I made my first posting to my Faces of Oregon Blog. I decided to use an article I had written about a high school classmate we lost during the Vietnam War.
In the process of rebuilding my computer files I came across an article I had written about my best friend in high school.
I wrote this in September of 2001. An email from one of my twin daughters, talking about her first day of high school, reminded me of a similar day, 41 years ago. It was on the first day of school at Stayton Union High School, in Stayton, Oregon, that I met Gary Hann. I don’t remember the class, but we were sitting in alphabetical order and this redhead from Aumsville starting bugging me right from the beginning.
We remained friends through our 4 years of high school. During our junior year I decided to join the Naval Reserve. I was planning to join the Navy upon graduation. By joining the reserves I figured I could gain experience and have a step ahead of my classmates. Gary decided to join also. His father had been a Marine during WWII and refused to allow Gary to join the Marine Corps. He decided that the alternative way to the Marines was via the U.S. Navy Hospital Corps, whose members provide the medical support for the Marine Corps.
During the summer between our junior and senior years we spent two weeks at a reserve boot camp at the Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado, California. The San Diego Naval Training Center had been closed due to meningitis outbreak and a temporary two-week boot camp was set up across the bay. After those two weeks, we spent two weeks aboard a Destroyer Escort, stationed at Treasure Island, San Francisco. Those two weeks included a weekend cruise to Monterey Bay.
Upon graduation Gary and I reported to the Hospital Corps School in San Diego, California, for a sixteen-week course in instruction. During this time the Gulf of Tonkin incident was stages, which lead to the buildup of U.S. forces in Viet Nam.
Corps School was crowded. We were together 24 hours a day for those sixteen weeks. He had the bottom bunk in and I had the top one. When Gary found out I was writing Wanda, who was a year behind us in school, he started writing her too. When he didn’t write, she would ask about Gary and would also let me know when he did wrote.
Those sixteen weeks went by fast and we all realized that we had a good chance of going to Viet Nam with the Marine Corps. Close friendship drafted apart during this period. I think that deep down we knew that many of the class would not survive. We saw the reminders everyday. The halls of Corps School were lined with the pictures and citations of the members of the Hospital Corps who had been awarded the Medal of Honor. Most had been awarded while serving with Marine Corps units and most had been awarded posthumeriously. We were young, invincible and didn’t dwell on such things.
Upon graduation I was ordered to the Naval Hospital on the Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California. Gary went to the Naval Hospital, Oakland, California. After six weeks of ward duty, Gary volunteered for duty with the Fleet Marine Force and his offer was accepted. The Field Medicine School is at Camp De Mar, on the beach at Camp Pendleton. I saw Gary and couple of times. He spent a weekend with me in the barracks at the hospital.
Every month another 25-30 corpsmen were drafted from the hospital and every month my name was missing from the list. I lasted until December, when my name was finally on the list. I believe there were 25 of us on the list. 23 sets of orders came from the Bureau of Personnel: Fleet Marine Corps. Two of us waited and waited. I remember joking with a nurse that I was going on a Mediterranean cruise. We were both shocked when I got orders to the USS America, the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier and she was on her first Mediterranean cruise.
So, while Gary went west to the Fleet Marine Force and duty in Viet Nam, I went east and joined the USS America at Nice, France.
It was another classmate, Wanda, who wrote and told me that Gary had been killed in Viet Nam. It was a shock.
That was in 1966 I have not forgotten Gary and his friendship. For years I felt that it was my fault that he was killed. He joined the Navy because I did. He went to Hospital Corps School because I did. It has taken a long time to realize that Gary would have joined the service and would have found his way to Viet Nam.
I stayed in the Navy and dedicated my service to the memory of Gary Hann.
I moved to Gresham, Oregon, in September 2000 and on a clear spring day I made my way to the Oregon Viet Nam Memorial, in Washington Park, above downtown Portland. Here, on a series of marble tablets, are the names of 741 sons of Oregon, who gave their lives during the Viet Nam War. I said goodbye to Gary that day. I have taken others and introduced them to Gary.
Thank you Gary, for being such a great friend. You will always be a part of my life and you the first of the Faces of Oregon.
In the process of rebuilding my computer files I came across an article I had written about my best friend in high school.
I wrote this in September of 2001. An email from one of my twin daughters, talking about her first day of high school, reminded me of a similar day, 41 years ago. It was on the first day of school at Stayton Union High School, in Stayton, Oregon, that I met Gary Hann. I don’t remember the class, but we were sitting in alphabetical order and this redhead from Aumsville starting bugging me right from the beginning.
We remained friends through our 4 years of high school. During our junior year I decided to join the Naval Reserve. I was planning to join the Navy upon graduation. By joining the reserves I figured I could gain experience and have a step ahead of my classmates. Gary decided to join also. His father had been a Marine during WWII and refused to allow Gary to join the Marine Corps. He decided that the alternative way to the Marines was via the U.S. Navy Hospital Corps, whose members provide the medical support for the Marine Corps.
During the summer between our junior and senior years we spent two weeks at a reserve boot camp at the Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado, California. The San Diego Naval Training Center had been closed due to meningitis outbreak and a temporary two-week boot camp was set up across the bay. After those two weeks, we spent two weeks aboard a Destroyer Escort, stationed at Treasure Island, San Francisco. Those two weeks included a weekend cruise to Monterey Bay.
Upon graduation Gary and I reported to the Hospital Corps School in San Diego, California, for a sixteen-week course in instruction. During this time the Gulf of Tonkin incident was stages, which lead to the buildup of U.S. forces in Viet Nam.
Corps School was crowded. We were together 24 hours a day for those sixteen weeks. He had the bottom bunk in and I had the top one. When Gary found out I was writing Wanda, who was a year behind us in school, he started writing her too. When he didn’t write, she would ask about Gary and would also let me know when he did wrote.
Those sixteen weeks went by fast and we all realized that we had a good chance of going to Viet Nam with the Marine Corps. Close friendship drafted apart during this period. I think that deep down we knew that many of the class would not survive. We saw the reminders everyday. The halls of Corps School were lined with the pictures and citations of the members of the Hospital Corps who had been awarded the Medal of Honor. Most had been awarded while serving with Marine Corps units and most had been awarded posthumeriously. We were young, invincible and didn’t dwell on such things.
Upon graduation I was ordered to the Naval Hospital on the Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California. Gary went to the Naval Hospital, Oakland, California. After six weeks of ward duty, Gary volunteered for duty with the Fleet Marine Force and his offer was accepted. The Field Medicine School is at Camp De Mar, on the beach at Camp Pendleton. I saw Gary and couple of times. He spent a weekend with me in the barracks at the hospital.
Every month another 25-30 corpsmen were drafted from the hospital and every month my name was missing from the list. I lasted until December, when my name was finally on the list. I believe there were 25 of us on the list. 23 sets of orders came from the Bureau of Personnel: Fleet Marine Corps. Two of us waited and waited. I remember joking with a nurse that I was going on a Mediterranean cruise. We were both shocked when I got orders to the USS America, the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier and she was on her first Mediterranean cruise.
So, while Gary went west to the Fleet Marine Force and duty in Viet Nam, I went east and joined the USS America at Nice, France.
It was another classmate, Wanda, who wrote and told me that Gary had been killed in Viet Nam. It was a shock.
That was in 1966 I have not forgotten Gary and his friendship. For years I felt that it was my fault that he was killed. He joined the Navy because I did. He went to Hospital Corps School because I did. It has taken a long time to realize that Gary would have joined the service and would have found his way to Viet Nam.
I stayed in the Navy and dedicated my service to the memory of Gary Hann.
I moved to Gresham, Oregon, in September 2000 and on a clear spring day I made my way to the Oregon Viet Nam Memorial, in Washington Park, above downtown Portland. Here, on a series of marble tablets, are the names of 741 sons of Oregon, who gave their lives during the Viet Nam War. I said goodbye to Gary that day. I have taken others and introduced them to Gary.
Thank you Gary, for being such a great friend. You will always be a part of my life and you the first of the Faces of Oregon.
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