HOM: Swift Error Part two

Got this email this morning -- a blast from the past --------- Hi Jim, Start at the bottom with Inmans email and then Barrys and read up to Gene's answer, you might find it interesting, Boog (For the sake of convenience, I resorted the posts, so just read them top to bottom.) ---------- From: inman bud Sent: Feb 8, 2009 2:52 PM To: navybear@mindspring.com Subject: swift boats Barry, I need some help with remembering a date . Some time in Aug.-Sept. we went to help a swiftboat that had taken a rocket hit and run aground we left sea float on turbine that was the only time I remember using the turbine in the river. I thank that was the same boat that we towed out of the river to a LSD ..on the day that I left the Crockett going home. Thanks for any help you can give me on this. your shipmate Otha H. Inman --- From: Barry Stinson To: Paul Bennett ; Bob Peters ; Gene Razzetti ; Don Dietz ; Gary Whitfield Sent: Sun, 8 Feb 2009 2:44 pm Subject: Fw: swift boats Can anybody help Inman out on this one? Gene, this couldn't have been the same Swift Boat that that you and Handcock went aboard with our submersible pump, could it? I still have a photo of you and Inman leaving at the same time. If it is, you had a VERY busy day! Nosnits --- Subject: Re: swift boats Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2009 22:54:07 -0500 From: generazz@aol.com Noz,Those were two different events. Event ONE was June 24th, 1969, near SEAFLOAT. We scrambled to the scene of an attack, where a swift boat had beached and was sinking. The boat had first beached to do some RECON. The RVN interpreter jumped off the boat deck and on to a landmine. The schrapnel peppered most of the boat's port side. After the explosion came a small arms attack from the trees. The Skipper got the boat underway again and across to the other side, where he beached it again, this time because it was taking on water rapidly and sinking. EM3 Jim Handcock, EN2 Steve Bongard, and I took a bag of damage control plugs, a P-250 pump and an eductor, plus some small arms of our own (for morale) to the boat. We would not have taken a submersible pump (you dummy) because there was no electrical power. I always suspected that you slept through my damage control training. I guess we went in another swift boat. I don't think we brought the Boston Whaler. Once there, the three of us plugged the holes and rigged the pump/eductor to raise the boat and make it buoyant, while the other crews and CROCKETT kept us covered. We were waist-deep not only in water but diesel fuel, since the port fuel tank had also been hit. The fuel gave Steve a rash on the family jewels. Since he had just gotten back from R&R, we told him it was actually a virulent Southeast Asian venerial disease. That would never have worked with Jim Handcock. I remember being on turbine a number of times in the river. We could not have operated with the swift boats otherwise.Once I augmented from USNR to USN, the paperwork covering my potentially getting my shit blown away was much easier to complete, and Paul and Bob did not mind sending me on jobs like that. Prior to that time, they always sent Pete - Regular Navy and a smaller target. End of Event ONE. Event TWO took place toward the end of September (1969), my anniversary month. One balmy morning, as we were cruising down the river. I was summoned to the Bridge with the shaving cream still on my face. Paul and Bob had decided that I was to be send home - that very day. I packed my clothes and threw my .38 over the side. One of the first sailors to wish me bon voyage was Seaman Angel. I should have accidentally shot him, but then you guys would have wanted the pistol mounted on the Mess Deck. We picked up a swift boat that had also been shot up and sunk and were towing it to open water and a waiting LSD. The boat had been submerged and the inside was filled with mud, slime, weed, and various otherwise expensive Chinese sea food. I'm drawing a blank on the boat hull numbers, but I do remember that it was not the same boat. The only way to get me aboard the LSD was to put me into this slimy scow and winch us both into the well-deck. The crew of the LSD thought I had been the officer-in-charge, and must have "really f--ked up". I over-nighted on the ship, just sleeping and watching movies. It was just like my recruiter had described so long before.We pulled into some place to the north. I got off and on to a small cargo plane to Cam Ranh Bay, arriving with a bunch of other spare parts. About two days later, Gardiner Pearson, my relief, hit town. The next day CROCKETT came back with (as I recall) a failed starboard main engine. Gardiner and I both went aboard. As I walked down the pier, you, Noz, waived at me and welcomed me back. I waived back, but you had waived with all five fingers. I didn't. I spent the next several days giving Gardiner a more proper turnover. Chief Thayer and some other new engineers had already reported aboard. But I digress.Before the end of September (make that right before), I flew out of Cam Ranh Bay, stopped at Yakota AFB (Japan), Seattle, and home to Florida. Otha and Chief Wright flew back at the same time, although their month was October or later. We said our goodbyes in Seattle; Wright returned to beautiful San Diego and Otha went home to Tie Plant, which I believe they kept in Mississippi. His return caused them to revise the population figure on the "Welcome to Tie Plant" sign - which read the same on both sides. Best to all, Gene Eugene A. Razzetti, TBC (Me) (Blacktail Books)