Chapter 222
8/23/2009
Ch 222 Spearing the Wild Boar
we're gonna eat tonight
(read narrative first)
This story is being reluctantly told. Camp neighbor Warren Fay really didn't want it. "I'm no hero!", he says. I still don't quite understand why people are like that so I go ahead anyway. Hopefully I can share some to the foggy details without offending any sensitivities. The video gives only a brief sound bite of his 67 years experiences, but in his own words.
The Navy showed him a lot of the world in his 6 year tour '59-'66 as a jet mechanic. Early on there was survival training while stationed at Jacksonville Naval Air Station (NAS), Florida. Their 6 man team was dropped near the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia and had to survive for two TWO weeks- no tents- no food... Best to hear the description in the video. The live web cam tune-in broadcast, from 2 years back had fizzled.
Was assigned plane captain for the F-80 Stooting Star while at NAS Cecil Field, Jacksonville where John McCain also trained (video). He did pre-flight check out of the mechanicals for the pilot of the first jet fighter developed for the US during WW 2. Flew on occasion in the rear seat of the T-33 trainer version once used by Cuba to shoot down CIA sponsored aircraft during the Bay of Pigs incident.
Served various tours on the USS Wasp aircraft carrier ,but not when it had special duty personnel for picking up astronauts and nose cone capsules during the Gemini and Mercury flights. His tours included the Mediterranean and Caribbean and was at Guantanamo during the Cuban missile crisis. Assigned to the flight deck cable arrestor crew that grabbed tail hooks of landing aircraft.
At the end of his Naval commitment, late '64-'65-early '66, Warren was suddenly and oddly shuttling back and forth between Rome and Vietnam. Alternating temporary duty three months in the Mediterranean then 3 months back in Nam at various locations. Service prior to July 3, 1965 was considered part of the Expeditionary Forces. Warren actually preceded the official beginning of the emerging swift boat program. These were the bigger cousins of the PBR , dramatically portrayed with Martin Sheen going up river in "Apocalypse Now". Swift boats had twin 480 HP diesel engines, shallow draft, and light metal hulls designated as Patrol Craft Fast or PCF boats.
They were used to go up the shallow riverine systems for a variety of tasks like taking supplies to Green Beret operations, and looking out for the enemy. Some missions were secretive. "Don't ask, Don't tell" was a policy that had different connotations than it does today. On one fateful mission Warren had his arm around a good buddy goofing around when automatic weapon fire suddenly opened up from the shoreline. That fatally wounded his buddy PJ and also killed PJ's brother. One had taken a permanent transfer so they could serve together. Shortly thereafter, the Navy asked Warren if he wanted to re-up, but he declined. Discharge thru Naval Air Station Quonset Point, RI.
Like the proverbial box of chocolates, you just never know what kind of stories your are going to get around the campfire at the lake.
Swifts were equipped with the Raytheon 1900ND radar & Raytheon DE176A Fathometer.
My research yielded a wide array of other interesting historical aspects of swift boats