Claude (Nick) Cressy:  

I enlisted in May 1971, at age 18, into the U.S. Air Force, hoping to get ahead of being drafted, seeking the military experience, and getting to serve my country. I also wanted access to the G.I. Bill for education and homeowner benefits. Since I had a good score on the mechanical portion of the entry test, I was selected for the aircraft weapons/loading career field. After basic training at Lackland AFB, Texas, I was sent to Lowry AFB, in Colorado to begin my technical school training for aircraft weapons and loading on tactical aircraft. I trained on F-100s, F-111s, and F4-C/D/Es, and their associated weapons systems, standard loading operations, and troubleshooting. While in training at Lowry AFB there was an opportunity for me, approved by the first sergeant and squadron commander, to work in downtown Denver as a stock boy at the May D&F Department store. This was a good opportunity for me to earn extra money, since I was getting married in October 1971, and the job did not interfere with my studies and examinations. I filled my weekends and some weekday nights at this part-time job. During my time at Lowry AFB we all had the opportunity to fill out dream sheets for our follow-on assignments after graduation. Putting 2 + 2 together I figured that I might end up in Thailand or Vietnam, so I put down both of those locations. Much to my surprise I received orders several weeks later for Clark AB, in the Philippines. I went on 30 days leave after graduation; I got married to my high school sweetheart - Dianne Robb -, and turned 19 years old. I left for Clark AB at the end of November 1971 out of Travis AFB, California, and took the route through Anchorage, Alaska, Yokota AB, Japan and then Clark AB in the Philippines. As we landed at Clark AB and were taxiing to a stop at the entry location, I still remember when the door was opened on the aircraft. The heat and the humidity were more than I had ever experienced; it felt like an oven door opening in my face. I grew up in Michigan, the Detroit area, which had some hot summers, but never heat and humidity like this. I arrived on 1 December 1971 and proceeded to process in and get acquainted with the weapons loading shop and leadership at the 405th Munitions Maintenance Squadron (MMS). About two weeks later I was on orders for Nakon Phanom RTAFB, Thailand, supporting the 456th MMS. Arriving at NKP, I was assigned to the weapons release shop, working on A-1 Skyraiders and OV-10 Broncos weapons release systems. I worked night shift mostly and enjoyed the friendship of those who trained me on the aircraft, which I did not train for in technical school. These were prop planes and I hated being next to them when they were running, the prop noise and sensation was mesmerizing and stepping into one of course would be fatal. I got to see the movie Kellys Heros at the outdoor theater while C-119 gunships flew overhead scanning the perimeter. I left NKP at the end of February back to Clark AB. At Clark AB, I was trained and certified to load F4-Ds with training munitions and learned to trouble shoot electrical problems. This included getting to know the crew chiefs and other maintenance personnel. After about three weeks I was notified of a TDY assignment to Da Nang AB, South Vietnam, supporting the 366th MMS for the Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS),The Gunfighters and other TFSs. I arrived before the Easter Invasion, which started 30 March 1972, and initiated the Linebacker I air campaign against North Vietnamese targets. I witnessed a B-52 landing after surviving a missile hit over North Vietnam. I watched it approach over Da Nang bay and land on to the runway. I do not recall the date or if there were any casualties onboard. Increased small arms fire around the perimeter, and many days of Army howitzers firing from positions on the outskirts of our area supporting operations throughout the Military Region I, made sleeping hard. I was also nervous about the noise and was not sure if it was from our activity or VC rockets inbound. Eventually a consolidation of our loading crews and associated aircraft and supporting personnel was ordered, and we all (from Clarks 405th TFS) went by several C-130s to Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base. Udorn was the headquarters for Air America and other friendly forces working along the trail and in places unknown. We supported the 432nd MMS. During my tour there through November 1972, the Air Force celebrated its first ace, Captain Ritchie. He was a pilot with the 555th TFS (Triple Nickel). He along with his flight, on the day he shot down his fifth MIG put on a fabulous air show upon their return to Udorn. Also on 3 October 1972 Udorn RTAFB experienced a Sapper attack, pinning us down in the flight line area and in our shop building in crossfire. There was also a dramatic explosion of a Sappers satchel charge next to a revetment wall, about 150 meters from our shop building. The Sapper team managed to plant some booby trap explosives on some aircraft, but I do not recall how many. According to what I have been reading on the Internet about the attack, 10 Sappers penetrated the base and 9 were killed and one severely injured; the attack lasted at least 12 hours On November 4th, I turned 20 years old and had a few days earlier returned to Clark AB from Udorn and back to training loads and routine maintenance activities. On 10 December I was summoned by the orderly room Airman and told to report to the Squadron Commander, a Major whose name I cannot remember. The Major told me that the American Red Cross had sent a message to the command and that he was sorry to report that my father had a heart attack. He was recovering, but my presence was requested at home and that I would be on a plane the next day as an emergency PCS. Only a few days earlier I had received my stateside orders for the 5th MMS at Minot AFB, North Dakota, so I was processed out very quickly. My father recovered and recently passed away on 22 September 2015. I was going home after one year and nine days, short of a 15-month tour and under different circumstances than I expected. After a leave that went past the Christmas season I proceeded to Minot AFB with my wife Dianne. There I loaded B-52s with nuclear weapons till the end of my enlistment in 1975. During October 1973, my load crew, as well as other crews, were recalled for an Emergency War Order (EWO) at an early hour of the morning, 1:00 am/0100. This EWO, so we thought, was not for real but an exercise. I called a fellow crewmember that lived down the street and whose turn it was to drive to the base. In October 1973, Israelis were attacked by Syria and Egypt squeezing them defensively and backing them in a corner. According to a book that was written in the late 1990s or early 2000s, Israel made some very serious threats. Those threats turned out to be towards the then Soviet Union, where they would attack Soviet missile and bomber assets in the Ca...Expand for more