PDA

View Full Version : The quiet front



thedrifter
12-29-03, 06:37 AM
The quiet front: Civil service

In Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and on the home front, civilian women and men put themselves in harm's way supporting the military
Published Tue, Dec 9, 2003
By MICHAEL KERR
Gazette staff writer
More by Michael Kerr
Her dining room table covered with photographs, newspaper clippings, medals and mementos, June Andrade leafs through the memories of a 30-year career supporting the U.S. military as a civil service worker.
Beaming, she points to a picture on the Tan Sanut Air Force Base in Saigon, where she lived during the final days of the Vietnam War.

Helicopters carrying rescued prisoners of war on their way back home flew into the base, just a few feet above Andrade as she stood outside watching them come in.

"I was probably the first American female they had seen in years," the Beaufort resident says. "It was the most extraordinary site I have ever seen. It made me proud to be an American and proud to be in Vietnam, doing whatever I could to help. ... Just to see them come home and see the end of the war."

Andrade spent nearly two years in Vietnam, working beside the troops as Secretary to the Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Vietnam and Secretary to the Chief of Staff, U.S. Military Forces, Vietnam, sticking around until the war was just about over in April 1973.

"When there were 8,000 U.S. forces left, I figured it was time to go," she says. "In fact, it was way past time."

A lifetime of service

Andrade moved to Beaufort from Georgia with her family in 1941 at the age of 5, when her father accepted a civil service job as heating plant engineer at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island.

"I've been with civil service all my life, really, beginning with my father," says Andrade, who graduated from Beaufort High School in 1955.

She took her first civil service job in 1964 as a clerk and typist in Washington, D.C., before heading to Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah in 1966. Three years later, the Department of Defense came calling, recruiting civilians to support the troops in Korea.

Andrade worked for the chief of intelligence for the 8th Army in Korea until 1970, when she returned to Hunter Army Airfield for a year before volunteering for her tour in Vietnam.

She also worked at Headquarters Marine Corps and as the logistics management specialist for the new Systems Acquisition Command in Quantico, Va., but got her first taste of the Marine Corps right here in Beaufort County at Parris Island from 1973 to 1978 as secretary to then Maj. Gen. Robert H. Barrow -- who would go on to serve as commandant of the Marine Corps -- and Maj. Gen. Jacque Poillon.

"That was an exciting time, especially coming from the Army to work for the Marine Corps," Andrade says. "Marines have very high standards."

Watching her father as a young girl, Andrade could tell that working with the military was a special job, she says.

"He was so devoted to his work. He encouraged each child to go into the civil service," Andrade says. "I've never regretted it. It has been an exciting career.

"This was my career, my chosen career, and I feel I did make a difference."

Unrecognized efforts

As the Vietnam War unfolded around her, Andrade says she was proud -- but scared, never knowing exactly who to trust -- and committed to continue supporting the troops in combat.

"I don't think the American public realizes the length and depth of the civil service and its support of the military," she says. "Whether in country here in the United States or overseas, the civil service is there."

In Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and on the home front, civilian women and men put themselves in harm's way supporting the military, Andrade says, and they deserve to be recognized.

Calling Vietnam "the forgotten war," Andrade says there are many American heroes who have gone unnoticed for too long.

"We have heroes, unsung heroes who are military and civilian," she says. "(In Vietnam) we lost so many of America's true heroes. Some of which are out homeless or in VA hospitals.

I just wish that I could do more."

Andrade retired from civil service in September 1993, returning home to Beaufort where she passes the time writing and playing with her two 17-plus pound tomcats, Pepper and Bubba Billy.

She's been all through Europe and to just about every country in the Far East, so she has a ready response when friends ask why she doesn't take advantage of her retirement to travel.

"Why would I travel when I'm already here?" she asks with a smile. "I feel as if I've come full circle. As they say, it's a wonderful life."

Contact Michael Kerr at 986-5539 or mkerr@beaufortgazette.com.

http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local_news/military/story/3117071p-2823536c.html


Sempers,

Roger
:marine: