By Adrienne

1/4/06

Frederick Augustus Henry was born in Warrensville Heights, Ohio on June 25, 1949. He lived in a small house across the street from the Cleveland House of Correction. When he was 6, he moved to Cleveland Heights. In Cleveland Heights, he attended Fairfax Elementary School and Roxboro Junior High. When Rick was in 8^th grade, he moved to a much larger house in Orange Village. He attended Orange High School for 3 years before finishing his senior year at Leon High School in Tallahassee, Florida while living with his Uncle.

Rick has four sisters, Christine, Karen, Heidi and Robin and one brother Scott. When Rick was young, he would spend a lot of time playing soldiers and war games. He was probably influenced by his father who had been involved in World War II.

Rick felt he was an average student and found school very boring, so when he was 18 years old, he decided to put off going to college and he enlisted in the Army in the fall of 1967. Vietnam was a big part of growing up in the 60’s and he thought it would be exciting to experience history. Rick was very patriotic and felt strong that our country was doing the right thing. He was content to do his part, although he did not necessarily feel others should be forced (drafted) to do so. When Rick joined the Army, the war had been going on for about six years.

Rick received his basic training at Fort Knox in Kentucky. He went to Field Wire School at Fort Leonard in Wood, MO. He then went to Lineman School at Fort Gordon in Georgia. After graduating from Lineman School, he took a test for Antenna School. This school taught how to build towers for global radio systems. Admittance to the school at Shepard Air Force Base in Texas was extremely limited and difficult to achieve, so Rick was not sure he would be selected. He even applied for another program with the Airborne Signal Group. However, he was accepted to the Antenna School. He attended eight weeks of school at Shepard Air Force Base in Texas and emerged a full fledged Antenna Man (MOS 36D 20).

While at Lineman School in Georgia, Rick met Dave Hanson. Rick and Dave attended Antenna School together in Texas and spent most of their remaining time in the service together. They traveled to job sites in Okinawa, Thailand and Vietnam. They were in Saigon during the Tet offensive and watched most of it from a hotel roof. During Rick’s final year in the service, he was stationed in Vietnam and Dave went to Saudi Arabia. Rick has kept in touch with Dave and to this day they remain good friends.

Rick left for his final tour of duty in Vietnam right after Christmas in 1969. He flew to San Francisco and then on to Hawaii, Philippines and finally Vietnam. Rick remembers walking down the steps of the plane at Tahn Son Nuht Air Force Base and thinking how hot it was. The weather in Southeast Asia was usually very hot, except during the rainy season, when it would pour one minute and be sunny and hot the next. Rick spent most of his tour in wet clothes. He also remembers looking at the hills and jungle and thinking about how many people out there would just love to shoot him. This was pretty unnerving.

For one reason or another, Rick was the first member of the Antenna Team to arrive and he had to wait two months for the rest of the team. No one knew what to do with Rick, so they made him a mailman. He would get up early in the morning on the Air Base and go to Headquarters. There he would pick up dispatches and hop on a helicopter and fly from base to base delivering the mail. Rick felt this was his most enjoyable time in Vietnam.

When the rest of the team finally arrived in March, they were part of the 369^th Signal Battalion. They were given a truck, tools and spent the next six months driving from base to base fixing towers that the Viet Cong damaged. They spent time working in Dung Tah, Bin Hua, Chu Lai, Dinang and Hue. There were no front lines in Vietnam and their trips from base to base were kind of nerve racking. Hue was a very dangerous area so they had to fly them to that site in helicopters. During this time, Rick was a Specialist E-5 in charge of the five man team.

According to Rick, one of his more interesting experiences were when his team was in Dac Tao painting a tower. Once every few days, a Viet Cong, probably a nearby rice farmer would take a shot at them while they were working on the tower. He never got very close. He was not a very good shot. However, it was strange because Rick would hear the bullet clang against the steel tower before he would actually hear the sound of the gun shot. They would slide down a rope to safety and the South Vietnamese soldiers would go out into the hills looking for him. Evidently they almost caught him the last time because he was in such a hurry to get away that he left his old French rifle behind. The team never had a problem with him again.

Rick feels his most frightening experiences were when the bases he was staying on would get attacked by mortars. This usually occurred in the morning or evening and was usually only 3 or 4 quick shells. Rick states that the strange thing about mortar rounds was that he never heard them coming and when they landed they hit with such force, that the ground shook. One time Rick remembers being in the outhouse when a mortar hit. He thought that this would be a pretty silly place to die, so he ran out the door to the nearest bunker, but by that time the attack was over. People on the bases were injured or killed during these attacks, but never anyone in Rick’s Antenna team.

Rick received The Good Conduct Medal, Vietnam Campaign Ribbon, Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Vietnam Service Medal.

In September 1970, Rick was released from active duty two months early so he would be home in time to attend Hiram College. He was discharged as a Sergeant. He attended Hiram for one year and then transferred to Akron University.

While attending college, Rick met Laura Roncone. On August 11, 1973, they were married. They have three children, Michael 27, Justin 25 and Katie 21.

Rick’s hobbies include hunting, fishing and golfing. He is a Cleveland Browns fan and has season tickets.

Rick has been running his own business Cope Inc. for 25 years. They sell pre-tied fencing equipment and classroom supplies.

Rick is still involved with veterans. He is a member of the VFW. All in all, Rick states that the Army was one of his better ideas. It paid for his college and gave him an exciting experience he will never forget.

free web counter