Vietnam Vet shares military experiences

BY LORETTA GILLESPIE

In 1954, most people had never heard of Vietnam. For Madison resident Joe Thurston, newly graduated from high school in Alex, OK., 1954 was the start of a great adventure. He began college at the University of Oklahoma and joined the ROTC.

Thurston

Thurston graduated in 1959 with a B.S. in mathematics and a commission from the ROTC. He joined the Armed Forces as a second lieutenant.

His first assignment was at the Air Defense Artillery Missile School in Ft. Bliss, Texas.  His class graduated four months later.

He met his future wife on a blind date. For him, it was love at first sight. She was more careful with her heart- it took her two weeks to realize that this was the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

Her name was Janice Kay Frei, and she was a student at the Texas Western College.

His first assignment was with the Nike Hercules Guided Missile Battery in Landau, Germany. On his first leave, he came home to the U.S. to be married.

He was re-assigned to the 117th Aviation Company in 1965.  His first assignment was short.

“We landed in a ‘hot’ zone,” he explained. “I was the co-pilot. We got shot up right away. The pilot was wounded. We had to get right back in the air in another chopper which lifted off and was fired on again, but we made it back to base, where they sent us up again.”

Thurston today.

Now, I’m in the third chopper for the day, only this time I’m the pilot,” he said. “It was my first day in Vietnam and I could already tell it was going be a long year.”

Next, Thurston a member of the 145th Aviation Platoon, as an armed pilot supporting the Special Forces. He had been in Vietnam a total of eight days now. His unit flew Special Forces troop’s in-country to do re-con on the ground for Project Delta.

He had the honor of piloting several celebrities around the skies over the war-torn country.   Thurston had no trouble in recognizing one tall, well-mannered and soft-spoken gentleman as John Wayne.

He also flew Robert and Teddy Kennedy over the war torn countryside.

“That was a really interesting conversation. I had the opportunity to talk with them for about two hours,” he said.

During his first tour he was awarded several medals for heroism under fire. The first was one of his most memorable missions.

On Jan. 6, 1966, Thurston piloted the chopper that rescued a six-man re-con team who were under heavy ground- fire. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Thurston earned the second medal for his part in a battle that he thought was the end for him.

“I thought it was over– we were shot down in the middle of a Viet Cong (VC) roadblock and were under heavy fire for a few hours,” he said.

He received a Bronze Star for Valor and a Purple Heart.

On the day of the third mission for which he was decorated, Thurston was with a Special Forces unit protecting a re-con team. “That was probably the most fire I was under,” he said.

He was honored with a special decoration, the Air Metal with Valor. That was in May of 1966. He was 30 years old.

He also received several medals from the Vietnamese government. They awarded the young officer with a Cross of Gallantry for his part in rescuing 27 Vietnamese soldiers from a jungle prison camp.

Looko for part 2 of Thurston’s story next week.