Retired Navy Captain Allen Weseleskey describes growing up in a coal mining town in Western Pennsylvania, and earning a music scholarship to Valley Forge Military Academy for high school and junior college. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1955. Then in 1957, he earned a Navy commission via the Naval Aviation Cadet Program and earned his aviator wings at the same time. He describes flying nuclear weapons on the AD-5N Skyraider and a deployment aboard the USS Hancock (CV/CVA-19) patrolling the strait of Taiwan in 1958-1959. He transitioned to helicopters and volunteered to serve with Helicopter Attack Squadron (Light) Three (HA(L)-3), the "Seawolves," stood-up to support Navy forces in Vietnam. In preparation for Vietnam, the Navy sent him to Army infantry training and survival school at Ft. Benning, and amphibious training and weapons training with Marines in California. In great detail Weseleskey describes providing support to troops in contact across the Mekong Delta. He recalls the first night of the Tet Offensive at Vinh Long, and he describes his valorous actions that earned a Bronze Star medal from the Army for assisting with the base’s defenses. Awarded the Navy Cross for flying his Navy UH-1 Huey helicopter into intense enemy fire to rescue two critically wounded U.S. Army advisers and a seriously wounded Vietnamese soldier in March 1968, he is proud of his service.

Key Words: Valley Forge Military Academy; Naval Aviation Cadet Program; Naval Aviation Cadet Choir; Corry Field; SNJ-4 (AT-6); A-1 Skyraider (SPAD); AD-5N, VA(AW)-35, formerly VC-35; AN/APS-35 radar; Bureau of Ordnance Atomic Rocket (BOAR); USS Hancock (CV/CVA-19); Hong Kong; Chinese Communists (ChiCom); Snowball, Taiwan; the Davis Line; Agana, Guam; bathyscape Trieste; Air Traffic Controller; Cuban Missile Crisis; Annapolis Hotel; R&R; Helicopter Combat Support Squadron One (HC-1) Seawolves; USS Harnett County (LST-821); USS Garrett County (LST-786); Bassac River; SEALs, Navy Cross medal, 5th Special Force Group (SFG); Smokey, AC-47 gunship, flares; Three Sisters Mountain; Tet offensive; night lighter patrol.

Key Names: R.S. Sukle, VADM Paul H. Ramsey, RADM Edward C. 'Eddie' Outlaw, ADM George W. Anderson Jr., CDR Robert W. Spencer, CAPT Conrad J. “Con” Jaburg, CDR Ronald N. Hipp Jr., CAPT Larry W. Bailey, LCDR Eugene Rosenthal (1923-2016), CDR Robert W. Spencer, CDR George Thomas “Tom” Crowell, CDR Joseph S. Bouchard, COL Jack H. Jacobs, MAJ Alonzo Robert “Bob” Toal, (1936-1968), CPT Edward V. “Eddie” Rickenbacker, CPT Robin K. Miller, LtGen Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, ADM Carl J. Seiberlich.