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Ken Loveless, U.S. Army, Viet Nam (Interviewed Feb. 15, 2008) Once you hear the story of College Station’s Ken Loveless you will say that it's a miracle that he's here to talk to us at all. Col. Loveless flew choppers in Vietnam, attack helicopters. And he can count at least five times in his career that he crashed, the first time he should not have survived. A helicopter pilot for Gen. Westmoreland and Gen. Abrams in Vietnam, his history of service is indeed an amazing one to hear.
Ken Loveless, U.S. Army, Viet Nam (Interviewed Feb. 15, 2008) Once you hear the story of College Station’s Ken Loveless you will say that it's a miracle that he's here to talk to us at all. Col. Loveless flew choppers in Vietnam, attack helicopters. And he can count at least five times in his career that he crashed, the first time he should not have survived. A helicopter pilot for Gen. Westmoreland and Gen. Abrams in Vietnam, his history of service is indeed an amazing one to hear.
Lannes Hope, U.S. Army, WW II (Interviewed Oct. 26, 2005) Col. Lannes Hope did not land on Omaha Beach on D-Day, but he watched he watched it happen from off-shore that day. The next day, June 7, 1944, (D+1), his unit brought the first tanks to Normandy. An eyewitness to what Hollywood called “The Longest Day” and an eyewitness to the horror of death the invasion left behind. A west Texas boy and a musician and a member of the Texas Tech band of the 1940’s.
Larry Stewart, U.S. Navy, Vietnam (A&M Class of ‘65) (Interviewed Sept. 8, 2009) Most local folks know Larry Stewart today for his public service as a member of the College Station City Council. But long before he ever even thought about entering local politics, he served 20 years in the U.S. Navy as a Pilot, most of those years flying the P-3 Patrol Plane. A 1965 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, the first six months of his service was flying missions out of the Philippines to Vietnam during the war. The remaining 19-plus years sent him most anywhere there was an 8,000-foot runway. He spent 2 1/2 years based on the carrier USS Lexington. “The Lex” as it’s well-known today to many a tourist to the Corpus Christi Bay area. It’s a fascinating military career.
Lawrence DeZavala, U.S. Air Force, WW II (Interviewed June 21, 2007) The path that Lawrence DeZavala took from his birthplace in Louisiana to his vineyards near New Baden, Tx included three years of service as a radio operator/gunner, flying some 21 combat missions with the Air Force’s 379th Bomber Group. Their mission aboard their B-24 was to take out rail yards and bridges in Austria and other positions near the war’s in. He counts himself lucky to have returned uninjured and counts himself even more fortunate to have lived the life he has. He and his wife Rachel own and operate DeZavala Vineyard where some of the tastiest blackberries, blueberries and raspberries can be picked.
Lee McClesky, U.S. Air Force, Vietnam (Interviewed April 24, 2008) Lee McClesky entered the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1956, came out in 1961 and immediately went to flight training school in Georgia. He was a flight instructor, teaching T-37 & T-38. He flew the A-26 Air Commando in Vietnam, assigned to truck killing missions on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and in Laos. His most memorable flight came on 22 Feb 1967.
Leroy Balmain, Merchant Marines/Air Force, WW II/Korea (Interviewed March 17, 2011) Leroy Balmain was in boot camp at Catalena Island when the Atomic Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945. As a Merchant Marine and later in the Air Force, he did not see combat duty but served his country first as a fireman aboard the SS Alfred C. True and then eventually as an Administrative Supervisor. He and his wife Marita were married in 1946 and his assignments took them from Alaska to Topeka to Alabama to Washington DC to Shreveport to the Philippines and finally back to the States and in 1972 to Bryan, where he served four years as an Air Force Recruiter. After he retired from the service, he spent 19 years as Executive Director for the Better Business Bureau here. So you see his entire adult life has been one of service.
LeRoy Schoenemann, Army Air Corps, WW II (Interviewed Oct.9, 2008) After Leroy Schoenemann graduated from Snook High School in 1941 his first stop, Guadalcanal, as a member of the 64th Troop Carrier Wing piloting C-47s just about everywhere and carrying just about everything. He eventually went from C-47s to B-47s and that was quite a leap. After World War II he was reactivated and spent most of the Korean War at a lonely outpost in Libya. Here is Lt. Col. Leroy Schoenemann.
Louis Hudson, U.S. Army, World War II (A&M Class of '44) (Interviewed Nov. 15, 2005) Texas A&M sophomore Louis Hudson was sitting in the campus theater when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Indeed the theater manager came out to tell the patrons about the attack that started the U.S. involvement in World War II. Louis Hudson was a paratrooper who got his training at Fort Benning, Georgia. His career included jumping over the lines during Normandy into St Mere Eglise and later as a paratrooper, part of the US mission Operations Market Garden. His is truly a remarkable story.
Mark White, U.S. Army, Iraq (A&M Class of 2003) (Interviewed December 4, 2008) Mark White was deployed in Iraq as a member of Alpha Company 111th Engineer Battalion. His job was security, as he helped arrange and provide security for visiting government officials, Presidents, and even Hollywood stars. The detail involved in these visits will surprise people. It was his job to make sure the visits went smoothly.
Mike Guidry, Navy Seabees, Iraq (Interviewed Aug. 6, 2006) Mike Guidry was a proud member of the 28th Seabees, He initially spent 6 months in Fallujah in Iraq, attached to the 2nd Marines Expeditionary Force. As a Seabee, he helped build things to help fight the war on terror. We did three shows with Mike Guidry, the second and third featuring his own videos he made to show the work of his unit in Iraq.
Mike Guidry, Navy Seabees, Iraq (Interviewed Aug. 6, 2006) Mike Guidry was a proud member of the 28th Seabees, He initially spent 6 months in Fallujah in Iraq, attached to the 2nd Marines Expeditionary Force. As a Seabee, he helped build things to help fight the war on terror. We did three shows with Mike Guidry, the second and third featuring his own videos he made to show the work of his unit in Iraq.
Mike Guidry, Navy Seabees, Iraq (Interviewed Aug. 6, 2006) Mike Guidry was a proud member of the 28th Seabees, He initially spent 6 months in Fallujah in Iraq, attached to the 2nd Marines Expeditionary Force. As a Seabee, he helped build things to help fight the war on terror. We did three shows with Mike Guidry, the second and third featuring his own videos he made to show the work of his unit in Iraq.
Mike Jarvis, U.S. Army, Iraq (A&M Class of 2006) (Interviewed Nov. 2, 2005) Mike Jarvis, with the Texas A&M Veterans Association, talks about what Texas A&M does for its students who have served and are returning for their education, or are about to start service. Jarvis served in Germany and Bosnia in the mid-90s as a combat engineer. He blew stuff up and built robots that did it. He started his service at the age of 17.
Mike Sherman, A&M Head Football Coach, Iraq Trip (Interviewed July 20, 2010) This is indeed a special Veterans of the Valley because instead of visiting with a Veteran, Aggie Head Football Coach Mike Sherman and I are going to talk about those who are serving our country right now. In May, Coach Sherman, with the tremendous help of the Aggie Network, had the opportunity to visit Iraq to see first hand the work of the brave men and women there; and to get a personal view of the day-to-day challenges they endure while proudly wearing American military uniforms. And as you can guess, he met with plenty of Aggies on his 6-day stay that took him from Kuwait to Camp Adder, to Camp Victory, to Camp Prosperity. As he wrote in his journal, he discovered the outstanding leadership we have in Iraq, the horrible quality of life the Iraqi people endured for so many years under Saddam Hussein, the passion that our military have for their job and their service, and the passion that they have for football.
Mike Southerland, U.S. Army, Vietnam (Interviewed Jan. 26, 2011) The Brazos Valley and particularly residents of Bryan know Mike Southerland for his service on the Bryan City Council since 2006. Many others though know of his 22 1/2 years of military service in the U.S. Army. One year of that, from Feb 1969 to Feb 1970, was spent as a chopper Pilot in Vietnam, flying some 900 hours of mainly what they called Ash and Trash missions between Chu-Li and 80 miles south of Da Nang. There are some stories to tell of reconnaissance, transport and occasional assault. After Viet Nam, Mike Southerland spent another 19 years in uniform, ending his military career stationed at Bryan’s 420th Engineering Brigade, under General Al Jones.
Noble Goza, U.S. Marines, WW II (Interviewed July 15, 2010) Noble Goza is a World War II Veteran for sure, although by the time he was drafted in 1945, little did he know that the war was about to end. His 4th Marines Division has been sent to Maui as replacement troops for the 4th Marines survivors returning from Iwo Jima. While training for what everyone figured would be a ground war with Japan, the bomb was dropped -- and soon after, the war was over. He spent another year in Hawaii and soon was discharged thinking he’d never ever see combat. He was quite wrong. Fast forward to 1950 when then Marine reserve Noble Goza was re-deployed, this time the fast track to Korea, were he was on an LST to the Cliffs at Inchon. Then later to North Korea where his 7th Marines Division was on its way to the Chosin Reservoir when he was wounded and his military service came to a quicker than expected end. His is a fascinating story of service in two wars.
Norman Beal, U.S. Marines, Korea (Interviewed Oct. 29, 2009) Some call it the forgotten war, but Norman Beal of rural Brazos County has not forgotten a thing about his 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines assault on the Korean coast in 1950. Nor has he forgotten the horror in the cold of that winter, scaling the cliffs at the beaches of Incheon, nor the card game that kept him in Korea to fight even longer. The Korean war cost 54,000 American lives and another 8000 were missing and Norman Beal counts himself very lucky to have survived to tell his story of service.
P.K. Carlton, U.S. Air Force, Pentagon on 9/11 (Interviewed Aug. 19, 2010) Lt. General P.K. Carlton Jr’s career of service in the United States Air Force is without doubt one of the most compelling and fascinating that we’ve ever had the honor to share on Veterans of the Valley and we will hear it over the next two editions of our show. The son of a World War II B-29 pilot who eventually commanded the Air Force’s Military Airlift, P.K. Carlton Jr. knew as early as age 8 that he wanted to be in the Air Force and wanted to fly. But a Depth Perception problem on his flight physical sent him on another path...medicine...surgery... and a career that placed him in a position to help create and implement changes that indeed have saved the lives of literally countless numbers of military personnel, indeed surgical methods and concepts that he and his teams have brought to exist, are saving lives right now in Afghanistan and Iraq. We sadly hear every day of the numbers who have died. You’re about to hear things you don’t know about the numbers who have lived. He is the former Surgeon General of the Air Force and since his retirement in the winter of 2002, General Carlton has been Director of Homeland Security for the Texas A&M Health Science Center.
Pat Patterson, U.S. Marines, Desert Storm (Interviewed March 29, 2006) Pat Patterson served as a Marine during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, but this show is about his work as a counselor for the Texas Veterans Commission. It’s his job to make veterans aware of the benefit available to them. He served 20 years in the Marine Corp. He was a warrant officer during Desert Storm. He crossed the border the day before the ground war started, giving support to the artillery, looking for gun positions.
