MEMORIES
from WINS Veterans who were or are
"PROUD TO SERVE"

Ah Sing, Derrick, WINS#476 - USN
In the left image I'm in the "hotel suit" with a shipmate, Chad. The right image is the USS Rupertus, DD-851 refueling from the USS Ranger, CVA-61. Lots of memories as we wait for Ice Cream in the Tonkin Gulf. The ice cream story: 4 months into our assignment we were taking on ammo and supplies and the Ranger signals us that they had a treat for us....ice cream...and it was high-lined over in 5 gallon containers. One of us had the bright idea of keeping some for the division. So as the ice cream arrived a container of vanilla disapeared into our berthing area, then came chocolate, followed by strawberry. Now came the fun part, there was only 12 or 14 of us and we had to eat all of that ice cream before it melted or before someone found out. Fifteen gallons of ice cream made for one sick bunch of sailors!

Blake, Ben, WINS#593 - USAF
Here I am in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - I was assigned to the Joint (Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force) Task Force SouthWest Asia (JTF/SWA), on 11 or 12 June 2001. It was right after my last haircut (about a month before rotating home). One of my jobs was to monitor secure intercepted communications and develop a classified daily read file for all the J-1 thru J-6 Directors. I remember one puzzling message that talked about a "Wonderful Gift for the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (King Fahd) and Allah" but nobody ever seemed to figure out what the gift was. A few days after that, I was called to General Dyleski's (sp) office and told to keep my mouth shut about it. The folder/computer/related files were whisked away by the AFOSI and I went home after that. If we only knew then what was going to happen a few months later...

Bremmer, Bill, WINS#100 - USN
We were going to St. Thomas after Naval Gunfire Support practice off of Vieques, Puerto Rico. You haven't had a real Pinacolada until you've had one in St. Thomas. The image at the right is the USS Macdonough, DDG-39 in Port Everglades.

F. . ., Brandon, WINS#868 - USA
Here’s a photo of my graduation day at USMA many years ago. The photo on the left is of me on one of my deployments to the Middle East a few years ago.

Hunt, Todd, WINS#638 - USAF
Here's a photo taken minutes before I hopped on an airplane headed to Iraq before the war started. The other is a photo of how my house was decorated for the 8 months I was gone.

Huntzinger, Ralph J., WINS#158 - USA
I have very few photos of those days, but here's a scanned poloroid taken about 1972.                                                                                                                                           .

Larson, Ray, WINS#21 - USA
Here I am (left & right images) after we arrived in Nam in 1965. President Johnson said on TV we were going to support the South Vietnamese and we started loading 8-inch howitzers on the ships. A Battery 3rd Battalion 18th Artillery. The rightmost image is practicing medicine in a Mountainyard Village without a license.

Noble, Dave, WINS#204 - USA
I served in the US Army from 12/1968 to 11/1971 and was stationed at Ban Me Thout for my first six months and Phan Rang Air base for rest of my time, both in the central highlands. I was a Spec 5 Crew Chief/Gunner on UH-1 H model Hueys my whole tour in Viet Nam, a real beautiful place from 4000 feet up.

Stevens, Fred, WINS#535 - USA
Official Army Picture of me in 1986 while a Signal Corps Major at Ft. Drum, NY. If you were to see a pic of me now, the first comment would be how skinny I was back then. :-D After 24 years Active and Reserve duty, the Army finally kicked me out in 1992 as a Lieutenant Colonel after I broke my back in a civilian accident.

White, JD, WINS#7 - USN
A Radarman Seaman in 1969 (image left) aboard the USS Kitty Hawk, CVA/CV-63 (image right) from 6/1968 until 12/1973 which included three tours in Vietnam. I was transferred from the ship as an Operation Specialist Second Class to shore duty at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, Range operations as an Air Intercept Controller (AIC) and after that to the USS Constellation, CV-64 as an AIC/Anti-submarine Air Controller. The image below was a "Cold War" occurrence: a TU-95 Russian Bear long range bomber (shown with two escorting F-4 Phantoms) overflying the Kitty Hawk on 5 July 1971. I left the US Navy in June 1977 for college and was eventually talked into joining the Army National Guard 185th Tank Battalion where I severed as a Staff Sargent and tank commander in an M48A3 tank for 3-1/2years. I then transferred to the US Coast Guard and was stationed on the USCG Cutter, Point Brower as a Radarman 1st Class, conducting safety and security patrols. Eventually I transferred to the San Diego USCG Marine Safety Office (Law Enforcement) and worked Law Enforcement patrols, as well as, provided assistant Range Coach small arms training to Navy and Air Force personnel, and shoot-no-shoot training San Diego Police, California Highway Patrol, and the US Boarder Patrol.

Wilharm, Robert, WINS#326 - USA
What did you do in the WAR daddy? Well that's really hard to say son, which war?
In 1944 I had guard duty (center photo) while my dad was doing the important Stuff (right photo). After that my life was pretty well uneventful. I did make Spec 5 in 1966, but photos of that are packed so deep in the cave I cannot find them. Robert passed away on September 29, 2016.