âI volunteered to be drafted but I was a draftee,â he said.
The Mobile native entered the Army on Jan. 5, 1967. That Dec. 31, on New Yearâs Eve, he arrived in Vietnam as a demolition specialist.
âI got in at Tan Son Nhut Air Base. And for fireworks, people were firing rifles,â he said with a laugh.
But on Jan. 31, 1968, the North Vietnamese launched the Tet Offensive, a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. Markell experienced it firsthand.
âKind of scary,â he said. âA lot of work. I mean I worked around the clock.â
More than a third of America s millennials approve of communism
washingtontimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtontimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
More than a third of America s millennials approve of communism
washingtontimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtontimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Air Force Veteran Served on Evacuation Flight Line
Air Force Staff Sgt. Miguel “Mike” Lechuga witnessed the chaos on April 29, 1975, the day before Saigon fell.
After watching bombs fall on Tan Son Nhut Air Base on April 28, he and the rest of the 10-member aircraft maintenance crew awaited further orders at their building near the flightline. The avionics instrument specialist belonged to the 604th Military Airlift Support Squadron, which was under the Military Airlift Command.
They were told that C-130s would arrive in three-ship formations starting around 3 a.m. on April 29 to continue the U.S. evacuation. But a rocket attack destroyed the second C-130 and canceled that plan, ultimately leading to reliance on Marine Corps helicopters.