1966
As the draft approached, 19 year old Mike Treadaway from Clinton Arkansas chose to enlist into the Navy on the buddy program. He and a friend went in together, but after boot camp, Mike was sent to Georgia for training and his friend was moved elsewhere.
Tread (as he is nicknamed), became an airplane mechanic and after all his training in the states, he was sent to a small Naval station in Atsugi, Japan.
He became part of the Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron, VQ1. There were six crews in the squad, each with 25-30 men. Each crew also had it’s own EC121 airplane. Their job was to fly between the Sea of Japan and southeast Asia, looking for radio waves.
Two planes would move out and upon hearing a radio signal, they could triangulate the direction and location. It was then called in to ground troops. He spent some time on the planes, but usually, he was working on them on the ground.
Tread flew often to Da Nang Vietnam to work on planes, as well as Guam and the Philippines.
“We basically went where ever we were needed. We would spend six weeks in Da Nang, then go back to Atsugi. We did that all the time, back and forth.”
Some of the damage Tread and his crew were responsible for repairing.
Danger in Da Nang
During their time in Da Nang, they dealt with constant attacks from the Viet Cong. They would send rockets at night to try and destroy as many planes as possible. They also hit barracks and other buildings on base.
“We rebuilt the shop several times. When we weren’t working on the planes, we would be on guard duty. You never knew when they would attack. They would even try and sneak in through the drainage ditch to get to the planes to blow them up.”
Here’s a picture of one of the bunkers they had set up throughout the base.
Although very fortunate their crew survived, there was a crew that didn’t make it home.
“It’s one of those times that’s burned into your memory, similar to where you were when 9/11 happened. April 15th, 1969, North Korea shot down one of our crew’s planes. It killed the thirty men on board. They were flying in international airspace, but it was a hit to us. We knew the men well, we were all friends.”
To this day, it’s the largest single loss of a U.S. aircrew since the Cold War.
In Da Nang, each crew had it’s own section on the airstrip, Tread’s crew sat at the very end.
“We were right next to the morgue. They would play Taps whenever men were brought in that had died. Sometimes, Taps played all day long.”
After his four year stint, Tread moved on and made a life back in Arkansas.
Although Tread believes patriotism isn’t seen as a positive thing today, he’s still proud of his service and knows that all the men he served with were proud to be where they were, fighting for their country.
“Our country is much different now, people aren’t thankful for what they have and what they’ve been given.”
For more information on the VQ1 squad and it’s history, you can click here.
