Mike Chudalski
After graduating from GE in June of 1965, I visited all of the military recruiting offices to see which one would get me a letter of acceptance to their Officer Candidate School. Then I could take that letter to my local draft board. I knew that I was high on their list of targets since I had been draft deferred for four years along with all other seminary students and mentally handicapped individuals. I understand they lumped both groups into the same category.
Unlike some of the other deep thinkers from GE, I felt a personal obligation on behalf of my family. All four of my grandparents came to this country as teenagers, met here, married, and raised their families in situations vastly better than what they left behind in Poland and Slovenia.
So two months later, I was on my way to Newport, R.I. where the US Navy turned out their 120-day wonders. I left Newport, as a newly commissioned Ensign, and headed to Charleston, SC where I spent the first 18 months of my military obligation on board the USS Alcor.
From there I went to New Orleans with orders assigning me as the chief engineer on the USS Sphinx, whose ultimate destination was the inland waters of South Viet Nam. After recommissioning the ship in New Orleans, we headed, through the Panama Canal to San Diego, then to Honolulu, Guam, and Subic Bay in the Philippines before entering the inland waterways of the Mekong River, where we stayed in support of the US Army's river gunboats.
I was there most of 1968 which I believed was the time period when we lost our beloved brother, Mike Hendrickson.
In December, 1968 I had the privilege of flying back to the West Coast of the USA in a cargo plane, where 10 of us rode in strap-like seats along either side of the cargo area separated by the coffins of 20 individuals who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Several years ago a friend whom I was visiting in San Antonio, Texas gave me the gift of a hat that let the world know that I was a Viet Nam veteran. I wear that hat proudly and when folks come up to me - and they do quite often - to thank me for my service, I usually reply that it was my honor and privilege to serve.
Mike Chudalski
After graduating from GE in June of 1965, I visited all of the military recruiting offices to see which one would get me a letter of acceptance to their Officer Candidate School. Then I could take that letter to my local draft board. I knew that I was high on their list of targets since I had been draft deferred for four years along with all other seminary students and mentally handicapped individuals. I understand they lumped both groups into the same category.