ANDY ADKINS
US Navy Veteran... City Firefighter... Engineer... Consultant... Author
"Life is a journey, one step followed by another..."
NOW AVAILABLE!
I'm pleased to announce that my new book, The 'Nam "AC-48", is published and available on Amazon. It's a tribute to the 48 servicemen from Alachua County, Florida who died in the line of service during the Vietnam War.
Much has been written about the Vietnam War, but The 'Nam "AC-48" is unique. This is a personal look ... beyond the numbers. I didn't want to stop at the 58,266 names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall or even the 1,567 still listed as Missing in Action.
I wanted to present a more personal side - the individual.
Forty-eight young men with ties to Alachua County, Florida lost their lives in Vietnam. This book is about them. These men volunteered or were drafted - it makes no difference. They answered the call from their Country. To them, it was the patriotic thing.
"God, Family, Country."
Patriotism has been described as love and duty to your Country. But as you read some of these stories, you will understand it is also the love and duty to their comrades ... members of their unit.
Please take time to think of these young men, not just as another number or name as part of the KIA or MIA; don't think of them as just the cost of war.
These young men - sons, brothers, fathers, and husbands - were real people with real lives that were cut far too short. They will never know what we are able to enjoy, in part because of their ultimate sacrifice. Thank them and thank you for taking the time to read this book.
For more information, click HERE.
Also available in audio
My latest blog post: 6/23/26 #217 - Japan: Westpac '75
After our 6-days of max liberty in Hong Kong (we only needed to be aboard if our section had duty), and after a week or so back in PI, we began our longest time at sea without hitting a port--about five weeks.During this transit, we had a few days of around-the-clock flight ops. That was pretty demanding, and Crash had to split into two, twelve-hour shifts. Gary Borne (R.I.P.) and I had to work longer shifts, since we were both 3d Class POs. I worked the day shift this go round which was fine by me. I got to do my 0600 morning radio show, so I was happy.
We left PI and headed up to Japan. It turns out that we were on the edge of a typhoon and we experienced a lot of rough weather.
All flight ops were canceled. On the flight deck, we had to double all the tie-down chains on the planes. Instead of the usual 6 tie-down chains, each plane had 12 to 15 tie-downs. All the equipment, including the Crash trucks, all the tow tractors, and even big Tilly, our humongous Crash crane, had tie-down chains.
Books written by Andy Adkins
80th Division (WWII) Books edited by Andy Adkins
