ប្រវត្តិសាស្រ្តបិទមុខ

Just a few powerful stories about our wonderful Navy that Skip brought
to my attention. If these stories don't move you then you have no
heart.

It's a dream comes true! After 26.5 years wondering and many years of
searching I have finally found the crew that spotted my boat in the South China
Sea in 1980. There is no words to describe how happy I am and I would like to
take this opportunity to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for saving
our lives that day. My name is Shelley McElheny (was Ngoc Giang) and I was 17
at the time of the rescue. Our boat had been drifting for many days (I could
not remember exactly for how long) and we had no way of telling where we were at
all. The trip that started with 48 people (many of those are young children)
and was intended for 3 days ended up adrift for 13 to 15 days. We already ran
out of water and food for a while and had lost 4 children toward the end (the
5th child ended up dying very soon after we were rescued by the USS Joseph
Strauss DDG-16). I remember that we saw ships at distance every once in a while
without visual aids and we tried to get help any way
we could think of but none approached us. It was a hopeless situation until
July 15th, when your aircraft spotted us and called for the Strauss to come pick
us up. Without your crew's help and the help of the DDG-16 vessel we would not
have made it. On behalf of the Vietnamese Boat People, group "43", we sincerely
THANK YOU so very much for saving our lives! We are forever grateful for your
humanitarian act.

To whom it may concern, I am one of the boat people who was rescued on
July 15,1980 by the USS Joseph Strauss. From the bottom of my heart, I
would like to thank all the crew members who were involved in the
rescue. Your humanitarian act will be forever in my heart, my mind and
soul. You have saved my life and made me of what I am today, a college
math professor.

I've often wondered what happened to the brave people we rescued that
day in the South China Sea. I remember the burial at sea of the baby
that didn't make it to safety. I also remember how hard it was to sink
the boat. The five inch gun passed right on through it, the machine
gun fire didn't let enough water in to sink a buoyant wooden boat. The
concussion grenades we had made a lot of noise but didn't hole the
boat. We then pumped 50 gallons of fuel into the boat and set her
afire. I remember going to the Mess decks and being absolutely amazed
by the spirit of the children, a little food, a little water and two
hours after facing a n unknow fate the kids were racing around playing
with the sailors. I remember in our attempts to provide clean clothes
to the people we had rescued we "confinscated" some of their clothing
only to find that there was gold sewn into the seams and hems of many
of the jeans and pants. As I remember the explanations from those
rescued this had survived tow or three searches by "pirates" before we
rescued them. We on the Joseph Strauss received some sort of
Humanitarian Service Medal for the rescue. I know that this is one of
the bright spots in my twenty year navy career and it makes me
extremly happy to know that many of the people we saved made it to the
United States and are obviously doing well. John Langdell, CDR USN Ret

On July 15th 1980 I was getting the rare chance as a Snipe
(engineering officer) to stand a bridge watch. I was the JOOD on I
believe the 1800-2000 watch. Bob Bender was the OOD and Mark Bauer in
CIC. As Mark said in an earlier posting a Navy P-3 vectored us to the
drifting refugee boat. We spotted it about an hour into my watch. As
JOOD I was conning the ship, I remember desiring to make the approach
so as to put the bow upwind and let it slowly drift down on the
refugee boat. The Captain didn't like the way I was doing this and
took the conn from me. He gave some helm orders and I thought for sure
we were going to hit the boat! We didn't and it slid down our
starboard bow maybe 10 feet away. I can remember the CO leaving the
bridge to go to the fantail and supervising loading the refugees and
taking the conn with him. He liked to supervise! I remember looking
down from the bridge wing at the boat 45 feet below. You could clearly
see what a poor state the people were in. It was a site I'll never
forget. I remember the little girl that later died being passed up to
the ship first. Now switch to 1995. I am living in Falls Church
Virginia. On Route 7 at the west end of Falls Church is a small
Vietnamese store. In the front window is a painting of Joseph Strauss.
The perspective is looking at the starboard side as if you were in the
water. Its how the refugees would have seen us that evening. Pete
Hackett, the Gunnery Officer in 1980, the officer in the Gun Director
when we tried to sink the boat with MT51, and myself went into the
store and asked the owner about the origin of the painting. He did not
know. I have always wondered if someone we picked up that day painted
the picture. If any one knows please let me know. The painting is
still there in December 2002. Its great to hear so many of the people
made it to the US and are doing well. Burt Upchurch, CDR USN-retired,
Snipe DDG-16

Quote:
South China Sea, 1980

On 30 January 1980, AE-26 Kilauea rescued 67 Vietnamese refugees in
the South China Sea. On 22 April 1980, CG-18 Worden rescued 44
Vietnamese refugees in the South China Sea. On 25 April, USNS Sealift
Antarctic rescued 59 Vietnamese refugees about 300 miles northeast of
Saigon. A P-3 aircraft from Patrol Squadron Four directed the ship to
the rescue. On 1 May, CGN-9 Long Beach rescued 107 Vietnamese refugees
about 250 miles southeast of Saigon. On 10 June, a USN P-3 located a
refugee boat in the South China Sea and directed the American merchant
ship SS Point Margo to rescue the 28 refugees. On 1 July, TAOT-176
Sealift Antarctic rescued 176 Vietnamese refugees and 9 Indonesians
from a disabled Indonesian craft in the South China Sea. On 15 July,
DDG-16 Joseph Strauss rescued 44 Vietnamese refugees. DD-972 rescued
84 refugees 300 miles northeast of Singapore on 4 August. On 11
August, the SS Transcolorado, an MSC-chartered ship, rescued 67
Vietnamese refugees, 240 miles southeast of Saigon.

On 21 August, CGN-35 Truxtun rescued 42 Vietnamese refugees 210 miles
southeast of Saigon, and DD-976 Merrill rescued 62 200 miles southeast
of Saigon. The next day, TAO 107 Passumpsic, guided by P-3 aircraft
from Patrol Squadrons 26 and 1, rescued 28 refugees. On 3 September,
DD-966 Hewitt rescued 12 refugees. On 1 October, DDG-21 Cochrane
rescued 104 refugees about 620 miles east of Saigon, ATS-3 Brunswick
rescued 27 two days later about 300 miles southeast of Saigon, and, on
6 October, LCC-19 Blue Ridge, rescued 91 refugees. On 27 October,
TAOT-175 Sealift Arctic rescued 300 refugees 240 miles southeast of
Saigon. On 29 October, DDG-33 Parsons rescued 110 more 330 miles south
of Saigon. On 8 November, FF-1067 Francis Hammond rescued 85 refugees
200 miles southeast of the Vietnamese coast.

Quote:
Vietnamese Refugees, South China Sea, July 1983

During one week in July (20-27), CG-31 Sterett rescued 262 Vietnamese
refugees, DDG-994 Callagan 284, and P-3 patrol aircraft vectored
merchant ships to 80 more.

South China Sea, Summer 1989

On 16 May 1989, DD-973 John Young rescued 46 Vietnamese refugees in
the South China sea, 200 miles west of the Philippine island of Luzon.
From June 1988 to this rescue, Pacific Fleet ships had rescued 354
refugees. On 26 June, CG-24 Reeves and DD-991 Fife rescued 92 refugees
about 320 miles southwest of the Philippines. From 1983 to this
rescue, Navy forces had assisted 1,380 refugees. In August 1989, CV-61
Ranger rescued 39 refugees amid heavy seas and monsoon rains about 60
miles from Cubi Point, Republic of the Philippines. On September 6,
CG-52 Bunker Hill rescued 49 refugees about 200 miles northeast of
Singapore; the next day the Vietnamese were transferred to TAE-26
Kilauea for transport to Singapore.

Quote:
South China Sea, May 1990

On 17 May 1990, FF-1053 Roark rescued 42 refugees from an unseaworthy
craft. The Navy Salvage Ship ATS 2 Beaufort, based in Sasebo, Japan,
rescued 24 Vietnamese refugees on 26 May 1990 in the South China Sea.
The refugees had been attacked by Vietnamese pirates and were without
provisions. Two days later, on 28 May, 77 refugees were rescued from
another vessel that was determined to be unseaworthy.

South China Sea, July 1990

On 25 July 1990, AO-177 Cimarron rescued 25 refugees adrift at sea
southwest of Subic Bay, Philippines.