Walter Ent Interview, HIST 150 Spring 2017, Conducted by Mike Roadcap, Military, February 28, 2017

1. I conducted my interview over the phone. I had to edit out conversation in the beginning and the end as we already know each other well. Setting up the interview was easy as I already had his contact information and we arranged a time. I prepared a quite space in my dorm and used both an audio recording to device and a call recording app to record the interview.
2. Walter Ent Sr. is a veteran, retiree, husband, father, and grandfather from Media, Pennsylvania. He grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and attended college for one semester before deciding to enlist in the US Navy. Walt served in the Vietnam War as a radar operator stationed on the USS Long Beach, and in 1972 spent nine and half months in Vietnam. After returning home, he left the Navy, got married, and began working in his father’s plumbing business. He later became a truck driver and started a family. Walt is now retired, living and traveling with his wife Sally. He also has two children and two grandchildren.
3. During the Vietnam War, the armed forces of the United States were engaged both on land and at sea to help the South Vietnamese government fight the communist and Soviet-supported North Vietnamese Army. US involvement in the war escalated in the early 1960’s, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and sailors sent to Vietnam. The US Navy carried out a wide range of operations, including supply blockades, air support, amphibious transportation, and operations on inland waterways. The Navy also provided mass troop transport between the US and Southeast Asia, and was crucial to protecting supply convoys. Walt’s ship, the USS Long Beach, was the first nuclear powered warship in history, and shot guided missiles at enemy aircraft, in addition to providing support for other US Navy operations.

Works Cited

Marolda, Edward J. “Forged in Battle.” Naval History 28.4 (2014): 32-37. America: History & Life. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

Uhlig Jr., Frank. “The Navy in the Vietnam War: An Editor’s Observations.” Northern Mariner / Le Marin Du Nord 18.3/4 (2008): 197-215. America: History & Life. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

 

Transcript

MR – Can you just give a brief overview of your service?

 

WE – I was uh… in this country I was stationed in Long Beach, California. I was on the USS Long Beach. It was a nuclear-powered cruiser, the first nuclear powered surface ship we ever had. After that then they built the Enterprise and there was a third ship they built, the Bainbridge. At that time there were only three nuclear powered surface ships, now only the aircraft carriers are nuclear-powered. They don’t have cruisers or destroyers or anything like that that are nuclear powered. I was on that ship for two years, then I spent nine and a half months in Vietnam in 1972. I was a radar operator, we tracked airplanes, we shot missiles, we shot down several planes when we were over there. We had… we rescued 17 pilots too that were shot down, we had a big helicopter, this ship was big it was 721 feet long, uh… we had… over there were what were called PIRAZ, which stands for Positive Identification Radar Advisory Zone. It was our job to figure out who was up there in the sky flying around. Sometimes there’d be anywhere from 50 to 70 planes flying around, we had to make sure who was who. We had to make sure there were no enemies planes. If there were, we would send some of our fighters after them or we would shoot them down with our own missiles. The fighters came from aircraft carriers, there were five aircraft carriers when I was there. We were in contact with the carriers, and I would talk to pilots on radio. We were shot at once when were over there in the nine and a half months, which was kinda a surprise because we were so used to doing the shooting with no one shooting back. Ships further south, we were the farthest ship north, ships further south got shot at more than we did. The bombers would come in while they bombed over there from Thailand mostly, and to get over to where we were these bombers would have to refuel in the air and once they got close, we would send fighters to escort them. The fighters would come from the carriers, and some bombers would come from the carriers but they wouldn’t have the payload like these big bombers in the air. Uh… but they would do their own bombing and things like that. We would have to wait for missile launches from surface, that’s what we got shot at from, a surface launched missile. We would [connection breaks up]… and once we got the frequencies we would get a missile and shoot their missile launching site. We were only supposed to be there six months, but got an extension for another three. With the travel time back and forth we were gone about nine and a half months. We were involved in other things, they mined a harbor up north to stop supplies from getting to the North Vietnamese. Anything they got from the water we stopped with the mining that we did. They mined it with uh… airplanes and we were there for air support while they were doing the mining. It took about a day and a half to do that I think it was. So that’s what I did over there. I watched radar scopes, and talked to airplanes.

 

MR – Wow that’s really cool, I didn’t know any of that.

 

WE – We would be in Vietnam for thirty days and we’d go into port for a week. Mostly the Philippines we would go to but I went to Bangkok, I went to Thailand, I went to Hong Kong, I went to Singapore. What else did I do? Over there it was mostly the Philippines. We’d go in for a week and then we’d come right smack back out into another month there off the coast of Vietnam. So, at night we could uh sit on the fantail and we could see the bombs going off. Sometimes they’d bomb that place 24 hours a day, it was amazing anything was still living. But, when they started dropping bombs they would go into these tunnels they had and then when the bombing was stopped they’d all come back up. The bombing was sometimes nonstop for 24 hours; it was amazing to me anybody was still alive over there. They just kept popping up. Uh… we had this helicopter on the back like I said. When a pilot would get shot down, we would send the helicopter in to pick them up. They had beacons on and they would start beeping and stuff and we had to track them and send a helicopter right in to where the pilot was. But when they would uh go in there was still jungle up there, so they couldn’t see the pilot. So, they’d come down as low as they could but the North Vietnamese would be shooting up at the helicopter from the trees because they couldn’t see. It was like a jungle. We had a helicopter come back one time it was all shot up and smoking and stuff, and we thought it was gonna crash on us but it did land and they got the pilot that they wanted to get, and we had to go to Saigon to get this helicopter lifted off of our back, because it couldn’t take off, couldn’t fly anymore. They had this great big helicopter, it was called a skycrane, it was enormous because the helicopter we had was a pretty good size. I have a picture of it somewhere it lifted this thing off the back of our fantail and you could see it flying away with this other helicopter hanging underneath of it. Uh… that’s about it that’ what I did for nine and a half months.

 

MR – Wow, that’s a lot.

 

WE – And they we when we got back, I got back in December. Got back December 7^th, we got in early, um… when they finally said we could come home, they wanted us to come back with another cruiser and a couple destroyers and they were gonna make a big entrance and all but they were heading back to Hawaii, we stopped in Hawaii on the way over, and they were gonna refuel and all that while we didn’t have to real fuel because we were nuclear. And uh… we got in earlier than expected and uh… we had [connection breaks up] which was very frustrating after being gone so long, we could see California but we couldn’t pull in. The next day they made room for us and uh… we when pulled in and got off I called home here. I didn’t know that Sally and my mother had airline tickets, they were gonna come out and meet us where we pulled in but since we came in early, uh… it was December 7^th, which as you know is Pearl Harbor Day, uh… I just told them cash your tickets in because I’m coming home for Christmas, I’d be home in a few weeks. When we were back here in California we were always out too, we’d go out for a week and come back on the weekends because we were always training and firing missiles and making sure everything was working, and practicing and training… [connection breaks up] … in April the ship was ready to go back to Vietnam and I was due to get out uh… let me see if I got my months right… I was due to get out… it was March when I got out, they let me go early because the ship was going back over but I only had a few more months so they let me out a little early to come home, and the ship went right back over to Vietnam. Yeah so that’s when I was in there, I was on that ship for two years, uh… I went to boot camp and I went to radar school in Great Lakes, Illinois. That’s… that’s about it. I don’t know if you have any questions but.

 

MR- Uh yeah so… I just have a couple questions, that was a great overview, that actually answered a bunch of the questions I had but, one of them was why did you enlist in the Navy?

 

WE- Haha well I went to college, I went to one semester and… [connection breaks up] … at the time. Looking back, I probably should have stayed in but I got out of college and went right into the Navy. Back then they had a draft going on. I wasn’t too worried about the draft, I actually went in before they pulled the draft. The way the draft worked, they pulled a number, it had a little number, that depended on your state. So many from each state would go. Of course, the larger states, the more populous states would have more people go from that state. I was already out of boot camp and in school for radar when the pulled the draft. My number I think was 316, it was over 300, so the chances are I wouldn’t have gone anyhow. If I was worried about the draft I wouldn’t have been picked. Cause they didn’t get much of anyone over 200 to go in. If you were under 200 there was a chance you could have been drafted, which happened to a lot of people back then. A lot of people were in for uh… it was either go into service or you could spend some jail time too. A friend of mine, he stole a car and got arrested, and they said “Look what do you wanna do. Do you wanna jail or do you wanna go into service?” so that’s how he ended up in the Navy. But I uh… I wasn’t drafted I enlisted basically because I didn’t have anything else lined up at the time. My father had a plumbing business, and when I got out I knew I could get right into that. My old friends, they were going to school, and I did go one semester but it didn’t work out too good for me. And what was the second question you had there?

 

MR – Um… I have a couple more. What were the living conditions either on the ship or in port um during the war?

 

WE – Well when we were in port we still stayed on the ship. When we were back in the states, some of my buddies they had apartments we could go to you know. The living conditions on the ship I was on was actually pretty good. I was on a rather large ship, uh… we had 1600 people on the ship, enlisted and officers. We had our own bunks, I mean I can show you pictures of them some day, we had curtains, like on a smaller ship they had more like a hammock type of a swinging type of a deal. Ours were all fixed, they were supported, and they were three high, one on the bottom, and you got out and would lift it up and hook it. So, you get underneath to sweep and all that. I was on the top deck, we had curtains, we had lights in there, we had our own little heat duct which also blew air conditioning. Uh… like I say being on a big ship like that did have it’s advantages, the food was very good on there. Plenty of room, uh… there were 80 of us in our division of radar, so we just, we were all in one for our compartment. We had our own bathroom in there, and there was a table, a good sized table with a television, there was a ship’s communication center television, it broadcast and we could watch movies and stuff on it. If we were close enough to land anywhere, we could pick up a local television station. The living conditions were good on my ship, better than on a smaller ship. Living condition in the Navy were a lot better than sleeping in a foxhole if you were in the Army over there. So, we had it better than a lot of people did.

 

MR – So would you say your military experience has had a positive impact on you?

 

WE – Yes. Being in the military is good for a lot people, it gives people discipline, their structure, uh… there’s certain ways to do things. It’s the Navy’s way or don’t do it at all. Everything was guidelines, all of our equipment had to be inspected and be serviced and it was all on a rigorous schedule for how to do things. We were on uh… midwatches the would call them, twelve and twelve, so in a 24 hours period we would be on for 12 hours and off for 12. The way they would break it up is usually on for six, then off for six, then back on for six, then off for six, right around the clock. When we were over there, we had to be in a state of readiness for anything that could happen. We weren’t in general quarters the whole time but we were pretty close to it. Sally and I… so yeah I was gonna stay in uh… but we were engaged at the time and we decided nah it would be better if I got out. So yes it was good for me anyhow.

 

MR – Ok so what was it like transitioning to civilian life?

 

WE – For me it was pretty easy because I got out and went right into my father’s plumbing company, I had a job there to do. So for me it wasn’t bad at all. When I got back… there weren’t people there with big welcoming parades and all that like there were after some of the wars. But it wasn’t too bad. I got out, flew home, and took some time off and when I was ready went to work with my father in the plumbing business. I got married a few years later, a few months rather. Yeah I got out in March, we got married in September, so that was uh… I’d say it was pretty good transition. Wasn’t bad for me at all. You see a lot of Vietnam vets now, they’re homeless, outta work and all that so for some people it was bad.

 

MR – So going off that, we there a lot of resources for veterans back then, and how does it back then compare to now?

 

WE – Resources for getting out? Transitioning and all?

 

MR – Yeah like the Veteran’s Administration and everything like that.

 

WE – Oh yeah, I took advantage of uh… twice I used the education benefits. I took a uh… I actually took a course at Penn State once for business logistics, which they paid for. I took a course at a school in Philadelphia for oil burners and controls, and stuff life that. They had a lot of good plans. VA mortgages, now that I didn’t use. The VA mortgage you could get a mortgage with no money down. Of course, with no money down your payments are gonna be higher. So fortunately I was in a position where I could put down so I used a conventional loan with a bank, which kept my payments lower. But, yeah there was a lot there. We had health benefits and all that. Any dental work or anything we got done before we got out, things like that. So yeah there was plenty for us back then, I’m not sure what it’s like now. I know they’re changing things around.

 

MR – Ok and then my last question is do you think serving in the Navy has changed much today from when you did?

 

WE – Do I think it’s changed much? Uh… that’s a good question. I know that overall the systems and everything that I used back then was like brand new. We had computerized, it was called NTDS, Naval Tactical Data System, and our radars were all computerized, and we were hooked up to other ships, which today doesn’t sound like a big deal but if I were to have something on my radar scope, any other ship in the area that had this NTDS system would see what I entered on my scope. All the carriers could see what… because we were further north if there was a hostile aircraft up there, we were tracking them, and the ships down south would know it too because they would see it on their scopes. Even if they weren’t tracking that particular plane, they would know that it was there. The weapons systems at the time were the newest and the most advanced that we had. Now, they got that looks like Star Wars out there you know, with lasers and all kinds of stuff. So, as far as that goes, I’m sure it’s changed quite a bit. I know they changed the uniforms. As far as just being on a ship, I’m sure the food’s still good. Being out there our longest time was three days before coming into port, that’s a long time to be out there. Sometimes I would go weeks and never even see the sky, because I slept below the water line, I worked below the water line, and I ate below the water line. So we would leave our radar equipment and go right to sleep and wake up and go right back to work. We wouldn’t run that schedule if we were back here, but if you’re in a war zone that’s the schedule we would run. So, I guess some things have changed and some things never change. I know all the equipment and everything like that, the ship I was on, is just the hull now is sitting up in Washington, at the time it was the newest most advanced ship that we had. We were basically all missiles, we shot a lot of missiles. Every time you shoot missiles it burns a whole lot of the paint of the side of the ship, you gotta constantly be repainting it, things like that. Now they’ve got better missiles, and all that you know. They ones we had worked fine for us.

 

1. Overall I think the interview went very well. I learned a lot about Walt’s service that I did not know before, and it gave a great insight into the experience of someone who served in Vietnam. If I could do anything differently I would probably ask some different questions and inquire more into what life was like after the war.