U.S. Air Force Vietnam War Evergreen Park, IL Flight date: July, 2019
By Dave Koziol, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interviews Volunteer
Robert “Bob” Vogeltanz began volunteer service in the United States Air Force on September 27, 1965, three days before his 19th birthday. At that time, he did not know he would learn a highly specialized skill that would take him halfway across the world to Thailand during the height of the Vietnam War.
The son of Robert and Virginia Vogeltanz, Bob was a third generation Evergreen Park, Illinois, resident being raised there along with his three siblings, Carol (deceased), Dawn, and Scott (deceased). While in high school, Bob registered for the Selective Service, was given a physical exam, and was classified 1A for the draft.
In mid-1965, soon after high school, Bob was working for the Nashua Corporation when he recalls, “I had a really bad day at work.” Knowing he would soon be drafted into the Army, Bob made an important life decision. He decided to enlist on his terms over being drafted into the Army. He went to the nearest Air Force Recruiter and enlisted for a term of four years Active service and two years in Reserve. In late 1965, only a month or so after his visit to the recruiter, Bob was on his way to Texas for eight weeks of Basic Training. He was flown from O’Hare Airport to Lackland Air Force Base (AFB) near San Antonio. After Basic, he was assigned to specialized training; luckily for Bob, it was back in Illinois. He was to be trained as a parachute rigger at Chanute AFB near Rantoul which allowed him to visit his family often.
Bob would complete the Parachute Rigger Course in March, 1966, and attain the rank of Airman 3rd Class. In completing this course, he learned the very specialized skill of packing personnel parachutes and B-52 Bomber drag parachutes. The drag chutes were deployed during landing to help slow down the large bomber. After training, he found out he would be assigned to the Strategic Air Command (SAC) Headquarters (HQ) at Offutt AFB near Omaha, Nebraska.
Bob was assigned to the 4305th Maintenance Squadron at SAC HQ Offutt AFB. He would spend 19 months there doing what he was trained to do, packing and inspecting parachutes. He said, “I loved those darn parachutes.” He lived in barracks on the base and packed personnel chutes most of the time. While stationed at SAC HQ he was still able to visit his family. He would catch a flight home, or even drive when on a short leave. Bob was promoted to Sergeant (currently Senior Airman, grade E-4) on May 1, 1967, while at SAC HQ.
Bob remembers a day in mid-1967 when a KC-135 aircraft crashed after take-off at the end of a runway at SAC HQ. He said, “It was a ‘Looking Glass’ type aircraft,” and he volunteered to salvage equipment from the wreckage. He remembers seeing the parachutes he had just recently packed. “All the chutes were on a skid and all melted together.” The men inside would not wear their chutes but instead stack them nearby. The sight of the burnt chutes disturbed him, and he believes some airmen died in that crash. This accident occurred on July 17,1967 and one of the airmen did die in the crash. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_RC-135#cite_note-42
In August 1967, Bob received orders that he would be assigned overseas. He was flown to California from SAC HQ to wait for his overseas deployment. While in California, he was trained on the M-16 automatic rifle. In November 1967, he was flown on a commercial airline to Bangkok, Thailand. Bob recalls, “I think it was Tiger Airlines,” and they stopped once to refuel in Japan. His new unit was the 4208th Maintenance Squadron stationed at U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, southwest of Bangkok. Upon his arrival at U-Tapao, Bob had to live in a six-man improvised “hooch” tent because the barracks had not been built.
The men had a “hooch maid” who would clean and keep house. These maids were wives of Thai military personnel and would do that job to earn extra money. They were strictly off-limits to any type of fraternization. Soon, a new large thirty-man barracks was built, but the maids would still work for small groups of men inside of this larger setting. Bob’s maid did not have to cook because Bob was on a meal plan called separate rations. He said, “I paid for meals on the base in Thailand – it was like a buffet. It was only twenty-seven cents for breakfast.” Bob also recalls the weather was phenomenal, hot and humid most of the time, just the way he liked it!
Bob was still stationed at U-Tapao during the 1968 Vietnam Tet Offensive. Along with his regular packing of personnel chutes, he packed many more B-52 Bomber drag chutes than he ever did at SAC HQ. It was a busy time at U-Tapao, but he did get some leave time. He was able to visit the star sapphire mines and the klongs (canals) in and around Bangkok. Bob was stationed in Thailand for almost one year and he said, “The only bad part was that my family was not there.” He said, “My mother wrote over 300 letters to me; I got to reply about 30 times.” He was also able to talk to his family via the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) that was available at U-Tapao.
By November 1968, Bob’s active service time was coming to an end and he found out he would be getting an early out of 10 months. Bob was due for promotion to Staff Sergeant (E-5) in January 1969, but they refused to extend his active service time and he had to take the early out. They said he would have to re-enlist in November, 1968 for four more years to receive that promotion. He decided not to re-enlist and was discharged from Active Duty on Nov. 21, 1968. He said, “To be honest, I wish I would have stayed in.” He was flown back to California, this time stopping off in Hawaii for refueling on the return trip.
Bob remained on Inactive Reserve until September 26, 1971, when he was Honorably Discharged. His service awards include: Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, Air Force Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with one Bronze Service Star, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.
When Bob was discharged from active service, he was told not to wear his uniform on the plane or in the airport because of the strong opposition to the United States involvement in Southeast Asia. Bob had worn his uniform several times while visiting home during his service and never had a problem. He did take the advice and did not wear his uniform home that last time.
Upon returning home in November of 1968, Bob had his Nashua Corporation sales/service job waiting for him and worked there until 1979. In December of 1979, Bob married Joette, whom he had known since grammar school. They had two daughters, Joy and Roberta which made four generations of Evergreen Park residents. Joette sadly passed away, after a long battle with cancer, in August 2001.
Until retiring at 70, Bob was a CDL truck driver, managed a few warehouses and drove a minibus for Worth Township, Illinois. A rewarding job, he drove seniors to the doctor, shopping and other places. Bob said the best job he ever had was “parachute rigger with the Air Force.”
Currently Bob and his friend Linda love to travel and camp, pulling a large Coleman camper with his truck everywhere they go. While awaiting grandchildren from his daughters, he is dog-grandpa to Kit Kat and Fendi. Bob, enjoy your camping and travels across the country.