THE MEMOIR OF A Cold War Communicator

In June 1961, author William C. Burk graduated from Milford High School, Milford, Delaware, with 130 other students. He joined the Navy in July at Philadelphia and took his first airplane ride to Great Lakes Recruiting Center for thirteen weeks of boot camp, during which he was selected for training as a radioman at the radio school at Bainbridge, Maryland. After radio school, he was now a radioman with a secret clearance and orders to Naval Air Facility, Naha, Okinawa, for an eighteen-month tour. In February 1964, he departed Naha for his new assignment, the USS Vancouver LPD-2 at San Diego. The Vancouver was a brand-new class of amphibious ship; being a radioman aboard her promised to be an adventure. They were programed to do a Westpac cruise in November. During the next few months, they embarked on a midshipmen cruise to Vancouver, Canada, where he was permuted to petty officer third class. The next few months were spent on practice landing operations. They sailed for Westpac in November and spent Christmas at Subic Bay in the Philippines. They called at ports of Okinawa and Hong Kong. Late January 1965, they loaded Marine Battalion Landing Team 3/9 on board, and their three-ship squadron, composed of the Henrico, Union, and Vancouver, headed for the coast of Vietnam. After forty-odd days of cruising off the coast, they got the order to land them at Denang, Vietnam, on March 8, 1965. This was the first landing of combat troops in Vietnam. This was followed by two landings in the next few weeks. The American combat involvement had begun. The Vancouver now proceeded alone south to Australia for the annual Coral Sea Celebration. They visited Sydney and Melbourne, where he was promoted to radioman second class. From Melbourne, it was a two-fuel stop at Pago Pago. Next stop was San Diego, where he was discharged late July 1965.

He went home to figure out what next. In October, he got a letter from the CIA stating that if he still wanted to serve his country, travel the world, and work in communications, fill out the enclosed twenty-nine-page resume. These folks were serious. This process took months, then in May, he got a telegram advising him to report to Langley the following Monday to enter on duty and to bring clothing as he wouldn't be going home. After being sworn in, following directions, thirty of them arrived at CIA's secret communications school their home for the next six months. From there, they all got orders to posts around the world. His assignments were a mix of foreign and domestic posts, covering their worldwide network.

When he went to radio school, he never dreamed that he had begun a thirty-one-year career in communications. His grandfather taught him to be a reader and a history buff. He never dreamed that he would have a front-row seat under eight presidents to world history in the making worldwide for thirty-one years.

This book is a must-read for any Vietnam veteran.