Airman 2nd Class David Czak
U.S. Air Force – Jet Engine Mechanic
508th Military Airlift Command Wing
U.S. Southern Command
Cam Rahn Bay, Vietnam and Panama Canal
August 1965 – October 1968
David Czak was born in 1945 in New Britain, CT. He grew up in Plainville, CT with his younger brother. Like many people in the area, his father worked at the General Electric plant in Plainville, CT where he was an electrician. David’s mother was a home maker.
David enjoyed his childhood, growing up in 1950’s America. “It was a fun time for kids. We played baseball out in the sandlot. Same thing in football”. They played basketball in the street, skated in the winter and went swimming in the summer. “We did a lot of hiking with my friends”.
David described himself as a “gearhead” and a hot rod enthusiast. He graduated from Plainville High School in June of 1963, the same year as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. An event that stripped America of any innocence it had remaining after World War II. David didn’t attend college after graduation and worked at various odd jobs including some construction work. Eventually David realized he needed some direction. “I was tired of just going nowhere, so I enlisted in the Air Force”. David chose the Air Force because he thought he would get the training he needed for later life. He wanted to work in the HVAC field and the Air Force recruiter said no problem. Later David would learn, what the Air Force needed took precedence and over what David wanted, and he was sent to Jet Engine School.
David went to Basic Training at Lackland Air Force Base located in San Antonio, TX “in the hot summer of 1965”. David didn’t find basic training to be very difficult. “I knew when I went in that they are going to break me down…I just went with the flow”.
After 45 days of Basic Training David headed for his Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois. David attended jet engine school and graduated in January 1966. “That was a cold place in the winter…one day we were standing in line for flu shots in the drizzling snow and rain. Two weeks later I came down with pneumonia”.
Toward the end of AIT David was given a list of bases to choose from for his first duty station. He thought he would like warmer weather, and he chose Panama. In February of 1966 he arrived in Panama. Little did he know there were no jet aircraft in Panama. For 18 months “I was just a gopher”. David recalled it was so humid, during the rainy season (six month long) they would have to store their shoes in a footlocker with a light bulb “so they wouldn’t turn green”. “During the rainy season the grass would be four feet high and then come the dry season there would be three-foot-wide cracks in the ground. It would dry up that much”.
The base offered a wide variety of sporting activities to keep the airmen busy. They also did a lot of recreational hiking. “We worked with an organization where we brought food and blankets to one of the native tribes”. “It was a fun base. I had a good time”. As his tour was drawing to its conclusion, David volunteered to go to Vietnam. He volunteered because he wanted the extra $100/month in combat pay to put in the bank.
David came home for 90 days and in August he flew out to Travis Air Force Base in California where he attended the C-141 Aircraft school. After the two months of school, he boarded a plane at Mc Cord Air Force Base in the state of Washington. After a stop at Yokota Air Force Base in Japan they headed for Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam where they landed at a U.S. military installation in late September of 1967. In 1967 U.S. troops had reached nearly 500,000 and continued to build in number throughout 1968. Also building were the anti-war protests back in the United States.
When David got off the plane he thought, “It’s hot!” He recalled Cam Rahn Bay was like a big sand dune. “I never saw so much sand”. David recalled walking on boardwalks between the various housing huts. “Everything else was just a sand pit. Local Vietnamese women came onto the base to do the soldier’s wash. The latrines had toilets with 55-gallon drum underneath each “hole”. “At night they would pull the drums out, put kerosine in them and burn them. That stunk like heck”. David recalled the Vietnamese were very hard working. He didn’t recall any incidences of Vietnamese workers operating as spies for the North Vietnamese. Other bases were not so lucky.
David expected to be working on jet engines but instead he was assigned to a ground crew on the flight line at the airfield. They received the aircraft when they arrived and prepared them for departure. Operating in crews of three they would direct the plane to the gate, chock the wheels and connect the ground based electric power. They would oversee the boarding and deplaning of the passengers and the loading and unloading of baggage and cargo. They worked 12-hour shifts.
The U.S. base in Cam Ranh Bay had all of the amenities of home a soldier could hope for in the middle of a war zone. There were three movie theaters, a skeet range, and extensive music library of the sound of the 60’s that the GI’s could “tape”. There was also an extensive library, there was the South China Sea for swimming and of course “The Sugar Shack”, which had hamburgers, hot dogs French fries and beer and soda. David and two buddies were enterprising young GI’s, and they started a black-market operation buying the liquor ration cards from the GI’s that didn’t drink. The used the ration cards to buy beer and liquor and then sold it to the other GIs. With their booty they purchased reel to reel tape recorders and other audio equipment.
There was a healthy entrepreneurial spirit at Cam Ranh and black-market enterprises sprung up everywhere. “There were guys from the mess halls selling grinders out of their barracks”. A benefit of working on the flight line was “we could borrow” some of the cargo. David recalled borrowing a crate of eggs and hard boiling the eggs “to bring to the movie theater to drink beer and eat hard boiled eggs”. “I never left the base. There was nowhere to go”.
David and his buddies were given a week of R&R and were flown to Bangkok, Thailand courtesy of Pan Am. “Back then it (Thailand) was definitely a third world country”. They had hoped to see where the movie Bridge Over the River Kwai was filmed, but that side trip was cancelled due to monsoons. David vividly recalled how spicy the Thai food was.
In January of 1968 the Tet Offensive began but Cam Ranh Bay avoided attack. Occasionally the base would be hit by mortar fire but that was at the other end of the base. David’s tour was much different experience from the guys out in the jungle. There were reminders of the war at Cam Rahn when the helicopters brough in wounded soldiers and coffins were stacked on the tarmac.
The Tet Offensive began on January 30th, 1968, during the Lunar New Year Holiday. The North Vietnamese Army and the communist guerilla group, the Viet Cong, launched 70,000 fighters in coordinated attacks throughout multiple cities in South Vietnam. The U.S and South Vietnamese troops were caught by surprise. In previous years the fighting dropped off during the Lunar New Year celebration. In 1968 the combined enemy forces used the element of surprise to launch their attack.
The enemy had early victories, but the U.S. rallied and when Tet ended in early April of 1968 the enemy had been badly beaten. They failed to hold any ground initially captured, the Viet Cong infrastructure was completely destroyed and although the U.S. and the South Vietnamese armies sustained heavy casualties, the enemy had staggering losses numbering in the thousands of soldiers
Although it was a clear military victory for the U.S., Tet marked a turning point in the war. Back in the states, the images on the nightly news of numerous dead and injured U.S. soldiers turned the tide of public support. The anti-war protests put tremendous pressure on President Lyndon Johnson, and he ultimately chose to begin pulling back support for the South Vietnamese. Tet was the beginning of the end of the war.
In October 1968 David returned to the United States and was placed on reserved duty for four months. Terry Castiolla and David were high school classmates. One evening after David had left for boot camp his friends were making tape recording to send to him. She left a message for him to call her when he came home. He did just that and the couple began dating and then stayed in touch while David was in Panama and Vietnam. When he came home, they resumed dating again and they were married July 4, 1970. They had two children.
Through the years David has enjoyed hunting, fishing, woodworking and volunteering for the Boy Scouts. He is also a member of the cooking club and enjoys exploring restaurants with Terry. David enjoyed hunting pheasants, but he got the most enjoyment out of watching his bird dog’s work. “Watching you dog work, doing what they love to do, is the fun thing”.
Thank you, David, for serving your country as the war in Vietnam accelerated. The efforts of the men and women providing Logistics services often go unrecognized, but any military person will tell you that Logistics are the key to a successful operation.
David enjoyed his childhood, growing up in 1950’s America. “It was a fun time for kids. We played baseball out in the sandlot. Same thing in football”. They played basketball in the street, skated in the winter and went swimming in the summer. “We did a lot of hiking with my friends”.
David described himself as a “gearhead” and a hot rod enthusiast. He graduated from Plainville High School in June of 1963, the same year as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. An event that stripped America of any innocence it had remaining after World War II. David didn’t attend college after graduation and worked at various odd jobs including some construction work. Eventually David realized he needed some direction. “I was tired of just going nowhere, so I enlisted in the Air Force”. David chose the Air Force because he thought he would get the training he needed for later life. He wanted to work in the HVAC field and the Air Force recruiter said no problem. Later David would learn, what the Air Force needed took precedence and over what David wanted, and he was sent to Jet Engine School.
David went to Basic Training at Lackland Air Force Base located in San Antonio, TX “in the hot summer of 1965”. David didn’t find basic training to be very difficult. “I knew when I went in that they are going to break me down…I just went with the flow”.
After 45 days of Basic Training David headed for his Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois. David attended jet engine school and graduated in January 1966. “That was a cold place in the winter…one day we were standing in line for flu shots in the drizzling snow and rain. Two weeks later I came down with pneumonia”.
Toward the end of AIT David was given a list of bases to choose from for his first duty station. He thought he would like warmer weather, and he chose Panama. In February of 1966 he arrived in Panama. Little did he know there were no jet aircraft in Panama. For 18 months “I was just a gopher”. David recalled it was so humid, during the rainy season (six month long) they would have to store their shoes in a footlocker with a light bulb “so they wouldn’t turn green”. “During the rainy season the grass would be four feet high and then come the dry season there would be three-foot-wide cracks in the ground. It would dry up that much”.
The base offered a wide variety of sporting activities to keep the airmen busy. They also did a lot of recreational hiking. “We worked with an organization where we brought food and blankets to one of the native tribes”. “It was a fun base. I had a good time”. As his tour was drawing to its conclusion, David volunteered to go to Vietnam. He volunteered because he wanted the extra $100/month in combat pay to put in the bank.
David came home for 90 days and in August he flew out to Travis Air Force Base in California where he attended the C-141 Aircraft school. After the two months of school, he boarded a plane at Mc Cord Air Force Base in the state of Washington. After a stop at Yokota Air Force Base in Japan they headed for Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam where they landed at a U.S. military installation in late September of 1967. In 1967 U.S. troops had reached nearly 500,000 and continued to build in number throughout 1968. Also building were the anti-war protests back in the United States.
When David got off the plane he thought, “It’s hot!” He recalled Cam Rahn Bay was like a big sand dune. “I never saw so much sand”. David recalled walking on boardwalks between the various housing huts. “Everything else was just a sand pit. Local Vietnamese women came onto the base to do the soldier’s wash. The latrines had toilets with 55-gallon drum underneath each “hole”. “At night they would pull the drums out, put kerosine in them and burn them. That stunk like heck”. David recalled the Vietnamese were very hard working. He didn’t recall any incidences of Vietnamese workers operating as spies for the North Vietnamese. Other bases were not so lucky.
David expected to be working on jet engines but instead he was assigned to a ground crew on the flight line at the airfield. They received the aircraft when they arrived and prepared them for departure. Operating in crews of three they would direct the plane to the gate, chock the wheels and connect the ground based electric power. They would oversee the boarding and deplaning of the passengers and the loading and unloading of baggage and cargo. They worked 12-hour shifts.
The U.S. base in Cam Ranh Bay had all of the amenities of home a soldier could hope for in the middle of a war zone. There were three movie theaters, a skeet range, and extensive music library of the sound of the 60’s that the GI’s could “tape”. There was also an extensive library, there was the South China Sea for swimming and of course “The Sugar Shack”, which had hamburgers, hot dogs French fries and beer and soda. David and two buddies were enterprising young GI’s, and they started a black-market operation buying the liquor ration cards from the GI’s that didn’t drink. The used the ration cards to buy beer and liquor and then sold it to the other GIs. With their booty they purchased reel to reel tape recorders and other audio equipment.
There was a healthy entrepreneurial spirit at Cam Ranh and black-market enterprises sprung up everywhere. “There were guys from the mess halls selling grinders out of their barracks”. A benefit of working on the flight line was “we could borrow” some of the cargo. David recalled borrowing a crate of eggs and hard boiling the eggs “to bring to the movie theater to drink beer and eat hard boiled eggs”. “I never left the base. There was nowhere to go”.
David and his buddies were given a week of R&R and were flown to Bangkok, Thailand courtesy of Pan Am. “Back then it (Thailand) was definitely a third world country”. They had hoped to see where the movie Bridge Over the River Kwai was filmed, but that side trip was cancelled due to monsoons. David vividly recalled how spicy the Thai food was.
In January of 1968 the Tet Offensive began but Cam Ranh Bay avoided attack. Occasionally the base would be hit by mortar fire but that was at the other end of the base. David’s tour was much different experience from the guys out in the jungle. There were reminders of the war at Cam Rahn when the helicopters brough in wounded soldiers and coffins were stacked on the tarmac.
The Tet Offensive began on January 30th, 1968, during the Lunar New Year Holiday. The North Vietnamese Army and the communist guerilla group, the Viet Cong, launched 70,000 fighters in coordinated attacks throughout multiple cities in South Vietnam. The U.S and South Vietnamese troops were caught by surprise. In previous years the fighting dropped off during the Lunar New Year celebration. In 1968 the combined enemy forces used the element of surprise to launch their attack.
The enemy had early victories, but the U.S. rallied and when Tet ended in early April of 1968 the enemy had been badly beaten. They failed to hold any ground initially captured, the Viet Cong infrastructure was completely destroyed and although the U.S. and the South Vietnamese armies sustained heavy casualties, the enemy had staggering losses numbering in the thousands of soldiers
Although it was a clear military victory for the U.S., Tet marked a turning point in the war. Back in the states, the images on the nightly news of numerous dead and injured U.S. soldiers turned the tide of public support. The anti-war protests put tremendous pressure on President Lyndon Johnson, and he ultimately chose to begin pulling back support for the South Vietnamese. Tet was the beginning of the end of the war.
In October 1968 David returned to the United States and was placed on reserved duty for four months. Terry Castiolla and David were high school classmates. One evening after David had left for boot camp his friends were making tape recording to send to him. She left a message for him to call her when he came home. He did just that and the couple began dating and then stayed in touch while David was in Panama and Vietnam. When he came home, they resumed dating again and they were married July 4, 1970. They had two children.
Through the years David has enjoyed hunting, fishing, woodworking and volunteering for the Boy Scouts. He is also a member of the cooking club and enjoys exploring restaurants with Terry. David enjoyed hunting pheasants, but he got the most enjoyment out of watching his bird dog’s work. “Watching you dog work, doing what they love to do, is the fun thing”.
Thank you, David, for serving your country as the war in Vietnam accelerated. The efforts of the men and women providing Logistics services often go unrecognized, but any military person will tell you that Logistics are the key to a successful operation.