Ze565

Ze565. I like this picture, it shown my grandson Dylan in front of a picture with young boys playing with toy air craft; this is in the Army Museum at the Ft. Derussy Beach Park. That is exactly the same thing Dylan is doing when he plays.

Ze563

Ze563. This picture is from one of my 1966 picture albums. I believe it was a Continental Airline Military Charter Flight and it stopped here in Honolulu on my way to Viet Nam via the Philippines. I just came from the 6th Fleet and participated in the Santa Domingo Conflict in 1965 and helped raise the H-Bomb that dropped in the Mediterranean Sea after a B-52 and refueling plane collided in 1965. The Viet Nam had started 1965 for real with the first combat units landed there in 1965 and I volunteered and that tour was 2 years and 9 month.

Ze562

Ze562. This 105mm Howitzer M3 stands in front of the Army Museum in Fort Derussy Beach Park.

Ze561

Ze561. My Grandson Dylan and my son in Law Keun are looking at a 105mm howitzer at the Army Museum in Ft. Derussy. This picture is very symbolic to me because I came from a divided country that is now united again. My grandson Dylan who is of Viet Namese ethnicity and that country is united again also, although under a communist regime. Keu is a son of a Korean-American family and his country is not united yet!

Ze559

Ze559. This is, then, First Lt. James N. Rowe (Nick) he was the author of the book Five Years to Freedom. His book fascinated me because I was going into that south end of South Viet Nam, the Mekong Delta to advise the South Viet Nam Brown Water Navy as a diver. I did serve my 3rd tour in Viet Nam, between June 1972 and March 1973. He witnessed much of the story of Capt. Versace, because they were took POWs together. He was able to escape, read that dramatic story in his book. After I retired from the Navy in 1991, 30 years plus, I settled in the Philippines and during my time there now Col. Nick Rowe was assassinated in the Philippines as an Advisor there by Filipino communist guerrillas. Read his biography here, click here, or copy and paste this URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_N._Rowe

Ze558

Ze558. Five Years to Freedom is a book about US POWs in Viet Cong hands, between 1963 to 1968 in the U-Minh Forest, the greater Ca Mau area, in the south end of South Viet Nam. After my 2nd tour in Viet Nam in 1971 I volunteered for the Navy’s Long Range Advisor Program for Viet Nam and underwent 35 weeks of Viet Namese intensive language training (I was first in the class of 40). This book just had come out and I studied is intensely. I had operated in that area before and was expected to serve there again. This is one URL for that book, click here, or copy and paste it: https://www.amazon.com/Five-Years-Freedom-Story-Vietnam/dp/0345314603

Ze557

Ze557.This is Capt. Humbert R. Versace, he was born in Hawaii. This picture came from this Wikipedia webpage; click here, or copy and paste this URL:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humbert_Roque_Versace

Ze556

Ze556. On the 2nd floor of the Army Museum in Fort Derussy in Waikiki is a large room with many stories displayed of U.S Service Men receiving the Medal of Honor. I glanced at one name and I recognized it immediately and it awoke deep memories of our service in Viet Nam. He was kept as a POW of the Viet Cong and was executed by them on the 26 Sep. 1965 in the U-Minh Forest near Ca Mau, the south end of South Viet Nam. I operated in this area with a Mike 8 type salvage boat in 1971 as a Salvor. This was my 2nd tour in Viet Nam; half of my crew was US and the other half Viet-Namese. Read his story, he was a hero.

Ze555

Ze555. The Google Earth Image with the location of the Army Museum in Fort Derussy in Waikiki.

Ze554

Ze554. The Army Museum in Fort Derussy in Waikiki is housed in the former Battery Randolph with 14 Inch and 6 Inch guns. This is the way it looked then. The guns were scrapped after the war and the 6 Inch Battery was demolished. I have visited the former batteries on the Manila Bay forts many times so this picture made me feel at home.