We’ve been learning about Ray Pederson’s Vietnam service in the Navy to help us better understand the Vietnam War’s impact on our region.

Ray Pederson was born in Echo; grew up on a farm in rural Belview; and graduated with the Belview High School class of 1963.

Ray lost his draft deferment when he left college to help after his father injured his back. He enlisted in the Navy instead of waiting to be drafted and, after competing Boot Camp, was assigned to the Landing Ship Tank (LST) USS Floyd County in San Diego.

Ray and his fiancé, Nancy, were married Dec. 1965 after Boot Camp. Then Ray left for San Diego where the Floyd County would be deploying to Vietnam within weeks. During that time Ray learned to operate the Floyd County’s assault boats; helped secure portable causeways to the ship’s sides for delivery to Hawaii; and helped load and secure the vehicles and trailers of a Marine motor pool from Camp Pendleton, California. The Marine equipment and the forty Marines who operated it were destined for Vietnam.

The Floyd County, with her officers and crew, cargo, and forty Marine passengers departed San Diego on February 1st 1966 and steamed west.

Their Pacific crossing was leisurely. Ray explained with a laugh, “Our ship, flat out, could probably do about 11 knots. It was a slow boat to the Orient.”

The Floyd County stopped at Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii to refuel and drop off the causeways she had carried from San Diego. Then she continued her slow journey west. Ray described how her Captain occupied the endless hours at sea by conducting daily training.

“We practiced general quarters every day. Sound that “Aooga” horn and they’d say “This a drill. This is a drill.” You keep on doing it because the Captain says you’re going to do it in a minute and a half when you are manned and ready. We could never get below a minute and a half.”

Ray recalled that they conducted other war-fighting training as well.

“We had gunnery training every day. We would take pallets and throw them overboard with empty oil drums and we’d shoot at those. We had 40mm anti-aircraft armament [and] .50 caliber machine guns on different levels of the ship.”

His General Quarters position was usually as a crew member on one of the 40mm guns.

Ray also used that Pacific crossing time to qualify for a new position aboard ship.

“Initially I was disappointed when I didn’t get to go to quartermaster school. I studied on my own and ended up getting a 3rd class quartermaster. By that time, the 1st class quartermaster got transferred and for four months I was leading quartermaster, which is an assistant to the navigator of the ship.”

He described other things the crew and Marines did to occupy themselves during their weeks at sea.

“We had a guy from San Antonio that was a boxer in the Golden Gloves. On the way over with the Marines, he was going to train me. We had a ring in the middle of the Main Deck. My first time, I caught one and went back in the corner. (Ray chuckled) I won the bout, but never went back in the ring again. And we played cards — a lot of poker; pitched pennies; read books; wrote letters — just to pass the time.”

The Floyd County finally arrived at Chu Lai, Vietnam to off-load the Marines and their vehicles. Ray explained how LSTs had a unique, off-loading capability.

“You can drive the ship right up on shore; open up the bow doors; drop a ramp; and drive right off onto the beach. Because they are flat-bottomed, they have a very shallow draft. They drive them up on the beach and blew all the ballast tanks just before hitting, so it rises higher in the water. ”

But the Floyd County was not the only LST beached at Chu Lai. Ray described the sobering scene at the landing.

“The 1st night we landed, which was the 13th of March of ’66, there was a ship, the USS Summit County, at an LST landing in Chu Lai. The VC would put out ropes with underwater mines. Once the ship got up there, they could pull that mine under water and when it come in contact with the hull of the ship, blow a hole in the side. When we came there, that ship was listing because it had a hole in the side and they were waiting for a salvage crew.”

Their first night in Vietnam left an impression on Ray.

“I was apprehensive and that night the tide went out, so we couldn’t get off the beach until the next morning when the tide came back in again. I heard mortars. I heard explosions up in the mountains and you could see the flashes. You could see flares go off in the distance and light up. (Ray sighed heavily) I don’t want to see that again.”

The Floyd County safely backed off the LST landing the next day when the tide returned and headed to Subic Bay Naval Station in the Philippines for engine repairs. But her orders would return her and her crew for operations off the coast of South Vietnam.

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.