Federal officials highlight importance of Corpus Christi Army Depot jobs during tour<\/a><\/p>\nWhile they were not in direct combat roles, their work proved essential \u2014 helping cut repair times in half and returning aircraft to the field faster.<\/p>\n
Veteran Art Earle said their position gave them a unique perspective on the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were actually probably the luckiest outfit in Vietnam,\u201d Earle said. \u201cWe were safe on the ship, and we knew it. The men out in the field \u2014 they\u2019re the heroes. We just did everything we could to support them and keep them flying.\u201d<\/p>\n
That support didn\u2019t go unnoticed, even among those serving in combat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey saw the patch on my uniform and asked me what I did,\u201d said Duluth Clifton Dawson Jr. \u201cI told them I worked in a rear-echelon support role in Vietnam. It wasn\u2019t a glamorous job, but even from the guys in combat, it was still \u2018welcome home.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Dawson said their experience returning stateside stood in contrast to the divisions seen elsewhere during the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got a stupendous welcome home at the pier,\u201d he said. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t a single demonstrator in sight. To my knowledge, we were the only outfit that got a welcome home like that from civilians \u2014 and that\u2019s always stuck with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s reunion carried added weight as attendance has steadily declined. What was once more than 100 veterans has dwindled to just 17 over the past decade. According to Dawson, at its peak the ship held about 300 soldiers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re some of the nicest people I\u2019ve ever met in my life,\u201d Earle said. \u201cEvery year, you look forward to seeing everybody again and catching up, and you always assume there\u2019s going to be a next one. Knowing this is the end \u2014 it\u2019s very heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Dawson, the gathering was especially meaningful \u2014 his first time attending after years of missed opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey told me this was going to be the last reunion, and I said, \u2018I\u2019ve got to be there,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThere were others over the years, but with finances and life, I just couldn\u2019t make it. This time I could \u2014 and I knew I had to.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the veterans shared stories aboard the historic carrier, their reunion served as a reminder that even behind-the-scenes roles can leave a lasting impact \u2014 both on the mission and on the men who carried it out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group of Vietnam veterans who repaired aircraft aboard the USNS Corpus Christi Bay gathered in Corpus Christi…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-278926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}