Memories of 'Nam: Fulfilling a desire to serve

Story and photos by YVONNE JOHNSON, APG News

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md.-- Harford County native James F. O’Neill joined the U.S. Air Force in January 1966. O’Neill scored an 85 on an Air Force qualifier exam while he was still in high school. He said he knew he’d have to go into the service “one way or the other” so when he enlisted, just a few months after graduation, he stuck with the same branch

“I figured it was just as good a choice as any,” he said. “I didn’t get the field I wanted, but at that time there wasn’t a whole lot going on [in Vietnam].

O’Neill grew up around airplanes. The Aberdeen native recalled when he and his brother would accompany their father to the old Aberdeen Air Park. His father, an Air Force veteran turned salesman and flight instructor flew for more than 65 years, including combat missions during World War II, and logged more than 40,000 hours.

O’Neill’s military roots extend to his maternal grandfather, a World War I doughboy whose photographs and medals are displayed in his den. He even has a stamped 1918 envelope from a letter that was sent to his grandmother from “the front” as well as his grandfather’s original ID tags.

One who likes to work with his hands, O’Neill said he didn’t back away from serving. Instead, he looked forward to carrying on the family tradition.

“The Air Force seemed like a good fit, but I didn’t go into mechanics, I joined the Air Force police,” he said. “I think now they call them SPs.”

His first assignment was at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey.

“It wasn’t bad. The duty was light and I used to drive home on every three-day break,” he said, adding that he stayed there 18 months before he got bored. “I just didn’t feel like I was accomplishing anything, I didn’t feel like I was serving,” he said.

He put in for a transfer and two weeks later received orders for Vietnam.

“I was excited, and ready to do my part,” he said. “I wasn’t afraid. That’s the kind of attitude that’ll get you killed.”

O’Neill arrived at Nha Trang Air Base the first week of January 1968 and was assigned to the 14th Combat Support Group.

“It was rainy as hell,” he said, adding that despite the rain, it took “about a month” to adjust to the heat.

“After my first two or three weeks there, things got serious. Mortars started falling,” he said.

O’Neill’s job was security and law enforcement but he also “did some time in the motor pool helping those guys out.”

Typical guard duty was spent clutching a compass in one of the towers that lined the base perimeter.

“You looked for a muzzle flash and you lined up an azimuth on the muzzle flash and then called it in so they could locate the mortars,” he said. “Shrapnel from mortars would easily flatten the tires on the M151 jeeps.”

The air base supported C47 gunships, C-130 and C-121 transport aircraft operations and contained other headquarters such as the Army’s 5th Special Forces Group headquarters as well as elements of the South Vietnamese Army.

While he heard about the Tet Offensive that began shortly after he arrived in ‘Nam, O’Neill said his unit wasn’t directly involved, though security became much tighter and they were no longer authorized to wear civilian clothes while off duty.

He said his time on the ground in ‘Nam helped fulfill his need to serve.

“What we were doing was important,” he said. “I felt like I was accomplishing something; like I was doing my part to stop the spread of Communism.”

After 11 months and “20-something days” O’Neill left ‘Nam Dec. 28, 1968. He did six months at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia and was honorably discharged from the Air Force with three-and-one-half years of service. The Air Force Commendation Medal and other awards decorate his den alongside those of his father and grandfather.

O’Neill returned to his job at the Maryland House gas station and then used his GI Bill to study Automotive Engineering Technology at Harford Community College.

“The next three years of my life it was school and work every day,” he said.

He took a position as an IBM Selectric II typewriter repairman and serviced machines throughout his territory of Cecil County but resigned after a year due to the “gas crunch.”

He returned to the gas stationed and then fixed typewriters for the Baltimore City school system and other office machine companies before he “got on at APG” under the Veterans Readjustment Act (VRA) in 1981.

O’Neill said he wanted to join the Typewriter Shop but was instead accepted to the Ballistics Research Lab (BRL).

“Again, it wasn’t what I wanted but like my friends said, ‘hey, it gets your foot in the door,’” he chuckled.

The outdoor job involved setting up test sites for government and contract projects. O’Neill said after about 18 months he was offered a permanent position that involved working with chemical agents.

“I didn’t want that job,” he said. He instead took a position as an engineering aid modifying Army gas masks. He traveled to Europe and Panama measuring Soldiers’ faces and distributing questionnaires geared toward upgrading the standard protective mask.

After the Reduction in Force of 1988, O’Neill went on to hold several positions with the post Directorate of Public Works in the metal shop, as an automotive inspector, and as a high voltage electrician. He was part of what he called “the high priority eagle program” that saw the placement of thousands of foil reflectors on the installation’s high wires to prevent bald eagle deaths.

“It’s all we did for weeks; sometimes weekends too,” he said, “but it was all worth it to save the eagles.”

He retired from DPW in 2012.

O’Neill never married. After he lost his mother in 2006 and his father in 2010 he sold the family home in Aberdeen and settled in North East.

“I like a nice, comfortable life without a lot of drama,” he said.

Thinking back on ‘Nam, O’Neill said he’s unsure to this day exactly who won.

“Did we accomplish anything? I think our fighting at least stopped the spread of Communism long enough so it didn’t get a foothold in other countries,” he said. “I think everybody at the time thought we were doing the right thing and I think we accomplished something even though we did eventually pull out.”

Highly charged and passionate about his beliefs, O’Neill said he’d like to see a “kinder world” but realizes “there are some things – no matter how strongly you feel about them – that you cannot change.”

He said he follows new coverage of terrorism and is concerned about threats to the nation, particularly from groups like the Islamic State known as ISIS.

“People thank me for my service and I tell them I wish I could do more,” he said. “I want to see us back to being a strong country. Evil will take over this world if we don’t do something to stop it. How about us getting back over there and stamping out that evil.”

He said he remains proud of his service and is even prouder of the nation’s armed forces.

“I don’t think there’s anything they can’t handle,” he said. “They know the meaning of service.”

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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.