Vietnam vets share memories at Luke

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Stephen Delgado
  • 56th Fighter Wing Pulic Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Luke Air Force Base was graced Oct. 9 by the visit of nearly 170 Air Force veterans from the Vietnam War. They visited Luke Air Force Base and the Phoenix area as part of their 15th annual reunion Oct. 7 through 11. These veterans are part of the Vietnam Security Police Association, a group of veterans who served in Vietnam or Thailand between July 1, 1958, and May 15, 1975.

They came to Luke to share memories, renew old friendships and to honor the 111 security policeman who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. However, a profound part of their time spent at Luke was to see how their experiences all those years ago in a distant land gave birth to the modern and efficient Air Force Security Forces of today.

Their day was packed with a plethora of events including a spontaneous protection enabling accelerated response demonstration, K-9 demonstration, lunch and a CrossFit demonstration.
 
Hector Ramos, vice president of VSPA, spent 1969 at Binh Thuy Air Base, Vietnam.

"We were static security forces trained to defend and secure the perimeter of the base," he said. "I feel one of the primary lessons from Vietnam is that it provided the impetus for future security forces. We realized at that time that we needed more and better training. We did the best with what we had, and I am proud to say that no base in Vietnam was overrun by the enemy."

Mr. Ramos said that the Tet Offensive in 1968 helped to convince commanders that additional training was needed.
 
Steve Gattis, president of VSPA from 2002 to 2008 spent the first part of 1968 in Korea during the USS Pueblo incident and then it was on to Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam, for the rest of the year. It was much different in those days.

"We never had enough people ," he said. "We went in as replacements instead of as a unit, which hurt unit cohesiveness and camaraderie. Also, training was inadequate and we were always scrounging for ammunitions and radios. Today's training is outstanding."
 
However, Mr. Gattis said that an important mission of his group is to preserve history.
 
"We want to preserve our history in Thailand and Vietnam," he said. "One of our purposes is not to forget the hard lessons learned. We want to get the truth out as to what happened. There wasn't a lot of documentation during that time."

What's more, part of the VSPA are veterans who were members of the 56th Security Police Squadron, Nakhon Phanom, Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, which is an ancestor to the 56th Security Forces Squadron at Luke. 

May 13, 1975 is remembered as a dark day in 56th SPS history. They lost 18 members of their squadron in a helicopter crash. They were part of the SS Mayaguez Rescue Operation, which is considered by historians to be the last battle of America's involvement in Vietnam. The SS Mayaguez was a U.S. merchant ship sailing from Hong Kong to Sattahip, Thailand. It was seized by the Khmer Rouge Navy.

After negotiations failed, President Gerald Ford decided to launch a rescue operation, which resulted in the loss of 41 deaths of American military personnel, 44 wounded and three missing in action. The Khmer Rouge did release the Mayaguez and its crew.
 
Current VSPA president, Newell Swartz, said he also took great pride in the fact that no base in Vietnam was ever captured by the enemy. He said he very proud of the members of his group's successes in life. 

"Many of our members had successful military and law enforcement careers," he said. 

Maj. Michael Borders, 56th Security Forces Squadron Commander said he was proud to have this group of veterans visit the base. 

"This group is our history," he said. "They enable us to do what we do today."