Former Aberdeen Mayor recalls Vietnam, life of service

By Yvonne Johnson, APG News

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md.-- When he was playing in the woods behind Cross Roads Elementary School as a young child, Michael Bennett never envisioned himself as a future veteran of an unpopular war or as a popular mayor of his hometown.

Bennett, who soon ends his run as the mayor of Aberdeen, said his life will continue to be guided by public service.

Before he graduated from Aberdeen Senior High School, Bennett worked the midnight to 8 a.m. shift as a volunteer radio dispatcher at the former police station location on Parke Street.

A lifetime member of the city’s fire department, he recalled how Aberdeen was “in those days.”

“[APG] had a lot more trainees then and there was a lot more things here to attract young men. Weekends were sometimes like the wild west,” he said.

“Because I worked the night shift I got to see a lot of young Soldiers and military police on weekends.”

He had changed to a dispatching position with a local truck company when he was drafted in 1968. Bennett reported to Fort Holabird in Baltimore and soon after attended basic training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He attended Advanced Individual Training for fixed/rotary wing aircraft repair at Fort Rucker, Alabama. He said this was during “the height of ‘Nam” and there was “an overabundance of people in flight school.” Bennett was included in a group that was pulled out for Air Traffic Control training, at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi.

“It was a long, hot summer,” he said. “We had to wear Class A uniforms to class. But we knew 85 percent of us were going to Vietnam so there wasn’t a lot of complaining.”

He returned home in November 1968 and after 30-days leave reported to Fort Dix, New Jersey for the first leg of his journey to ‘Nam. He arrived in Bien Hoa Air Base, by way of Alaska and Japan.

“It was night time and we were all scared,” he recalled.

Bennett was assigned to the 125th ATC Company in Cam Ranh Air Base.

“There was a lot of insurgency going on,” Bennett said, due to the buildup of the area for key resupply and refueling activities. He added that refugee movement through the area and mortar attacks were common place. His first night was memorable, he said. He spent the night on a cot in a bunker across from a refueling point for 1st Cavalry helicopters.

“I had a machine gun for a companion and I was feeling pretty secure,” he said. “About 3 a.m. we started hearing flares and then two M108 howitzers opened fire. That really wakes you up in the middle of the night.”

“We took a lot of rounds but we were very well armed and prepared to respond,” he said, adding that “every morning we had to check the runway for booby traps.”

He worked the airstrip about five months and then, being one of the few Soldiers in the area who was able to type, he took over for the company clerk who was leaving.

The assignment took him to Ban Me Thuot in the central highlands near the Cambodian border where they tracked Army assets from point to point.

“We stayed on an Army/Air Force compound then and from time to time I worked radar. I stayed there until I redeployed in November 1969.”

With less than six months left to his enlistment, Bennett was able to take an early out and was on Individual Ready Reserve status for six years. He said home changed a bit during his absence.

“It was different. You really didn’t talk about where you’d been. If I wanted to talk, I talked to my dad. He was World War II veteran and we had a lot in common.”

He later learned that after his departure from Cam Ranh, his unit was overrun and several friends were killed. He recalled one friend in particular, a young infantryman.

“We were friends growing up,” Bennett said. “We always brought snacks at the PX; it’s what we existed on. One day I ran into him and invited him to my hooch; we had a fridge and cold beer. I found out he was KIA [killed in action] a week later.”

He said that years later he visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and found his friend’s name inscribed there.

“I wasn’t sure I was ready to do that,” he said, adding, “You really didn’t talk about it with anybody. People really didn’t care.”

He said the experience prepared him for life.

“It taught you how to take care of yourself and others,” he said. “I’m proud to have served. Really, I wouldn’t do it again but I’m glad for the experience.”

He recalled flying back to the states on Flying Tiger Airlines. After landing in Oakland, he changed out of his Class A uniform and picked up his tickets for home.

“I was never harassed beyond a few comments at the airport but I just ignored them. My family was there to meet me and that was all that mattered,” he said.

After ‘Nam, Bennett returned to his old job for about a year, then, when he heard the Maryland State Police lowered their height requirement from 6 feet tall to 5 feet, 11 inches, he applied and was accepted.

“I slept on a wood floor two nights to stand taller,” he chuckled. “I was the shortest one in the barracks; they called me “mini trooper.”

He spent 20 years as a Maryland State Trooper in Prince George’s and Harford counties including six years in the Edgewood-Joppa area.

“It’s funny,” he recalled, “most of the recruits in my class were Vietnam veterans and we all had handled weapons.”

Bennett married in 1972. He and his wife had one child and this year they celebrated the birth of their first grandchild, named Otis after Otis Redding.

“My son-in-law is a musician,” he explained.

He retired as a lieutenant commander in the electronics systems division where he was responsible for communications systems for the state. When he retired after 31 years in 2001 he started his civilian career in the same position two days later.

He stayed there nine years. During the final two years, and after a lifetime of public service, he turned to politics.

“There was a lot of stuff going on and I was thinking about running for city council, but supporters asked me to go for mayor,” he said. “I ran on a platform of integrity and that resonated with the people. I think I’ve done a good job. I took a city that was going under that’s thriving now and well-respected in the state.”

He said he retired after 40 years with the state to devote full attention to the office and spent the first six months reestablishing relationships that had been neglected; especially with the proving ground.

Bennett spent the past year as chair of the Military Council of the National League of Cities. According to its website at www.nlc.org, the council addresses “transportation and infrastructure concerns that come with having a base in town or nearby; strategies for collaborating with the local military leadership; ways and means to assist in the process of retention of missions and attract additional mission sets to supported installations; and ideas and programs designed to successfully integrate veterans, participants in the Department of Defense Wounded Warrior Program, families of deployed service members of the Total Force, and troops into the fabric of the community.”

He said he enjoyed the challenges of ensuring the military community has a voice in the league and working to change the structure to be more proactive, solve issue and advocating to a larger audience to present issues to Congress. The office took him to Capitol Hill to meet with Senator John McCain and mayors from around the country, and he recently returned from a conference with the Tennessee representative on the Armed Services Committee in Nashville.

“We advocate for the military to ensure they have the right voices talking for them,” he said.

He added that the mayor’s role includes maintaining an “open conversation” with APG leadership and he feels confident he accomplished that with APG Senior Commander Maj. Gen. Bruce T. Crawford and his predecessor, then Maj. Gen. Robert Ferrell, who is now a lieutenant general and the Army Chief Information Officer/G-6.

In retrospect, Bennett said he hopes he made a positive impact for the city.

“I’d like to be remembered as someone fair who did what was good for the city and its citizens and was morally correct,” he said. “Every day, I was honored to do this job. I’m proud of this town and this community and I would not live anywhere else. This is my home town. And I believe that most of the time we got things right.”

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Like any other war, Vietnam produced an array of veterans. When the conflict ended, some veterans opted to continue service in the military while others returned to civilian life. Some returned with life altering wounds - physical and psychological - while too many others, who never came home at all, remain among the Missing in Action.

On the surface, the veterans of the Vietnam War faced the same challenges as veterans of other wars, except for one glaring difference: they were vilified by American society like no other generation before or since.

Today, nearly 50 years after the war's end, the veterans of Vietnam are in their 60s and 70s. The passage of time has cooled the tempest of indignation that shrouded their homecoming and an ambiance of repentant thanks thrives in its wake. Many still do what they can to serve this nation.

This article originally appeared in the "APG News" as part of an ongoing, multi-year series hailing the service members and civilians who served the nation during the war in Vietnam. Giving a voice to local Vietnam veterans, it is through their stories that we honor their service and sacrifice, and offer a long-overdue "Welcome Home."

The "APG News" is the weekly newspaper produced at Aberdeen Proving Ground, an Army installation located in southern Harford County, Maryland, nearly midway between Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. APG is recognized as one of the world's most important research and development, testing and evaluation facilities for military weapons and equipment, and supports the finest teams of military and civilian scientists, research engineers, technicians and administrators.

For more information about the series or the veterans featured, contact "APG News" Editor Amanda Rominiecki at amanda.r.rominiecki.civ@mail.mil.