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March 22, 2008
Vietnam Veteran Navy SEAL Philip “Moki” Martin Rewarded
Martin (center) received congratulations from fellow Vietnam veterans Frank Sayle (left) and Eric Knudson (right). Recognition was delayed because the mission was so secret.
Secret peril rewarded
CORONADO
As he plunged through the darkness and into the stormy waters of the Gulf of Tonkin, Navy SEAL Philip “Moki” Martin knew he and his buddies were in trouble.
Of the 700 or so jumps Martin had made from Navy helicopters as a SEAL in training and during the Vietnam War, he could hardly remember one with such nasty conditions.
This mission – deep in enemy territory on June 5, 1972 – was, quite literally, a leap of faith: The pilot wasn't sure how high they were or whether the Grayback, the submarine they were supposed to meet, actually was there.
“I counted one thousand, two thousand, three thousand. Then I said, 'Oh no, that's too long. We're too high!' ” recalled Martin, 65, now retired from the Navy and living in Coronado. “I hit (the water) like a ton of you know what.”
Martin suffered a twisted knee when he hit the water. His commander, Lt. Melvin “Spence” Dry, died upon impact. A third SEAL, Fireman Thomas Edwards, was badly hurt.
Yesterday, many of Martin's old platoon mates watched as he received a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with a combat “V” for valor. The ceremony took place at Coronado Naval Amphibious Base, near the headquarters of the Navy's Special Warfare Command.
Martin's wife, Cindy, and daughter, Callie, watched as Rear Adm. Joseph Kernan, the unit's commander, handed Martin a framed plaque containing the medal.
“It's been a long, long time coming,” Kernan said. “Thanks for waiting for your celebration, so this generation could share in it.”
Two weeks earlier, Dry's family had received his Bronze Star with combat “V” posthumously in a similar ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
The recognition had been long delayed because the mission, Operation Thunderhead, was kept so secret that few of the sailors and SEALs aboard the Grayback knew how significant and perilous it was.
“We saw people leave, and nobody ever came back,” said Frank Sayle, 58, of Houston, a SEAL who served aboard the Grayback at the time.
Only Martin and a handful of others knew that the platoon's job was to rescue two prisoners of war who had hatched a plot to escape from the infamous Vietnamese prison camp known as the Hanoi Hilton.
After a 2005 magazine article about the mission revealed that neither Martin nor Dry had been decorated for their actions, the Grayback's then-skipper, John Chamberlain, nominated them for the awards.
That the Thunderhead mission failed at every turn doesn't diminish its importance, said several of the men involved in it. Its lessons are still taught in SEAL training, some of them by Martin himself.
“It's a bit of closure for us,” said Eric Knudson, 59, of Vacaville, who was a yeoman third class in the platoon.
The Grayback was to slip into North Vietnamese waters and let out several four-man SEAL teams in small, submersible vehicles just offshore on June 3. The teams were to rendezvous with the two prisoners – who had communicated their plans through a method that today remains secret – on an offshore island.
But the currents proved unexpectedly strong. Martin, Dry and their teammates couldn't reach shore or make it back to the sub. They stayed in the water, praying the North Vietnamese wouldn't discover them during the eight hours before a rescue helicopter was supposed to pick them up and take them to the Navy cruiser Long Beach.
Aboard the Long Beach, Martin said, the SEALs knew they had to get back to the Grayback to warn other SEAL teams about the currents. So they made plans to return the following night.
The sub couldn't communicate directly with Dry's team, but it would use an infrared beacon to guide the helicopter to its location.
The helicopter crew had great difficulty spotting that beacon, said John Wilson of Maui, Hawaii, 67, a crew chief aboard the helicopter that dropped off Dry's team.
The helicopter finally found a signal at sea and then sent the team on its fateful jump. It turned out to be a distress signal from a second four-man SEAL team. The Grayback had aborted the drop because of North Vietnamese patrol boats in the area, but the message didn't reach the Long Beach in time.
Wilson's crew returned the next morning to pick up the seven survivors, as well as Dry's body. Operation Thunderhead was called off days later after commanders learned that the POW escape also had been aborted.
“You just had no idea what was going on, because no one was allowed to know,” Sayle said. “We never talked about it again. We never saw each other again.”
Martin stayed in the Navy until 1983, shortly after a bicycle accident while riding to the Coronado base left him a quadriplegic. He later earned a degree in painting and photography at San Diego State University. He has won awards for his artwork.
Yesterday, he was moved by the turnout among his platoon mates.
“I wanted this to be about them, more than me,” Martin said. “The medal is just a piece of hardware they give you.”
Wild Thing's comment........
It is such an honor to read stories of our Veterans, America's heroes one and all. America is so blessed that men and women have been willing to serve our country, we owe them all so very much, more then we can ever repay.
I am sorry about the small size of the photos, I didn't want to enlarge them since it would make them very blurry to see. These small size photos were at the article.
You can also go to THIS WEBSITE .....To learn about Operation Thunderhead and Lt. Philip "Moki" Martin. It is a great site and has photos, write ups and biographies
Posted by Wild Thing at March 22, 2008 02:47 AM
Comments
Yes, it's been way too long in coming.
I just wish the media would show these things, but they won't.
They can only show the bad stuff so they stoke the fires of discontent around the world.
They all ought to be strung up by their toenails until they promise full coverage of both sides.
Posted by: Lynn at March 22, 2008 07:14 AM
Thank you, great story WT. It is very nice for Philip Martin to finally be recognized for such a hazardous attempt, he is one who made it back.
Lynn has a valid point and I agree with her.
Both the civilian media and the military media are guilty of telling only one side of the story. There is no excuse for the civilian media as they report only what suits their agenda. The military has to protect the mission, yet both play the same game, one emphasizes the bad the other plays it down.
Posted by: Jack at March 22, 2008 01:57 PM
Lynn, I agree so much, if I was younger I would love to approach let's say Fox News and ask them if I could just have a half hour segment to do stories of our troops, and our Veterans. I wish someone would do that. Even a half hour would be awesome if done right.
Of course that is saying they would even hire me. LMAO That would probably be a big no. hahaha
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 22, 2008 04:24 PM
Jack yes that is so true.
Posted by: Wild Thing at March 22, 2008 04:26 PM
