thedrifter
05-14-08, 08:22 AM
May 14, 2008
Fort Myers Vietnam vet to be honored with unit in D.C.
By JL WATSON
jlwatson@news-press.com
The plane ride from Fort Myers to Washington, D.C., takes just a couple of hours.
But the trip took 40 years for Navy gunner and photographer's mate Earl Litz, of Fort Myers. Plus, it cost him a lifetime of bad memories and lost comrades.
Litz will collect the Presidential Unit Citation today along with some of the surviving members of his VO-67 squadron for service in Vietnam. The Presidential Unit Citation is the highest award given by the government for a unit's service.
The VO-67 squadron had a short life span - just 500 days. But in that time they saved lives of countless soldiers by dropping seismic and acoustic devices along the Ho Chi Minh trail and near Khe Sanh in South Vietnam, alerting U.S. forces where the enemy was and what they were doing.
"We dropped sensors that were so sensitive they could detect talking," Litz said. "I flew every other day, two or three missions."
The sensors opened on impact and were camouflaged to look like tropical foliage. The devices were designed to explode if the enemy discovered them and tried to remove them.
The job was dirty and dangerous - and nonexistent, according to the U.S. government. Even the name was a misnomer. The "VO" was short for "Observation Squadron" although there was no official observation; there was only action. The number 67 indicated the year the squadron was assembled.
"Our mission was the most highly classified of the Vietnam War at that time," Litz said.
It was so secret some of the 328 members who made it back home had trouble getting full benefits because their service with the unit wasn't recorded on exit papers. It wasn't until 1998 the Navy declassified information about the "Ghost Squadron."
The men were forbidden to speak about what they had done during the war until the records were made public.
"The government expected a 50 percent loss (of life) when we were there," said Dave Steffy, a gunner and electronics technician whose crew activated the sensors that Litz dropped. "That's how desperate (government officials) were to find the Ho Chi Minh trail."
Despite the odds, the young crews made trip after trip over enemy territory. The experience changed the men who came back. Many suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and physical side effects.
Once information about the unit's activities was declassified, Steffy, who lives in Manteca, Calif., started a Web site for the group, and many of the former comrades now have a reunion every other year.
U.S. Rep. William T. Sali from Idaho learned of the men's courage and pursued an effort to gain recognition for the unit. That led Donald Winter, secretary of the Navy, to sign the Presidential Unit Citation, which commended the members for "extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of duty in action against enemy forces in the Republic of Vietnam."
This trip to the nation's capital is one more chance to remember the 20 men and one mascot dog who gave their lives in service to others. Litz will read the list of names of the men who didn't come home, with a bell tolling to mark each one. He has done it before at other ceremonies, and the event never fails to bring him to tears.
"There won't be a dry eye in the house," Litz said.
Perhaps no one is more proud of Litz than someone who won't be in attendance this week - his son, Eric. The younger Litz served in the U. S. Marines for eight years and now trains military personnel in Alabama as a civilian. He was so impressed by his father's service he became an associate member of the squadron.
"It's my role, and others, to keep speaking about the VO-67, even after the members are gone," Eric Litz said. "I'm always willing to talk about it."
The Presidential Unit Citation can't erase the years of pain or memories his father still won't talk about, but it's vindication the men deserve, he said.
"They can hold their heads high," Eric Litz said. "They're getting what they deserved after 40 years."
Ellie
Fort Myers Vietnam vet to be honored with unit in D.C.
By JL WATSON
jlwatson@news-press.com
The plane ride from Fort Myers to Washington, D.C., takes just a couple of hours.
But the trip took 40 years for Navy gunner and photographer's mate Earl Litz, of Fort Myers. Plus, it cost him a lifetime of bad memories and lost comrades.
Litz will collect the Presidential Unit Citation today along with some of the surviving members of his VO-67 squadron for service in Vietnam. The Presidential Unit Citation is the highest award given by the government for a unit's service.
The VO-67 squadron had a short life span - just 500 days. But in that time they saved lives of countless soldiers by dropping seismic and acoustic devices along the Ho Chi Minh trail and near Khe Sanh in South Vietnam, alerting U.S. forces where the enemy was and what they were doing.
"We dropped sensors that were so sensitive they could detect talking," Litz said. "I flew every other day, two or three missions."
The sensors opened on impact and were camouflaged to look like tropical foliage. The devices were designed to explode if the enemy discovered them and tried to remove them.
The job was dirty and dangerous - and nonexistent, according to the U.S. government. Even the name was a misnomer. The "VO" was short for "Observation Squadron" although there was no official observation; there was only action. The number 67 indicated the year the squadron was assembled.
"Our mission was the most highly classified of the Vietnam War at that time," Litz said.
It was so secret some of the 328 members who made it back home had trouble getting full benefits because their service with the unit wasn't recorded on exit papers. It wasn't until 1998 the Navy declassified information about the "Ghost Squadron."
The men were forbidden to speak about what they had done during the war until the records were made public.
"The government expected a 50 percent loss (of life) when we were there," said Dave Steffy, a gunner and electronics technician whose crew activated the sensors that Litz dropped. "That's how desperate (government officials) were to find the Ho Chi Minh trail."
Despite the odds, the young crews made trip after trip over enemy territory. The experience changed the men who came back. Many suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and physical side effects.
Once information about the unit's activities was declassified, Steffy, who lives in Manteca, Calif., started a Web site for the group, and many of the former comrades now have a reunion every other year.
U.S. Rep. William T. Sali from Idaho learned of the men's courage and pursued an effort to gain recognition for the unit. That led Donald Winter, secretary of the Navy, to sign the Presidential Unit Citation, which commended the members for "extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of duty in action against enemy forces in the Republic of Vietnam."
This trip to the nation's capital is one more chance to remember the 20 men and one mascot dog who gave their lives in service to others. Litz will read the list of names of the men who didn't come home, with a bell tolling to mark each one. He has done it before at other ceremonies, and the event never fails to bring him to tears.
"There won't be a dry eye in the house," Litz said.
Perhaps no one is more proud of Litz than someone who won't be in attendance this week - his son, Eric. The younger Litz served in the U. S. Marines for eight years and now trains military personnel in Alabama as a civilian. He was so impressed by his father's service he became an associate member of the squadron.
"It's my role, and others, to keep speaking about the VO-67, even after the members are gone," Eric Litz said. "I'm always willing to talk about it."
The Presidential Unit Citation can't erase the years of pain or memories his father still won't talk about, but it's vindication the men deserve, he said.
"They can hold their heads high," Eric Litz said. "They're getting what they deserved after 40 years."
Ellie