Police Chief served in U.S. Army Security Agency

By Petra Chesner Schlatter, BucksLocalNews.com


U.S. Army Spec. 5 Barry Pilla, 61, serves as the police chief of Northampton Township Police Department.

Forty years ago, Pilla was in Vietnam in the late 1960s. “I have a different outlook — I don’t know why. I was not in a field unit or in a direct combat unit. I was in a support unit.”

He had enlisted in the Army on January 15, 1968 “for a four-year hitch with the United States Army Security Agency.” Basic training was at Fort Dix, N.J. He went to Fort Gordon, Ga. for advanced training in communications.

In Vietnam, he served with the 509 Radio Research Group. “I did a tour and a half,” he noted. “I had the opportunity to work in a joint military unit with members of the Air Force, the Marines and the Navy.”We had a very diverse group. We worked on occasion with our counterparts.”
Pilla returned to The States on March 12, 1970. He then went to Fort Devens, Mass. where there was a training facility for his unit.

He was assigned to an administrative position in his training unit. He remained there until he was discharged in October, 1971. At that time, they were offering an early discharge to take a position in law enforcement.

When asked about Vietnam, Pilla said while some places were beautiful, “it had been ravaged for so many years by war. There were temples and more. That must have been a wonderful culture.
“The people for the most part were suspicious and anxious — and how could they not be after living in a war zone for so many years?” Pilla noted. When you struck up a casual relationship, he said, “They would let their guard down.”

Pilla talked about a picture he has of “two young kids” saluting him. “I saw them just about every day. The kids would be running around playing.

“My unit was associated with a Catholic orphanage,” he said. “We would visit on a monthly basis.” The men would give the children combs, mirrors or toys like paddle balls.
Pilla said his group would have a barbecue and spend the day. They would talk with the nuns and priest. “It was a diversion of what was going on,” Pilla said. “You could hear bombs going off occasionally, but this is what the kids were raised in.”

Pilla continued, “I was young. It made me look at life quite differently. I went over as a 19-year-old kid and came home as a 21-year-old adult. I had a much different mindset.”
The potential of being hurt by an explosive was always there. Pilla said the children would go to school and business was going on “while all this turmoil was happening.”

Pilla said he was “amazed how wonderful the human spirit is. It was quite a show and I had a front-row seat.” His pictures of Vietnam bring back memories, but not particularly bad ones, he said.

“As a young kid, I went over there,” Pilla said. “I really was given a gift. I was permitted to mature. I had the opportunity to serve with some wonderful and courageous people. And I met very courageous Vietnamese people who wanted peace as much as we did.”
Pilla said he went to Vietnam “for the people to be free.”

“As I was preparing to return home from Vietnam, we [soldiers] were all well aware of the dislike for the war,” Pilla said. “Additionally, we also knew that because it was an unpopular war, our return home wasn’t always met with cheers and gratitude for what we had done or been through.”

Despite the anti-war climate in the country, Pilla said he is grateful to his family and friends. He said the love and friendship of family, friends and neighbors meant he had a “wonderful homecoming.”

Pilla’s neighbors in his Bristol Township neighborhood, as well as family and friends, turned the street into a welcome home parade. They had strung banners across the street.
“Folks were standing on their lawns waving flags and some followed my car to our house to meet up with those already there,” Pilla recalled. “We had tons of food and a good time was had by all.”
He was glad to be home and see everyone. What really stands out to Pilla is his mother. She was the “happiest person in Bucks County. She told me that now she finally could stop worrying.”
Pilla and his future wife, Fran, pulled into the driveway of his parents’ home the day of the homecoming. The couple has a daughter, Lindsey.

As soon as he returned home, he interviewed for a police job. Pilla said he has always been a public servant. He is proud to have served in the military and is equally proud to serve in the police profession with “so many unsung heroes.”

He likened being a serviceman to being a policeman. “They are given a mission. They extract themselves. They’re there because they have a mission - that’s their task.”

When asked why he went into police work, Pilla said he always wanted to do. “As a kid, I was either going to be a cowboy, a fireman, a policeman or a disc jockey,” he said. “I love working with people. It just seemed like a natural fit for me.

“I was lucky enough to get into this profession,” Pilla said. “I consider it a privilege. I’ve been involved in this since 1971. I’m cruising in for a landing, but I still have a lot of gas in the tank.”
Pilla had received an early release from the Army and went right from the military into the Middletown Township Police Department in 1971. He was a uniformed police officer through 1974. He left Middletown and went with Northampton Township Police Department as an officer. He worked as a detective for a number of years and then became a lieutenant. He was appointed chief of police in 1994.