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An up close and personal interview with U.S. Marine Corps Veteran and Togetherweserved.com Member:
Col Terry "Skip" Curtis U.S. Marine Corps (Ret) (1961-1996)
PLEASE DESCRIBE WHO OR WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO JOIN THE MARINE CORPS?
I had two uncles who served in the Army Air Corps in World War II. I had wanted to be a pilot ever since I can remember. I built model airplanes from scratch, joined the Civil Air Patrol as soon as I was old enough, and while a senior in  high school, joined the Naval Reserve in hopes of becoming a pilot.
When I graduated from high school in 1961, there was no question on what direction I would take: I was going to be in the military, it was just a matter of which service I would join. Ever since I was 10 years old I wanted to be a pilot so I joined the Navy to be an enlisted pilot. Of course, the recruiter had lied. The enlisted pilot program had ended two years earlier.
So, after four miserable years as a QMSN, and with the help of Captain Carl E. Mundy, Jr., later General Mundy, Commandant of the Marine Corps, I transferred from the Navy to the Marine Corps in January 1965, as part of the Platoon Leaders Class (Aviation). Captain Mundy had suggested that I should accept a Regular commission if it was offered to me. I served as a Regular officer upon commissioning, completed the Basic School, went to Naval Flight Training in Pensacola, Florida, and after 30 years of commissioned service, I retired.
WHETHER YOU WERE IN THE SERVICE FOR SEVERAL YEARS OR AS A CAREER, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE DIRECTION OR PATH YOU TOOK.
After Navy boot camp, I worked for a year as a reservist and applied for the program and was accepted at the University of Nebraska. Although I was doing well academically, I cut too many classes. Under the program at that time, freshmen were only allowed three class cuts;  so I failed calculus, even though I earned an A-. Coupled with a C- in chemistry, I was on academic probation and lost my scholarship.
I returned home and applied to several other colleges and was turned down by all of them. My cousin had a basketball scholarship to a small Baptist college in North Carolina, Campbell College. I followed him to school the next academic year, visited with the Registrar, a retired Army Colonel, about getting into school. He was sympathetic to my situation, and allowed me to enter on academic probation with the stipulation that I finished my sophomore year with a B average. I did better than that, and stayed in the Naval Reserve. In the middle of my Junior Year, the Navy issued me orders to go on active duty. This meant I would not graduate and therefore not be a pilot.
One late fall day, feeling very depressed, I walked up to a Marine Captain who was recruiting on the college campus. I told him my situation; he asked me to take a few tests. After a physical examination and a couple of weeks he asked me if I wanted to transfer from the Navy to the United States Marine Corps and enter a program called the Platoon Leaders Class (Aviation). Facing Active Duty in the Navy. I signed on the dotted line, and went from QMSN Curtis to Lance Cpl. Curtis USMCR. That summer I went to the first PLC (Combined) class at Quantico, finished near the top of my company. I was offered a Regular commission, and headed back to Campbell College for my senior year.
The morning of my graduation I wore my Dress Whites and that Marine Capt, now promoted to Major Carl E. Mundy, Jr., slapped gold bars on my shoulders. That afternoon I took my fiancé, Clista, to Coats, North Carolina. We got married, and hopped in our car and drove to Quantico, Virginia.
After five and a half months of The Basic School and 11 months of flight training at Pensacola, Florida, I was transferred to Santa Ana, California for further training in the CH-46. On June 11, 1968 I left my wife and son and flew to Okinawa, Japan, for a gamma globulin shot, eight hours of acclimatization, and on to the Republic of South Vietnam. I flew with HMM-165, at Phu Bai, until we boarded the USS TRIPOLI for 3 to 4  months afloat as the aviation element of the Special Landing Force. At the end of November 1968, we offloaded at Marble Mountain and continued operations with MAG-16.
On March 4, 1969 I was wounded while flying an extract mission. I was back flying after a few days. (More of this story is listed below.)
On June 11, 1969 my CH-46A was shot down by .51 Caliber AA fire north of Hue City. My civilian co-pilot Billy Pierce and my gunner PFC. Thomas Riley were killed in the crash. My crew chief, LCpl Ronald Steven Campbell, was severely burned and fractured his spine after going through the flames in the back to take our one passenger, whose clothes were on fire, over to his side of the airplane and throwing him from the aircraft about 60 to 80 feet above the ground. Sadly, his severe injuries caused him to develop pneumonia from which he succumbed several days later. The passenger, PFC Dixon, USMC, survived the fall from the aircraft and left the Marine Corps on disability. I spent the next 4+ months recovering from my compression fractures, burns, puncture wounds, including a lacerated liver.
I returned to flying in November of 1969 with HMM-163 at MCAS Santa Ana. I served as the S-1 Officer for a little over a year. Then Group as a training officer, and finally to the 3rd MAW as an Assistant NATOPS officer.  I self-transitioned to the AH-1G while performing my NATOPS duties. March of 1973 I received orders back to WestPac. Cobras were no longer in country, so I was assigned to HMA-369, as a training officer on until June. That is when I was reassigned as a detachment commander of four cobras to be assigned to the 31st MAU. We loaded our cobras, our equipment, and 80 personnel on a C-5A Galaxy, and were flown to the Philippines in just a few hours. We were attached to the USS TRIPOLI and I was reunited with HMM-165.
In March 1974, I returned to the west coast and was assigned to SEPBDEPLT 1st ANGLICO, as the Operations Officer. I attended Airborne training at Fort Benning, GA. I later qualified as a Navy-Marine Corps Parachutist. In 1975, I was assigned to HMA-169 at Camp Pendleton, and served as the Operations Officer for all but two months that I spent as the Aircraft Maintenance Officer.
In December 1976, I was ordered to transfer to HML-267 to become a UH-1 pilot to replace a recently fired Operations Officer. A few months later, I became the Executive Officer of the Squadron. I served there until June of 1978, when I was transferred to the NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy with my family. The following March, we were transferred to  Stuttgart, Germany where I served with the Headquarters, United States European Command as the J-3, Exercise Director, of the JCS 5-year Exercise Program.
In 1981, I was transferred directly from Europe to Okinawa to take command of Marine Air Base Squadron 36. After a fun-filled year, much of which was spent in the winter in Korea on Exercise TEAM SPIRIT 81 as Camp Commander in Pohang, I returned to California to serve as the Group Operations Officer in MAG-39. In March 1983, I took command of HMA-367, and served as Scarface Six for the next 26 months, including our six-month deployment to Okinawa.
In June 1985, I was transferred to HQMC Plans Division as a European Planner. While there, I defended the Marine Corps input to the five-year defense plan and was a member of the USA Norway Bilateral Study Group. These two assignments gave me multiple opportunities to travel to Norway, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and other parts of Europe. Promoted to Colonel in 1988, I was reassigned to the State Department for an academic year with the Foreign Service Institute.
In 1989, I was transferred to Camp Pendleton to serve as the I MEF G-5. In 1990, I was ordered to MCAS Kaneohe to serve as the MAG-24 CO. I took command on 3 August 1990, the day after the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein. We deployed the combined group of 3 F/A-18 squadrons, one CH-53D squadron, and four CH-46 squadrons to the Middle East. One Ch-46 squadron went to the Philippines.
After the short war, we gathered our group back on Hawaii, rebuilt our IMA capability, and resumed normal peacetime operations. In March of 1992, I was transferred with my family Okinawa, Japan to serve as the Assistant Wing Commander for 1st MAW. I served there for three years, before my final assignment as the Senior Marine, Coronado, California and Executive Officer, Expeditionary Warfare Training Group.
I retired in July 1996
IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN COMBAT OPERATIONS, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE ACTIONS WHICH WERE THE MOST SIGNIFICANT TO YOU AND, IF LIFE-CHANGING, IN WHAT WAY.
That would be my exciting year, 1968 to 1969 in the Republic of South Vietnam. Most significant to me is the number of close friends that I lost during that year. My college PLC buddy Walter Vann Lemmond, my  best friend Raymond C. Daley, and too many others. As far as "war stories" I have my share.
A night emergency medevac into a zone under heavy enemy fire from automatic and small arm stands out. Requiring two spiraling, fast rate of descent approaches to a hover-only pick up of six wounded Marines in the area south of Marble Mountain. We took three hits (only) when we had to light our landing light for the crew chief to be able to direct us to a hover in the cemetery. My two "Purple Heart" missions are unforgettable; and getting "shot down" one way or another, multiple times and surviving are memories I will carry forever.
OF ALL YOUR DUTY STATIONS OR ASSIGNMENTS, WHICH ONE DO YOU HAVE FONDEST MEMORIES OF AND WHY? WHICH ONE WAS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE?
I really enjoyed ALL of my assignments. Being a CO and Assistant Wing Commander were special because of the many Marines and Sailors whom I met and had the opportunity to lead and serve with. They "made it all happen" for me. Being AWC, having a driver and a personal staff as a Colonel was really unique. When I arrived at AIr Force bases the protocol Colonel would meet me and even offered music for my arrival! Yeah, right!
From August 1981 to August 1982, I commanded Marine Air Base Squadron 36 at Futenma, Okinawa. We went through and IG inspection and spent many months in the cold Korean winter for Operation  TEAM SPIRIT 82. After rotating back to Camp Pendleton, I begged Colonel D.E.P. Miller to give me a flying squadron.
From April 1983 to June 1985, I commanded Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367, with a trip back to Okinawa, Japan in 1984. We had a great, safe 26 months and flew all over the Pacific. Mainland Japan, the Philippines and Korea were regular travel destinations. Skid helicopters had not been permitted to make those kinds of trips until we convinced the CG, MajGen Frank E. Petersen, Jr., that we could safely make the inter-island flights.
My least favorite assignment has to be Group Training Officer at MAG-56/MAG-16 at MCAS(H) Santa Ana. I worked with great Marines and leaders, but the job SUCKED! I shopped around until I found a Wing NATOPS job, so I only served four or five months as training officer.
FROM YOUR ENTIRE SERVICE CAREER WHAT PARTICULAR MEMORY STANDS OUT?
I have so many memories! But here's a pretty good one. In Vietnam in March 1969, I had flown with HMM-165 for nearly nine months. Although my CH-46 had been hit many times and one crew chief wounded in the leg, I had never been hit, personally. On the fourth,  I was directed to a hot zone for an "emergency extract of cargo." As a single helo, I needed an escort, so DASC provided an OV-10, which had WP rockets.
We took heavy small arms and automatic weapon fire going into the zone from east to west, but no hits on the helo. We planned to depart with the external load, by coordinating with the OV-10 to deliver rockets on the enemy position to our west as we lifted up high enough to clear the tress surrounding the zone and depart to the south. I gave the OV-10 a "six seconds" warning, counted to six and pulled the collective pitch lever up to the "droop" and as the radar altimeter read 100', I turned hard left and was hit in my helmet and face knocking me off the controls.
The co-pilot, 2nd Lt. Ken Kozai (later KIA) grabbed the controls and I could hear him on the radio saying, "The pilot's been killed, the pilot's been killed!" Obviously, I wasn't dead, but the armor piercing round, one of three that hit the helicopter, had entered through my right side window, hit the armor plating on the control closet behind me, ricocheted forward hitting the back of my pilot helmet and traveling along between the plastic outer shell and the Styrofoam lining of my helmet, blowing out the plastic front of my pilot visor assembly.  Then some of the copper shrapnel which had peeled off of the steel core ricocheted off the instrument panel, breaking a few instruments and one piece hit my left cheek, knocking me backward, shocking me, and causing me to then slump forward. Lt. Kozai saw the hole in the front of my helmet, blood coming out from under what was left of my visor, and me slumped forward and assumed the worst. Gratefully, he took control of the helicopter and continued the departure from the zone.
Unfortunately, he was a FNG and was climbing instead of diving to avoid enemy fire. As I tried to shake myself out of my shocked stupor, I noticed two RPGs go by on the starboard side. I got enough adrenaline and presence of mind to shake the controls and make Ken let go. I couldn't talk to him because the microphone wiring had been cut by the bullet's core. I dove the helo to a lower altitude so the enemy position could no longer see us and continued to fly to An Hoa Air Base.
My CO, LtCol G. Lane Patrick, was there and ordered me to go to the battalion aid station. And that's how I got my first Purple Heart. I got a tetanus shot from the BAS, a new helmet and flew the same helicopter to Marble Mountain. I flew the next three days as the swelling slowly went down. On the third day, I went to the doc and he pulled out the little piece of copper shrapnel, and closed the hole with ONE stitch. Maintenance awarded me the nearly undamaged round that had entered the starboard fuel cell.
IF YOU RECEIVED ANY MEDALS FOR VALOR OR AWARDS FOR SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENT, PLEASE DESCRIBE HOW THESE WERE EARNED.
I earned the Combat Action Ribbon on August 27, 1968. I was co-pilot for Captain Mike Phillips of HMM-364. I was "loaned to them from my squadron, HMM-165, for a four division (16-plane) company-sized insert near the DMZ.
We were the second bird in that huge flight into a one-plane  zone. As the flight leader, Captain Trev Sarles, was lifting from dropping his Marines, we were right behind him on the approach, flying over the fire from the napalm that has been used to prep the zone. Suddenly, our port side, number 1, engine was hit by enemy fire. The pilot raised the collective and the nose of the helicopter to reduce our forward speed. As a result, we crashed through the trees almost vertically, which probably saved many lives. After impacting the ground, the remaining engine began to speed up the thrashed rotor blades which caused the cyclic stick to violently beat our legs. As we hit the second time we shut down the good engine and stopped what was left of the rotor blades. It was eerily quiet, except for the sound of gunfire! We all grabbed what we could and took off under a hail of bullets, running toward Capt. Sarles aircraft (the only one empty) as he returned to the zone to our 12 o'clock. I drew my snub-nosed .38 pistol and "returned fire" as we ran the 200 yards or so under fire to the helicopter. That was the first of my many crashes in Vietnam.
I have to say that I was "put in" for three DFCs during my tour. My first DFC turned into a Single Mission Air Medal for a moonless night medevac extraction of six wounded Marines just a little south of Marble Mountain. I was section leader for the Night Medevac standby when we got the call in the Ready Room that three Marines were wounded and needed emergency evacuation. My copilot, 1st Lt. Jerry Butts, started the helicopter and I took the rest of the brief from the Ready Room radio.
When we arrived over the zone we had a section of armed Hueys to provide gun support. I entered a vertical spiraling auto-rotated approach to the black area just north of where we could see the traces being exchanged between the Marines and the NVA. I turned off all external lights off as we passed through 1000' into the darkness. I leveled out at 200', heading south toward the rear of the Marines. Since we could not see the ground at all,  I "flashed" the landing light as I passed through 50' on the radar altimeter and found that we were directly over the mounds of a Vietnamese graveyard. Within seconds we took three rounds in the upper pylon of our aircraft. Knowing we could not stay there and take more damage, I departed the hover and climbed back up to 3000'. After some more rockets were laced on the enemy position, I made a second, approach, just as I had before, and wound up in the same area. This time I used the side lights to place one wheel on a mound and hovered there while the six Marines were loaded. Because the Hueys kept firing on the enemy, we took no more hits and departed to the north and dropped the wounded Marine at NSA Marble Mountain.
The second DFC turned SMAM was earned as we responded to a Mayday call from an OV-10. He had been observing for a section of A-4s from VMA-311, The Tomcats, as they dropped napalm several miles north of my position. One of the napalm canisters had tumbled off the bomb rack and torn the aileron off of the wing of the A-4 at low altitude requiring the pilot to eject. He was on the ground, injured, and an enemy unit was closing on his position. The canopy was not thick, but the trees were over 100' tall. We hovered over the pilot and lowered the jungle penetrator to his position. With the hoist cable fully extended, the jungle penetrator was still above the downed pilot, so I lowered the helicopter into the trees as the crew chief skillfully guided me to avoid striking the blades on any THICK trees. The downed pilot managed to get himself onto the penetrator with a badly injured leg and we hoisted him out of there before the enemy got too close. Rounds were fired at us, but none of them hit us. As the crew chief aided the pilot off the jungle penetrator on onto the floor on the port side of the cabin, I turned the controls over to the copilot and looked back to see who we had rescued to find that it was Pete Oatis, one of my Basic School classmates. That was a good feeling!
OF ALL THE MEDALS, AWARDS, QUALIFICATION BADGES OR DEVICE YOU RECEIVED, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE ONE(S) MOST MEANINGFUL TO YOU AND WHY?
 Although I earned my Navy Marine Corps Parachutists Gold Wings as a 30-year-old captain, I have to say that my Naval Aviator Wings mean the most to me. They were earned as a culmination of what I had wanted to do since I was a pre-teen. I always wanted to fly.
WHICH INDIVIDUAL(S) FROM YOUR TIME IN THE MILITARY STAND OUT AS HAVING THE MOST POSITIVE IMPACT ON YOU AND WHY?
 I met Captain Carl E. Mundy, Jr. as a QMSN Naval Reserve college student worried about getting pulled out of college to active duty. He was willing to listen to my story, encourage me to take the tests, contacted my Navy captain Reserve CO and get me transferred to the Marine Corps as a LCpl. As a Major, he commissioned me in 1966. We met aboard the USS TRIPLOI when I was a Cobra detachment pilot and he was LtCol Mundy, CO of 2/4, the landing force. I took him on a Cobra ride and let him shoot all of the guns and rockets. Later, as a Colonel, he was my briefing officer as I began my European assignment in 1978. He returned to HQMC as a two-star, while I served there as a Plans Officer, and he promoted me to Colonel in a very nice ceremony where he recalled our history together, along with a slide presentation. Semper Fi, General Mundy!
CAN YOU RECOUNT A PARTICULAR INCIDENT FROM YOUR SERVICE WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN FUNNY AT THE TIME, BUT STILL MAKES YOU LAUGH?
As the new CO of the Scarface squadron, I discovered that maintenance was presenting false information on the daily aircraft readiness report. Aircraft which were not ready for flight were being reported as being in an "up" status. I chewed out my AMO and told him never to do that again. Two weeks later, I found the same discrepancy. This time I called the AMO, a captain, to my office and explained that I was going to return his promotion warrant to Major to HQMC and fire him as my maintenance officer if I ever caught another aircraft reported as ready for flight that was not ready in accordance with the NAMP. As a result of our honesty, our reported readiness dropped like a stone from 85 to 90 percent down to 50 to 60 percent. Even the group CO was calling me and asking me what was wrong. I told him that I had found a problem and would fix it in a few weeks. After a few days, the AMO came to my office and asked permission to start a night crew to address our flagging maintenance effort. I readily agreed and asked him what took him so long to ask.
After four to six more weeks, our daily availability for aircraft climbed to over 90 percent and exceeded all of the other squadrons on the line. A few days later, we were the subject of a no-notice maintenance inspection by the Naval Aviation Maintenance unit at NAS North Island, CA. They came in a 0900 and asked to look at our "books and aircraft." After a couple of hours they out-briefed me as the best no-notice inspection the team had ever seen. I called my AMO into my office and asked him what he thought would have happened if we were still lying on our daily report. He agreed that we both would have been fired. I told him that honesty is ALWAYS the best policy, and promoted him to Major.
I had a smile on my face many years later when I was at the now Colonel's change of command to receive that very same aircraft group. He referred to that experience we had shared so many years earlier as an important lesson in his career development.
WHAT PROFESSION DID YOU FOLLOW AFTER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW? IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY SERVING, WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY?
 When I retired, a cancer was found on my leg which required an extensive surgery that "gimped" me pretty good for several months. As I neared the end of my recovery, I began substitute teaching at a local school. The principal asked me if I wanted to stay on as a full-time teacher. Reluctantly, I agreed and was assigned to teach math and science. I retired from teaching high school math and science ten years later, and began private tutoring.
Recurring bouts of Agent Orange related cancers and a current lymphoma keep me humble. However, between tutoring and substitute teaching, I leave myself plenty of time for gardening and travel.
WHAT MILITARY ASSOCIATIONS ARE YOU A MEMBER OF, IF ANY? WHAT SPECIFIC BENEFITS DO YOU DERIVE FROM YOUR MEMBERSHIPS?
I joined MC Aviation Association, Military Oder of the World Wars, Disabled American Veterans, Military Order of the Purple Heart. I have honestly, only atended a few meetings. I find myself pretty busy with tutoring, family and gardening.
IN WHAT WAYS HAS SERVING IN THE MILITARY INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU HAVE APPROACHED YOUR LIFE AND YOUR CAREER?
Becoming an aviator, completing a combat tour, qualifying in several types of aircraft and helicopters are all aspects of a dream fulfilled for me. Jumping out of perfectly good airplanes had never been a goal of mine, but I'm glad I did it. I faced a REAL fear and did it. It turned out to be a lot of fun, most of the time.
Commanding Marines for nearly a decade at the squadron, group and wing level, and my time as XO and Senior Marine were assignments which built my confidence in facing ANY challenge.
BASED ON YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO THOSE WHO HAVE RECENTLY JOINED THE MARINE CORPS?
 My advice is the same advice that I have given Marines as Captain Career Planner, and Commanding Officer. I would often say, "There are no dead-end jobs, only dead-end people."
Face every assignment with a cheerful heart, a diligent effort, and positive mental attitude. And when it comes time to decide whether to stay or go, ensure you have something to go to before you walk out the door. And a slogan for which I am credited, "It's your career, manage it any way you want."
IN WHAT WAYS HAS TOGETHERWESERVED.COM HELPED YOU REMEMBER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND THE FRIENDS YOU SERVED WITH.
It has been cathartic to reflect on what has happened over the four decades of my service. I had my experience with a psychiatrist to check me for PTSD. He agreed that I had "accommodated" the condition well. I know I am "different" because of combat and the loss of my entire crew on my last flight in Vietnam, but I have accommodated the demons and bring them out in the open where they dwindle in the bright light of exposure to others. I tell war stories and share my experiences, even though some are quite emotional for me; and I think that helps me. Whether it's writing them here, on TWS, or in vignettes shared with friends or students opening up has been a big help to me and for me.
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