WEBVTT 1 00:00:12.199 --> 00:00:17.440 Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in this edition is 2 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:22.480 Leon Walker, Junior. He is a US Navy veteran who served this nation 3 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:27.359 for more than thirty two years in uniform and rising to the rank of Command 4 00:00:27.559 --> 00:00:32.960 Master Chief. He was part of eleven deployments. It's his second deployment that 5 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:37.960 brought him up close with a major international incident in the Persian Gulf. In 6 00:00:38.039 --> 00:00:43.240 May of nineteen eighty seven, his ship, the USS read rushed to the 7 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:48.520 aid of the frigate USS Stark after it was struck by missiles fired by an 8 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:54.799 Iraqi pilot during the Iran Iraq War. In all, thirty seven Americans were 9 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:59.479 killed, twenty one others were injured. And mister Walker, thank you very 10 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:02.280 much for your time time today, Sir, You're welcome. Thank you for 11 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:04.239 having me. Where were you born and raised, sir? Born in Cleveland, 12 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:07.959 Ohio? And had there been a history of military service in your family. 13 00:01:08.359 --> 00:01:11.640 Yes, my father was in the army, My two uncles were in 14 00:01:11.640 --> 00:01:15.159 the army. My brother was a marine, and my other cousin was an 15 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:19.840 Army and he boxed in the army, and my dad boxing played football in 16 00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:23.000 the Army. Oh, that's amazing. That is a very rich legacy. 17 00:01:23.079 --> 00:01:26.480 Where did any of them see overseas deployments? My two uncles were in the 18 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:30.480 Korean War. Also, my grandfather on my mother's side, he was in 19 00:01:30.599 --> 00:01:34.799 what they called back then. I believe it was the Army Air Force. 20 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:38.599 I don't know if he saw war. I think he did, but I 21 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:41.959 know for sure two of my uncles were in the Korean War. So when 22 00:01:41.959 --> 00:01:45.239 did you join the service and why did you choose the Navy. Yeah, 23 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:49.079 that's a great question. I joined in the summer of nineteen eighty three, 24 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:53.680 June specifically, And what happened was my household. There were artifacts of the 25 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:57.439 army all around. There were old ribbons, there were helmets, there were 26 00:01:57.239 --> 00:02:01.400 army jackets, there were ranks, ranking patches thrown around everywhere, my father's 27 00:02:01.400 --> 00:02:07.239 clauset, everywhere, my brother's room and I would always put their jackets and 28 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:09.159 helmets and stuff on. And you know, as kids we played, we 29 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:13.360 called it, let's go outside, play army, and so we didn't say 30 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:15.319 go outside and play navy or marines who wanted to play army. So I 31 00:02:15.400 --> 00:02:20.520 was already incorporated to the army as a little kid. Because of you know, 32 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:23.319 due to proximity, what I saw what was in the house. But 33 00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:27.639 what happened was when I went to the recruiting office that summer of nineteen eighty 34 00:02:27.639 --> 00:02:30.919 three, I wanted to join the Marines because my brother was a Marine, 35 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:32.680 and to me, the Marines just looked the best in uniform. I was 36 00:02:32.680 --> 00:02:37.280 stuck on a uniform like my mother was, and so I walked to the 37 00:02:37.639 --> 00:02:39.439 matter of fact, I walked about two miles to the recruiting office with my 38 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:44.759 sister. And when I walked into the Marines office, the recruiter's office, 39 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:46.599 he told me to come back because he was at lunch. And it hurt 40 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:51.439 me, had hurt my feelings because that whole, like my junior and senior 41 00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:53.120 year in high school, I was thanking on going to the Marines and Marines 42 00:02:53.159 --> 00:02:57.639 and Marines, and then he kind of like brushed me off. And so 43 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:00.599 as I left his office, an army got I said, hey, come 44 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:01.400 here, young man, come on, let me talk to you. But 45 00:03:01.479 --> 00:03:05.960 he just didn't have that appeal. He didn't look right. He looked worn 46 00:03:06.039 --> 00:03:07.680 down, he looked tired, and I didn't like the green outfit. I 47 00:03:07.719 --> 00:03:10.879 just didn't like him. So as I continue to walk away. He had 48 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:15.719 me some brochures and I walked out. The Navy guy whist him. He's 49 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:17.960 like hey buddy, and I was like, wow, it's and then he 50 00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:21.360 just had the energy and he say, hey, come in from it. 51 00:03:21.479 --> 00:03:23.240 I know you want to go to the rings, but let me. Let's 52 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:24.840 talk to me from minute. And that was it. Greg. Once we 53 00:03:24.919 --> 00:03:29.759 sat down, he started to showing pictures of his the trony had in the 54 00:03:29.800 --> 00:03:34.520 Philippine Islands, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, and every picture he showed 55 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:38.159 me, I would ultimately go to those places when I joined. So that's 56 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:40.680 how I joined the Navy. Wow, that's quite the competition for you and 57 00:03:42.439 --> 00:03:45.639 putting forth a good effort makes a big difference, obviously, at least it 58 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:49.919 certainly yeah in your case. So where did you go for your training and 59 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:53.639 what did the training consist of? So November twenty first, nineteen eighty three, 60 00:03:53.240 --> 00:03:57.400 we first checked in downtown Cleveland. They put us in the hotel, 61 00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:00.840 we had to get another physical and we left out the next morning heading to 62 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.199 Great Lakes boot Camp, Chicago, Illinois. Great Lakes, Illinois boot Camp 63 00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:10.759 and boot camp consisted of running, uh physical exercise push up, sit ups. 64 00:04:11.479 --> 00:04:13.199 We had to learn how to march. We had to learn how to 65 00:04:13.240 --> 00:04:15.959 call cadence. We had to learn the ranking and structure, rank and recognition, 66 00:04:16.040 --> 00:04:19.519 structure. We had to learn terminology as far as ship handling, ship 67 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:23.959 building and things like that. Water survival. We had to learn to swim. 68 00:04:23.959 --> 00:04:26.959 I knew how to swim because in East Cleveland we had swimming pools. 69 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:29.920 We had a couple that we had to frequent. So it was a physical 70 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:34.600 physical attributes and then the knowledge as far as you know the ranking and structure 71 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:39.519 and the military leadership and the structures of the ship, what the ships do, 72 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:42.079 what they're, why they're built, how they're built, and what they 73 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:45.680 what the capabilities are, and then you know. From there you go onto 74 00:04:45.720 --> 00:04:50.319 your assession training whether it's engineering, weapons, aviation, navigation, and then 75 00:04:50.360 --> 00:04:54.399 you go to your ship and where did they send you and what specialty did 76 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:59.160 they train you in. I scored low on the asva AS that means Armed 77 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:02.920 Services, Vocation, Aptitude and battery a SCAB. So what happens is based 78 00:05:02.920 --> 00:05:06.120 on your line scores and what your scores. Usually line scores tells you what 79 00:05:06.279 --> 00:05:10.680 you're strong end and what's your weekend but I was weak in everything because I 80 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:14.040 just didn't apply myself in high school. But I took the test five times, 81 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:16.120 so it took me five times in past examine. On fifth time, 82 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:18.920 I passed with a thirty one, which was the minimum to get in. 83 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:23.480 Once you gather your scores and your line scores and see what you qualified for. 84 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:26.959 I didn't qualify for anything. And at that time and still to this 85 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:30.800 day, they have a job called deck seamanship where you just a deck handler. 86 00:05:30.839 --> 00:05:32.879 You you helped tie the ship up, you clean, you paint, 87 00:05:33.319 --> 00:05:39.160 you sand rust off the ship, you drive the ship, and you stand 88 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:42.639 security watches. That's pretty much it as for a deck handler. With the 89 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:46.040 person that scores that has such a low score. So there was a job 90 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:49.160 in the navy for me. Although I had a minimum as that, I 91 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:53.439 still had the aptitude to learn, so I was still allowed to come in 92 00:05:53.480 --> 00:05:57.920 the military. And for two years I did the cleaning and sweeping and swabbing 93 00:05:57.959 --> 00:06:00.920 and painting and taking a rust until one day I saw these guys that were 94 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:04.240 on the bridge on top of the ship, but upper level of the ship, 95 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:08.439 and I went to see what they were doing, and they were doing 96 00:06:08.519 --> 00:06:12.519 navigation. I joined in eighty three and from nineth naty two to eighty five 97 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:16.800 I was a dead candler. From nineteen eighty five I became a quartermaster navigator, 98 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:20.839 and I navigated the ship throughout the world, millions of miles of navigation, 99 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:27.240 the Seuez Canal, the Red Sea, the Baring Sea, the Mediterranean, 100 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:30.680 Atlantic Ocean, everywhere. I was one of those guys that navigated the 101 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:33.600 ship throughout the world, around the world, and so I did that from 102 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:38.480 nineteen eighty five to two thousand and six. In two thousand and six, 103 00:06:38.600 --> 00:06:44.000 I made e nine and you can either remain a navigator or you can request 104 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:46.360 to become a command master chief. So my job then I said, you 105 00:06:46.439 --> 00:06:48.680 know, I want to become a command massieve and that's when I became a 106 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:53.040 part of the executive level leadership, which is the command master chief. So 107 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:57.839 from two thousand and six to retirement twenty fifteen, I was command master chief. 108 00:06:58.120 --> 00:07:00.959 Was it difficult to adjust to life in the navy? Was the army 109 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:04.120 culture in your home make that a little bit easier? The army coach from 110 00:07:04.120 --> 00:07:10.240 my home made it a little bit easier because it started with structure and discipline. 111 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:12.839 I knew at nine years old, I wanted to join the military. 112 00:07:12.839 --> 00:07:15.720 I just didn't know what's branch. My uncle used to teach me how to 113 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:17.720 hand to loot. My uncle used to call Cadence around the house. He 114 00:07:17.800 --> 00:07:20.120 used to tell us about his stories. My dad told me about stories in 115 00:07:20.120 --> 00:07:24.040 the army. My brother told me about stories in the Marines. And so 116 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:30.720 I was already mentally fixated on being stern, following directions, having discipline, 117 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:33.480 cleaning up my room, having standards. Of course, like I said, 118 00:07:33.959 --> 00:07:38.279 the things around me are what made me think about what I wanted to do 119 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:42.279 eventually, and so all the artifacts of the army and Marines that were in 120 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:44.720 my house, I would look at him in the wanning if I could do 121 00:07:44.759 --> 00:07:47.360 this? Can I get this riven? Can I get rank in the military? 122 00:07:47.399 --> 00:07:53.319 Can I be promoted? So that's how it happened with me seeing those 123 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:57.360 things as a child formed my opinion about the military and what I wanted to 124 00:07:57.399 --> 00:08:00.879 do. Plus, my parents both dropped out in the eighth grade. They 125 00:08:00.920 --> 00:08:03.720 never finished ninth grade through high school, and so they never spoke about college. 126 00:08:05.399 --> 00:08:07.920 So that was a driving factor and motivating factor for me as well to 127 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:11.519 go to the military. Well, as I said at the top, mister 128 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:16.600 Walker. It was your second deployment that we're going to spend most of our 129 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:18.959 time on. But let's talk about the first deployment and what it was like 130 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.800 to experience that. Tell me about the ship you're on and where you went. 131 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:28.680 My first employment. The ship I was going to uss read FFG thirty 132 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:33.960 fast frigate guided missile. It carried about two hundred and eighty men, two 133 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:39.559 SAH sixty helicopters, six torpedo tubes, one seventy six millimeters gun on at 134 00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:45.519 the middle of the ship, and a missal launcher on the front of the 135 00:08:45.559 --> 00:08:48.440 ship. They carried s and one missiles had long range missiles. It was 136 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:56.080 loaded down. We had a sonar system on there to possibly track and detect 137 00:08:56.120 --> 00:09:01.919 submarines. We had a great weapon system. Eight engineerings engineering on there. 138 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:05.799 We had two gas turbine engines ELLEM twenty five hundred Stuart Stevenson or Ellen twenty 139 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:11.799 five hundred Genior electric gas turbine engines. That was our proposing. We had 140 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:16.279 one shaft which was about ninety four feet long and a blade which is we 141 00:09:16.360 --> 00:09:22.159 call screw screwed with five blades on it. That deployment was my first time, 142 00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:28.279 going to Singapore, Hawaii, the Philippine Islands, Hong Kong, and 143 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:31.879 then of course the person Golf where we would stay for four months and then 144 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:35.559 come back. Guys, go back to Hawaii and maybe stop into Hawaii, 145 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:41.320 I mean go back out stalking to Hawaii again and then Saudi Arabia by Rain 146 00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:45.960 Abu Dabi Dubai and then head back home to at that time San Diego. 147 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:48.360 Well you covered a big chunk of Asia and then all the way across the 148 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:52.879 Pacific a couple of times. The second time you went out before we talk 149 00:09:52.919 --> 00:09:56.480 about the USS Stark situation, I'm guessing on the second deployment now based on 150 00:09:56.480 --> 00:10:01.360 what you said earlier, you were the navigator. Correct, correct, Okay, 151 00:10:01.399 --> 00:10:05.240 and talk about what it was like to shift to that responsibility. Being 152 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:09.799 the deackcan was pretty simple. It was basic. It was basic cleaning up 153 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:13.279 and painting and chipping and taking off rusts and you know, pulling on more 154 00:10:13.399 --> 00:10:18.399 lines. It was house cleaning and housekeeping. That was a serious shift for 155 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:22.799 me because I had to now concentrate on many things, not just one thing, 156 00:10:22.840 --> 00:10:26.279 as you know, standing the security watch or putting the more on line 157 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:30.799 or painting a ship. I had to concentrate and learn how to navigate a 158 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:35.559 ship from San Diego to Hawaii, from Hawaii to the Red Sea, the 159 00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:39.639 Red Sea to the any notion, any notion to the Persian Gulf. I 160 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:43.600 had to know how to get us there, the speed required and hat navigation. 161 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:48.720 I had learned how to navigate by the celestial stars. I had learned 162 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:54.480 to determine sunrise, sunset, moon rise, moonset, and the Navy navigators 163 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:58.200 are essentially weather man too, so I had learned about the clouds, the 164 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:01.600 barometric pressure, the Cold Fund, warm fronts, the seas as well, 165 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:05.759 all of that. So it was very challenging for me. But I found 166 00:11:05.799 --> 00:11:07.399 that I was a lot smarter than I thought I was, and I could 167 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:11.759 learn more. Mister Walker, let's pause right there. When we come back, 168 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:15.559 we'll hear about what happened in May of nineteen eighty seven in the Persian 169 00:11:15.559 --> 00:11:18.720 Golf, as the USS read responded to the attack on the USS Stark. 170 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:22.639 Our guest is Leon Walker, Junior, a thirty two year veteran of the 171 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:28.799 United States Navy reaching the rank of Command Master Chief. I'm Greg Corumbus, 172 00:11:28.840 --> 00:11:33.440 and this is Veterans Chronicles sixty seconds of Service. This sixty Seconds of Service 173 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:39.519 is presented by T Mobile. T Mobile offers exclusive discounts for veteran and military 174 00:11:39.559 --> 00:11:43.279 families and are proud supporters of the National Defense Network. Visit t mobile dot 175 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:46.279 com to learn more about how they support our military community. At Headfield, 176 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:50.080 Alabama, a new nonprofit in the Shoals is hoping to make a big change 177 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:54.799 and impact a lot of people by providing veterans with a warm place to stay 178 00:11:54.840 --> 00:11:58.799 and other services. Many different members of the community have been looking to start 179 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:03.559 a nonprofit for displace veterans for a few years now. The nonprofit Community Unity 180 00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:05.679 three to sixty is near the area and ready to make an impact in the 181 00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:09.240 Shoals, starting with this house. One of the members, Wendy Snitzer, 182 00:12:09.240 --> 00:12:13.240 said, there's been a big need for this for several years. It was 183 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:16.080 a lot of porch pickups operating out of the truck of your car, off 184 00:12:16.120 --> 00:12:18.240 the front porch, just putting things together, she explained. Until we got 185 00:12:18.360 --> 00:12:22.919 organized, it was just a collective of good neighbors and good businesses trying to 186 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:26.879 change the footprint and the blueprint that we leave in our community. For more 187 00:12:26.919 --> 00:12:31.600 great veterans stories, just go to National Defense Network dot com. This is 188 00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:37.320 Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbas. Our guest in this addition is Leon Walker, 189 00:12:37.399 --> 00:12:39.919 Junior, who served for thirty two years in the United States Navy, 190 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:46.759 reaching the rank of command master Chief. We're just talking about his rising from 191 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:52.919 deckhand to navigator aboard the USS Read, which was a fast frigate for guided 192 00:12:52.919 --> 00:12:56.000 missiles, and that was the ship not only for his first deployment, but 193 00:12:56.039 --> 00:13:01.360 also his second, which once again brought the crew to the Persian Gulf. 194 00:13:01.960 --> 00:13:05.639 And that is when the USS Read responded to the attack on the USS Start, 195 00:13:05.720 --> 00:13:09.799 as we mentioned at the outset, May seventeenth, nineteen eighty seven. 196 00:13:09.960 --> 00:13:15.600 So mister Walker, take us to that day, what you were originally focused 197 00:13:15.639 --> 00:13:18.600 on before you heard the news of the attack, and how that all unfolded. 198 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:26.279 May sixteenth, nineteen eighty seven. We were patrolling the southern portion of 199 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:30.519 the person Golf. It was about one hundred and twenty degrees date in the 200 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:33.360 daytime. At ninetime it gets down to eighty which seems cold. You go 201 00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:37.519 from one to twenty to eighty degrees, you'd think it'd still be warm, 202 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:39.879 but it was cold. I can't understand. So we would patrol the southern 203 00:13:39.879 --> 00:13:43.120 part of the person golf up down left right now with navigating, we would 204 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:46.799 see the old riggs on fire. We would occagiency, a face come out 205 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:50.559 the water, turtles swimming by. It was the water was like glass, 206 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:56.720 but there wasn't much activity going on out in the water. On the seventeenth, 207 00:13:56.600 --> 00:14:01.000 the next day, we were standing and watching as usual, having lunch 208 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:03.120 and then dinner, and then we would go to the gym on the ship 209 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:07.159 and then play cards and watch movies. And I distinctly remember that at about 210 00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:11.919 ten o'clock at night, the captain came on. The announcement system is called 211 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:16.679 the one MC. Whenever it comes on at nine fifty five, there's taps 212 00:14:16.039 --> 00:14:20.639 on the ship. They'll say, tap taps, lights lights out, all 213 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:24.399 hands, turnti of decks, turntio back bumps, maintain sids about the decks. 214 00:14:24.440 --> 00:14:28.320 Now tass and then at twenty two hundred, tasks and we go to 215 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:31.200 bed. Well this on this night, at twenty two hundred or shortly after, 216 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:33.840 the captain came on and said, gentlemen, let me have your attention 217 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:37.399 please. I want to make an announcement. The US's target has been hit 218 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:41.600 by a missile. We don't know what type of damage. We don't know 219 00:14:41.879 --> 00:14:45.480 if they've been sunk, we don't know if anybody's been killed, but they've 220 00:14:45.480 --> 00:14:48.440 been hit by a missile in the northern part of the Persian Gulf, and 221 00:14:48.519 --> 00:14:54.279 so everybody became on alert immediately. We started getting the fire teams ready. 222 00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:58.120 Essentially, everybody in navy's a firefighter. When you go to boot camp, 223 00:14:58.200 --> 00:15:01.600 you go to firefighter school when you Peboo came to go to your first ship. 224 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:05.120 Within that first three or four years, you're going to attend more firefighting 225 00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:09.559 schools, and so we were already firefighters. So we had on our ship 226 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:13.279 we had repair lockers. Repair lockers is what keeps is where they keep all 227 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:16.679 the firefighting equipment. At that Oba's oxer breeding aftertic the seal two bottles, 228 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:20.159 to firefighting equipment, to helmets and all of that the ensemble. And so 229 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:26.200 that night we started getting the firefighting equipment together, the dee watering equipment to 230 00:15:26.279 --> 00:15:28.480 the smoking equipment. We had it all together and put it on the messx 231 00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:31.519 mesis is where we all eat at come on the tables and chairs. We 232 00:15:31.559 --> 00:15:35.799 had to sort everything out and get ready. The captain kept talking to us 233 00:15:35.799 --> 00:15:37.759 and he made enohing announcement. He said, Hey, we just been tasked 234 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:43.440 gentlemen to go assist the US to start put both edges online Chief Engineering and 235 00:15:43.480 --> 00:15:48.000 let's head up north. And so we were about one hundred miles away and 236 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:52.360 we put both edges online, which gave us about thirty one plus knocks to 237 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:54.600 get from the southern end of the version of golf to the northern end. 238 00:15:56.080 --> 00:16:00.360 And we got there that next day at around eleven thirty on May eight teams 239 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:03.879 they got hit made seventeen. We got their mad eighteens. So we seemed 240 00:16:03.879 --> 00:16:07.440 throughout the night. And then as you pulled up you can see the US 241 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:10.360 to start. If you pull up it on Google, you'll see it leaning 242 00:16:10.360 --> 00:16:12.879 to the side and smoking smoke coming out of it. That was our ship. 243 00:16:14.039 --> 00:16:17.080 The picture was taken from our ship and other ship. For some reason, 244 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:19.399 everybody got the same angle. And then that's when it all started. 245 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:23.240 What was the status of the Stark? It was listing, like you said, 246 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:26.919 to one side. Was there a significant smoke and fire? And then 247 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:32.559 what did you heard by then about the casualties? Okay, by then it 248 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:36.480 was listing about twenty one degrees. There was smoke coming at the top of 249 00:16:36.519 --> 00:16:41.320 it. The casualties were ten men dead, fifteen men dead. And as 250 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:45.879 we surrounded the Start, we kept going around and circling it for minute after 251 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:49.519 minute after minute, and then hour after hour. While we were preparing to 252 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:52.720 figure out what we had to do, we noticed that it was just listing 253 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:57.559 and it wasn't sinking because there was other the teams. The crew on the 254 00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:02.440 Start had saved it from so they had packed some hole. What they didn't 255 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:04.039 packed the hole. It just started pumping the water out because the water was 256 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:07.160 coming in from the port side to the left side. Two missiles hit the 257 00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:12.359 Start, one exploded and one didn't. So as we circle the ship there, 258 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:15.559 we get the call now and said, hey, Walker, get your 259 00:17:15.559 --> 00:17:18.720 team ready. You guys are going over to yours to start to assist and 260 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:22.960 possibly rescue. At that time when I got the call, it was about 261 00:17:23.400 --> 00:17:27.680 twenty eight twenty nine people that were dead they knew confirmed to be burned to 262 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:33.920 death. What happens is there are different types of missiles. The Stark was 263 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:37.599 hit by Prince made Exo set missiles, where some missiles when they when they 264 00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:41.680 pierced the bullward when they pierced the ship. It'll either go in and it'll 265 00:17:41.799 --> 00:17:47.519 set off a big flame of a ball of fire which freaches thousands of degrees. 266 00:17:48.039 --> 00:17:52.240 Some missiles go inside the ship and release fragment. Some missions go inside 267 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:56.720 the ship and release this compressed spring which just pears things up. This missile 268 00:17:56.880 --> 00:18:00.880 obviously it was full of fuel and a big ball of far had gone through 269 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:06.160 the forull part of the ship. So what happens now, I get to 270 00:18:06.200 --> 00:18:07.680 call, I get my fire team rating. They put us in a little 271 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:12.519 small motor whaleboat and the lower us down to the water and we make our 272 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:18.279 way over to the US to start Starverside ads the back end of the ship 273 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:21.880 Starverside, and when we get there, they let down a Jacobs ladder. 274 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:26.960 We're talking with Leon Walker Junior. He is a thirty two year veteran of 275 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:30.920 the United States Navy, rising to the rank of Command Master Chief. We 276 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:34.359 have much more to talk about with relation to the USS Stark as well as 277 00:18:34.599 --> 00:18:38.839 some of his other deployments while in service to our country. I'm Greg Corumbus 278 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:45.599 Veterans Chronicles. We'll be right back. This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg 279 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:48.720 Corumbus. Honor to be joined today by Leon Walker, Junior. He is 280 00:18:48.759 --> 00:18:52.880 a US Navy veteran of thirty two years, serving from nineteen eighty three to 281 00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:57.839 twenty fifteen. He rose to the rank of command Master Chief, and he 282 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:03.519 was also the navigator aboard the USS Read, which is a fast frigate for 283 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:11.839 guided missiles that responded to the missile strike against the USS. Stark and mister 284 00:19:11.880 --> 00:19:15.559 Walker, you mentioned just a moment ago that as you arrived at the start 285 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:19.319 you found it listing and smoking. And the last thing you mentioned was that 286 00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:23.039 a Jacob's ladder had been extended for you to come on board. Please pick 287 00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:26.839 up the story from there. Okay, So now we're on a motor whale 288 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:33.119 boat and my first shipmates climbed up the ladder with their equipment, or they 289 00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:36.720 climbed up, and then he put a rope down, and we tied the 290 00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:38.319 rope to the equipment and pulled it back up. The equipment we had was 291 00:19:38.759 --> 00:19:44.279 called OBA back then oba's oxitive breathing appleritis, which is much heavier than what 292 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:48.839 they have now. Now they have SEBA self contained breathing apple rituses. So 293 00:19:48.839 --> 00:19:51.880 they pulled the equipment up and then I think I was the last one aboard 294 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:53.680 the ship. When we get on there, I remember looking to my right. 295 00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:56.920 Young man was bleeding and crying and they were thanking us for being there 296 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:00.559 because they had been fighting the ship all night and they were tired. The 297 00:20:00.599 --> 00:20:04.279 ship that wasn't thinking anymore. Had that other mental gone off, the ship 298 00:20:04.279 --> 00:20:07.920 would have sunk, but it was still on that and we didn't realize that 299 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:11.440 so later that day. But anyway, we get there around eleven thirty that 300 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:15.079 day. We put our masks on, we light off our oxen breathing apparatics 301 00:20:15.160 --> 00:20:18.720 canister. We get sixty minutes to breathe on that thing. So we lighted 302 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:22.279 off. Were going there, and first place we see is this guy and 303 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:26.119 then birthing. His legs were hanging out. I'll ever forget that his legs 304 00:20:26.119 --> 00:20:27.279 were hanging out. He had burned it that that was the first guy. 305 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:32.680 I think he had actually suffocated from smoke or died from smoke inhalations, but 306 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:33.839 his legs were burned, so he could have burned in death too. I 307 00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:37.839 just remember his legs and hanging out of his right. We identify him. 308 00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:41.160 We call the people that saw on the ship to come and get this body 309 00:20:41.160 --> 00:20:45.200 because they hadn't removed any bodies that. We didn't know how many bodies were 310 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:49.079 there, but we knew that thirty seven men were murdered. And so now 311 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:53.200 we go from his birthing, we identify him and as you've seen the picture, 312 00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:56.920 the smoke is coming from the top of the ship. Well, we 313 00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:00.720 go up to that space and that's in a place called Combat Information Center ci 314 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:06.039 C. That's where the ship fights the ship at that's where the screens are, 315 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:10.640 that's where you can identify incoming aircraft, you can identify missics coming in, 316 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:14.079 and that's where you fired missis from Combat inf Mats Center. It's also 317 00:21:14.119 --> 00:21:18.960 where the other rating besides the quarter Mats is called the Operational Specialists, the 318 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:22.759 wholes is. They do navigation too. So they had a bunch of charts 319 00:21:22.759 --> 00:21:26.640 down there. Well, what happened was one of the mins, the fire, 320 00:21:26.759 --> 00:21:30.480 the heat from the mental that burned the lower level up under the Combat 321 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:36.839 inf Mason space caused or something in there caused these charts. You guys call 322 00:21:36.920 --> 00:21:40.720 them mass We call them charts that we navigate on. Cause that whole big 323 00:21:40.839 --> 00:21:45.440 joy it probably carried about three hundred charts, three hundred maps or it was 324 00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:48.240 on fire. And so the smoke you see it's seen on the picture on 325 00:21:48.279 --> 00:21:52.279 Google is from that space that was on fire. It was the paper charts 326 00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:56.400 that were on fire. So we went in there. We put that out, 327 00:21:56.480 --> 00:21:59.559 put that fire out, and then they told to go back down below 328 00:21:59.640 --> 00:22:03.359 to look more bodies. And that's where all heck brogues because we started. 329 00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:07.599 I got my team together. We were tired, we're carrying fire holes everywhere, 330 00:22:07.160 --> 00:22:11.240 we were wet, we're hungry. At this time, it had been 331 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:14.880 probably two hours, and went up the stairs, put the fire out, 332 00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:18.319 found another guy in his rack, and came back down to find another body 333 00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:23.480 that was that was covered with shoot and ASTs and clothing that had been burned 334 00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:26.559 up. But he had been burned to death too. That was the first 335 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:30.279 body that was burned to death. I lifted him up with my friends. 336 00:22:30.359 --> 00:22:33.200 They ain't walker, be careful. He's standing over a body and I didn't 337 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:37.200 even know. And so I looked down and I saw the guy and then 338 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:40.119 wow, I went to pick him up. My arm hit his mouth and 339 00:22:40.119 --> 00:22:42.880 his teeth fell out because he had burned the death. So everything burned on 340 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:48.640 him except he had on fire retired coverall, so everything outside the coveralls had 341 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:51.359 burned, so his face was burned. There was no skin on his face, 342 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:55.039 his hair was gone, his eyes were gone, his nose was gone, 343 00:22:55.480 --> 00:22:56.839 and you could see it inside of his neck when I peeled. When 344 00:22:56.839 --> 00:23:00.880 I picked him up, his head filled forward, but it didn't fall off 345 00:23:00.920 --> 00:23:04.039 because his neck was still on. We were like face to face, and 346 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:07.440 I could see him looking right at me, but he had no eyes and 347 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:11.599 his teeth were gone, and it was just it was like a body with 348 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:15.599 the skeleton on it, but the skeleton was attacked to the neck muscles, 349 00:23:15.640 --> 00:23:18.440 if that makes sense. He was about six four six five. Because I'm 350 00:23:18.440 --> 00:23:21.880 like jeeus got tall. So I'm facing him and he's facing me, so 351 00:23:22.039 --> 00:23:25.000 his right side. I tried to go to his right side to get a 352 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:27.279 better grip on him to put him in a body bag, but his arm, 353 00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:30.880 his right arm was blown off, so the only thing was sticking out 354 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:33.480 was a bone, and the bone like poked me in the chests. I'm 355 00:23:33.480 --> 00:23:37.119 trying to get around him to pick him up and get my friend to grab 356 00:23:37.160 --> 00:23:41.759 his legs and lower him down into a body bag. But I saw his 357 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:44.200 arm. His arm was off, that was gone. So that was and 358 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:45.839 at that point, I tell you greg, I had become numb to death. 359 00:23:45.880 --> 00:23:51.920 I'd become numb to shear. I had become numb to carrying. It 360 00:23:51.960 --> 00:23:53.920 was no time to cry, there was no time to ask questions. We 361 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:56.799 just had to get the bodies off of there and get the ship back up 362 00:23:56.880 --> 00:24:00.519 right and then get it out of the purchase off before they shot it again. 363 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:03.200 So anyway, that was body number two that we put. Then we 364 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:06.400 put him in the body bag. He was the first one in the body 365 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:07.880 bag, and then we zipped him up. So they said, hey, 366 00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:11.480 go forward, there are more bodies up there, possibly go check. I 367 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:15.640 turned, so I took my team up to the forward part of the ship, 368 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:18.480 the left side, the port side, and the port side on that 369 00:24:18.519 --> 00:24:22.319 ship under the main deck is a missile magazine. If you look on the 370 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:25.279 front part of the US to start, you see this launcher on the front 371 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:29.000 the launchers where they launched missions from beneath. That is where we were operating 372 00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:32.519 finding bodies. So we go up alongside the poor side and turn to go 373 00:24:32.599 --> 00:24:34.880 around the miss launcher to the right side, and we find another body. 374 00:24:34.920 --> 00:24:37.920 Young man was burned to the deck, so we had to peel him off 375 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:41.880 the deck and then we get him off the deck and take him back out, 376 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:45.079 put him in the body bag. And on our way back to the 377 00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:48.559 big space where the where the missile would hit, there was water in that 378 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:52.119 space. So we walked. We walk in through the water and I bumped 379 00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:55.759 something and then I see another body, another guy. So we put the 380 00:24:55.799 --> 00:24:57.160 young man in the body bag and put the tar guy in the body back. 381 00:24:57.200 --> 00:25:00.079 And this guy was heavy set, a heavy set why guy. We 382 00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:03.480 picked him up, put him in the body bag, and and so there 383 00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:07.160 we just kept put finding body up, the body after body and put them 384 00:25:07.160 --> 00:25:11.720 in body bags. And so we got that was the third person we put 385 00:25:11.720 --> 00:25:14.400 in the body bag at that moment, within the three hours that I was 386 00:25:14.440 --> 00:25:17.480 there. And then the chaplain said, hey, you know, walk around 387 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:19.839 the space walker and see if you can find anything else. So I started 388 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:25.160 walking around and I started picking up fingers, I picked up a hand, 389 00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:29.359 a foot, It was everything everywhere. Greg. It just when the missile 390 00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:30.960 hit. If you look at it when it's listening to the poor side, 391 00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:34.599 that one mintal did that damage when it went in there, it burned everything 392 00:25:34.680 --> 00:25:40.079 down. That compartment that it hit sleeped fifty five men. The compartment beneath 393 00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:44.119 that sleeped fifty five men. So in that compartment that we found the two 394 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:47.720 bodies and the one body in and then up forward the other body and that 395 00:25:47.799 --> 00:25:51.119 other body, and that compartment was two bodies in that compartment I found that 396 00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:53.480 we found, and there was one one guy up north by the missile magazine 397 00:25:53.480 --> 00:25:57.440 on the second deck. We killed him off. But beneath that what that 398 00:25:57.519 --> 00:26:03.160 missile hit and and it burned everything down. Beneath there was another compartment with 399 00:26:03.640 --> 00:26:07.519 more men in there, and those guys the hats was closed on them for 400 00:26:07.559 --> 00:26:11.200 some reason, and I could be wrong with this, but they just didn't 401 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:12.519 get out. I don't know why they didn't get out, but when the 402 00:26:12.519 --> 00:26:17.359 missile hit, the water came in and the fire was a blade, so 403 00:26:17.400 --> 00:26:21.400 it kind of pretty much boiled them to death. You mentioned that the outset 404 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:23.319 that there were two missiles that hit the stark, one of them exploded, 405 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:29.559 one of them did not. How much concern was there about the other missile 406 00:26:29.720 --> 00:26:33.119 that it could still deconate, right, great question, Greg, So what 407 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:36.759 happened was they said, hey, there's another missile on the US's start, 408 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:40.480 and we're like, there's no way because if you look, if you put 409 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:42.720 up the US start and if you look on the right hand side of it, 410 00:26:42.759 --> 00:26:45.559 there's a hole. There's a hole on the right side, and we 411 00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:49.680 thought maybe the minsile went out the hole. Okay, it only made sense. 412 00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:55.960 But as we go to the Starbards side down the passageway, I knew 413 00:26:55.960 --> 00:26:57.640 the shit well because it was the same ship of the US's reed US to 414 00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:00.440 star Uson's Red were the same type the ship. Everything on there was exactly 415 00:27:00.440 --> 00:27:07.559 the same except the crew different people. So when we're carrying bodies around the 416 00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:11.559 ship and walk around and look for more bodies, there was this pipe that 417 00:27:11.720 --> 00:27:14.119 was on a deck and we kept walking over it. It was dusty, 418 00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:17.759 it was smoldered, it was dark, it was colored. We didn't know 419 00:27:18.920 --> 00:27:21.839 that was a minso that we were trying to walk over and move. We 420 00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:23.480 tried to push it, we tried to roll it. We couldn't. We 421 00:27:23.480 --> 00:27:26.359 didn't know there was a missile because you couldn't see any markings. But that 422 00:27:26.519 --> 00:27:30.279 was the second missile there. For some reason, it didn't detonate. Had 423 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:33.839 it detonated, you wouldn't be talking to me now, and the stark would 424 00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:37.960 be at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. We didn't notice that it was 425 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:41.720 a missal and the next day, May nineteenth or May twenty, they called 426 00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:48.240 the Explosive Ordinance Disposal EOD men over there to identify it as a bomb and 427 00:27:48.279 --> 00:27:52.400 they disarmed it. And yeah, before I was moving that trying to move 428 00:27:52.440 --> 00:27:55.920 that thing, we just stepped over because it was too hard to move. 429 00:27:56.279 --> 00:27:59.400 We went on with our workday. I wind up staying there for twelve hours 430 00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:04.279 until midnight of May eighteenth, and then back coming back from trying to move 431 00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:08.839 that missile, I got another plastic bag to go look for body parts for 432 00:28:08.920 --> 00:28:12.680 whatever reason. And then looking for those body parts, I saw another young 433 00:28:12.720 --> 00:28:17.319 man on the ground, curled up. He had been reading a Bible or 434 00:28:17.319 --> 00:28:21.400 something, because it was a piece of metal going through his head. It 435 00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:26.640 was a small rod rod that was going through his head and the book was 436 00:28:26.680 --> 00:28:30.400 gone, so there was some kind of scripture in his hand, and we 437 00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:32.720 just kind of like put him in a body bag. We didn't remove the 438 00:28:32.799 --> 00:28:36.640 rob enough. It was greg I tell you, it was seeing that I 439 00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:41.160 was twenty one years old and at the time I had never saw anything like 440 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:42.839 that in my life. But I knew from that point forward I could see 441 00:28:42.839 --> 00:28:47.200 things and adjust to it and just like suppress my feelings and emotions, which 442 00:28:47.559 --> 00:28:52.839 ultimately hurt me in relationships because of what I saw. May eighteenth, nineteenvty 443 00:28:52.920 --> 00:28:57.720 seven is when my PCSC developed. I didn't know that I had severe PCSC 444 00:28:57.799 --> 00:29:03.279 until twenty and eighteen. When I retired in twenty fifteen, I got my 445 00:29:03.400 --> 00:29:07.319 screening to exit the Navy and to determine my disabilities. But they never taught 446 00:29:07.720 --> 00:29:12.279 my PTST for whatever reasons, from nineteen eighty seven to twenty eighteen. I 447 00:29:12.359 --> 00:29:17.319 was never treated for my PTSC from May eighteenth, nineteen eighty seven. So 448 00:29:17.559 --> 00:29:19.799 I know people to have PTSC, but I like to tell a story because 449 00:29:19.960 --> 00:29:22.519 I tell them, Look, I had it for twenty seven years before I 450 00:29:22.519 --> 00:29:26.559 took pill of searchraling, whatever kind of medicine they give you to cope with 451 00:29:26.680 --> 00:29:30.440 your nightmares, your anxiety and depression, I didn't have anything. I'm not 452 00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:34.079 saying go through life un medicaid. I'm saying, don't think that's because you 453 00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:37.799 have to get medicated, that you can't go through life, because you can. 454 00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:41.440 And so we wind up putting thirty seven men in body bags. I 455 00:29:41.480 --> 00:29:45.880 wind up picking up maybe a couple of hands, couple of fingers, put 456 00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:48.240 them in bags we wind up. The first time I ever sat with a 457 00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:53.319 chaplain you got to call them pastors by The chaplain was sent there to pray 458 00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:59.400 over us. First time I ever put to tag on a deceased man's toe. 459 00:30:00.119 --> 00:30:02.319 When the crew knew their name, we would ask him, but we 460 00:30:02.319 --> 00:30:03.599 couldn't. We didn't have time to go around and ask him who this guy 461 00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:07.680 was because the second guy we found, we couldn't identify his face at all. 462 00:30:07.720 --> 00:30:11.559 There was no face, It was just his ears were there, but 463 00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:15.039 his eyes and know, everything was gone. It was just a burned skull 464 00:30:15.160 --> 00:30:18.279 with a tissue on it. So people knew him because it was tall. 465 00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:22.000 They knew that maybe his name was on his cover off, but I didn't 466 00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:23.680 see that. We just put it, picked him up and it saw that 467 00:30:23.759 --> 00:30:27.279 his right arm was gone, and you know, no facial features, and 468 00:30:27.319 --> 00:30:30.559 his neck muscles. You could see right almost right through his neck. So 469 00:30:30.599 --> 00:30:36.559 when the person golf, there is various shifts that are just cruising about destroyers, 470 00:30:36.599 --> 00:30:41.640 fast figures, aircraft, carrier, submarines, and they sent us that 471 00:30:41.759 --> 00:30:47.079 night to see to possibly beep from press or whatever they want to call it. 472 00:30:47.440 --> 00:30:48.480 That was my first time I talked the second time talk him to a 473 00:30:48.519 --> 00:30:52.000 psychiatrist and I kind of told him. I said, Sir, I just 474 00:30:52.039 --> 00:30:56.640 don't I feel numb. I felt numb, Greg, I felt very very 475 00:30:56.720 --> 00:30:59.640 numb. It's like I was starting to change at twenty one years old. 476 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:03.480 It seemed like it was my growth maturity and my I don't know, everything 477 00:31:03.559 --> 00:31:07.880 was sped up. So I didn't have a chance to mourn these men to 478 00:31:08.039 --> 00:31:11.880 die. I didn't have a chance to cry. I didn't have a chance 479 00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:15.839 to hug anybody, and so that etect me later on in my relationship, 480 00:31:15.519 --> 00:31:21.440 and I was unable to cope or deal with not being caring or not going 481 00:31:21.519 --> 00:31:23.559 to hug or you know, I just didn't process it. I didn't have 482 00:31:23.599 --> 00:31:29.799 any type of talk therapy after that until the next twenty seven years. What 483 00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:34.880 was your ship the read like? Once you were back on board for that 484 00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:40.200 day and however many days that followed. Remember I said that the Start going 485 00:31:40.240 --> 00:31:44.799 to Read were the same types of ships. Everything was identical. Where the 486 00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:48.920 mental hit on the start is where I slept that too. On her yearss 487 00:31:48.960 --> 00:31:55.640 read. So I had started having nightmares, uncontrollable nightmares, and I had 488 00:31:55.680 --> 00:31:59.640 to move my rack in those compartments at fifty five minutes seek those compartments. 489 00:32:00.039 --> 00:32:02.079 And the racks are stacked from three high to four high. If you look 490 00:32:02.119 --> 00:32:07.680 it up you had to read or any type of FFG ship, look up 491 00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:10.279 the burning, the racks, the beds. We call the racks on an 492 00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:14.759 FFG. Do you actually the same emotions now, but you can look at 493 00:32:14.759 --> 00:32:17.279 them. Call them coffin racks because they're like a coffin. And then some 494 00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:20.759 of the middle rack you lifted up and you put your toilet trees in, 495 00:32:21.079 --> 00:32:22.599 you put your t shirts, underwear, your shoes and stocks. Then when 496 00:32:22.599 --> 00:32:25.319 you close it and you sleep on that. So you look up a New 497 00:32:25.359 --> 00:32:30.359 York Navy ship rack and it's they call it a coffing rack. And so 498 00:32:30.480 --> 00:32:34.480 sleeping on those back and going back to my own ship, it was hard. 499 00:32:34.519 --> 00:32:37.160 I had to move around. I could have sleep in there because I 500 00:32:37.279 --> 00:32:39.799 was fearful of the missile coming attack up because we were already on high alert 501 00:32:40.039 --> 00:32:43.960 in the Project Golf as it was, but after start got had we were 502 00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:46.200 already we were on higher alert. So everybody was on pins and needles, 503 00:32:46.480 --> 00:32:50.640 thinking that we can get hit by a mitso and get burned to death and 504 00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:52.240 killed. And that's all I was thinking about because what I saw, those 505 00:32:52.240 --> 00:32:58.039 guys were burned and boiled to death, and it stuck with me. I 506 00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:00.640 couldn't eat for two weeks, A lost a lot of weight because I kept 507 00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:05.400 smelling death, burn flesh. You ever smelled burn flesh before, you never 508 00:33:05.440 --> 00:33:08.279 forget it, never, And so I couldn't eat to smell with in my 509 00:33:08.359 --> 00:33:12.880 nostrils. I was sick, I was having nightmares, and so a continuency 510 00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:15.160 psychiatrists after that for about a year or so, and then after that I 511 00:33:15.160 --> 00:33:20.559 didn't go back. Moving forward to twenty eighteen, they determined that my PTSC 512 00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:23.960 was so severe that I should have been treated and possibly separated in nineteen eighty 513 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:28.480 seven, mister Walker, let's pause one more time. We'll be right back 514 00:33:28.519 --> 00:33:34.119 with more of our conversation with retired US Navy command Master Chief Leon Walker, 515 00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:37.319 Junior. And when we come back, we'll talk more about how the men 516 00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:43.200 were able to continue with that deployment after the gruesome work they were conducting aboard 517 00:33:43.200 --> 00:33:47.119 the USS Stark. We'll also talk about subsequent deployments in the Persian Gulf and 518 00:33:47.160 --> 00:33:52.039 some other interesting areas that he served, including what it's like to go through 519 00:33:52.039 --> 00:33:55.319 the Sioux az Canal and how he braved the waters of the North Bering Sea. 520 00:33:57.079 --> 00:34:02.119 I'm Greg Corumbus, and this is Veterans Chronicle. This is Veterans Chronicles. 521 00:34:02.319 --> 00:34:07.240 I'm Greg Corumbas. Our guest in this addition is retired to US Navy 522 00:34:07.319 --> 00:34:12.440 command Master Chief Leon Walker, Junior. He served thirty two years in the 523 00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:16.719 US Navy, and as we've described throughout our conversation, was aboard the USS 524 00:34:16.800 --> 00:34:22.440 read serving as a navigator when it responded hastily to the attack on the USS 525 00:34:22.519 --> 00:34:28.480 Stark, and then the work that he described in great detail in recovering the 526 00:34:28.480 --> 00:34:31.559 bodies of those who were killed there. Mister Walker, tell us what it 527 00:34:31.599 --> 00:34:35.400 was like for the rest of that deployment. Were you close to the end 528 00:34:35.440 --> 00:34:38.880 of this deployment so you were able to get home and maybe try to process 529 00:34:38.920 --> 00:34:43.400 some of what you had experienced, or did you still have a number of 530 00:34:43.440 --> 00:34:46.440 months left on this deployment and you just had to keep plugging away. Yeah, 531 00:34:46.599 --> 00:34:50.280 so that's another good question, Greg. We had to carry on for 532 00:34:50.880 --> 00:34:54.360 probably a couple of more months, I think maybe one or two more months 533 00:34:54.440 --> 00:34:59.360 until we got back to San Diego. Yeah, so we had to carry 534 00:34:59.400 --> 00:35:02.639 on. There was no only Downtown was the next port, which might have 535 00:35:02.679 --> 00:35:09.400 been by Rain or Abu Dhabi or Dubai, but I know for sure. 536 00:35:09.480 --> 00:35:15.159 One of the other ports was the Philippine Islands eight of that year, Australia, 537 00:35:15.320 --> 00:35:20.679 Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong. So we had to downtime before we 538 00:35:20.800 --> 00:35:24.559 got back. But I was still processing, or wasn't processing what had happened, 539 00:35:24.559 --> 00:35:29.079 because the week before those guys got killed, we had just played them 540 00:35:29.119 --> 00:35:32.199 in basketball and bay Rain, so they weren't friends, but they were associates 541 00:35:32.239 --> 00:35:36.360 that I just met and they were gone, you know, just like that 542 00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:40.360 gone. And so there wasn't much downtime because we had to still still patrol 543 00:35:40.400 --> 00:35:45.800 the person golf and then leaving the persons off, we had to navigate our 544 00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:49.519 way back to through through the any Notion and the Red Sea and all those 545 00:35:49.519 --> 00:35:53.440 things, and around the Horn. The Gulf of Africa was coming from the 546 00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:58.760 west coast where you go, and so it was work as usual. I 547 00:35:58.800 --> 00:36:02.800 had to suppressing thing, some films and emotions and move on and get back 548 00:36:02.800 --> 00:36:07.760 to business as usual to get us back from the Persian Golf to San Diego. 549 00:36:07.880 --> 00:36:13.960 And that's how it worked. But it trained me to not face certain 550 00:36:13.960 --> 00:36:19.599 things, not face fears or faith fears, and suppress my emotions as far 551 00:36:19.599 --> 00:36:22.840 as when things would bother me or what I was hurting or I was afraid. 552 00:36:22.920 --> 00:36:24.000 I had to act like I wasn't because I had to do that on 553 00:36:24.039 --> 00:36:28.800 the start. So I kind of conditioned myself to be tougher than I was, 554 00:36:28.880 --> 00:36:31.360 and to be mentally tougher and not to be emotional, and it hurt 555 00:36:31.440 --> 00:36:35.840 me in my relationships. We're speaking with Leon Walker Junior, a thirty two 556 00:36:35.920 --> 00:36:38.920 year veteran of the United States Navy, and mister Walker, I know that 557 00:36:39.039 --> 00:36:43.920 even after that deployment, throughout the nineties, you had a number of additional 558 00:36:43.960 --> 00:36:50.079 deployments in the Persian Gulf. Were those in support of Operation Desert Storm at 559 00:36:50.079 --> 00:36:52.159 all or what other responsibilities did you have in that region at that time. 560 00:36:52.360 --> 00:36:55.239 Yeah, it was pretty much the same thing the Persian Gulf Wars. We 561 00:36:55.239 --> 00:36:59.760 would just patrol to where we were at the time, keep the sea lanes 562 00:36:59.760 --> 00:37:07.159 open in South China see high tense areas support being visiting on watch. Anything 563 00:37:07.199 --> 00:37:09.719 can happened in any given time. A restling plane could fly over, a 564 00:37:09.880 --> 00:37:14.039 Chinese ship can come close to our ship. You know, it was never 565 00:37:14.079 --> 00:37:16.639 any type of things where they would bomb ust or shoot at us. But 566 00:37:16.760 --> 00:37:20.480 I say, I will tell you this. In the Person Gulf, when 567 00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:22.360 you're out there, they had those I't forget what they call them back then, 568 00:37:22.400 --> 00:37:24.400 but now they call them pirates. They might have been called pirates back 569 00:37:24.440 --> 00:37:29.039 then. When you see on YouTube and TV where these pirates are taking over 570 00:37:29.079 --> 00:37:32.920 these merchant ships, they get close to a naval ship and we warned them, 571 00:37:34.039 --> 00:37:36.800 warned them and warn them. They don't back off. We'd shoot with 572 00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:38.519 to warn them, would shoot to warn. Then we have to go into 573 00:37:38.599 --> 00:37:43.599 the ro rules of engagement because sometimes you can shoot and kill these pirates and 574 00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:45.840 get in trouble. So you have to get permition to do that before they 575 00:37:46.079 --> 00:37:49.639 you know, before you fire out. But yeah, it was the same 576 00:37:49.679 --> 00:37:53.840 thing. Deployments was always like making sure the sea lanes stay open, prevents 577 00:37:54.000 --> 00:37:59.719 anybody from attacking the hardship or all the ships or merchant ships. So back 578 00:37:59.719 --> 00:38:02.559 then the piracy was still on. It was even it was going on back 579 00:38:02.599 --> 00:38:06.679 then like it is now, but it seemed like now that and when they're 580 00:38:06.679 --> 00:38:10.039 over there by Africa, they're even more bolder where they got to the smaller 581 00:38:10.039 --> 00:38:14.760 ships and they're trying to board these merchant ships to take over and they use 582 00:38:14.800 --> 00:38:17.079 them as ransom for millions of dollars. So anywhere, anytime that I left 583 00:38:17.079 --> 00:38:21.960 the Person Golf and went back on deployment, it was always to be diplomatic 584 00:38:22.119 --> 00:38:25.320 or for sovereignty or to keep the sea lanes open. Did you have similar 585 00:38:25.679 --> 00:38:32.159 responsibilities and deployments during Iraqi freedom or enduring freedom over by Afghanistan? When we 586 00:38:32.280 --> 00:38:37.679 deployed in the Person Goal, we're pretty much five miles off of the coast 587 00:38:37.719 --> 00:38:42.719 of Iran and Iraq at any given time, and so for some reason our 588 00:38:42.800 --> 00:38:46.800 ship was ever fired on by an income and aircraft. It just didn't happen. 589 00:38:46.880 --> 00:38:52.719 Those The turmoil in that time during the nineties was more like inland, 590 00:38:52.760 --> 00:38:58.719 like you said, Afghanistan and maybe Iraq and maybe Yemen and Somalia, Okay, 591 00:38:58.840 --> 00:39:02.159 those places. So that was like the seals and the rangers and Delta 592 00:39:02.199 --> 00:39:06.599 Force GUIDs taking those on. Those people are just a few more minutes left 593 00:39:06.599 --> 00:39:08.119 in our conversation here, mister Walker, and I know there's a couple other 594 00:39:08.159 --> 00:39:13.800 things that you wanted to share with our audience. In particular. First of 595 00:39:13.800 --> 00:39:17.320 all, not that far from the Persian Golf is the Suez Canal. What 596 00:39:17.400 --> 00:39:22.440 was it like to navigate through there? And what sticks in your memory? 597 00:39:22.559 --> 00:39:23.840 So, now Greg, you're making me smile. It's not that you made 598 00:39:23.880 --> 00:39:27.480 me found anyway, but I was looking to tell the story. I get 599 00:39:27.519 --> 00:39:30.519 into it. But so what happens is the swue s Canal. Just so 600 00:39:30.719 --> 00:39:35.039 you all know, we have to pay one million dollars to go down in 601 00:39:35.079 --> 00:39:37.360 Seez Canal and then coming back up is another million dollars. Just so you 602 00:39:37.400 --> 00:39:44.480 all know. What happens is you patrol the northern part of the swus Canal, 603 00:39:44.519 --> 00:39:47.920 which is which is in the Mediterranean. You have spaces where you navigate, 604 00:39:49.480 --> 00:39:51.840 so they send you courts and you put the courters on the map a 605 00:39:51.920 --> 00:39:53.280 chart, and you put a box on the map, and that's where the 606 00:39:53.280 --> 00:39:59.039 ship stays at until you get to call from the pilot to transit down the 607 00:39:59.079 --> 00:40:01.519 northern part from north to south to Suees can Now, when you get to 608 00:40:01.559 --> 00:40:07.639 that transit park, the pilot boat comes alongside and the Egyptian pilot gets on 609 00:40:07.760 --> 00:40:09.760 your ship and he tells you which way to go. Well, we know 610 00:40:09.760 --> 00:40:13.760 which way to go, but we have to listen to him because they Egypt 611 00:40:13.800 --> 00:40:16.039 owns the suet Can Now. So he says, come might come left, 612 00:40:16.079 --> 00:40:20.079 speed up to go down, you know with their accident, go right, 613 00:40:20.159 --> 00:40:23.119 fight degrees left, two degrees, go right, fightree. So we're doing 614 00:40:23.159 --> 00:40:27.360 that and from what I measured, the sewees Now is about one hundred and 615 00:40:27.800 --> 00:40:31.800 six point nine dollars miles long. We're only allowed to do ten knots, 616 00:40:31.800 --> 00:40:36.199 which is about twelve miles per hours. We're on something like that twelve point 617 00:40:36.199 --> 00:40:38.079 five. So we do ten knots going down to suees Can Now. The 618 00:40:38.119 --> 00:40:43.320 swest now is only about one hundred and fifty yards wide on either side measure, 619 00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:47.239 so there's no way to a shift to pass you going alongside. That's 620 00:40:47.280 --> 00:40:52.159 why there's traffic going down. And then there's a time for traffic to come 621 00:40:52.280 --> 00:40:55.320 up when we're going down to suet canw on the right side is Africa on 622 00:40:55.360 --> 00:40:59.199 the left side of the Saudi Arabia, and you see the sand, you 623 00:40:59.199 --> 00:41:01.280 see a bunch of it's pretty cool, it's very neat, it's a quiet 624 00:41:01.320 --> 00:41:05.960 time, it's very calm. And then once we get towards the middle of 625 00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:08.519 the suet Now, you go get to this thing called the Great Bitter Lake, 626 00:41:08.760 --> 00:41:12.519 and it's where the anchor. The ships anchor out. You pull to 627 00:41:12.599 --> 00:41:15.320 the right and your anchor and you sit there for a couple hours, and 628 00:41:15.360 --> 00:41:20.079 then they have other ships from the south of the Sewees now going north to 629 00:41:20.119 --> 00:41:22.880 the Mediterrane. They transit up. And when they transit up and pass us, 630 00:41:23.239 --> 00:41:27.440 we get back pull the anchor in and we go back down south, 631 00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:30.880 transiting the southern part of the swet Can. Now. It's crazy because once 632 00:41:30.920 --> 00:41:35.159 you get out the sewets Now, you go right into the Red Sea and 633 00:41:35.199 --> 00:41:37.719 the seas are choppy and rough and it's dangerous over there. That's where Jordan 634 00:41:37.880 --> 00:41:43.480 is and yeahmen, and that's where they have We just lost three black Americans 635 00:41:43.760 --> 00:41:46.639 over there and Jordan, I believe, through the attacks from the hoopies. 636 00:41:46.800 --> 00:41:50.880 So the sus Can now was a lot of fun. It's really quiet, 637 00:41:51.159 --> 00:41:54.360 it's really peaceful. It's like a soft journey and people are relaxed and you 638 00:41:54.360 --> 00:42:00.400 can just look on it's like it's like selling the calm lake with nothing but 639 00:42:00.480 --> 00:42:04.199 maybe some fish coming alongside, and you see people on the banks of the 640 00:42:04.239 --> 00:42:07.079 sand waving. So it's really peaceful. I love this to us now. 641 00:42:07.119 --> 00:42:09.400 It was a lot of peace, But then the hell pops right off when 642 00:42:09.400 --> 00:42:13.400 you get into the Red Sea and you go by Jordan, or you go 643 00:42:13.400 --> 00:42:17.679 by Yemen and into the Indy Ocean and the Persian Gulf. The other area 644 00:42:17.760 --> 00:42:22.760 of the world quite a distance from the Persian Gulf for the Siouxz Canal is 645 00:42:22.800 --> 00:42:28.639 the Bearing Sea. And the interesting experiences weather wise and otherwise that you had 646 00:42:28.679 --> 00:42:31.440 there. Explain what it's like to serve in that area. Oh my goodness. 647 00:42:31.519 --> 00:42:37.760 The North Barren Sea was the worst. Besides so sometimes the Atlantic Ocean 648 00:42:37.880 --> 00:42:42.239 is bad, The northern part of the Atlantic Ocean is really bad. The 649 00:42:42.280 --> 00:42:45.400 Pacific can be pretty bad. But the North Barren Sea. I would never 650 00:42:45.519 --> 00:42:51.679 forget that place right there. One of the worst places I've ever gone in 651 00:42:51.760 --> 00:42:53.719 my life. It was actually scary. And you see these pictures of you 652 00:42:53.880 --> 00:42:58.960 on YouTube. You see these merchant ships bouncing around and the big swells and 653 00:42:59.079 --> 00:43:00.960 those are not ways. Those swells. People don't know those are swells. 654 00:43:01.239 --> 00:43:06.159 Those things will destroy a ship. We lost a door on a poor side. 655 00:43:06.199 --> 00:43:09.880 That door was probably eight by eight foot in size, and it probably 656 00:43:09.880 --> 00:43:15.840 weighed five hundred pounds. It was twisted torn off because we got hit by 657 00:43:15.480 --> 00:43:21.199 a way. People don't understand those waves come with a whole bunch of tonnage 658 00:43:21.679 --> 00:43:24.599 when they come up and come down, and so North Parian Sea was one 659 00:43:24.639 --> 00:43:28.719 of the worst seas I had ever been in in my life. That was 660 00:43:28.760 --> 00:43:32.320 one time that I was very scared of being out of sea. I've been 661 00:43:32.360 --> 00:43:36.679 on five ships. I have fifteen years out of seat, Greg, fifteen 662 00:43:36.760 --> 00:43:39.440 years, and that was the only time I was. I wasn't even scared. 663 00:43:39.519 --> 00:43:43.480 In the Persian Gulf, person golf was real calm. Yeah, we 664 00:43:43.519 --> 00:43:46.239 get hit by mental we'd get attacked by our guns and jets. But I 665 00:43:46.320 --> 00:43:51.760 was more terrified of the North Aerian Sea than anything because that thing would handle 666 00:43:52.440 --> 00:43:55.280 a four hundred and fifty three foot ship like it's a piece of plastic. 667 00:43:55.920 --> 00:43:59.960 And we made it too. But those swells were twelve to eighteen feet. 668 00:44:00.320 --> 00:44:02.360 You look it up, Look up what and you see these people talk about 669 00:44:02.360 --> 00:44:07.880 tsunamis. Yeah, those are big swells. That's a way it's a tsunami. 670 00:44:07.960 --> 00:44:12.920 But even having the smaller swells at eighteen foot, it's scary. Mister 671 00:44:12.960 --> 00:44:16.599 Walker, after thirty two years of service to our country, what are you 672 00:44:16.599 --> 00:44:20.719 most proud of? You know what, Greg, what I'm most proud of 673 00:44:20.840 --> 00:44:24.480 is that the fact that people are still happy that I've served. Jesse. 674 00:44:24.559 --> 00:44:28.440 Yesterday a guy said, I had on my shirt. They said, hey, 675 00:44:28.440 --> 00:44:30.559 man, thank you for servants. And that people don't understand because the 676 00:44:30.599 --> 00:44:35.280 men back in the Korean War and the Vietnam War, when they came home, 677 00:44:35.400 --> 00:44:37.960 they were called baby killers, they were spit on, they weren't treated 678 00:44:37.000 --> 00:44:40.559 right. They died from agent orange, they died for not being you know, 679 00:44:40.599 --> 00:44:46.599 from medical conditions. But nowadays people Americans are very patriotic and they always 680 00:44:46.599 --> 00:44:50.960 say thank you for serving. And that's one of the I've done a lot 681 00:44:51.000 --> 00:44:52.679 in the Navy. I've got a lot in the wars. I was a 682 00:44:52.800 --> 00:44:54.800 sailor year a lot, I was recruited, the year I got promoted, 683 00:44:54.920 --> 00:44:59.760 I've got medals and ribbons. But when people say thank you for serving, 684 00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:02.599 already filled that because like man, I did serve this country. And then 685 00:45:02.880 --> 00:45:07.079 only one percent of the United States people served this country, and I'm one 686 00:45:07.079 --> 00:45:08.679 of those one percent. So that's one of the things I'm most proud of. 687 00:45:09.119 --> 00:45:12.599 Well said, sir, thank you so much for your time today, 688 00:45:12.639 --> 00:45:15.639 and most of all, thank you so much for your many, many years 689 00:45:15.639 --> 00:45:17.519 of faithful service to our country. Thank you Greg, I appreciate the calls 690 00:45:17.599 --> 00:45:22.400 to today. Thank you you bet. Sir leon Walker Junior a veteran of 691 00:45:22.440 --> 00:45:27.800 the US Navy for thirty two years. He finished as a command Master Chief 692 00:45:28.239 --> 00:45:43.159 in the US Navy. I'm Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles. Hi, 693 00:45:43.320 --> 00:45:46.039 this is Greg Corumbus, and thanks for listening to Veterans Chronicles, a 694 00:45:46.119 --> 00:45:52.679 presentation of the American Veterans Center. For more information, please visit American Veteranscenter 695 00:45:52.880 --> 00:45:58.559 dot org. You can also follow the American Veterans Center on Facebook and on 696 00:45:58.599 --> 00:46:04.679 Twitter. We're at AVC update. Subscribe to the American Veterans Center YouTube channel 697 00:46:04.840 --> 00:46:08.760 for full oral histories and special features, and of course, please subscribe to 698 00:46:08.800 --> 00:46:15.079 the Veterans Chronicles podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks again for listening, 699 00:46:15.320 --> 00:46:17.239 and please join us next time for Veterans Chronicles.