If
you are a Swamp Fox and new to the Web site
Please e-mail
SwampFox@Druid-Consulting.com
If
you don't send me your e-mail address you won't get the Fox Fax.
Ralph McRae,
photo by Mike Virginia
Tra Vinh Chau Doc Moc Hoa Rach Gia
Long Xuyen
Cao Lanh Sa
Dec Chi Lang My Tho Go Cong Ben Tre
Letter from the webmaster
Bit of history
I originally
started the web site so I would have a place to post my own
pictures. Erik had started the Fox's Den website, but I was sure the
volume of photos I had would overwhelm his resources. Anyway it
would be a learning experience. I had a lot of computer experience
but no web site work. As time went on other Swamp Foxes made
contact. I posted their pics too.
One day I got
an email from one of the guys asking if I had information on some
one he had served with. I sent a reply with the information and got
a thanks in return. That felt really good. Sometime after that I was
buying some parts for my camping trailer. The old guy behind the
counter was completely bald and looked to be around eighty. There
was a picture of a Mustang in flight on the wall and I asked if was
a P51 pilot . That was him in the picture. He had been in Korea. He
talked about friends who didn't come back and those that did he
never heard from again even during his time with NJNG. It struck me
that this was a truly sad state of affairs. Friends he had shared
the combat experience with just scattered to the four winds and
disappeared. What a shame. I couldn't do anything for Earl. Too many
years had gone by, but I damn sure could do something for the Swamp
Fox. The web site was already there and it now had a purpose.
Charley Baker came
on board as unit historian and has been a great source of
information leading to the conscription of wayward Swamp Fox. Don
Nicholson came on board at the 13th CAB Reunion as
Reunion Coordinator and has done a super job as boots on the ground.
Bob Woolley, Dan Aldridge and Gary Simon, contributors all. What a
great team to work with.
All this time
the goals have been the same. The most important goal is goal one.
Re-uniting our good friends from the days of the Swamp Fox. The
email addresses are there. If need be I have phone numbers for most.
Last month I sent out the roster by state. Attached is a resend with
this month's new guys included. You may have a fellow Swamp Fox in
your area. Don't be strangers.
By all means,
if at all possible, do not miss the October Reunion at Ft. Walton
Beach. From the experience at Fredericksburg in 05' I can tell you
it will be well worth the trip.
Goals:
To find as many of our old friends as possible
and get them talking to each other again.
To build as complete a history of the unit as possible and make it
available to all the members.
To perpetrate reunions. The perps this year are Don Nicholson and
Sam Givhan
My time with 199th was the best of the time I spent in the Army.
Before that I was getting ready and after that it was all down hill. I
was only a crew chief and maybe not a very good one. I changed spark
plugs and oil filters, loaded rockets and flares, cleaned the plane and
worried every minute the plane was in the air about whether I had
forgotten something that would cost a pilot. I sincerely hope these
pages will bring back some good memories. And if by chance, a few old
friends get together after nearly forty years.
That would be the point of it. Not just me plastering my pictures on
the internet. - WebMaster
St. Crispin's Day Soliloquy
King Henry:
This day is called the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name Crispian.
He that shall live this day and see old age,
Will yearly on vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is St. Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's Day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words,
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd,
This story shall the good man teach his son,
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap while any speaks
That fought with us upon St. Crispin's Day.
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Unit Citation
RVN Gallantry Cross w/palm
22 Feb 67 - May 68, DAGO 21,69;
15 Dec 69 - Oct 70, DAGO 52, 71
The RVN Gallantry Cross was
awarded by the Vietnamese government for valorius combat achievement -
with Palm to a unit of the armed forces.
All members of the 199th RAC are
entitled to wear this, does not appear on dd214.
www.usapa.army.mil/pdffiles/p672_3.pdf requires Adobe reader
MEMBER INTERNATIONAL BIRD DOG ASSOCIATION
MEMBER ARMY AVIATION ASSOC. OF AMERICA
VFW Post 35
e-mail the WebMaster -
SwampFox@Druid-Consulting.com
