http://www.theplace4moms.com/carrier-navy/
After four decades, a true Welcome Home
Castle Rock, CO – 8/8/2009
The Douglas County Colorado County Fair Parade was held on Saturday morning beginning at 10 AM. Several thousand people turned out for this annual affair, lining the streets of downtown Castle Rock to watch the entries and floats go by. I had the opportunity to march in the parade with the American Legion. I held the United States Navy flag, as I have in the past. We military veterans marched through the streets and the crowd applauded. Many young families on the route would hold their hands over their hearts. Shouts of “Thank You” could be heard all along the parade route. As a Vietnam Veteran, this never ceases to have an emotional effect on me. This year during our march, however, my mind raced back over 40 years to another time and place.
On June 28, 1968, the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk steamed slowly into San Diego bay on a quiet morning with overcast skies. As is the Navy tradition, I was standing at parade rest on the edge of the ship with my fellow sailors as we “manned the rail” to enter port. I had done this many times in my Navy career. We had been gone the greater part of a year, serving in combat operations for the Vietnam War. A number of our crew had lost their lives fighting the communist forces of North Vietnam.
Usually, a carrier’s return from a cruise is a huge festive occasion. With a crew of about 5,000, that is a whole lot of family reunion with hugs and kisses. There are usually lots of ships and small boats in the harbor to greet us, with horns blasting, people waving, and shouts of greeting and recognition.
Not this time.
It was quite eery to man the rail this time. I kept thinking “Where are the boats?”. I could hear the waves as they hit the ship but it was deathly quiet. Finally, through the mist, I could see one small boat approach our ship. The ocean was moderately choppy and the boat was tossed about as it approached. The boat held an older, retired couple with the wife operating the boat controls and her husband standing precariously on the bow. He was holding up a handmade sign that had two words written on it.
“Welcome Home”.
The boat cut its throttle as we passed and we sailors looked down at this tired, old man holding up the sign. Nobody said anything as we steamed slowly past.
This had been a momentous cruise for the Kitty Hawk. We were in hot offensive operations for months at a time. My work schedule was 18 hours on, 6 off for a period of 67 straight days during one stretch. In January of 1968, the enemy launched the Tet offensive which created great havoc for months. On January 23, 1968 the USS Pueblo was captured by the North Korean communists and our two sister carriers on Yankee Station rushed up to Korea, leaving the Kitty Hawk to go it alone in the Tonkin gulf. Daily we would send “Alpha Strikes” of a hundred or so aircraft at a coordinated target and not all would return.
When we got finally got relieved by another carrier, we were allowed to return to our home port in San Diego and were greeted by this strange sight of quiet and stillness. When we finally disembarked, I found out why. Because of violent, angry anti-war protests, the navy base had been put on lock down for our return. There was no crowd, no cheering, no noise. We silently left the ship and I got on a bus to the airport. As required, I was in Navy whites. When I got off the bus with my fellow sailors, there were young college age kids holding signs protesting everything we had done for the past year in Vietnam.
The signs said we were evil. We were predatory. We were killers of innocent civilians. As we got off the bus to enter the terminal, one young woman made eye contact with me and raised her voice a few decibels in derision. I at first ignored her, but as she “got in my face” I decided to speak back to her. She didn’t have any personal knowledge of what we had been through. Had never been there. Only knew what she saw on television. She tried to spit in my face but hit my arm instead. I went into the terminal and got in line to go home. This was my Welcome Home that day in 1968.
After a few weeks leave and two months of shore duty, I deployed overseas again, this time on a Mediterranean Cruise on a different carrier. That December of 1968, in the waning days of his presidency, President Lyndon Johnson signed a Presidential Unit Citation (“PUC”) for the Kitty Hawk and her crew from his hospital bed in Bethesda Naval Hospital. It would be formally awarded in January. I heard about it some time later, while overseas.
The Presidential Unit Citation, originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the Armed Forces of the United States and allies for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy. The degree of heroism required is the same as that which would warrant award of the Distinguished Service Cross, Air Force Cross or Navy Cross to an individual.
When I finally got a copy of the PUC, I read the details. “9 Jan 1969: The Presidential Unit Citation, covering 23 Dec 1967–1 Jun 1968, was awarded to the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk and CVW-11 for their exceptional performance during the fierce fighting of the enemy’s Tet Offensive, in part noting that they “succeeded in inflicting extensive damage and destruction to sites and installations vital to the enemy’s operations.” Admiral Hyland noted during the award ceremony: “The ship is recognized in professional circles as having been on Yankee Station during the toughest part of the war and against the most heavily defended area in the world.” Kitty Hawk launched 185 major strikes, 150 of them against northern North Vietnam, hitting the Hanoi and Haiphong areas 65 times. Due to fluid enemy tactics additional emphasis was placed upon “lucrative targets of a fleeting nature.”
The Kitty Hawk was the first carrier ever to receive the PUC.
By the time I returned home from the Mediterranean, I was ready to leave the Navy and go to college. I had done three cruises, with the first two to Vietnam. I applied to college while overseas and was admitted to a college close to my permanent duty station. In 1970, I left the Navy and began my civilian life. Like so many fellow veterans, I didn’t talk about my Navy days except to other veterans. I only began to talk about and publicly demonstrate my Navy career when the first Gulf War began under President Bush 41. The decades from that June day in 1968 had brought a lot of wisdom, kindness and understanding to our national psyche and I have been treated with dignity and respect ever since.
Now, to walk in the Douglas County parade, holding our flag high and be greeted with cheers and shouts by thousands of Americans is one of the great thrills and honors of my life. I am so proud to be an American, to have served my country, to have done my share. But in midst of it all, I still see that old tired man balancing on the small boat holding up his handmade sign.
Welcome Home.
About the Author
Mike Robinson is a veteran of the U.S. Navy. He is an attorney at law and is Senior Partner at the Castle Rock, CO law firm of Robinson & Henry P.C.
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