Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in this edition is Ken Gunner Guyer. He is a US Navy veteran and a veteran of the US Coastguard Reserve. He served in the Vietnam War and he is joining US aboard the USS Midway here in San Diego, California. And Gunner, great to have you with us. Thank you very much. Greg. Where were you born and raised there? I was born in Denver, Colorado, raised
in Phoenix, Arizona. Any military history and your family key was my great uncle Mustang commander in the Navy Aviation Machinists and he served on the Lexington and a Pearl Harbor survivor. My father was Coastguard on Navy LSTs in the South Pacific. Those are the most significant ones. What can instead to join the Navy? Growing up coming to San Diego almost every summer my life, and spending a lot of it with my uncle on the Navy base, and it
just was a natural. I love the water and love ships, and it was destined graduation and in boot camp. And you joined in nineteen sixty seven, so the war was going on at that time. What did you expect as you entered the service, did you expect to be sent to Vietnam? To be real honest with you, I desired very very much to go to
Vietnam. I volunteered in boot camp. Manning was such that they did not have openings in patrol boats, which is what I wanted, so they put me on a oiler AO twenty two, the oldest ship in the navy. USS Cimarron got a little frustrated after a few months, and a friend of mine got married, took leave, and when he returned he had orders to Vietnam with the approval of the captain. I took his orders, and so
how so then were you on your way? It was I actually had to wait until I was I turned eighteen years old, so I did thirty days leave. I did training, survival school, and originally reported to Naval support activities Denaying and then to Denaying Harbor Patrol. And what unit were you attached to at this point? It was it was Denaying Harvor Patrol and our job
mainly was to operate forty five foot picket boats. I was striking for gunner's mate, so I had I was in charge of a twin fifty caliber machine gun mount It was everything that I wanted it to be. Loved being on the boats. Why, I don't know, I don't know. I mean I got out of the Navy and got my coastguard license and I spent forty five years on San Diego Harbor as a licensed captain, So I boats were
in my blood. So tell me about the assignment of the boat. What was what was the job you as a crew were doing, and your specific job. Okay, we had we had a crew of five, and my
specific job was gunner. We were assigned to patrol not only Denaying Harbor and all of the Navy ships that were anchored out there or doing gunfire support out there, but we also patrolled the Denaang River, which took us into downtown Denang, and our main job there was to search the junks that were crossing the river for contraband what type of response did you get from them from the Vietnamese? It was that was you know, that was expected. Didn't really
have any incidents or anything. We did find a Russian AK forty seven in a rice bowl in one of the junks, and we arrested the two occupants. We did have South Vietnamese police officers with us on the boat. What type of enemy presents was around there? There was really not a lot of obvious enemy presents. We did have several incidents, the most The largest one I remember was the bridge ramp. The ramp where the yfus would go to
offload their ammunition and what have you. Did get hit with a couple of what we call sappers and basically the whole ramp area blew up. We lost about ten sailors net incident, and it was kind of shocking. But what it was the way it was. Things go along and they seem, okay, I let your guard down a little bit, and then this happens. So what was the size of your crew on the These were forty five foot picket boats, and we had a captain, an engineer, a gunner,
and two seamen. Your nickname is gunner. So how often did you have to engage with the gun Was that fairly rare? Fairly common? How would you well down in denaying? It was rare, and most of it was gunfire support for the Marine Corps on the other side of the harbor. They would give us a coordinates and we'd we'd lay in a little bit of fifty caliber rounds to help them out and they would adjust our fire. My nickname really came when I transferred up to the Quabet Patrol, which was about three
miles from the DMZ up in the northern part of South Vietnam. Pretty much action all the time, and well, I won't say all the time, because there was enough time in between to put you a little on edge. Daytime we were escorting the supply boats to Dongha and during the night we were interdiction for North Vietnamese Army trying to get across the river. I can see why that would be a significant fire spot, so talk to me about what
that's like. That type of frequency in combat. I almost would have preferred more frequency. There was enough time in between where you kind of wondered whether you would react the same way. It's the first fire fire, the very very first one that you remember, and the one thing I do remember about it is being scolded by the boat captain after we were done about my rate
of fire. It was a little a little too much, a little too often, and tended to get the barrels on the machine gun a little glowing. But in all honesty, because it's it's a group of people. Two Marines for Navy. The two Marines augmented us with the searchlight, an infrared searchlight, and it was nice to have them on board because they're training in how to handle weapons. I would say much more extensive than ours was what were you expected to do as a gunner? If what you had done was
too much? What did he want you to do? Well? It just judicious use of your ammunition is the way I would put it. It didn't take much, just a little. You're a little anxious your little tents. You're not really paying attention. You have tracers coming towards you. You know, I don't know if you're really trying to keep them from hitting you or what have you, but you just you just are a little more excited. I would say within two or three weeks, I was pretty calmed down.
Did most of the enemy presents come from the water or from the shore? It was definitely shoreline and there was always North Bank. We did get ambushed one time. They had presence on the South bank in two different locations and presence on the North Bank in two different locations. So when we the standard procedure once anything would happen would be to clear the area and then get all of the equipment that we're going to be using to rendezvous and make our firing
runs. So U the one time that they were on both sides of the bank, we got a little bit snookerd and we called in close air support, which we received from the South Vietnamese Air Force A one sky raiders, and they took care of them. How wide is the river? So how far apart were view from them as they tried to ambush you? Well, the narrowest part of the river, which is where they were, not like what's down in the in the Mekong Delta at all. These are these It's
a pretty wide river. I would say it's probably at the narrowest part maybe an eighth of a mile wide, to the widest part maybe a half mile to you know, it was it was a wide river. It was the banks weren't that overloaded, so it wasn't at all the delta. Um they had plenty of brush to to hide themselves in. But these these were primarily North Vietnamese Army regulars. These were not What kind of protection did you have
on the boat as you're exchanging fire? For me, it was there were there were twin armored shields on either side of the weapon, and then we had flat jackson in helmets. What's the most harrowing um experience that you had was at the ambush? You know, I don't I don't recall something that would that I would describe that way harrowing um. It it became not routine, but it became a matter of how we operated once once an engagement would start. So it wasn't as bad as as you might think. But I
really can't don't remember anything that just kind of stands out. What kind of speed would you be going on a patrol before you would be engaging, Probably probably between as slow as four knots too, maybe ten or twelve. And how fast could you reload your weapon? I had quite a few boxes of fifty caliber ammunition right near me, so as I was getting low, resupply
was actually pretty quick, so I got pretty good at it. And how how did the communication work on the boat since it was forty five ft long? Could you all pretty much holler to each other or did you have different ways of communicating especially when things got a little heated. Now, the boats up in Quaviette were actually about thirty two feet. They were the old LCpl
steel boats. Probably saw action in Normandy, so loud engine, loud gunfire, anybody that needed to get anybody's attention could I got direction quite a bit from the skipper. We have pretty good communications. As you think back on your service, what specific events come to mind when you think back on those years. Is it that for a skirmish like you mentioned, Is it another instance? Is it when you finally laugh? What moments are most vivid still
in your mind? The one that and I still am in touch with members of my gun gang on the USS Jewett, the last ship I was on, our Captain Sam Gravely, great skipper enjoyed being part of his crew. Sam found out when we were down in Wellington, New Zealand, that he was admiral select He was the first Black to make admiral in the US Navy, and that pretty much stands out as something that was very significant in our career because it was it was not just that he made admiral, but it's
it's the fact that our captain made admiral and he definitely deserved it. What made him a good captain poise, calm, cool, He was a large man, I remember him sitting on the stern of the Jewet and when we're in port in Hong Kong and fishing. But he was a good six foot six barrel chested, you know, very imposing. I do remember one incident where he was on sitting in the captain's chair on the bridge and there was a Russian troller in the way of one of the aircraft carriers that was refueling.
So we were sent to kind of engage the troll and let him know that we'd appreciate him to move. And it's just the way he uh, you know. We he loaded up the missile launchers, he had the five inch gun trained on the troller, and we went as close as we possibly could and sending messages to the trawler, you know, it's time for you to leave. And he just sat in that chair like he was, you know, casually watching the sunset and very calm, very cool. I assume
the troller moved, Yes, yeah, he moved rather rapidly. He didn't need a whole lot of extra encouragement. No, tell me more about your time aboard the Jewet. Jewet was I came aboard as a third class petty officer and was put in charge of a three inch fifty gun mount. We did a lot of a lot of gun drills and things like that, so I got to fire the three inch quite a bit, and then they put
me on as mount captain for a five inch fifty four. With that one, it seems to me we did a couple of gunfire supports for the Marines, oddly enough, right off the coast of where I had served on patrol boats. In particular, we were involved in the Sante Pow Camp raid, where the Green Berets had infiltrated a Pow camp that was right next to Hannoi
and the purpose was to rescue the POWs. Unfortunately, the North Vietnamese had already taken the POWs out and relocated him to the Hannoy Hilton, so even though it was a successful raid, we didn't get to complete the mission by getting the POWs. Were the troops very cognizant of the POWs as the war one on. I'm sure you knew about them, but was that a motivating factor to a win the war and b make sure they got liberated as soon
as possible. I don't remember it being something that we talked about a lot until I got home. Once I got home and got out of the service, the POWs became something that I kept an eye on, and I was grateful for their release. It's been since then. Here on the Midway. When I first got here, there were four pilots that had been POWs, Ev Southwick, Will and I can't remember this name, but Ev and Will
have since passed away. And the nice thing about it, and talking with Ev about the Sante raid here, I was thinking that we had failed at something, and he kind of set me straight. He said, you know, because of that raid, they moved the POWs into the Hanoi Hilton and for the first time we had, you know, cell mates and people that we could we could interact with. So he said it was a good thing
for us, and that kind of made me feel better. But knowing the POWs here in what they went through, it it's still something that's on my mind. You had many different roles in theater over there, you had you did you were on smaller boats and in different parts of the country, one with less action and one with a significant amount of action. And then what we just talked about from the Jewet and so what did that experience do for you, and working with other people and being in combat and a lot of
different type of situations. Probably the best thing it did for me is I ultimately became a San Diego firefighter, and and I think it was it was the experience that I had on the boats in different situations, both dangerous and not so dangerous. I think that's what made me a good firefighter. I know it's what prompted me to want to become a paramedic. And unfortunately San Diego did not have paramedics in the fire department at that time. But I
think my Navy service served me all the way through my life. How are you treated when you came home? Well, I tell people on the Midway, I don't remember too much about the day to day patrols that I went on. I can think real hard and picture them, but I remember every single step I took in the San Francisco airport. When I came home. It was shocking. Here we are, we didn't know anything about this. We come home home, and all of a sudden we're faced with gauntlets and
ticket lines and people yelling at you and calling us baby killers. I didn't even know where that came from. I had captured a Russian SKS rifle and went through the process of getting permission to bring it back home as a war trophy. Back in those days, when you did that, you had to carry it out in the open. So here I was in uniform walking through the San Francisco Airport with a weapon, So it drew an awful lot of the shouts and screams. Looking back on it, I don't know how I
feel about it. I don't know what prompted America to go this route. So it's it's it's kind of a confusing time, but it was not pleasant. I'm very glad to see that veterans retreated a whole lot better today. Did it make you think any differently at that time about your own service or was it just confusion over how they got to that point where they were so hostile? No? No, I never doubted anything in my service, never
doubted the Vietnam War. I didn't get into the politics of it. I was assigned to do a job, and I did a job a gunner. When you think back to the different things that you did and the impact that it made on the war effort, the success along the DMZ. Hearing that story from the former pow about how what you thought was unsuccessful was successful. You did a job, and you did it very well. Ultimately, the end result of the war was not what we wanted. But when you know
that you did your very best, how does that make you feel? I feel proud. I don't look at it that we lost the war, I really don't. I believe wholeheartedly we won every engagement. You know. It's it's the things that should stay out of war that caused the problems, and that's the little thing called politics. I have no regrets. I volunteered for everything. I asked for what I got. As oddly as it might sound, I have very good memories. You also spend time later in the US
Coast Guard Reserve. Why did you make that decision and what kind of things did you do in that role? When I was a firefighter, the Coastguard had a great idea of bringing metropolitan firefighters on board as reservists in a special firefighting unit that would be trained to do shipboard firefighting in different harbors, with San Francisco, La San Diego, and I think up in Seattle. It didn't didn't go over real big because there weren't that many incidents of shipboard fires,
but we report securityman. The great thing about is I got to get back on small boats again doing patrols in the bay, and I got to know about another service, which you know, looking back on it wouldn't have been a bad alternative. I couldn't have gotten the Navy. You were telling me before we started recording about how even after that, your your your love for the water is perhaps the greatest thing he took out of your time in
the Navy. Yeah. I Unfortunately, I've lost my mobility due to age in Orange the exposure, and that has put an end to my my time on the on the water. But I enjoyed it. I was the chaseboat skipper for Team Dennis Connor during three America's Cup up. Um. I got to do the ultimate in sailing. I was a competitive sailor out on the bay and skipper the old twelve meter stars and stripes here in San Diego.
So um, Yeah, the water, the water was my life. And you know Midway's taken taking that over and I get to sit up on the deck and watch everybody else enjoy it. That's fantastic. I didn't know about the America's Cup part. That's that's about the pinnacle of sailing as you can get right there. Yeah, I was. I was very pleased when Bill Trinkle, Dennis Connor's right hand man, asked me if I wanted to join the team, and I said, well, aren't I two olds? No?
No, I mean as chaseboat drivers, So uh so it was great. I was. I was back driving a twenty eight foot inflatable which went every time a raceboat went somewhere. That was the engine, so I had to go. We spent a summer of ninety two in New York doing sponsorship fulfillment. Actually got to meet one of our future presidents, Donald Trump, during that We took him out sailing. So yeah, sailing has been a huge part of my life. Were you part of the team that got the
cut back in eighty seven? No, I'm afraid not, but that's I do remember staying up till two in the morning to watch that, and it was really great to ultimately be working with all of those guys that did that fantastic event. What are you most proud of from your time in service. I think probably the fact that I participated in the conflict of the day and I did it as a volunteer. I think that's important. I would like to see a day where anytime we send Americans towards it's my volunteer. I
think we'd get enough, you know. But I'm I'm I'm proud of all my service. And lastly, since we're I board the USS Midway, how did you get associated with the museum? And what does it mean to you to be here every day? Oh? When the Midway came in, and I think it was two thousand and six, I was managing the Marriott Marina just right up the street and I saw them bring it across to the pier,
came and inquired became a member. And what I would do is, since I'm restricted to a wheelchair, I had my lunches at the marina. I would get a sandwich and drive down the boardwalk to the Midway, and because I was a member, I'd go on board and eat my sandwich on the flight deck. When I decided to retire from Marriott, I was up on the flight deck and one of the docents that I had met asked me,
what are you gonna do when you retire? And I said, I've been active with the Maritime Museum. Maybe I'll help them out or something. He just laughed. He said, why don't you come over here and become a docent? So best move I ever made my life. I can't begin to tell you how much it means to be part of the Midway, the camaraderie, all of the people that are on board that both served in the military and didn't serve in the military and just want to be a part of
it. Getting to know carrier operations, getting to know the pilots that were just streaks in the sky when I was in Vietnam. It's been incredible. It's been incredible, Gunner. I can't thank you enough for your service to our country, and I know it continues as you educate people who come to the museum about not only the Midway but the military in general. Telling your story. I'm sure for those that let's stop to talk with you. So
thank you for that and thank you for your time today. We truly appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you for doing this. Ers is great. Oh you're welcome. Ken Gunner. Geyer, a US Navy veteran and a US Coastguard Reserve veteran, served in the Vietnam War. I'm Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles. Hi, this is Greg Corumbus and thanks for listening to Veterans Chronicles, a presentation of the American Veterans Center. For
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