ALCOAST 202/18 - MAY 2018 REMEMBERING THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR ALL: 50 YEARS AGO IN VIETNAM

R 231425 MAY 18
FM COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC//CG-092//
TO ALCOAST
UNCLAS//N05700//
ALCOAST 202/18
COMDTNOTE 5700
SUBJ:  REMEMBERING THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR ALL: 50 YEARS AGO IN VIETNAM
1. Memorial Day is a solemn day when we honor the memory of those who fell in
action during our nation’s wars. This Memorial Day, over 50 years after the
Coast Guard began combat operations in Vietnam, we pay tribute to the eight
Coast Guardsmen who made the ultimate sacrifice so far from home.
2. On April 29, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson committed the Coast Guard to
combat operations in Vietnam for the next decade, carrying on the Coast Guard’s
tradition of serving our nation during all of its conflicts.
3. During the war, over eight thousand Coast Guardsmen served in theater, many
aboard fifty-six cutters that served on the maritime front lines, interdicting
enemy supplies and providing gunfire support to U.S. troops in combat
operations. Coast Guard aviators volunteered to fly combat search and rescue and
support missions while buoy tenders marked South Vietnamese waterways for safe
navigation. Merchant Marine Detail personnel provided their vital expertise to
keep merchant vessels and their sailors afloat and underway. The Service also
built and manned Long Range Aids to Navigation (LORAN) stations throughout
Southeast Asia, operating that state-of-the-art navigation system in support of
Allied combat and logistical operations.
4. That service came at a high cost. A tragic friendly fire incident early in
the war took the Coast Guard’s first lives: LTJG David Charles Brostrom,
commanding CGC POINT WELCOME, and his shipmate, EN2 Jerry Phillips, on August
11, 1966. LTJG Brostrom was from Los Altos, California and was 25 years of age.
EN2 Phillips was from Corpus Christi, Texas and was 27 years of age. 
5. Two fell in combat 50 years ago this year: LT Jack Columbus Rittichier and FN
Heriberto Segovia Hernandez. LT Rittichier flew as a volunteer exchange pilot
with the Air Force’s 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron. He was killed
in action on June 9, 1968 along with his Air Force crew while attempting to
rescue a downed Marine Corps aviator. FN Hernandez was killed in action during
small boat operations while serving as a crewman aboard CGC POINT CYPRESS on
December 5, 1968. LT Rittichier was from Barberton, Ohio and was 34 years of
age. FN Hernandez was from San Antonio, Texas and was 20 years of age.
6. Three Coast Guardsmen were killed in action in 1969. ENC Morris Sampson
Beeson, Chief Engineman aboard CGC POINT ORIENT, fell in combat operations
during a boarding mission on March 22, 1969. ENC Beeson was from Pitkins,
Louisiana and was 37 years of age. On August 9, 1969 a mortar exploded aboard
CGC POINT ARDEN, killing both the cutter’s Executive Officer, LTJG Michael Ward
Kirkpatrick and his shipmate EN1 Michael Harris Painter. LTJG Kirkpatrick was
from Gainesville, Florida and was 25 years of age. EN1 Painter hailed from
Moscow, Idaho and was 26 years of age.
7. ENC Leonard Earl Outlaw served as the Chief Engineman aboard CGC BASSWOOD.
On March 24, 1972, he collapsed from a heart attack as his tender returned to
port at Cam Rahn Bay, Republic of South Vietnam. ENC Outlaw was from Grandy,
North Carolina and was 35 years of age.
8. All eight names are inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in
Washington, D.C., with ENC Outlaw’s name added in 2016.
9. Today we honor their memory and their loss while in service to our country. 
Inscribed on the Coast Guard Vietnam Veterans Memorial at the Coast Guard
Academy are the words: “They Died That Others Might Live in Peace,” a fitting
epitaph to their selfless sacrifice in service to our nation. I encourage you
to spend a few moments this Memorial Day to reflect on these Coast Guardsmen and
what they gave up to keep us and our way of life secure.
10. For more information, check the Coast Guard Vietnam Commemorative web page
at: https://www.history.uscg.mil/Commemorations/Vietnam/.
11. RADM Peter Gautier, Director of Governmental and Public Affairs, sends.
12. Internet release authorized.