James Lasswell was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in September 1941. After graduating Point Loma High School in San Diego, California, he went directly to the U.S. Naval Academy, did a summer stint at jump school at Fort Benning, Georgia (“I loved it”), graduated in 1963, and went aboard USS Hoel (DDG-13) in San Diego. Hoel deployed to Vietnam later in 1963 to provide SAR (search and rescue) duties using TACAN (tactical air radar navigation) in the Tonkin Gulf near Haiphong Harbor, a PIRAZ (primary identification radar advisory zone), to make sure planes coming out of North Vietnam weren’t followed. The ship also provided gunfire support in South Vietnam. After that cruise, he went to Surface Warfare Department Head School, was then assigned to the destroyer USS Frank Knox (DD-742) as weapons officer, 1966-1967. After undergoing repairs from running aground, Frank Knox also deployed to Southeast Asia, where she provided gunfire support and harassment and interdiction (H&I) fire in South Vietnam, and participated in Operation SEA DRAGON in North Vietnam. In 1970-71, after studying undersea acoustics at Naval Postgraduate School, Lasswell was back in Vietnam as the assistant AcToVLog at Naval Support Activity, Saigon. He returned one last time to Vietnam with USS Safeguard (ARS-25) for Operation END SWEEP in He remembers listening to Bobby Dylan and Joan Baez, playing peace music before gunfire support missions, Yokosuka, Japan, a drink called Knox on the Rocks, winning the Arleigh Burke trophy, broadside rapid salvo fire, and rapid continuous fire for the commodore’s pleasure. He also remembers the Phoenix program, an evacuated Nasty class PT boat, sending Morse Code with a battery flashlight, and “a satchel charge placed, surrounded by a bunch of C-4 and a whole bunch of ammunition.” Lasswell also recalls floating pontons, playing poker and bridge, putting out a ship fire in Haiphong Harbor, sunset grenades, swimming sappers, shooting lily pads, cousins of the cobra, and gaining “significant face.”
Key Words: Japanese naval code JN-25, Battle of Midway, NSA museum, U.S. Naval Academy, jump school, Fort Benning, Georgia, Mayport, Florida, USS Hoel (DDG-13), gunnery officer school, 5 inch 54s (5-inch/54-caliber), TACAN, tactical air radar navigation, Tonkin Gulf, Haiphong Harbor, PIRAZ, primary identification radar advisory zone, SAR, search and recovery, Tartar missiles, gunfire support, ANGLICO, Da Nang, officer of the deck, South Mission Beach, destroyer school, Surface Warfare Department Head School, USS Frank Knox, Yokosuka, Knox on the Rocks, Arleigh Burke trophy, H&I, harassment and interdiction fire, Operation SEA DRAGON, Nasty class PT boat, Phoenix program, morse code, fo'c'sle, satchel charge, C-4, Naval Postgraduate School, undersea acoustics, engineering acoustics, XO, Logistics Support Base, Binh Thuy, SERE school, senior adviser, Intermediate Support Base (ISB) Nam Can, Ammi pontoon boat, Sea Float, Solid Anchor, Agent Orange, in-country detailing, NSA (Naval Support Activity), Saigon, AcToVLog (Accelerated Turnover to the Vietnamese, Logistics), Air America, Intermediate Support Base Vinh Long, chief of naval operations of the Vietnamese Navy, Navy Commendation Medal, USS Safeguard (ARS-25), diving and salvage ship, Operation END SWEEP, minesweeper, USS Enhance, marijuana, McNamara 100,000 guys
Key Names: Admiral Yamamoto, President John F. Kennedy, GMG2 Perry, Bobby Dylan, Joan Baez, Rear Admiral Denny Conley, Captain Jerry Harkin, Commodore Ward Cummings, GMG1 Lonke, Admiral Bob Salzer, Dai uy An, Jim Baker, President Richard M. Nixon