Veterans Day is an annual American holiday occurring Nov. 11. The same day is also known as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world.  It began as a commemoration of the end of Word War I on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918.  Since then it has become a salute to all veterans of all wars and to all who have served their country in military service.

 This page is  dedicated to the alumni of Claremont High School Class of 1959 (and Guest Members) who served in the Armed Forces.  We invite you to send in your stories and photos.  We are honored to post those items on this page.

Thank you for what you did for us and for our  country.

Virtual Viet Nam Wall

Someone spent a lot of time on the following link and it is truly remarkable.  To all Vietnam Veterans, family and friends, click on the picture below and take a look. The link will take you to a 'virtual wall' of all those lost during the Viet Nam war with the names, bio's and other information on our lost comrades. It is a very memorable link, and those who served in that timeframe and lost friends or family can look them up on this site. Pass it on to other veterans who you think would like this.

First click on a state.......then when it opens .........a name.......then it should show you a picture of the person or at least his bio and medals.......

Daddy's Girl

                                                 
      US Army                US Navy            US Marine Corps       US Air Force      US Coast Guard

Stories and Photos of Our Heroes:
Click on their names to go to their Profile pages

 
Norm Adams
    
Coast Guard

1962-1969
HM1 - E6

16 weeks Hospital Corpsmans School

Process recruits, cure VD - unit medical guy.

Alameda, San Diego

"Bossing" a full dress 600 man USCG Friday parade is a rush ~ you sound off loud, and all, tap-dance ~ priceless.

I think Louie & Armondo both, be Lt. Col's ~so~ they appeared to have "got with the program" ~ ahead of the game. Way to go on winning, doesn't suck.

 
Luiz Armendarez
    

U S Army
 
Lt. Colonel
 

 
Geoff Armour (WEBB)
    
U S Army (Military Intelligence)

July 1963 - December 1965
1st Lieutenant

Infantry Officer Basic Training: Ft. Benning,  GA - Military Intelligence School: Ft. Holabird, MD Berlitz Language School in Korean: Ft. Holabird, MD

Department of the Army, Outstanding Performance Commendation as Area Intelligence Specialist, December 1965

Intelligence Officer, 502nd Military Intelligence Battalion, Korea.  Mission was to train defectors from North Korea and send them back to gather intelligence information.

Korea and Japan

Worked with counterparts from Korean military and civilian intelligence agencies. This was during a time when we didn't have sophisticated aerial or satellite intelligence systems. Everything was done on the ground, mostly using defectors from the North. I remember one operation where, after training, we took our North Korean defector by boat from a Japanese port to a point off the coast of North Korea. I went with the crew on a landing craft to a designated drop-off point on the beach. Our agent had connections in various towns and was able to gather useful data that was radioed back to our headquarters. Unfortunately, after a few weeks we lost contact with him and never knew what happened to him.

 

 
Bruce Bjornson
   
U S Army
1964 - 1966
E4

Advanced electronic training, Ft. Huachuca, AZ
Army Aviation, flight observer in fixed and rotor wing aircraft
Augsburg, Germany

 

 
Richard Bond
    

USAF Medical Corps
21 JUL 1973/20 JUL 1975
Major
I was in reserves during internship and general surgical resedency.
General Surgeon Chief of Hospital Services
Francis E. Warren AFB, Chetenne WY

It was a special honor for me to serve at F. E. Warren AFB as it is a very historic fort and base. It began as a US Calvalry installation, Fort D. A Russell, in about 1867. It's primary purpose initially was protection for the advancing railroad. Many of the buildings still date to 1890 or earlier. When the horse faded from the Army, the base became a training site for the Army Quartermaster Corps. However, it turned out that streptococcus is common in southeastern Wyoming and many of the soldiers came down with rheumatic fever. The fort hospital [which was still in use when I served there] gradually grew to 400 beds, and some of the early work on rheumatic fever was done there. The Q/M Corps ended up moving elsewhere because of the problem. When the Air Force became a separate service [earlier the Army Air Corps] in 1947 the Army gave the fort to the the new USAF and it became F. E Warren AFB, and a Stategic Air Command base. It subsequently became the first ICBM base in the free world.

 
Armando Bustos
    
U S Air Force 

Buck Sgt

Lt.  Colonel

USAF and THE CALIFORNIA AIR NATIONAL GUARD
21 JUNE 1959 to 29 MAY 2001
Began as an E1 and ended up an 05 [LT COL]

Began as an armament & electronic technician on F100 Super Sabre fighter aircraft. Was the #4 crew member on nuclear weapons load team. Attended so many FTD's and correspondence courses throughout the years obtaining the rank of E8 prior to attending OCS and being directly commissioned to the rank of Captain. My whole career was in the Fighter/Bomber Aircraft Maintenance field which included Armament and Munitions. The courses for Officer's were geared more towards the management of personnel, budgets and other staff functions.

Air Force Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. Presidential Unit Citation with three Oak Leaf Cluster. USAF Outstanding Unit Citation with four Oak leaf Cluster and the usual awards garnered over the years with longevity.

I started out as a 3 level mechanic moving up 5 and 7 levels of technical skills before obtaining a 9 level and the rank of E8. As an E8 one becomes an upper enlisted level manager with managerial responsibilities and no hands on mechanical duties. However, as an Officer duties are of a different nature. In the aircraft maintenance arena Officers are required to know all the various disciplines which make up the whole of the aircraft and it's mission. For example, an Officer officer is assigned to be the OIC of all the branches which make up a Fighter Squadron. There were many, such as: Job Control; Munitions, Electronics, Fabrication and Flight Line, to name a few. After successfully mastering and completing these assignments one would compete to excel and be promoted to Squadron Commander, with the rank of Major.The next and the last step in Maintenance which was highest position possible which was working directly for Wing Commander in the position called Chief of Maintenance[DCM]. I was fortunate enough to obtain this position and the rank of Lt. Colonel. The duties of DCM were too numerous to list but let me say that without a competent staff consisting of numerous E8's and E9's,also with six [6] staff officers, we were successful in completing whatever mission we were tasked with.

I began by being sent by train to Lackland AFB in Texas and then to Technical Schools at Lowry AFB in Colorado. From there to RAF Lakenheath in England with TDY's to North Africa; Germany, Spain, Italy and Denmark. Also, got to see much of Europe while on leaves. With the California Air Guard we were TDY to many other Air Guard Units throughout the United States. Also, we had deployments to Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Japan, and Korea.

The Military was, without a doubt, one of the best things that came my way during my life. It not only taught me about myself but about others. Initially it was a tremendous building block which showed me how to go forth through life trying to understanding the follies of human behavior.

After some thought and prodding from Frank I thought about probably one of most profound military and life memories that occurred to me. And it is as follows. While stationed at RAF Lakenheath and during the Cuban Missile Crisis we were actually put on runaway alert which translated into actually having armed, cocked and locked the MK28 nuclear weapons under the belly's of the F-100s. I was the #4 man on our load crew and as the #4 guy you and the Pilot jointly [with coded keys]armed the weapon. We had never done this before, ever, as it was always simulated during hundreds of training sessions. All of us enlisted guys stood on our crew chief ladders waiting for the next sequence of events, all while the aircraft run continuously for hours [even while being refueled]. My Pilot, a really neat officer from So Cal who was named "Strawberry Reynolds" said to me "you know if the klaxon goes off we ain't coming back". At the time I did not grasp the reality of what he was saying. After Khrusechev blinked and we returned our aircraft to their revetments and things settled down I still did not understand the severity of it all. It was later, in years, when I began to understand somethings about life, did it sink in, how close to to the brink we had come. To this day I can still picture "Stawberry", not in the least being alarmed or frightened but merely saying "we ain't coming back".

I think what amazes me the most about the "greatest generation" Veterans is how they came home and returned to their previous lifes and never seemed to make a big deal of how brave and with honor they had sacrificed so much. I see them today at Laughlin and Walmart trudging along and thinking at one time those were real men and heroes. The word Hero today is so badly diminished by saying that a fireman who brought a cat down from a tree, is a hero.
- Bustos, Armando

Frank Comstock
    
U S Maring Corps

April 1, 1960 to Sept 9, 1969
Staff Sgt.
Radio Technician Course - Noncommissioned Officer Leadership School
Electronics Engineer Technology Course - Instructor Orientation Course
Navy Enlisted Scientific Education Program

National Defence Service Medal -  Presidential Unit Citation - Viet Nam Service Medal
Viet Nam Campaign Medal - Combat Action Ribbon - Good Conduct
Expert Rifle - Expert Pistol

After boot camp at MCRD San Diego I went to 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton. Then two years as a student at the University of Washington in Seattle. In Viet Nam I was assigned to the 1st Marine Air Wing in Da Nang.  When I returned from Viet Nam I was an Instructor with the Electronics School at MCRD San Diego

One night while I was stationed on Comm Hill, on the perimiter outside Da Nang, the Viet Cong attacked the hill next to us. We scrambled to our foxholes and everything was blacked out. We were told that they were attacking the wrong hill and that we were the primary target since we had all the communication links for much of South Viet Nam. We were told to hold our fire and not reveal our position. I could see the whites of their eyes and smell the powder. When a flare would go off, we could see the Cong only 40 or 50 yards away. The infantry finally flanked them and whuped 'em good. During the battle, I don't know which I wanted to do more, join the fight or run like hell, 'cept I was too scared to run!

 
Van Jackman
    

Navy Medical Corps (Reserve) 

1969-1971
LCDR
Pomona College, University of Rochester Medical School, general surgery residency.My basic training was two days at Oakland Naval hospital. Only enough time to learn how to put on the medals and who I was supposed to salute.

We were a group of 53 docs, 53 nurses and 200 corpsmen handling a 500 bed hospital on the island of Guam after the Tet offensive in Viet Nam. Most of our patients were from the third Marine Division initially then later it was mostly from the 5th Army. We had 150 patients droped in on us every night to be triaged amoungst the various specialities. I was on the orthopaedic service having 30 patients under my care. We would operate daily and often throughout the night. I was interested in communication and hooked up a phone line from the hospital ward to my base housing. Nightly I would connect the patient to their family, spouse, or significant other in the States via Amateur Radio (WA2OOQ/KG6). This was a great uplifting experience for the patients and if they did their physical therapy then they could speak for a longer time ( a great bribe). I still have all of my dictated operative notes and find it interesting to review these. I remember several Marines who were professional ski instructors prior to the service and after they lost their legs or arms went back to skiing teaching other amputees how to ski. We had a 98% survival rate which was remarkable considering the severity of their injuries.

US Naval Hospital Guam 1969 to 1971. Then inactive reserves for eight years.

In addition to my medical duties I ran the hospital Amateur radio station (KG6NAC) and was active on MARS (military affiliate radio system) both for the Navy and the Air Force. I built several antennas to communicate with the States and every other country as well as the maritime (ship) stations. I spent considerable time at the US Naval Station where reclaimed anything could be obtaned for 10 cents /pound. Quite a bargan for the electronic hunter. I also ran phone patches from Antartica (Operation Deepfreeze) back to the States ( before satellite internet access). My wife and I had the opportunity to travel space available to Japan, Thialand, India, Nepal, and other countries on the embassy flights during our 30 day R&R. I am glad for the experience as it formed the basis for my life's work as an orthopaedist. Whereas war is seldom justified, it does inject an urgency and stimulates the development of newer techniques into the health field. I had a chance to return to Guam last year and visit the hospital. Much has changed, but it brought back happy and some depressing memories. Guam was held by the Japanese during WWII and was honeycombed with tunnels, barracks, and hospitals. After the war the island was seeded with a dense covering of plants obscuring the caves. I had a chance in 1969 to explore these, discovering fully equipped hospital, bunks, gas masks, medicines and occasionally live ordance. I also became dive qualified and then used the experience to further my interest in marine ecology.

  
Don Kieselhorst
   
U.S. Army (Armor Branch) 

November 1963-May 1966
First Lieutenant

Armor Officer Basic: Ft. Knox, Kentucky Chemical, Biological, Radiological Warfare Officer School: Vilseck, Germany German language School: Kirch Goens, Germany Track Vehicle Maintenance Officer School: Vilseck, Germany Explosive Ordnance Reconnaissance School

Army Commendation Medal

2d Battalion, 32d Armor, Third Armored Division (Then West Germany) Tank Platoon Leader, Headquarters Company Executive Officer, 4.2 Inch Mortar Platoon Leader, Battalion Motor Officer, Defense Counsel for Special Courts Martial.

Kirch Goens, Germany

We would have been the first major combat group to have filled the Fulda Gap, the main, high speed access route between then East and West Germany where, had the "balloon gone up", it would have started. Lived in the BOQ with a great group of guys, drank a lot of German beer, 4 Marks to the Dollar made me a wealthy man, drove a Triumph convertible, spent 6 months in the field each year on maneuvers or conducting live fire exercises (we blew up a lot of stuff!), loved the German frauleins, took a European discharge and travelled for most of a year before returning home.

 

  
Hayden "Denny" Lening
    

U.S. Air Force
Mar 1 1960 - Feb 28 1964
A1C - E4
Basic Electronics Guidance System Mechanic AGM28B "Houndog" Missile System

Good Conduct - Sharpshooter

Fault Isolate and repair missile guidance system to facilitate combat-ready condition for missile and parent B52 aircraft. Categorize failure data of practice sorties and base repair and replacement of components on information from flight debriefings to avoid equipment failures during subsequent missions.

Altus AFB, Oklahoma

I remember a feeling of satisfaction after almost every day of work. I remember being on alert and sleeping on maintenace hangar floors for 4 months during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Our base was a prime target for them because we had B52's and Atlas Missiles. I remember a feeling of euphoria when I received my release from active duty.

 

 
Tom Morse
    

 
Robert Palmer
   
U S Army Infantry
Aug. 1964 - May 1967
1st. Lieutenant

Officer Candidate School - Infantry Jungle Warfare School - Panama

Bronze Star Meritorius Service

Stateside: Company commander, Advanced Individual Training companies.
Vietnam - platoon leader

Ft. Polk, Louisiana June 1965 - April 1966
Vietnam May 1966 - May 1967. Assigned to 3rd Brigade, 25th Inf (subsequently transferred to 4th Division in 1967), stationed near Pleiku, VN in the central highlands of VN.

 
Tom Pearson
   
U S Navy

 
Fred Rinard
    

 
Moye Stephens
  

 
Wesley Vaughn
    

Scott Wheaton
   
U.S. Air Force

Jan '61 - Jan '65
Airman First Class

Trained as a mechanic for the vehicles that provide power to aircraft when not in flight - last year and a half devoted to dispatching that equipment.... I'm sure you've heard of multi-tasking.... 30-switch telephone bank plus 4 two-way radio channels... lot's of fun, especially when the President on AF 1 was in town ! !

Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, Good Conduct Medal ... Outstanding Acheivement Award.

Travis AFB, Calif.

 
Dean Wickstrom
   

 
Steve Young
   
U S Army Reserve
Active Nov 1963 - Nov 1969; Inactive Nov 1971
SFC E-6
company clerk, Personnel specialist

Served in Civil Affairs Units, specializing in the Philippines, Ran the unit library and was in charge of regulation updates and interpretation.

Basic and AT at Fort Ord, California, Fort MacArthur during Watts riots.  I spent most of my meeting time recovering from hangovers, attending and teaching class and staying locked in the library. I was not the finest soldier in the unit, but behaved much like my colleagues.
 

GUEST MEMBER VETERANS

Dick (Bendroth at CHS…
   
U S Navy

1957 - 12/1962
PH-3

1) 85 Day (Recruit -Airman) Accelerated Training Program, Los Alamitos, California
2) Photographer's Mate School, Pensacola, Florida

Commendation for participating in "Top Gun" at the Marine Air Station, Yuma, Arizona

All forms of ground and aerial photography. Aerial photography included mostly recording hits on ship to sled gunnery practice offshore. Ground photography mainly as duty photographer on base, recording traffic accidents, airplane accidents, etc. Also ran the portrait studio on base for a time.

Naval Air Station Los Alamitos, NAS Pensacola, NAS Brown Field, and NAS North Island.

The picture was taken during the Miss Universe parade in August of 1957. My boot company was selected to escort the young ladies in the competition, pushing a float for 5 miles (it seemed) through Long Beach. As luck would have it, my girl, Miss Gladys Zender of Peru, won the contest the very next day and became Miss Universe!

Probably the clearest memory is a day when I realized that I was an important part of something much bigger than myself. In that moment, I think I grew up. I remember is was a cold gray day and my dungarees were flapping in the open doorway of the twin Beech aircraft. I was sitting there, strapped in of course, cross legged with a large F-56 aerial camera on my lap. We were "orbiting" a towed sled at about 1,000 feet that would be the target of the cruiser off in the distance, maybe 10 miles or so.

As I said, we orbit the target. Imagine a cone with the plane flying around the top edge of the cone and the target being at the tip or bottom of the cone. This is necessary in order to keep me in the open doorway, always facing the target sled. Wearing headphones, I am able to hear conversation between our pilot and the gunnery officer on the cruiser. Typically I would see the smoke from a salvo and then I would hear the gunnery officer say something like, "50 seconds to splash" and I would check my watch and wait. Five or Ten seconds before splash (the shells are traveling in a high arc and, hopefully, will come down in the middle of our cone) I lift the camera and focus on the towed sled. Almost invariably the salvo will strike within yards of the sled, many times bracketing the target. My finger is on the trigger and when the splash occurs, I take the picture.

AND, on this particular day it occurred to me that I was key to the entire operation. Yep, this scrawny sailor with this big black camera on his lap was the one guy that the entire operation depended upon to bring back a photo record of all the hits and misses. Wow! The entire ships company on the cruiser, the sailors towing the sled, the cost of diesel for the ships, my pilot, copilot, and the planes use of gas, all for nothing if I failed to bring home the bacon! AND THEN, it hit me that I wasn't alone. Every single sailor was doing a job that was part of what was needed to succeed. From the pilots of my plane to those guys in the engine room of the cruiser, there were NO jobs that were unimportant. All were needed and many others were vital to the mission. I was an important part of a team. I wish that more young people could have an experience like mine. Perhaps the only way to do it would be to bring back the draft. I think all young people need to invest some of their years in helping their country, either in the military service or the peace corp polishing our country's image in the world while doing good, and learning that they are a part of something larger than themselves.

Rick Frampton (1961)
   

United States Navy  

1960 - 64
3rd Class Petty Officer - Commisaryman

I was stationed on board ship and was assigned to the chief’s wardroom/mess... Was responsible for cooking and baking for the chiefs and chief warrant officers on our ship. It was really good duty back then as total body count on our ship was around 320-340 and we all knew each other, unlike the big ships today where you could serve a four hitch on your ship and never get to know everyone, today’s cruisers are really big, and the flat-tops, ( carriers ) today with the full flight crews on board are about 5-6,000 people.

Harry Harrison (1960)
   
U S Air Force

1965 - 1985
Major

Inelligence School, Lowry AFB, Colorado

Bronze Star, 3 Air Medals

Intelligence Officer, Scientist

Clark Air Base, Philippines - Eglin AFB, Colorado - Unversity of Arizona
Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Base - Air Inelligence Training Center
Defense Intelligence College, DC - Air Force Systems Command, Maryland.

I had an opportunity to fly combat missions over Laos.

Dwayne Patton (1958)
     

Chris Taylor (1958)
    
U S Army

Dec. 1963 - Dec. 1965
PFC

Basic Training Ft. Ord California 9 mos. Electronics School Ft. Huachuca Arizona

Expert Marksman (Rifle & Pistol) Good Conduct Metal

Convert Radio Controlled Drone Aircraft from tubes to transistors. Guard East/West German border. Perform Military Police Duties

Fulda Germany (Fulda Gap)

I remember walking guard duty and having manuvers in 30 below weather. Good memories were traveling around Europe during time off and eating S.O.S. for breakfast on weekends.

Ron Werner (1961)
    

NAVY  

Mr. Leonard Cohn [Tea…
   

U S Army 

Mr. George Cleve Turn…
   

U S Marine Corps 

 IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO HAVE ANSWERED THEIR FINAL ROLL CALL

James Danny Freeman **
  
U S Navy
Danny left CHS in the 11th grade to join the Navy Submarine Survice at New London Conn.

 

 
Felix Hoppis ** 
  
U S Navy
Felix left CHS in 1959, joining the active duty Navy from '59 to '63.

  
Donald Jones **
  
U S Army
Don joined the Army in 1960.  He was stationed at Ft. Lewis for his two year tour of duty, serving as an Army Medic.

  
Ronald Spann **
  
U S Army
From 1960 through 1964, Ronnie Spann served in the US Army and was stationed in Germany and France for his tour of duty

 


Mr. Milton Bentley [T… **
  
U S Army Reserves

Mr. Robert McGill [Te… **
  
U S Navy
1941 - 1979
Lt. Comander
Mr. McGill attended officer's training school in New York City, New York. During the war, he served in the South Pacific, remaining in the Navy Reserves until retiring as Lt. Commander in 1979

Mr. Nicholas Polos [T… **
  
U S Navy  U S Air Force
Warrent Officer

His tour of duty saw him as a naval gunner in both WWII and the Korean War and the recipient of many medals and ribbons.

He dedicated 17 years to the Air Force, where he served as a warrant officer and senior instructor, teaching junior officers college credit courses. His last assignment was on the SS Teddy Roosevelt in the Person Gulf when the first war in Iraq broke out.