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Bob
is from Perrysburg, Ohio, and served in the US ARMY from 1959 to 1979. He served
in the Army Security Agency from 1959 to 1963. He was a member the 3rd Radio
Research Unit, the first American military unit deployed to Vietnam, from May
1961 to July 1963. He was attached to Sub-Unit #1, 1st Composite Radio Company,
FMF (USMC), the first USMC unit deployed to Vietnam, for two months in
October-November 1962.After leaving ASA, he
served in diverse intelligence assignments until he retired from active duty, as
a CWO-3, in 1979. After retiring from active duty, he served as a civilian
intelligence officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Special Office
for POW/MIA, 1979-1993, and the Defense POW/MIA Office, 1993-2001. He served in
Vietnam a total of 60 months between 1961 and 1975. He also served with the U.S. MIA Office in Hanoi for
48 months during 1991-1995. He speaks and writes Vietnamese fluently, and has
translated several Vietnamese language war histories. He is married with two
children and three grandchildren, and resides
i
FOOTNOTE TO 1STCOMPRADCO HISTORY
BY CWO-3 DESTATTE
Although not a Marine, I had the privilege to be attached
to the USMC radio
intercept site at Pleiku for approximately two months during the fall of
1962. Please permit me to submit the following recollections:
The Commander of the USMC unit while I was attached was Captain Patrick
Fennell. The First Sergeant was Master Sergeant Benny Sepulveda. Sergeant
Garrett O'Hara was kind enough to take me under his care and guidance and
act as my mentor while I was attached to the Marine unit. Captain Fennell
and First Sergeant Sepulveda might recall me as the US Army Specialist 5th
Class (SP5) who left his rifle behind in Saigon when I returned from a
courier mission. I have never been more embarrassed than I was that day
when I reported the loss of my rifle to Captain Fennell and First Sergeant
Sepulveda.
My memory of the circumstances that led to my brief service with the Marines
in Pleiku is as follows.
In early 1962, the USMC established an intercept site with approximately six
Morse positions in the Republic of Vietnam Army's (ARVN) II Corps
Headquarters compound in Pleiku. As an SP5 assistant trick chief manning a
Morse intercept position at the US Army 3rd Radio Research Unit (3rd RRU) in
Saigon, I knew nothing of about the USMC site except that it existed.
That was until one day, in about September 1962, when the 3rd RRU operations
officer called SP5 Neil Seiler and me to a meeting.
He informed us that NSA was not satisfied with the Pleiku site's level of
production and had decided to close the site if it failed to increase
production during the next rotation. He explained that the Marines manned
the site at Pleiku with personnel serving three- or four-month periods of
temporary duty from Marine radio units in the Pacific region. He explained
that someone (my memory is that it was the 3rd RRU Commander, LTC Cochran)
recognized that the USMC problem was lack of specific experience against
Vietnamese Communist targets rather than any lack of skill, and proposed
that the 3rd RRU attach two Morse intercept technicians with long in-country
experience to the Pleiku site to provide OJT for the next rotation. Since
SP5 Seiler and I were the two Morse operators with the most VN experience (I
had been copying Vietnamese Communist transmissions for more than a year),
the operations officer informed us, the Commander of the 3rd RRU had decided
to attach us to the new rotation of Marines at Pleiku for a few weeks.
At first, I believe the Marines were a bit embarrassed that they were asked
to accept assistance from a couple of US Army E-5s.
Neil and I quickly discovered that the USMC Morse intercept technicians had
excellent skills. They simply lacked the specific in-country experience and
knowledge that could permit them to easily distinguish between ARVN,
Cambodian, or Royal Lao Army Morse transmissions and Vietnamese Communist
targets.
Neil and I learned that we needed to identify a target and point out its
unique characteristics to a USMC operator only one or two times. Once they
learned how to recognize the targets, their copy was excellent. The
production graph posted on the wall in their Morse intercept room made a
nearly 90-degree turn upward and reached maximum level almost immediately.
Within a few of days after our arrival, the Marines were treating us like
two of their own -- even better than their own. I have very fond memories
and a couple of good war stories from the two months I spent with the
members of 1st Marine Radio Battalion in Pleiku in the fall of 1962. They
earned my deep and life-long respect for them and for all Marines.
Sincerely,
Robert J. Destatte
CWO-3, USA (Ret)
emecula, CA. Bob's e-mail address is
rdestatte@verizon.net.
Click here
http://oldspooksandspies.org/Photos/destatte/Destatte.html
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