Roy Schmetzer, Army Air Corp, Corporal, Madisonville, KY, 1944 - 1947

Schmetzer trained in various locations ranging from Sheppard Field, Texas to Seattle, Washington to become an Aviation Mechanic for the B-17 and B-29 bombers.

In 1944 he was assigned to the Boeing factory in Seattle, Washington where he, along with many others, were responsible for doing preflight inspections on all the new B-29 bombers that were coming out of the factory for duty during World War II. From there he was assigned to Chatham Airfield in Savannah GA where he worked on B-29s and was there when the war ended in 1945.

In 1945 he was then assigned to the 317th Troop Carrier Group, 13th Air Force and as part of the occupation force after World War II and worked out Tachikawa, Japan. He took many trips around the country and the theater of operations including Korea.

He recalls that they were onboard ship for 17 days going over. He said that he never got sick, but he was probably the only one of a thousand that didn’t. He never saw such a mess in his life. The first thing he did when it got started was head for the deck where there was fresh air!

Tachikawa, remarks Schmetzer, was like a suburb of Tokyo. The airbase where we were only had one landing strip. Everything else had been bombed out of it because it was like a technical school for the Japanese pilots, which had wind tunnels and all that kind of stuff. The crews that came in before us took these old barns and turned them in to barracks for us and we were there for three or four months. I’ll never forget one night we got a call to get dress and pack our duffle bags with everything we had in it and get ready to ship out. They didn’t say where to or what. We did all that, loaded onto the planes and taxied out, and then they called it off. I figured all along that we were headed for Korea.

Rudy Stone, Petty Officer Second Class, Navy, Madisonville, KY, 1963 - 1967

Navy Petty Officer Second Class Rudy Stone of Madisonville, Ky served from August 1963 until November of 1967. After finishing basic training and advance training his first was assignment was on the Admirals Staff in Keflick, Iceland where he served for 1 year. The remainder of his service was spent on the USS Enterprise Aircraft Carrier CVAN-65 for 2 1/2 years as a Journalist. They were stationed alternated between Yankee (striking North Vietnam) and Dixie Stations (Striking South Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos) off the coast of Vietnam. F-4 B and A-4C Skyhawks and a couple Radar planes were the aircraft that few from the ship. On 2 December 1965, it became the first nuclear-powered ship to engage in combat when they launched aircraft against the Viet Cong near Bien Hoa. The ship led Carrier Division Three, with Enterprise which had Carrier Air Wing Nine aboard.

The Enterprise launched 125 sorties on the first day, unleashing 167 short tons of bombs and rockets on the enemy's supply lines. On 3 December, she set a record of 165 strike sorties in a single day. He recalls one time a A-4C was hit by a rocket over North Vietnam and ended up with a big hole in its wing. It was able to hook onto a tanker that refueled it all the way back to the Enterprise with fuel pouring out of its wing and successfully make an emergency landing.

Russell Oates, Specialist Fourth Class, Army, Madisonville, KY, 1970 - 1971

Army Specialist 4th Class Russell Oates served from March 1970 - Dec 1971 and during his time in service after training he was assigned to the 3 Battalion of the 8th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division, at An Khe in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam for 10 months. By December of 1970 he was the oldest man in the bush at that time in his unit and was brought out for a Bob Hope Show. He got to come out of the bush for 4 days. According to Oates, the bush wasn't good.

During his first mission and on its second day he was on patrol he and his patrol was attacked and his Lieutenant who was ten feet in front of him was killed. He says that has been with him ever since.

Oates relates the mission...

I spotted a NVA (North Vietnam Army) helmet in the rocks when we were on the second day of patrol and when the Lieutenant came down I pointed it out to him. A tree had blown over and was laying at an angle toward the rocks. When I saw that I said there's something not right. The Lieutenant started up the tree and I started up behind him.

We got up there and there was a big explosion and they opened up on us. We fired back all we could, but we couldn't get to him. So, we kept fighting and finally was able to pull back. It got dark and started raining. There was five of us that were wounded and eight that wasn't. We got back where we were going to setup that night and where we could get a LZ setup (landing zone) and called MEDEVAC in and it was dark. We were helping these medics with the wounded on this ridgeline and I looked up and there was this helicopter that was coming in and it was about to set on top of us and so I jumped up and waved them off. When they came back we got the wounded men out and so that left us with eight.

The Lieutenant was gone. Boy, I don't know what your religious beliefs are, but mine wasn't very good at that time. I don't know why they didn't overrun us that night, unless they thought the helicopters brought in more people. The next day they dropped more troops in and brought us out. That's one I'll never forget.

Sam Benny Sr., Army, Specialist Fifth Class, Hanson, KY, 1966 – 1969

Benny did all the normal basic training and advance training for the Infantry and went to Mortar School and finally got his orders for an overseas assignment. He relates the story.

At Ft. Ord, California we finished up our training and we graduated. There were about 300 of us and got our orders, that is everyone but five of us. Well, that evening a CQ runner came up and said Sam, I’ve got your orders. I OK, where am I going and he said Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Well, back then that was the stopping of place for Vietnam and I said, oh well. So the next morning the sergeant calls me down to the orderly room and tells me I have my orders. Ok, I said, where am I going? He said APO San Francisco 96224, it’s funny how you remember those things, it’s been 46 years since I’ve been in the service and I remember that. I said, where’s that? That’s a PO Box. He said Kimpo, Korea and I said whoopee!! He said, son, they’re shooting at you over there too, we just don’t tell you.

It was cold in Korea! It was like Vietnam in the summer time and who knows where in the winter time. It got down to 39 degrees below zero at times, it was cold!

Once the whole company went on bivouac to Camp Casey and we camped way out in the boondocks from Camp Casey. We noticed that the people in the village always knew were going somewhere before we knew it. One of them told us, you’re going on bivouac next week and they were right. While we were there at Camp Casey, unpacking, securing the area and getting our equipment setup and as it got darker you could see lanterns all through the mountains where the Koreans were coming to sell the GIs their wares. Like I said, they knew we were going to be there before we ever did and they’d show up with their cookies, candies and all kinds of things like that.

I noticed an ambulance pulled over not too far from us, but out of our area. I spoke to one of the drivers and said, you know you really need to move closer to us. They said, we’re alright right here. We called them slicky boys; they could steal your watch off your arm without you knowing it so they said. I said, the slicky boys might come and take some stuff from your ambulance and they said, oh no, we’ll be watching. Well, I woke up about midnight and looked over at their ambulance and saw things moving around and I hollered to them, hey in the ambulance, the slicky boys are getting you! By the time they jumped up, the slicky boys had already stole blankets and other supplies. They’d take the stuff and sell it on the black market.

Steve King, Army, Specialist Fourth Class, Madisonville, KY, 1983 - 1987

Steve served and various positions during his service ranging from Infantryman, M-203 Gunner, Machine Gunner before moving to Headquarters where he was a driver for everyone from the First Sergeant to Commander.

After schools he was stationed at Ft. Ord, California, where I was part of Charlie Company, 4 Battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment. We were part of what’s called a rapid deployment force where we had like 48 hours to respond.

All of our equipment was at the motor pool ready to go. We were called out two times. Once they put us on the, gave us live rounds, we thought we were going to war and we ended up going to Pensacola, Florida. Everything was real up to the time we got off the airplane. We actually thought we were going to war. During my four years the world was pretty peaceful and for me the Army was the best thing to be in.

Terry Trapp, Army, Private First Class, Madisonville, KY, 1986 - 1990

Trapp was an Administration Specialist with Tactical Army Combat Computer Skills during his service.

He received his basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri before heading to Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana for his advance training. His first assignment was with the 1/13th Armor Division which later became the 2/ 32nd Armor outside Grafenwoehr, Germany.

From Germany he was assigned to a field artillery unit with the 101st Airborne at Ft. Campbell where he finished out his service. His primary responsibilities were to take care of all the paperwork that’s needed to keep the units running.

Timothy Blair, Air Force, Technical Sergeant, Earlington, KY, 1988 -2008

Blair spent his service in various roles as a Security Policeman, most of which were as a military dog handler. During his career he was assigned to many locations including, New York, Missouri, Alabama, Kansas, Germany, England, Korea, Bosnia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Afghanistan.

In 1993 I was in New York City after the first attack on the World Trade Center. I was tasked to work with the U.S. Marshal Service during the trial of the Sheik. They had his trial in lower Manhattan. I spent about two weeks with a bomb dog where I and a guy from the Navy swept the entire federal courthouse during the trial for a couple weeks. Then they asked me to stay on and I stayed as long as I could, which was six months; everyday searching the court house.

Tom Bennett, SSgt, Army, Madisonville, KY, 1968 - 1970

Army Staff Sergeant Tom Bennett of Madisonville, Ky who was in service from June 1968 to March 1970. He started out as a computer programmer for the Fifth Army HQ at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. He left there in 1969 and headed to Vietnam. During his tour in there he served as the Death NOIC, who investigated the cause of deaths for the 25th Infantry Division at Cu Chi. He and his team was responsible for determining the circumstances surrounding the death of servicemen and then write letters to the family.

During the course of these investigations he, and his crews, two helicopter pilots, two gunners, photographer and himself were shot down three times as they'd often fly into the area to investigate just after the event happened and the enemy would fire on them with Rocket Propelled Grenades and other gunfire. Of the six members from his original crew he's the only one to survive.

Tom Clinton, Army, Specialist Fifth Class, Madisonville, KY, 1966 - 1969

Clinton was assigned to the 5th Infantry Division as an Information Specialist. He spent his service as the editor for the Ft. Carson. Colorado newspaper at the Public Information Office while he was there and also did a short stent in the broadcast section, when the rest of his unit deployed.

Clinton related the following story. During all the anti-war protests and the Democratic National Convention when all the protests were going on, Ft. Carson’s 5th Infantry Division went to Washington during the rioting there, just to keep the people from burning things down. History records it as a protest, but there was also a lot of vandalism, burning, looting and that sort of thing. Our job was to just keep them in line. Allow them to protest, but keep them in line. The interesting thing was that we had this statement that we gave to the civilian media and that was, anytime they ask where you’re going, Department of Army policy is not to comment on the movement of troops or equipment.

Well, in order to get to D.C. we loaded up all the troops, equipment and armor personnel carriers and had to go through Colorado Springs to get to the airport, which had a military side to it. Well, we drove right through the middle of Colorado Springs and everybody knew where we were going. So the local media shows up and they want to know where we’re going and what we’re doing and so my statement to them again was, the Department of the Army policy does not to comment on the movement of troops or equipment.

We went to D.C. and were on the streets; the only place in the world where the red infantry patch was is Fort Carson, Colorado, and there was national television zooming in on the red diamond patch. To this day I don’t know that they reported that we went there.

Tom Wortham, Air Force, Captain, Madisonville, KY, 1968 - 1970

Tom was a Captain when he left the USAF in 1970. He served from 1968 through 1970 as Pharmacy Officer at the 23rd TAC Hospital 835th TAC Air Command located at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas.

I was a pharmacy officer and that was a new position to the Air Force at that time, comments Wortham. They didn’t have a job description for it and they wanted me to right one. Well, I’d worked in a drug store since I was sixteen years old and as a pharmacy assistant since 1966 and the only thing I knew how to do was fill prescriptions.

I couldn’t stand to see those NCO’s (non-commissioned officers) in their struggling to fill 400-500 prescriptions a day and me sitting in an office, so I worked right along beside them. Over the years I really think that helped a lot because I was quickly branded a friend to the NCO. If you want anything done in the service go through the NCO. That’s just the way it was and it still may be that way.

Vera Newtown, Marines, Staff Sergeant, Hanson, KY, 1943-1945 (Reserves)

Newtown received her Motor Transport Driver and dispatcher training at Camp Lajune, North Carolina. She was part of the Marine Corps Women's Reserve which was officially established on 13 February 1943.

Her responsibility was to transport troops from their bases to the ports on the east coast for departure and arrival from the European theater during World War II.

She enjoyed the Marine life and would have stayed and made it a career, but back then the rule was that if you got married, you had to get out. She liked the responsibility.

Wade Williams, Army, Captain, Madisonville, KY, 1991 -2009 (Active and Reserves)

Williams served both on active duty and the reserves during his career, but most recently in Iraq.

He shares the story. In 2006 I was reclassified as an Infantry Officer to a civil affairs functional area. I didn’t know a lot about civil affairs. I knew some of the missions Special Forces did had some relation to that, but they sent me through active duty ten week civil affairs school at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center where the Green Berets and all those guys are trained.

So, I went through that and got sent on over to Bagdad, Iraq where they assigned me to go to a place called Mosul at a place called FOB Marez, which I think is under ISS control now, and was assigned to work on work on the U.S. State Department’s compound as part of a Provencal reconstruction team. I worked in the government section and so I was assigned to the Governor of Mosul and also the Provencal Chair Person; kind of like our state legislature.

Peeling back the layers of democracy was great for me to see firsthand because I was able to go and show them the fundamental things like getting consensus together among party members. On the administrative side, bidding out contracts and reaching out to the local with the local mayors and making lists of projects that were the most important. Just going through those simple steps of democracy just made me appreciate what we have over here that has developed over 200 years. It was a very good experience for me. I see how important it is for us to involved and be informed voters and support people who are like minded with us.

Some of our duties were to go to specific sites, evaluate them and help them get them propped back up or get them started. One was the Mosul Library. I had an adviser with me who was an ex-patriot that had to leave the country for political reason and come back in when we liberated them. He told me about the days he’d go to the Mosul Library and it was standing room only, there were people everywhere, everyone was seeking an education and they were allowed to do that. We went there this time and it was just a ghost town. Nobody there, no lights, the books were old and the place was crumbling.

Well, it was pretty unique that the mayor had appointed a female to be the orchestrator of the library and rejuvenate it. She was very animated in trying to get us to work on the mayor to get funds and to do this and that. I remember telling her, have you been to the provincial council? I remember that look on her face that said, like, you mean I can ask them for money or anything else? I had to go over it and explain it to her four or five times and it really sat home to me that this young lady in the last 12-15 years of her adult life did not grasp the concept of being able to seek help, input or ask anything from their government. They were afraid to do stuff like that. We told her how the process should work and seeing her make a presentation to the provincial council with a group of supporters from this one political party with her where they were asking for funds. She made a great presentation and they ended up awarding her some money to redo the library. It was a great feeling. We introduced her to something that we take for granted every day.

Wallace Alexander, Army Air Corp, Captain, Air Force, Madisonville, KY, 1943 – 1946, 1952 - 1963

Alexander was a B-29 tail gunner with the Army Air Corp assigned to the 73rd Bomb Wing. He served in the Pacific during World War II and left service in 1946 to attend medical school. He returned to the newly created Air Force after he obtained his degree as a Medical Officer. During his second enlistment, he held many medical roles over the next eleven years while serving in Germany, Korea and Vietnam.

During World War II, he and his crew flew missions from the island of Saipan and Alexander recalls one B-29 mission over Japan:

On one occasion, over Japan on a night raid, I’ve forgotten what town. Our instruments went out. Everything on the whole plane, but we had some bright people. We were all young, the oldest was twenty-four and I was the youngest on the crew. So you had basically teenage boys and a couple that were in their early twenties. The oldest was the commander of the crew who was twenty-four.

Well, we had lost our instruments and it was a dark, black night but, ironically, it probably saved our lives. The way the raid was constructed we’d line up from the initial point, which was the aiming point of the navigator. About 20-30 miles away from the target, but flying at 200 miles an hour you can go 20 miles in a blink of an eye. So you line up from the initial point which is an identifiable point which the navigators can aim and from there you can line up, fly in over the target and drop your bombs and get the hell out of there. Before we even got there the instruments went out and we got lost over Japan in the middle of the night, somewhat near the target.

We weren’t in the early ones that dropped the bombs, but part of a later group. The pathfinders had already lit up the target with flares. We ended up probably about 40 miles south of the target and we could see all the flak going in and the B-29’s took a big hit and we would have been in the line where the Japanese had their guns lined up and were giving our boys a hard time. The Japs weren’t worried about us, they didn’t even know we were there so we went in scot free, dropped our bombs and got out. We found our way out from being lost because we had a real bright navigator and radar man.

Walter Fitch, Army, Corporal, Earlington, KY, 1943 – 1946

Walter was with 796th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion which was a part of the 3rd Army and was In charge of a half track crew in Europe during World War II.

Fitch reflects on his service during World War II.

When we went over in 43 and that was a convoy. I mean it was a real convoy. You couldn’t see from one end of it to the other and it kept getting bigger everyday as more ships would join. We never could figure out just how many there were. We weren’t allowed on deck and the only time you could look out the window was when you were in line going to the mess hall and the only thing you could see is ships!

Our group was some of the first ones into Germany. George S. Patton standing on the line going in saying, move, move, son-of-a-bitches move’m, cussing and a raring. I can still see him standing there. He wanted us to be the first in there. He was a bugger all the time the war was going on and afterwards a perfect gentleman; that was him.

We were out of fuel and were escorting two of our trucks to get twenty truck loads of fuel for the tanks. I was in the lead halftrack with the Lieutenant of the trucks and the other halftrack was on the rear. We got to the supply depot and had to wait for them to get them all loaded and everything and then we got started back. Going along we came to this town where we had to go up a hill. I knew good and well there was something wrong when we went into the town. Like I said, I was in the lead halftrack and when we went through there earlier all the Germans were out waving at us and when we went back an hour or so later there wasn’t a soul to be found. You know there’s something wrong when it’s like that. I stopped and called the Lieutenant who was in the rear halftrack and said there’s something wrong up here, there’s not any people out and you know good and well they were when we came through. He said, well, we’ve got to go on. I said alright and started up the hill and we were the first ones that got attacked.

They had a couple of tanks setting back off in the woods away from us and they dropped shells in on us and knocked us out of our halftrack. We got lucky really. After we got hit we were able to get the halftrack off the side of the road and I can remember firing back at them. All of a sudden I looked up and coming from the opposite direction from where we were going was a tank and I think four or five self propelled artillery pieces and they saw from where they were at that we were in trouble. They started firing over there and the Germans quit. They either knocked them out or the Germans run, they were good at running.

There was ten or eleven of us on a jeep when we finally left there. When we finally got to where we were going the Lieutenant came up and said, you did a good job, you got everybody out! Yeah, I look a lot better than you do. You didn’t even take your rifle, gun or pistol out. He still had them in his bag; never did even get them out.

Here we were up there fighting to stay alive; we lost three of the boys off the halftrack and three of us were injured. It was rough. Battle, just shoot and kill.

He was awarded a Purple Heart and Silver Star for his service during World War II.

Whitey Hawkins, Army, Master Sergeant, Madisonville, KY, 1956 – 1987 (Active and Reserves)

Between service on active duty and the reserves Hawkins served a total of 21 years. In 1957 he was assigned as a crewmember with the 7th Armor in the Fulda Gap in Germany aboard an M-46 tanks.

He recalls that once they were onboard their M-46 tank and got lost while patrolling in the Fulda Gap, in Germany along the Russian border. They were rolling along and came to this sign in German that said “Aufmerksamkeit , eine Meile von der Grenze bist du” which in English said, Attention, you are one mile from the border! He said they turned around and high-tailed it out of there!

Other assignments included 13th CAV of the 3rd Armor Division and in various instructor roles throughout his career.

William Cameron, Air Force, Staff Sergeant, Hanson, KY, 1950 - 1954

Cameron was a crew chief on an F-86 and they flew the border between Germany and Russia from Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base in Germany. He related the following story about a photo on his wall:
You see that picture on the wall? You know that’s the Thunderbird. Well, the Air Force acrobatic team was created in Germany in 1950.

They were known then as the Sky Blazers. When the pilots' three years were up and they had to rotate back to the states, they were given new airplanes and a new name which was Thunderbirds. A Thunderbird is a bird out west and it sounds like thunder when it takes off and that’s where they got the word thunderbird.

Now, the important part is this. I was a crew chief on the Sky Blazers. I was a crew chief on the original acrobatic team fifty years ago and that’s an honor. That’s the reason for the picture! It’s a beautiful picture and I love it! I am proud a member of the Thunderbird Association.

William Hook Sr., Army, Corporal, Madisonville, KY, 1953 - 1955

Hook was assigned as a 11th Airborne Paratrooper and an artillery man on the 105 Howitzer and Stationed at Ft. Campbell for both years.

When I first arrived at Ft. Campbell, I was at the REPO Depot. That’s where you stayed till they decide what unit you were going to be assigned to. They sent me to the anti-aircraft one; there was 8-10 of us going there at the same time. When we got to the area we were all in line and the first sergeant came out and said, the Lieutenant wants to talk to you all. I didn’t know anything about airborne. I hadn’t signed up, volunteered or anything. So he said, "Who’s all going airborne, step forward." Well, I just stayed back. Well, I got woke up about 11 o’ clock that night for bakery duty, about an hour later, I was on K.P. and that lasted about two days. I went into the first sergeant and asked, "Can I see the old man?" He said, "Yeah," and I went in there and said; I won’t say what I actually said because it’s a cussword. "How the “blank” do you get to be a paratrooper." and he says "Sign this paper." I signed it.

The first time jumping, I hate to admit it, but I froze. I grabbed the door, seeing that ground go by below.

Somebody booted me from behind and there I went. From then on I didn’t have any trouble, I loved it! It was a thrill every time you went. I jumped 28 times. I volunteered for every jump there was.

I jumped once in Colorado we had to ski in and I had some experience with skis because of where I lived and grew up and that’s why they let me go. We got down to the building where we were all supposed to meet at and there were only three of us out of 32.

Nobody else was there! We had to go back out and these guys were crunched to trees because they didn’t know anything about skiing! We got them all out and everything was fine, but that was the only odd jump.

There’s nothing else like parachuting, in my book. It’s just wonderful!