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We've been learning about Lyle Moseng's Vietnam service in the Navy to help us better understand the Vietnam War's impact on our region.
Lyle grew up in Marshall, graduating with the Marshall High School Class of 1962. He enlisted in the Navy and served a year at Naval Air Station, Midway Island in the Pacific Ocean where he maintained emergency equipment aboard aircraft.
The Navy reassigned Lyle to the aircraft carrier, U.S.S. Constellation in October 1963 as a member of a catapult team. Although he soon realized working the catapults during flight operations was loud, hectic, and even dangerous, Lyle liked his new role.
After months of flight operations near San Diego, the Constellation put to sea with her escorting destroyers in May 1964 and steamed west. Lyle recalled the ship's crew and air wing conducted intensive flight operations near Hawaii.
"We launched every two hours for 96 hours. We never left our duty station. They brought our meals to us in a box lunch. You could sleep on the floor, but you could never leave your duty station. If you wanted to shower, we'd just give each other showers. (Lyle chuckled) You'd stand on the catwalk, which is steel grate below you. We'd pour a bucket of water on you; you'd scrub down; and then pour more water on to rinse."
After ending these flight operations, the Constellation and her escorts steamed further west and began conducting daily flight operations in a new area. Lyle described that time.
"We left Hawaii and we went out and bobbed around the ocean. The first time was fifty-six days before we went to the Philippines. We had no idea what was going on, other than the fact that we stayed out there."
What Lyle did not know was that the Constellation had been operating off the coast of Vietnam and her aircraft had flown armed reconnaissance missions over Laos.
After that long stretch of flight operations, the Constellation headed to Subic Bay Naval Station in the Philippines for re-provisioning before steaming to Hong Kong in late July 1964 for a port call. Lyle explored the exotic, British colony and bought his mom some china. He described his impressions.
"It was so crowded, they had a village of sampans - people lived on these little boats. It was so poor that they would come out and go through our garbage, especially our sugar sacks. They would shake it and get all the sugar they could. They literally had nothing."
Meanwhile, on August 2 the destroyer USS Maddox was conducting intelligence operations in the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam when she was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. Two days later the Maddox and a second destroyer reported another attack at night.
The Constellation departed Hong Kong in response to what became known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. As she approached Vietnam on August 4th, she went to general quarters, an event that Lyle remembered in detail.
"They went to general quarters, which is a really eerie feeling. It's a "oogha, oogha, oogha" and "All hands man your battle stations." We had to get our first two planes off. We always had two planes on a catapult at that time. We got the two off and then the flight engineer said, "Start all planes. Launch anything that starts." So, that's when total chaos broke out."
Lyle explained what happened.
"This was at night. Normally, we'd launch all the same type of aircraft at one time. All of the sudden we had a different type plane every time they lowered the jet blast deflector and we'd have to change our units. But we got them all off and still didn't know what was going on."
President Lyndon Johnson had ordered air strikes against North Vietnamese naval bases. Lyle's team was catapulting aircraft in the first air raids against North Vietnam, an escalation in the U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam. The Constellation lost one pilot in these raids.
Lyle said he and his team did not know they were off Vietnam, let alone engaged in combat operations.
"I had never heard of Vietnam. We'd sit on the flight deck at night and you could see flashes off in the distance. Guys would say, 'There's a war going on there. We're bombing people.' We said, 'No, we'd know if we were at war.' So, we had no idea what was going on."
Lyle explained how his team later learned they had been involved in combat operations.
"They gave us the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and the Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon. Plus, they gave us four months back combat pay."
The Constellation completed her cruise and returned to the U.S., reporting to a shipyard for overhaul. Lyle completed his enlistment in June 1965 while the Constellation was in dry dock.
Lyle regards his service with pride. He particularly enjoyed working as part of a team.
"You stayed with your catapult crew. [We] were always together. We played cards together and when the cats went down, we'd work straight through the night, if we had to, to get it back up again."
His Navy service changed him.
"When I came out of there, I knew I could do anything I wanted to, if I just set my mind to it."
Thank you for your service, Lyle.
The Lyon County Museum is organizing an exhibit about the impact of the Vietnam War on Lyon County. If you would like to share Vietnam experiences or help with the exhibit, please contact me at prairieviewpressllc@gmail.com or call the museum at 537-6580.