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Canton, Ohio —
CANTON The struggles of returning Vietnam veterans have been in the news for decades. Memories of the atrocities U.S. service men and women experienced in the Vietnam War continue to plague the millions of service personnel who experienced heavy combat, provided support or were continually exposed to enemy attack.
Charles R. Sitton, 67, of Canton, is one of those veterans who become overwhelmed at times by his memories. Sitton actiovely served in the Navy from 1962 to 1966, a total of four years and two and half months. His time in Vietnam was during the last two years of his service time. Sitton was a lieutenant when he came out of the service. He then served in the Reserves from 1968 to 1971.
Actually, Sitton's service time started when he was too young to notice. He was a World War II baby. His mother was a civilian in the military and he was a “civilian army brat.”
“My first assignment in the Navy was SAR (search, rescue and salvage) duty on a sea going tug out of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii for two and half years in Alaska, the boat was ported in Hawaii,” Sitton said.
“I attended electrician’s school with 54 other enlisted men,” he said. “Two of us went to sea going tug boats on the west coast and the other 52 went onto mine sweep school on the east coast.”
Born and raised in St. Louis, Mo, after getting out of the service he returned there to live in St. Louis with his mother where he met and dated a girl who introduced him to her roommate Karen. He and Karen got married and had twins, a son (Charles L. or Charlie) and a daughter (Shawn). They moved to Ohio for a short time, then back to St. Louis,where Sitton went to work in quality control for Anheuser Busch, where he worked until he retired in 1986. The family came back to Ohio in 1996.
While enlisted, Sitton served SAR duty Alaska in 1964 after an earthquake and then in the Barron Sea before returning to Hawaii in 1965. He was transferred to a gas tanker that went to Vietnam and later commissioned to a PBR (Patrol River Boat).
“We pumped fuel from the large tankers to hoses that were laying 100 yards off the beach. The tankers carried 750,000 gallons of jet fuel and it was like being on a bomb. We couldn't wear any steel, no change in your pockets or any items that could cause a spark. Everything on the boat was made of brass, leather, wood or aluminum,” Sitton said.
CANTON The struggles of returning Vietnam veterans have been in the news for decades. Memories of the atrocities U.S. service men and women experienced in the Vietnam War continue to plague the millions of service personnel who experienced heavy combat, provided support or were continually exposed to enemy attack.
Charles R. Sitton, 67, of Canton, is one of those veterans who become overwhelmed at times by his memories. Sitton actiovely served in the Navy from 1962 to 1966, a total of four years and two and half months. His time in Vietnam was during the last two years of his service time. Sitton was a lieutenant when he came out of the service. He then served in the Reserves from 1968 to 1971.
Actually, Sitton's service time started when he was too young to notice. He was a World War II baby. His mother was a civilian in the military and he was a “civilian army brat.”
“My first assignment in the Navy was SAR (search, rescue and salvage) duty on a sea going tug out of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii for two and half years in Alaska, the boat was ported in Hawaii,” Sitton said.
“I attended electrician’s school with 54 other enlisted men,” he said. “Two of us went to sea going tug boats on the west coast and the other 52 went onto mine sweep school on the east coast.”
Born and raised in St. Louis, Mo, after getting out of the service he returned there to live in St. Louis with his mother where he met and dated a girl who introduced him to her roommate Karen. He and Karen got married and had twins, a son (Charles L. or Charlie) and a daughter (Shawn). They moved to Ohio for a short time, then back to St. Louis,where Sitton went to work in quality control for Anheuser Busch, where he worked until he retired in 1986. The family came back to Ohio in 1996.
While enlisted, Sitton served SAR duty Alaska in 1964 after an earthquake and then in the Barron Sea before returning to Hawaii in 1965. He was transferred to a gas tanker that went to Vietnam and later commissioned to a PBR (Patrol River Boat).
“We pumped fuel from the large tankers to hoses that were laying 100 yards off the beach. The tankers carried 750,000 gallons of jet fuel and it was like being on a bomb. We couldn't wear any steel, no change in your pockets or any items that could cause a spark. Everything on the boat was made of brass, leather, wood or aluminum,” Sitton said.
Sitton said an Esso Tanker containing 7 million gallons of fuel was blown up by snipers. It took three days to burn out. The U.S. Military didn't want to risk losing so much fuel again so they began to send in smaller tankers. Sitton was on one of those tankers that did refueling two or three times a week for over five months.
For the next three months he was commissioned to a PBR 523 as the commanding officer with an eight-man crew. Then he was on a PBF (Patrol Boat Fast) running recon insertion missions to North Vietnam. The PBF was an 80-foot boat that could do 62 knots on the water (approximately 70 mph).
“The recon teams would take money and medicine in to persuade North Vietnamese to come over to the other side. They took the money and the medicine but didn't change sides,” Sitton said.
Sitton earned three Purple Heart medals while in Vietnam. The first was for a mortar fire attack in DaNang, South Vietnam. The second came when he was shot in the wrist while in Dong Hoi, North Vietnam while loading a wounded Marine aboard. When back in DaNang, he came under fire and was shot in the hand when returning fire which earned him the third Purple Heart.
In October 1966 he was transferred to a Naval Air Reserve crew as a load master and helped carry the dead bodies of U.S. service men back and forth. Capacity was only 54 bodies per plane. Sitton was in charge of collecting and caring for the solders' personal items.
“It was a tough job loading all those service men. It took awhile to get past it but I knew it had to be done,” Sitton said.
Talking about it has been hard for Sitton. He has talked a lot with other servicemen, on the phone and in a local PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome) group.
He continued to talk with and counsel other veterans after his discharge from the Navy.
Sitton said that when the men were in group and one of them started talking, everyone else went silent because they all considered the time and
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the room to belong to the service man doing the talking.
“Most of the Vietnam vets had a hard time adjusting after coming back home. The attitudes in America hurt all of us. I grew up around the military and my duty was to my country. It's hard for people to understand that we did what we thought was right, what our military officers told us to do. All of us took an oath to serve and obey and that's exactly what we did,” Sitton said.
“Even when I got orders I didn't like, I passed them down and we did them,” he said.
Sitton is a member of the V.V.A. Sharon Lane Memorial Chapter 199 in Canton. Along with other members of the group, he goes into local high schools to talk with students and to discuss what happened during his time in the Navy.
Long before he enlisted, Sitton collected military memorabilia and has consulted on medals, uniforms, daggers, flags and other items for 16 books on the Third Reich. Physically, he is no longer able to participate in local parades and other events.
At one time he had orthopedic shoes, a neck brace, back brace, a left arm and a knee brace as a result of his injuries from serving in Vietnam. He's had shrapnel in his right shoulder, shot in the wrist, hand and abdomen and still bears a scar on his arm from a bayonet stabbing.
Sitton said he has spent decades in psychotherapy at the VA Hospital. His family has been a support system for him through it all.
“Bless my wife for all she has put up with. Both of my kids have really been good and they understand. They have all heard me talk about my time in Vietnam and I've always told them they could ask me any questions now so that they know what happened and about the medals and the items I brought back,” Sitton said.
