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Kelton brothers take Honor Flight together
Keith and Joe Kelton were raised in Amherst, Texas and shared an opportunity to travel to Washington D. C. on the Honor Flight out of Lubbock, Texas. They both served in the Vietnam War. Keith and his wife, Penny are residents of Littlefield, and Joe lives in Valley De Oro, Texas.
Their flight left Lubbock on Friday May, 21 st and returned Monday, May 24 th . After their departure from Lubbock, the passengers all received an in flight Mail Call. Friends, well-wishers, and family sent letters, cards, and notes for them.
During their stay, they toured The Army Museum, The Navy Yard Museum, The Marine Corp Museum, and the Air Force Museum which housed “every kind of aircraft you could imagine all crammed together in this huge building” according to Keith and Joe. They visited Arlington National Cemetery and visited the grave of Audie Murphy and observed the changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The group visited the war memorials, beginning with the World War II memorial, then the Korean War Memorial, and finally culminating with the Vietnam War Memorial which is carved with the names of 58,318 dead and missing U.S. Soldiers. Keith and Joe agreed that it was quite a somber and moving experience.
Keith Kelton was drafted in 1967 and he served from 1967 until 1968. As he was preparing to leave for his basic training, his father told him, “You know, you don’t have to go.” Keith laughed and said “I didn’t know where he thought he was going to send me Canada or somewhere so I told him No. I want to go”.
‘ His first post was Ft. Bliss, Texas where he received his basic training, then on to Ft. Gordon, Georgia and Telephone Communications School.
Joe Kelton was drafted in 1968 and served his full two years until 1970. He went through the same training program as his brother did. Starting at Ft. Bliss and then on to Ft. Gordon. He too became a communications specialist.
Keith recalled that he was fine until they were circling Shamrock Bay on approach to landing in Vietnam. He looked down at the jungle and thought “this is real! People are dying down there!” Joe and Keith both attested to the two things that first struck them, so to speak. As soon as they disembarked the heat and humidity was overwhelming. Keith stated that it just hit them. He remembered he had tucked his processing card in his garrison cap and it burned his fingers when he touched it. The heat made him so ill that he would lie down whenever the line stopped. The second thing was the smell. Joe explained that the Vietnamese population cooked outdoors on a charcoal fire and they used woks to cook their meats, rice, and vegetables. “It didn’t smell like no barbecue! Joe said ‘It’s a whole ‘nuther’ smell. Then laughing he said,”Some of it was purty dang good though!
Keith deployed with the 3/6 52 nd Artillery to Pleiku in the central valley.
In 1968, Joe served on the coast. Joe remembered that the guys out in the field did not like to hang around the communications battery because they got hit more than the mobile troops did. It was a priority for the North Vietnamese Army to try to knock out their communications.
Radio telegraph communications were more difficult for the enemy to decipher and pinpoint their locations. That is not to say, their communications camps were safe though. Joe said “They would always hit on a Sunday night.” We’d have rocket mortars coming in on us.”
Keith told of having to go out on night patrols about a mile from the main battery to set up a listening post to monitor enemy movement. One night, they had all taken off their boots to get comfortable when about ten NVA walked up on them and “all hell broke loose”. They were almost overrun twice. The NVA got through the concertina wire and got close enough they had to use self-propelled Howitzers firing “beehive” rounds and ended up calling “Snoopy” for air support. They watched the tracers come down from the plane merely yards away from their perimeter. “It got pretty hairy.” Keith stated. He finished his tour in 1968. Joe served from 1968 until he finished his tour in 1970.
Keith applied for himself and his brother to take the Honor Flight together. The Texas South Plains Honor Flight is an all-volunteer organization that honors the service of our local area veterans with an all-expense paid three-day trip to Washington D.C. to visit their war memorials.
For information visit their website https://www.texassouth plainshonorflight.org/