thedrifter
02-06-07, 10:54 AM
Buckley: Milford man a victim of 'friendly' fire
By James Buckley/Local columnist
Tuesday, February 06, 2007 - Updated: 12:15 AM EST
In February 1968, 20-year-old Wayne D. Hamel of Milford became a ground casualty during the Vietnam War.
He graduated from boot camp with Platoon 101 at the Marine Corps recruit Depot, Parris Island in March 1965 at age 17. When he joined the USMC he had been "making his home" in Milford with the Carbone family, where he had apparently been a foster child.
Some of those who knew him then felt that he had experienced a tough time during his early years due to the fact that he had been a foster child in a number of locations. Perhaps this was the reason he left high school before completing his studies and decided to join the Marine Corps.
Hamel was not USMC poster material. He was said to be short and slim, about 5 feet, six inches tall and weigh about 125 pounds. And sometimes he had to wear eyeglasses. Perhaps because of these conditions, he was shy, provoking some of his fellow Marines to conclude that he was a loner.
The only Marie who might have interacted with Hamel at this point in his life was Arthur C. Ferreira, a fellow recruit in Platoon 101 and a native Milfordian. Considering the fact that the population of Milford was considerably smaller in 1965 than today, and that both young men had attended Milford High School, they undoubtedly knew each other.
Despite his physical drawbacks and his shyness, Hamel nevertheless manifested the determination and grit needed to completely satisfy the USMC boot camp requirements.
After his initial training, it was decided to send Hamel to school to learn to be an electronic communications and ground radar repairman. Subsequently he received excellent conduct and proficiency marks while a member of the Maintenance Battalion at Camp Lejeune.
In December 1967 he landed in Vietnam and was assigned to be a radar repair technician with Headquarters Battery, 12th Marine regiment. This unit was located south of Con Thien in Quang Tri Province. He and his fellow Marines spent that Christmas engaged in incessant battles or skirmishes with the enemy, and New Years Eve, 1967 was just another date on a calendar.
Unfortunately, too often, Marines had to be aware of not only the artillery aimed at them by the enemy but also the possibility that they might be hit by "friendly fire."
According to Lt. Col. Charles R. Shrader, deaths of our fighting men in Vietnam due to friendly fire happened with "disturbing frequency." Calling such death "amicicide," Shrader concluded that such death occurred when visibility was poor or due to servicemen's nervousness or fatigue under fire. It also occasionally occurred while a McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom aircraft passed overhead of the military action on the ground and misinterpreted a wayward signal from the ground.
Entering the service in 1960, the F-4, a two-seat supersonic long-range all weather fighter-bomber was adopted by the Air Force in 1963 for its fighter-bomber capabilities. Under combat conditions during the Vietnam War, the pilot of a F-4 Phantom jet might pick up a signal that he would mistake for enemy action.
Such a signal would originate on the ground when the activities of an active radar unit inadvertently reflected upward off nearby concertina wire where Marines were operating. Such a signal might cause the pilot to conclude that an enemy surface to air missile was being fired.
Based upon this erroneous conclusion, the pilot would release a strike missile at the signal. Invariably, the missile would track the radar signal to the ground and explode, killing or wounding Marines in that vicinity.
Around 5:15 p.m. on the afternoon of Feb. 5, 1968, Hamel was performing routine maintenance on an active radar unit. By that time, darkness had fallen, making the already difficult warfare conditions that much worse. Passing overhead, the pilot of a F-4 Phantom released a strike missile at the radar signal. The missile did its job; it tracked the radar signal to the ground end exploded near where Hamel was operating his radar equipment.
Hamel sustained multiple fragmentation wounds to the head and body, causing him to be killed instantly.
When his body was returned to the U.S., a funeral service was conducted in Milford but he was buried at Columbia Cemetery in Colebrook, New Hampshire.
James J. Buckley may be contacted at: historybuckley@yahoo.com
Ellie
By James Buckley/Local columnist
Tuesday, February 06, 2007 - Updated: 12:15 AM EST
In February 1968, 20-year-old Wayne D. Hamel of Milford became a ground casualty during the Vietnam War.
He graduated from boot camp with Platoon 101 at the Marine Corps recruit Depot, Parris Island in March 1965 at age 17. When he joined the USMC he had been "making his home" in Milford with the Carbone family, where he had apparently been a foster child.
Some of those who knew him then felt that he had experienced a tough time during his early years due to the fact that he had been a foster child in a number of locations. Perhaps this was the reason he left high school before completing his studies and decided to join the Marine Corps.
Hamel was not USMC poster material. He was said to be short and slim, about 5 feet, six inches tall and weigh about 125 pounds. And sometimes he had to wear eyeglasses. Perhaps because of these conditions, he was shy, provoking some of his fellow Marines to conclude that he was a loner.
The only Marie who might have interacted with Hamel at this point in his life was Arthur C. Ferreira, a fellow recruit in Platoon 101 and a native Milfordian. Considering the fact that the population of Milford was considerably smaller in 1965 than today, and that both young men had attended Milford High School, they undoubtedly knew each other.
Despite his physical drawbacks and his shyness, Hamel nevertheless manifested the determination and grit needed to completely satisfy the USMC boot camp requirements.
After his initial training, it was decided to send Hamel to school to learn to be an electronic communications and ground radar repairman. Subsequently he received excellent conduct and proficiency marks while a member of the Maintenance Battalion at Camp Lejeune.
In December 1967 he landed in Vietnam and was assigned to be a radar repair technician with Headquarters Battery, 12th Marine regiment. This unit was located south of Con Thien in Quang Tri Province. He and his fellow Marines spent that Christmas engaged in incessant battles or skirmishes with the enemy, and New Years Eve, 1967 was just another date on a calendar.
Unfortunately, too often, Marines had to be aware of not only the artillery aimed at them by the enemy but also the possibility that they might be hit by "friendly fire."
According to Lt. Col. Charles R. Shrader, deaths of our fighting men in Vietnam due to friendly fire happened with "disturbing frequency." Calling such death "amicicide," Shrader concluded that such death occurred when visibility was poor or due to servicemen's nervousness or fatigue under fire. It also occasionally occurred while a McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom aircraft passed overhead of the military action on the ground and misinterpreted a wayward signal from the ground.
Entering the service in 1960, the F-4, a two-seat supersonic long-range all weather fighter-bomber was adopted by the Air Force in 1963 for its fighter-bomber capabilities. Under combat conditions during the Vietnam War, the pilot of a F-4 Phantom jet might pick up a signal that he would mistake for enemy action.
Such a signal would originate on the ground when the activities of an active radar unit inadvertently reflected upward off nearby concertina wire where Marines were operating. Such a signal might cause the pilot to conclude that an enemy surface to air missile was being fired.
Based upon this erroneous conclusion, the pilot would release a strike missile at the signal. Invariably, the missile would track the radar signal to the ground and explode, killing or wounding Marines in that vicinity.
Around 5:15 p.m. on the afternoon of Feb. 5, 1968, Hamel was performing routine maintenance on an active radar unit. By that time, darkness had fallen, making the already difficult warfare conditions that much worse. Passing overhead, the pilot of a F-4 Phantom released a strike missile at the radar signal. The missile did its job; it tracked the radar signal to the ground end exploded near where Hamel was operating his radar equipment.
Hamel sustained multiple fragmentation wounds to the head and body, causing him to be killed instantly.
When his body was returned to the U.S., a funeral service was conducted in Milford but he was buried at Columbia Cemetery in Colebrook, New Hampshire.
James J. Buckley may be contacted at: historybuckley@yahoo.com
Ellie