Memorabilia
Seawolf Poems
Look God by Mike Schafernocker (The Delta Mauler) Mike Schaffernocker flew as a door gunner with the Seawolves in 1969. Keenly aware of his own mortality, he wrote this poem and titled it “Look God”. Look God, I have never spoken to you, But now I want to say, “How do you do”. You see, God, they told me you didn’t exist, And like a fool, I believed all this. Last night from a shell hole, I saw your sky. I figured right then, they had told me a lie. Had I taken time to see the things you made, …
The Last Flight of the Seawolves
by LT. Robert Engelman USN (Ret) The last days at Binh Thuy were used to prepare all the Hueys for transport via C-130 and C-141 to CONUS. We had to clean all the aircraft inside and out to insure they would pass Department of Agriculture inspection. This was to make sure all the bugs accumulating from the years of jungle living were dead and gone. Once all the aircraft were thoroughly cleaned and en route to CONUS, we could turn the lights out and go home. As one of the squadron maintenance officers, I was given this antiseptic detail. We …
Spotlight: USS Hunterdon County A PX For Combat Essentials
From “The Jackstaff News” July 15, 1970 Story by JO3 Donald Gaylien How would you respond if a helicopter landed on your roof and the pilot asked for six “nails”, six “proxies”, and a couple of “Wilson Picketts?” Sailors aboard the tank landing ship USS Hunterdon County (LST-838) supplied these specialties daily along with a formidable array of other weapons and materials to their customers on the Mekong Delta in the Republic of Vietnam. Some of their customers flew while others floated. “Nail,” “Proxie,” and “Wilson Pickett” are nicknames for the Fleshette, Proximity and White Phosphorus air to ground rockets …
Reds Find Navy Huey a Tough Old Bird
No Losses to Ground Fire Since December Story & Photo by SPEC. 4 Dan Evans S&S Staff Correspondent from Stars & Stripes, June 1970 CA MAU, Vietnam — Talk about helicopter gunships and most GI’s are likely to conjure up a vision of a sleek AH1G Cobra. But South Vietnamese soldiers and US Advisors in the Delta are apt to think of a lumbering UH1 “Huey” so loaded with guns and rockets that it can barely pull a respectable hover. Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron 3, the US Navy’s only helo attack squadron, flies the oldest gunships in Vietnam, but not …
Psy-Ops, SEAL/Seawolf Style
by Con Jaburg The following may, or may not be apocrypha, but happened during our first year of operations as a squadron, and I believe it. Maybe there is someone out there who can correct me as to the details, but here is the way it is supposed to have happened. As you all know, Dung Island, which is about 30 clicks long by 7 clicks at it’s widest point, is located at the mouth of the Bassac River. You also know that the Seawolves had an LST Det just upriver from the northwest end of the island. Well, the …