Gerald Maclennon's Blog - Posts Tagged "aviation"
Bloody Sixteen, a book by CDR Peter Fey, USN-retired
Bloody Sixteen: The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 during the Vietnam War
The "Bloody Sixteenth" was my air wing (CVW-16) onboard the carrier USS Oriskany. My squadron was VFP-63 or Photo Reconnaissance Squadron-63. Now, thanks to retired naval aviator, Commander Peter Fey, I have a totally new understanding of that of which I was a part... and a newfound respect for the officers and pilots I rubbed shoulders with on a daily basis. I had no idea Operation Rolling Thunder and CVW-16 on CVA-34 were so historically significant - maybe no one at the time actually did. Maybe 50 years had to expire before military historians, such as Fey, could look back and see the big picture without the 'fog of war' obstructing the view.
Fey recalls that many of the pilots, same as many of the enlisted ranks, didn't talk much to others about their Vietnam experience once they rejoined civilian life. Older Americans of the mid-twentieth-century -- those that had hailed victories in Europe and the Western Pacific during World War II -- did not want to admit our nation could be defeated anywhere on the world stage.. but it was. To his credit author Peter Fey is quick to point out that our losses in Vietnam were due to no weakness of the men and women fighting the war; their strength and resolve remained true to the bitter end.
I thank you, Mister Fey, sir, for allowing me a privileged seat today on the tower of history. Up here, I can better see the entire sprawling vista. Because of Bloody Sixteen this old guy, who was a 20-year-old Petty Officer 3rd Class in 1967, has been allowed an eagle's eye view to events that influenced my entire life after Vietnam; and greatly influenced our nation's future decisions based on what we learned in the Vietnam War.
I think I first heard this bromide in a Filipino bar while chugging San Miguel beers with a shipmate... it goes like this: "The old war veterans talk about the glory of it. The politicians talk about the necessity of it. But, the soldiers and sailors living it... they just want to go home."
At 72, I now qualify as an old veteran but I still see very little glory in that war. I kept a daily diary throughout my 1967-68 cruise to Yankee Station, Gulf of Tonkin because I wanted to remember not only the glory... but all the disappointments too. And there's even more of that than I thought. Peter Fey details the sloppy mismanagement of the war by high-level military leaders; even more so by US President Lyndon Johnson, Secretary McNamara and the other "whiz kids" left over from JFK's administration. They met every Tuesday noon for lunch at the White House where strategy and targets were determined for the upcoming week without any Pentagon officers present. LBJ wanted to run the war without generals and admirals getting in the way.
Primary focus of Bloody Sixteen is on Commissioned Flight Officers of the US Navy, an elite brotherhood of aviation professionals. The book is a tactical analysis of their missions in the Vietnam War, individually and overall. The non-commissioned and enlisted men are generally relegated to their subservient status. As for the North Vietnamese, during the three years of Operation Rolling Thunder, it is estimated non-combatants (men, women, children) were killed at a rate of 1,000 per month. These human beings, mostly farmers, were generally seen as statistical consequences of war - 'collateral damage' in military parlance. To me that seems coldhearted. But then again, war is not about hugs and warm fuzzies.
In this story, passion, empathy, sympathy and tugs of the heart are reserved for naval aviators, their missions, their downings by AAA or SAM's, their status as KIA, MIA or POW and their US Naval Aviation legacies. If that's what you want in a book, then this is the book you want. Better than any video game, kids, this is war in the raw.
Bloody Sixteen is destined to become one of the best military histories of the Vietnam War. I wholeheartedly agree with naval aviator and best-selling author Stephen Coonts when he called Peter Fey's work, "Magnificent, superbly researched."
The "Bloody Sixteenth" was my air wing (CVW-16) onboard the carrier USS Oriskany. My squadron was VFP-63 or Photo Reconnaissance Squadron-63. Now, thanks to retired naval aviator, Commander Peter Fey, I have a totally new understanding of that of which I was a part... and a newfound respect for the officers and pilots I rubbed shoulders with on a daily basis. I had no idea Operation Rolling Thunder and CVW-16 on CVA-34 were so historically significant - maybe no one at the time actually did. Maybe 50 years had to expire before military historians, such as Fey, could look back and see the big picture without the 'fog of war' obstructing the view.
Fey recalls that many of the pilots, same as many of the enlisted ranks, didn't talk much to others about their Vietnam experience once they rejoined civilian life. Older Americans of the mid-twentieth-century -- those that had hailed victories in Europe and the Western Pacific during World War II -- did not want to admit our nation could be defeated anywhere on the world stage.. but it was. To his credit author Peter Fey is quick to point out that our losses in Vietnam were due to no weakness of the men and women fighting the war; their strength and resolve remained true to the bitter end.
I thank you, Mister Fey, sir, for allowing me a privileged seat today on the tower of history. Up here, I can better see the entire sprawling vista. Because of Bloody Sixteen this old guy, who was a 20-year-old Petty Officer 3rd Class in 1967, has been allowed an eagle's eye view to events that influenced my entire life after Vietnam; and greatly influenced our nation's future decisions based on what we learned in the Vietnam War.
I think I first heard this bromide in a Filipino bar while chugging San Miguel beers with a shipmate... it goes like this: "The old war veterans talk about the glory of it. The politicians talk about the necessity of it. But, the soldiers and sailors living it... they just want to go home."
At 72, I now qualify as an old veteran but I still see very little glory in that war. I kept a daily diary throughout my 1967-68 cruise to Yankee Station, Gulf of Tonkin because I wanted to remember not only the glory... but all the disappointments too. And there's even more of that than I thought. Peter Fey details the sloppy mismanagement of the war by high-level military leaders; even more so by US President Lyndon Johnson, Secretary McNamara and the other "whiz kids" left over from JFK's administration. They met every Tuesday noon for lunch at the White House where strategy and targets were determined for the upcoming week without any Pentagon officers present. LBJ wanted to run the war without generals and admirals getting in the way.
Primary focus of Bloody Sixteen is on Commissioned Flight Officers of the US Navy, an elite brotherhood of aviation professionals. The book is a tactical analysis of their missions in the Vietnam War, individually and overall. The non-commissioned and enlisted men are generally relegated to their subservient status. As for the North Vietnamese, during the three years of Operation Rolling Thunder, it is estimated non-combatants (men, women, children) were killed at a rate of 1,000 per month. These human beings, mostly farmers, were generally seen as statistical consequences of war - 'collateral damage' in military parlance. To me that seems coldhearted. But then again, war is not about hugs and warm fuzzies.
In this story, passion, empathy, sympathy and tugs of the heart are reserved for naval aviators, their missions, their downings by AAA or SAM's, their status as KIA, MIA or POW and their US Naval Aviation legacies. If that's what you want in a book, then this is the book you want. Better than any video game, kids, this is war in the raw.
Bloody Sixteen is destined to become one of the best military histories of the Vietnam War. I wholeheartedly agree with naval aviator and best-selling author Stephen Coonts when he called Peter Fey's work, "Magnificent, superbly researched."
Burial of the USS Oriskany
SUE: Amazing! I had to look up the ship - quite a history and now an artificial reef for divers. What a trip that would be! Glad they kept her intact (for the most part)
MAC: The USS Oriskany (CVA-34) now lies under 200 feet of the Gulf of Mexico. She was scuttled on purpose to create an artificial reef. She's open for business for SCUBA adventurers. Joe Dietrich, a photo interpreter shipmate, did a SCUBA dive on her... said it was eerie to see the compartments where we lived and worked submerged.
The Oriskany had a stellar history especially in Vietnam. One of my new friends, CDR Peter Fey, USN-retired pilot and Top Gun instructor, has written a book about the Oriskany and my airwing in particular during our Vietnam "cruise" of 1967. It's well worth the money to read if you're interested in naval aviation during war. The book is "BLOODY SIXTEEN" referring to our Carrier Air Wing-16 (CVW-16). His book is true military history and was approved for publishing by the DOD (Dept of Defense).
My book is a surly & gritty account of that particular cruise as seen from a grunt's point of view (a photo reconnaissance tech's POV). I call it "God, Bombs & Vietnam" using my pen name, Gerald MacLennon.
Bloody Sixteen: The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 during the Vietnam War
God, Bombs & Viet Nam: Based on the Diary of a 20-Year-Old Navy Enlisted Man in the Vietnam Air War - 1967
MAC: The USS Oriskany (CVA-34) now lies under 200 feet of the Gulf of Mexico. She was scuttled on purpose to create an artificial reef. She's open for business for SCUBA adventurers. Joe Dietrich, a photo interpreter shipmate, did a SCUBA dive on her... said it was eerie to see the compartments where we lived and worked submerged.
The Oriskany had a stellar history especially in Vietnam. One of my new friends, CDR Peter Fey, USN-retired pilot and Top Gun instructor, has written a book about the Oriskany and my airwing in particular during our Vietnam "cruise" of 1967. It's well worth the money to read if you're interested in naval aviation during war. The book is "BLOODY SIXTEEN" referring to our Carrier Air Wing-16 (CVW-16). His book is true military history and was approved for publishing by the DOD (Dept of Defense).
My book is a surly & gritty account of that particular cruise as seen from a grunt's point of view (a photo reconnaissance tech's POV). I call it "God, Bombs & Vietnam" using my pen name, Gerald MacLennon.
Bloody Sixteen: The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 during the Vietnam War
God, Bombs & Viet Nam: Based on the Diary of a 20-Year-Old Navy Enlisted Man in the Vietnam Air War - 1967
