SPECIAL FORCES ASSOCIATION CHAPTER 78 the LTC Frank J
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THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SPECIAL FORCES ASSOCIATION CHAPTER 78 The LTC Frank J. Dallas Chapter NEWSLETTER OF THE QUIET PROFESSIONALS VOLUME 10, ISSUE 12 • DECEMBER 2019 Master Sgt. Matthew Williams Awarded the MOH The Forgotten Warriors — Update on the Montagnards Abandoned Allies: Lessons Not Learned The Tale of Rmah Ktang The Son Tay Raid: A Raider Remembers From the Editor VOLUME 10, ISSUE 12 • DECEMBER 2019 FINAL EDITORS COLUMN IN THIS ISSUE: Members of the United States Intelligence President’s Page ........................................................................ 1 Community have told me many times that if President Trump Awards the Medal of Honor to its not written, it didn’t happen. This must be Master Sgt. Matthew Williams on October 31, 2019................... 2 one of the reasons that a huge majority of the The Forgotten Warriors — Update on the Montagnards documents of MACV-SOG in the Viet Nam Abandoned Allies: Lessons Not Learned ................................... 4 War were destroyed; plausible denial. When The Tale of Rmah Ktang ................................................................. 6 I began as Editor of the Sentinel eight years Special Forces and the Vietnam Fund Lonny Holmes Sentinel Editor ago my goal was to print stories from Green Help the Montagnards in Vietnam .............................................. 8 Berets who fought, trained and led solders in An Evolution: The Making of the Sentinel ................................. 10 our conflict. Then I expanded this goal to include all those who sup- Chapter 78 November Meeting ................................................. 12 ported and helped us in our contribution to carry our orders to defend The Son Tay Raid: A Raider Remembers ...................................14 the United States of America and the countries we supported. Remembering Sully Hubert de Fontaine .....................................18 Medal of Honor Recipients Gather for I thank Richard Simonian for letting me “run with the ball” for these Annual Conference in Tampa Bay ...............................................21 eight years without a word of direction or hesitation in developing Chapter 78 Member Spotlight: Richard Simonian ......................22 the Sentinel. I also thank Debra Holm who designed the Sentinel Long Lost Artwork Returned Decades Later ..............................25 and did all the layouts which made these 96 issues look profes- sional. The result was two fold: individual stories are not forgotten COVER: Frank Snepp, Former CIA Strategy Analyst and Author and numerous national awards for SF Chapter 78.* was the main speaker at the November Chapter meeting. Read about his presentation on page 12. Photo by Lonny Holmes *The first two years of the Sentinel were edited by John Joyce and I contributed to those 24 issues. Please visit us at Lonny Holmes specialforces78.com Sentinel Editor and sfa78cup.com CHAPTER OFFICERS: Sergeant At Arms/ Quartermaster President Mark Miller / D-8296 John Stryker Meyer / D-238 Coordinator of ROTC Program Vice Presidents Ed Barrett / M-11188 Don Deatherage / M-13962 Chaplain Brad Welker / M-2319 Richard Simonian / D-7920 Secretary Sentinel Editor Gary Macnamara / M-12789 Louis (Lonny) Holmes / D-6067 Treasurer Immediate Past President Richard Simonian / D-7920 Bruce Long / D-7464 Above, Lonny drinking rice wine. 888-923-VETS (8387) • VeteransAffordableHousing.org At left, Lonny in Viet Nam MISSION STATEMENT: The Sentinel will provide interesting and meaningful at SF Camp Plei Djereng information relative to the Special Forces experience — today, yesterday and tomorrow. Articles will be published that were written by knowledgeable authors in the spring of 1968 with who will provide objective and accurate accounts of real world experiences. the Montagnard Soldiers. The Sentinel is published monthly by Special Forces Association Chapter 78, Southern California. The views, opinions and articles printed in this issue do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Army or the United States Special Operations Command, the Special Forces Association, or Special Forces Association Chapter 78. Please address any comments to the editor, “Sentinel” to [email protected]. The President’s Page | November 2019 Chapter Members, strong on math, but that’s NO recovery of US remains in four months, or none mentioned by DPAA. As 2019 draws to a close ending this Board of Directors term in office, I want to thank The National League of POW/MIA Families has been the most the men who have served Chapter 78 over determined advocate that seeks the fullest possible accounting for the last two years. Without their support our those still missing and repatriation of all recoverable remains. The chapter wouldn’t be the wonderful source of League, and the SOA/SFA POW/MIA Committee, stress that as the camaraderie and comradeship between us. highest priority. Remember, in Laos alone there are 50 Green Berets who died in the eight-year secret war, along with more than 120 fear- John Stryker Meyer Don Deatherage is wrapping up six years less Army, Marine Corps and Air Force aviators who died supporting President SFA 78 of service to the chapter as vice presi- SOG operators and are among those 1,586 missing Americans. dent. Brad Welker has served most of two years in office driving in from Las Vegas once a month, or rid- Please go to the league’s website and support it. The link is: ing with fellow Vegas vagabonds John Joyce or Lonny Holmes. www.pow-miafamilies.org. Gary Macnamara has set record times for turning around meet- Last, but not least, on November 23rd, I was graced with a new ing minutes while teaching military history at Fullerton. What can title: Granddad. My daughter Alaina delivered our first grandchild, I say about Chapter Treasurer/Chaplain/Patron Saint Richard at a hospital in LA. My wife and Alaina’s fiancée Johnny were with Simonian? He’s a chapter plank holder and is our only SF her throughout most of the process while I and the rest of the fam- Original. Not many chapters have an SF Original in their member- ily waited outside. Avery weighed in at 7.3 pounds, stretching out ship ranks. Besides having to bring Chapter member Kenn Miller to 21 inches. The miracle of newborn life still astounds me. to all of our meetings, Chapter Sgt. at Arms Mark Miller has been always been there to help the board with any mission assigned to Planning to attend our December 14 meeting at Treasurer/Chaplain him. Chapter member and fellow MACV-SOG comrade-in-arms Ed Richard Simonian’s office, please e-mail VP Don Deatherage at: Barrett has continued working with the five ROTC Program coordi- [email protected], no later than Thursday December 12, mid- nators our chapter works with during the years. Of course, I owe a night. The address for office, which is our team room, is: 326 W. tip of the beret to our editor of the award-winning Sentinel, Lonny Katella Ave., Suite 4L, Orange, CA 92867. When you pull into the Holmes, chapter web page manager Terry Cagnolatti, and, last driveway off of Katella, drive all the way to the back. The building – but certainly not least, our chapter Special Deputy Assistant to that’s perpendicular to the road at the end is Richard’s office. The the Treasurer Mike Keele. And, I have to mention chapter mem- door on the left is our team room. ber John Joyce, the Rembrandt of Challenge Coin crafters, who John Stryker Meyer has supported the chapter financially and with his beautiful coins, President, SFA Chapter 78 which we sold and earned money for the chapter. Working with this unique team has been a joy for me personally Chapter member John Joyce and is why I’ll keep my membership in Chapter 78 no matter where celebrating his birthday in my wife Anna and I move. Thank you gentlemen. November in Las Vegas at the I also thank Bruce Long for stepping up to serve another tour of Chapter 51 weekly meeting at the 50s Diner. duty as president, joining Richard, Gary, as elected officers. They will be joined by newly elected Vice Presidents Don Gonneville Happy birthday John! and Susan Weeks. Mark, Ed, Terry and Mike will continue their duties and will be joined by new Sentinel Editor Jim Morris. On another serious note, one of the issues that all of our chapter presidents have kept before us is the POW/MIAs from the Vietnam War. Today, as I write this — one month before Christmas, there are 1,587 MIAs in Southeast Asia from the Vietnam War, including Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. In the year ahead, I will be working with our new Sentinel Editor Jim Morris to do some follow-up pieces on what is happening in SEA today. One of my major concerns is that the Department of POW/MIA Accounting Agency as an institution is putting more emphasis on the num- ber game by including WW II and Korean War remains. The last announced recovery from SEA by DPAA was on July 29! I’m not December 2019 | Sentinel 1 President Trump Awards the Medal of Honor to Master Sgt. Matthew Williams on October 31, 2019 OFFICIAL CITATION The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, March 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of Congress the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Matthew O. Williams, United States Army. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty: Sergeant Matthew O. Williams distinguished himself by acts of gal- lantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty on April 6, 2008, while serving as a Weapons Sergeant, Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha 3336, Special Operations Task Force-33, in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. Sergeant Williams was part of an assault element inserted by helicopter into a location in Afghanistan. As the assault element was moving up a mountain toward its objective, it was engaged by intense enemy machine gun, sniper, and rocket-propelled gre- nade fire.