Patrolling the Mediterranean aboard the USS Lowery.

By Jeff Werner, BucksLocalNews.com


Veteran James J. Anderson is about as patriotic as they come. He loves his country. He’s proud of his flag. He chokes up when he talks about freedom.

And when a lot of guys were fleeing to Canada to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War, he was looking for a way into the combat zone.

The Philadelphia native volunteered for service in Vietnam not once, but numerous times. Each time, though, the answer from the U.S. Navy came back “no.” It was a huge disappointment for Anderson, who was eager to see combat at the young age of 17 back in 1963.

“I was a hawk and you can’t be a hawk if you’re not willing to go,” he said. “But I also felt I owed something to this country. I’m a flag-waver. I always was. I felt like I owed it to the guys who went before me.

“To me, it was unbelievable that they had the draft; that they had to grab somebody to serve their country. I grew up with all the war comic books, all the war movies. My father was in the war and my grandfather was in the war before that. I had a great-great-grandfather in the Civil War.”

His father, James J. Anderson, served on the light cruiser Phoenix in the South Pacific. His grandfather, Frank McAdams, was in the Army Air Service in France during World War I. And his great-great-grandfather, Michael Denig, served with the 3rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Calvary in the biggest battles of the Civil War, including Antietam and Gettysburg.

“I wanted to be like my father. He was in the Navy and I wanted to be in the Navy. He was on a cruiser during World War II. I wanted to do what he did,” he said.

Born on Sept. 9, 1946, Anderson grew up in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. He spent his early childhood attending St. Veronica’s Grade School in Tioga and Cardinal Dougherty High School, graduating in June 1964.

He joined the service and started his senior year of high school on his 17th birthday in 1963. He would have joined earlier, but his father insisted that he first finish high school.

“During the Cuban Missile Crisis, when I went in to enlist, they said my father would have to sign. So I went home and I said to my father, ‘I’m joining the Navy.’ He laughed at me and said, ‘When you’re out of high school.’ So I said to him, ‘When I hit 17 I want you to sign my papers.’”
He was true to his word. When he turned 17, he returned to the recruiting office with signed papers from his father and volunteered his service.

He spent his senior year of high school serving in the reserves, going to sea one weekend a month learning how to be a sailor. He served aboard the destroyer escort, Joseph Douglas Blackwood.

He officially joined the service following graduation from high school and requested assignment in the South Pacific where his father had served. “If it was good enough for my father, it was good enough for me. There was also action going on there.”

He never saw the South Pacific as a serviceman and he never made it to Vietnam despite his numerous attempts.

In Oct. 1964, he was assigned to the 177-man crew of the U.S. destroyer Lowrey. He spent several years aboard her in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coasts of France, Turkey, North Africa, Spain, Greece, Italy and Lebanon.

His served as a deck aid before being named personnel man. He was the guy who kept the ship’s records, including transfer orders and discharges.

He also worked as a powderman and projectileman for the gun mount. “We fired every other day while we were at sea,” said Anderson. “We always had to be ready. And when we weren’t firing, we were replenishing ammunition.”

The destroyer’s mission was to provide protection and support for American carriers and cruisers.

“We were a killing machine from bow to stern,” said Anderson. “We had 5-inch ammunition. We had hedge hogs. We had torpedoes, aviation fuel and two Destroyer Anti-Submarine Helos (DASH). If anyone went after one of our carriers or cruisers it was our job to intercept the torpedo. We were there showing the flag and keeping the peace,” he said.

While Anderson never saw combat aboard the destroyer, there were a few harrowing moments.
“We were refueling off an oiler and the seas were real choppy. A seaman from the oiler fell overboard. Our swimmer went over to get him with a line tied around him. He brought him along side the ship. The ship went up in the air, the line parted and they both went under the ship. They got the kid but our guy didn’t make it. He was a nice guy. It’s always the nice guys.”
Ironically, while Anderson never made it to Vietnam, his ship did. Three years after he left the destroyer, it was sent into the war zone.

He completed his service in 1969 and took advantage of the GI Bill, earning a degree in industrial relations from La Salle University. He fell in love and married his sweetheart, Maureen. The couple raised three children, Jim, Karen and Kate.

He worked at various companies through the years before finding a job as an industrial engineering supervisor for SPD Technologies.

He worked for the Philadelphia manufacturing company for 26 years before being forced to retire at the age of 61.

“Early retirement worked out well for me because my daughter had triplets,” said the proud Middletown Township grandfather. He’s now enjoying retirement with Madison, Abigail and Colten, and spending time with his wife of 39 years.

He also devotes time to the Morrell Smith Post No. 440 of the American Legion in Newtown where he serves as adjutant.

“These guys are all salt of the earth. You can find fault with none of them. Yeah, sometimes they’re a pain. But they’re good men with good hearts who did so much for our country,” he said.
To his fellow veterans and to his family, he’s known for his patriotism and his deep and abiding love this country.

“The American flag is everything,” he said. “It’s the Alamo, Pearl Harbor, Gettysburg. It’s all those who went before to preserve freedom. You’ve got to feel it here,” he says, placing his hand over his heart.

Army veteran recalls his time in The Battle of the Bulge

Council Rock grad found growth, fulfillment in Air Force.

By R. Kurt Osenlund, BucksLocalNews.com


Like most young men, Mike Gavaghan took part in his share of teenage mischief and rebellion. In addition to providing him with employment, excitement and a long-term career path, Gavaghan credits the U.S. Air Force for instilling in him some necessary post-high school maturity.

“I wasn't too far off-course,” says the 27-year-old Council Rock North graduate, “but (the Air Force) definitely straightened me out, for sure. It taught me discipline and respect.”

Born in Northeast Philadelphia and raised in Holland, Gavaghan says his interest in planes stretches back to his childhood, when he used to attend air shows with his father. He had that interest in mind when he graduated high school in 2001 and, knowing college wasn't for him, enlisted in the Air Force.

“I wanted to travel and serve my country,” Gavaghan says. “I didn't want to be in the infantry, I wanted to get more involved in maintenance – that's what really appealed to me. So I signed up to be a maintainer.”

Gavaghan's first stop was Lakeland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, where he stayed for seven weeks of boot camp. Regarding the famously rigorous breaking-in period, Gavaghan says the physical demands were easier than he expected, but the emotional toll was “10 times” more difficult.

“It's really your first time leaving everyone you know,” Gavaghan says. “That was the hardest part: they really break you down, and you have no one to turn to. You're alone.”

Gavaghan says such a feeling is common among first time soldiers – a universal experience that creates a camaraderie among peers and provides them with people to turn to after all.

In November 2001, Gavaghan headed to Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas, for a year of daily aircraft maintenance training. According to him, he went from knowing virtually nothing about airplanes to being able to “tear an airplane apart and pretty much know how to put it back together.” He later headed to a base in Tucson, Ariz., where he underwent more specialized training, learning the ins and outs of a machine he'd come to know quite well: the A-10 Thunderbolt II – or “Warthog” – jet aircraft.

He says he was responsible for the upkeep of 25 of these single-seat, twin-engine, close air support planes while stationed in Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, where he remained for two years. It was during that time when Gavaghan received orders to deploy to Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, a mission that filled him not with fear, but with excitement.

“I was extremely excited to be part of a unit that was going to deploy,” Gavaghan says. “I had an opportunity to really serve my country and I was ready to get out there. I was a little nervous – it's hard to go to the desert and not be nervous – but the fact that we were actually going to be doing our job was fun. It was like practicing a sport and finally being able to play.”

In fact, Gavaghan was so pleased with his new gig that after his first three-month rotation at Bagram ended, he volunteered for another. On maintaining planes used to provide cover and air support for soldiers stationed in particularly dangerous areas, Gavaghan says, “It was fulfilling. Working on the planes and knowing that they were flying combat missions, protecting the Army and stopping terrorism – because of us – was very satisfying.”

The most exhilarating part of the job, Gavaghan says, was when an order to “Scramble! Scramble! Scramble!” would come over the radio, and he and his fellow maintainers would need to ready a plane for takeoff – a process that can normally take up to an hour.

“Five minutes and that plane would be up in the air,” Gavaghan says, proudly.

In June 2004, Gavaghan relocated to Florida's Eglin Air Force Base, where he remains stationed to this day after reenlisting twice. He says Eglin has been “a boring base and an extremely exciting base at the same time.” Boring, he says, because he only has two planes to take care of (and because anywhere must seem tame compared to Afghanistan), and exciting because his mission became the testing of new bombs and missiles.

When new weapons are developed, Gavaghan and company ensure that they're compatible with the aircraft, and that they're firing and detonating properly. Once approved, the weapons are then shipped overseas. Gavaghan says the job creates a strong sense of urgency and an even stronger sense of pride, which also accounts for why he's chosen to remain in the military well after his initial tour of duty, and why he plans to continue to do so well into the future.

“A lot of people think I'm crazy,” says Gavaghan, who now holds the rank of staff sergeant. “People say, 'Why stay in the military?' while other people see it as an easy way out. But any military member will tell you how satisfying it is – the honor in it. Some people might not understand it, but I love what I'm doing. I'm protecting our troops, I'm protecting America, I'm making my dad proud.”

Gavaghan shares a house with a fellow soldier in Fort Walton Beach, a tourist town not far from the Eglin base. He says the area is nice and the scenery is gorgeous. Since new weapons aren't released every day, an average day of work for Gavaghan typically involves “keeping his skills sharp,” helping pilots with simulations and, of course, maintaining the planes.

Gavaghan says, “We keep the planes in top shape so they can continue flying.” Ironically enough, one might say the Air Force has done the very same for him.

Former college baseball player saw action in Africa and Iraq.