb over the fence. Since one was a former Cuban soldier, he was shooting it out with Cuban security trying to keep them from leaving. No combat pay for ducking rounds at Gitmo and we were not allowed to shoot. Bill Lindsey [ H-46] was in one of the other platoons. On return from Gitmo [ May '68], a Maj. Mavretic [ F-4's] had joined as S-3. May have other names when the old brain cells spool up. And yes, Col. McCauley went to jump school but I declined.

Re: Any ANGLICO officers

Joe, glad you were able to be in the units there. Maj. Mavretic was in F-8's in Danang, MAG-11, then we gave our F-8's to the carriers. Then got a Squadron of F-8'c Combat ready, and gave them to the Navy. Most then were sent back to in-country. I believe the Maj. then went F-4's to where you were. I did know him, as I strapped him in countless times in our F-8's. Has to be the same Maj. Mavretic, but there also could have been another one. I believe its the same one though that was in VMF(AW)235 at Danang,'68. Very good Pilot. Semper Fi, and READY-APP.