Pacific Coast Air Museum Features VFP Member Fred Ptucha

December 07, 2016

Fred Ptucha, Veterans For Peace member, Chapter 071 was recently the featured speaker at the Pacific Air Museum.  Below is an excerpt of the article written about Fred's talk and his life.

By Peter Loughlin

Our guest speaker at our October 19 Member Meeting was Fred Ptucha, former US Navy Ensign. He served four tours of duty near and in Vietnam beginning in 1965, performing communications and intelligence duties. During his years of service Fred was exposed to some ugly facts about that war which changed his outlook on life and duty.

 

Fred originally entered the Navy because he had studied political science and history at Tufts University under an ROTC scholarship. This obligated him to military duty.

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident: Incriminating Evidence

During his first tour in 1965, he was assigned to the guided missile destroyer Joseph Strauss (DDG 16) where he had responsibility for secret and top secret communications. The Joseph Strauss had been stationed about 50 or 60 miles off the North Vietnamese coast for many months by the time he came aboard, coordinating air-sea rescue of downed pilots and performing TACAN duties (Tactical Air Navigation, or guiding tactical aircraft on their way to and from their targets). One of his first responsibilities was to go over the records of his predecessor to ensure continuity.

Before long he realized he was reading what prior communications officers had recorded during the Tonkin Gulf Incident of August 1964, which had led President Johnson to the Tonkin Gulf Resolution that launched the United States on its escalation of military intervention in Vietnam. As Fred read these records, several important facts became clear. <To Read Full Article>