 |
- OTHER SERVICES VOICES:
- MARINES
 - NAVY
- AIR FORCE
- ARMY
- COAST GUARD
|
An up close and personal interview with Coast Guard Veteran and Togetherweserved.com Member:
CDR Armand Chapeau (USCG 1958-1987)
WHAT PERSUADED YOU TO JOIN THE COAST GUARD?
 I joined the Coast Guard Reserve on July 2, 1958 involuntarily (My Dad made me). I reported to Cape May for boot camp Labor Day weekend that year in Company D-37, a reserve 80 man company. C/C was BMC Charles Grey. After completion of that 6 months training I returned to a reserve unit in Atlanta.
BRIEFLY, WHAT WAS YOUR CAREER PATH IN THE SERVICE?
I struck for Signalman in the Reserve and took all correspondence courses from the Navy for SM and QM. In 1961, I enlisted in the regulars as a SNQM and went to the ANDROSCOGGIN (WPG-68) in Miami. I Made QM3 on July 1, 1962 and was sent to GITMO for REFTRA at the time President Kennedy blew the whistle on the missiles in Cuba. Three QMs did visual; myself, QMCM Herrington, and QM3 Rutledge - we got the only "Outstanding" rating for the ship. The CO offered us our choice of duty anywhere in the 7th District and I chose the Reserve Training Center in Atlanta at Fort Gillem, an Army supply base for the SE. I Made QM2 on January 1, 1963 and QM1 on January 1, 1964. I found out that in the 7th District it was going to take 7 years to make Chief! I reenlisted July 2, 1965 for 6 years and applied for OCS.
I reported to Yorktown for OCS in September 1965 and graduated in January 1966. My first assignment was to STORIS  (WAG-38) as a Deck Watch Officer and 1st Lieutenant. In October of 1966 I received orders to RONONE so I left Kodiak in January with a very pregnant wife and headed to Athens, her home, then went to Alameda for 6 weeks pre-deployment training.
I was later wounded in Vietnam as described in the combat operations history section below. I received initial care for my combat wounds in the Western Pacific at PHS Hospital San Francisco. PHS was not prepared, in my estimation, for war casualties. I was put on the orthopedic ward, seen briefly by a neurologist and then I was left alone as they did not have a neurosurgeon on the staff. After a couple of weeks, I mutinied and went to see the District Commander and complained. He called the Director at PHS in San Francisco and I was seen by a neurosurgeon the next day who recommended six months bed rest in the hospital and then medical retirement. I objected strongly and was given a year’s sick leave instead. I went home to Athens and saw my six month old daughter for the first time who was born in May of that year. After laying around for a couple of weeks I reported in to COTP Savannah, my ADANAC station, and went to work. HQ ordered me to get a physical after I reported for duty and the PHS docs in Savannah ordered Light Duty so I was transferred to RCC Miami where I then made LT.
In July of 70 I reported to the SWEETGUM (WLB-309) in Mayport, FL. where I spent two years as XO and acting CO. I transferred to Monterey, CA in 1972 as the Group Commander and while I was there I was promoted to LCDR. I served there for 3 years then transferred to SALVIA (WLB-400) in Mobile, AL as CO. In 1977 I was sent to CCGD12 as Chief of the Intelligence and Law Enforcement Branch. I had the opportunity to attend Criminal Investigators School at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center at Glynco, GA and Hostage Negotiators School at San Jose State during that assignment, and I was also promoted to Commander.
 In July of 1980 I assumed command of ALERT (WMEC-630) at Cape May. Our first patrol was Mariel Boatlift and we got a chance to patrol areas I had covered 19 years earlier on ANDROSCOGGIN. The next patrol in October was exciting to say the least - ALERT was the test bed for a single point davit and a Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat. Out of the harbor and 150 miles at sea with 50 knot winds and 20-30 foot seas we deployed the boat after an H-3 rescue had to be aborted, we rescued 5 people of the S/V MARIAH, which later sank. We dropped off survivors and then caught a Spanish F/V fishing in US waters. We seized that vessel and sent her into New York. We then sailed to George’s Bank for patrol and discovered a Columbian mothership and a New Bedford fishing boat transferring marijuana. We seized both of the vessels and took the prizes to Boston, then sailed to Canada to escort an 82ft WPB to Maine. We wound up in Halifax, NS for a week waiting on weather, then completed the escort and went home. We completed routine patrols in the 7th plus a yard period in the summer of 1981. We then went to REFTRA at Little Creek following the yard and then out to sea in October 1981. We checked a NOAA weather buoy and dropped scientists off in Charleston. CCGD5 gave us a SAR 300 miles SE of Cape Fear. The weather was winds blowing at 70 knots and seas of 40–50 ft. We deployed the RHIB 4 times in two days and rescued ten people off of sinking sailboats. We dropped those survivors at Little Creek and were met by the Vice Commandant and CCGD5 Commander. The boat crews of BMC Bereton and BM2 Davis, were awarded CG Medals. We conducted routine patrols until the spring of 1982.
I was selected by ADM Gracey to host COMDT change of command when Hayes was relieved by Gracey at the DC Navy Yard in May, 1982. Upon completion of that ceremony I was headed back to Cape May when we were ordered by CCGD3 to proceed to an area off Delaware Bay to suppress a mutiny onboard M/T YPAPANTI. When we arrived on scene we were told to evaluate the situation and report. We wound up doing hostage negotiations for 23 days and had an FBI SWAT team from NY assaulting this 987 foot tanker, rescuing the 12 Officers who had become hostages. During my two years aboard ALERT the ship won 3 CG Unit Citations and 1 Meritorious Unit Citation.
CAPT Joe Tanguay, who was on my OCS interview board, was the CO, Cape May AIRSTA just before I got there, he had the base save his quarters for me when he trasnferred to Corpus Christi as CO. He convinced RADM Stewart, CCGD8, that I should be his next (oil) Branch Chief and so I went to New Orleans in the summer of 1982.
YOU RECEIVED THE PURPLE HEART DURING COMBAT OPERATIONS, CAN YOU PLEASE DESCRIBE HOW THIS WAS EARNED?
I reported to Vietnam in March 1966 and was assigned to PT. ELLIS as XO in Division 12 in DaNang. On 24 August while patrolling just south of the DMZ, we got a request from the Marine AMTRAC battalion at Cua Viet (a river) to conduct a harassment and interdiction mission about halfway between the Cua Viet and the DMZ. Their sensors had picked up some activity in the area. We began making runs up and down about 200 yds off the beach firing our .50 Cals and our 81mm Mortar with me at the helm and the skipper spotting. On the third run south with the starboard side to the beach, a .30 cal armor piercing round came through the starboard windshield of the bridge. The copper cover came off and part of it went in my right upper arm, the rest of the cover hit the CO, LTJG M. D. Helton, in the right forearm. The steel core went between the panels in my flak jacket, entered my back, glanced off my shoulder blade, and entered my spine resulting in paralysis from the waist down. I wound up under the small chart table on the deck trying to figure out why I couldn’t get up. FN Pickard and EN2 Trackerman hauled me off the bridge to a stokes litter on deck. The USS REPOSE (AH-16) was nearby headed south, we contacted her by radio and she turned around. A Navy PCF (PCF-80) came alongside and took me down to the REPOSE where I was lifted aboard. This took all of 20 minutes from the time I was shot. Aboard the REPOSE, they immediately took me down to X-Ray and then into surgery with two neurosurgeons working on me. Three days later I woke up on the sick Officers ward and was immediately told by the MD’s that I would never walk again. After 10 minutes of arguing with the doctors they allowed me to get up and I walked down the hall to the head with the assistance of two corpsman. I spent 33 days aboard REPOSE and even qualified as an underway OOD. I reported back into Division 12 as fit for duty. The PT ELLIS had been repositioned south so I became a relief XO and a staffer for the Division. I made a patrol with Lt JG Norm Saunders on his boat and got beat up pretty bad with the monsoon weather. When the REPOSE came back into DaNang I went out to the ship and saw the MDs. They said I needed more time to heal and wanted to medevac me to a Stateside hospital. They told me if I stayed there was a good chance the paralysis would return. I went back to the division and left the next day headed Stateside.
FROM YOUR ENTIRE SERVICE CAREER WHAT PARTICULAR MEMORY STANDS OUT?
For me I think there would be two. I reflect to my on the ALERT (WMEC-630) as being one of the best. I had a crew that saved lives under terrible conditions (15 souls), actively pursued the law enforcement mission with multiple drug interdictions, took on the job of assaulting an 890 foot tanker and rescuing 12 hostages, and stood tall in hosting the Commandant’s change of command. They did everything that was asked of them and more with good cheer and a can do attitude.
 I would also reference my four years working for the Vice President. In early June of 1983 Vice Presient George H.W. Bush hosted a meeting of all interested parties (CG, Customs, Border Patrol, FBI, DEA, New Orleans Police, and Louisiana State Police). He stated that the South Florida Task Force aimed at drug interdiction worked so well he was expanding it nationwide to 5 more regions (New Orleans, El Paso, Long Beach, Chicago, and New York). Three regions; New Orleans (C8), Miami (C7) and Long Beach (C11) would be under the Coast Guard with the others under Customs. He asked each agency along with DOD to commit human resources to the endeavor and gave us until July 1 to get up and running, a task that RADM Stewart assigned to me. On July 1 we went operational in a closet behind the Regional Command Center. September 1st, after the CG had cleared out 1/4th of the 13th floor, we built a secure facility with a secure watch center, secure intelligence center, super secure comm center and administrative offices. We had 7 Coasties, 7 Customs Officers, 1 Border Patrol, 2 FBI, 2 DEA, 2 Navy, 1 Air Force, 1 Army, 1 Marine, 1 LSP Trooper and two NOPD Officers plus a member of a National Intelligence Organization. In October RADM Stewart informed me that I had been selected by the Vice President, at Stewart's recommendation, to be the Director reporting directly to him, which came as somewhat of a shock to me.
In the summer of 1982 the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces at US Attorney's office around the nation came into being. While on leave, I stopped by the Atlanta OCDTF and was told that the CG was prohibited by “Posse Comitatus” from participating. I advised the Admiral and he invited the whole Task Force to Mobile for a briefing and sent two Falcons from Mobile to transport them. After a thorough briefing led by the Admiral and the happenstance of a WPB seizing and bringing to Base Mobile a F/V loaded with marijuana, they went back to Atlanta. In Sept of 1983 I went to a social at the Admiral’s quarters. As he greeted me at the door he said “Your orders to the OCDETF in Atlanta came in this morning but I got them cancelled, you are the Director of NNBIS New Orleans.” Everything was done by the “Verbal Orders of the Vice President.”
I had no authority over any of the members assigned to the group except the Coasties but we had to make it work. It was both fun and hard work. The VP would come to NOLA every so often and the Admiral and I or just one of us would go to DC and meet with him in his office. He was one of the most gracious people I have ever had the pleasure to know. Just prior to my retirement at the end of April I was attending a meeting with the Vice President and senior officials from Justice and Treasury at his offices in DC, he threw me a going away party in the Indian Treaty Room of the Old Executive Office Building. I retired the last day of April having completed 29 years of active and reserve service. All in all I had a ball for 29 years and got paid for it.
DO YOU HAVE A PARTICULARLY FUNNY STORY FROM YOUR SERVICE THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE?
We had a Navy Commander (Intelligence Type) aboard for a drug patrol to the Caribbean. He was astounded when I let the QMC get us underway and when I set the sea watch at the sea buoy. While in the Yucatan he let it out that it was his birthday. During the noon break he skipped lunch and jogged around the ship as he did every day. On this day I had stopped the ship but he never noticed. As he came around the helo shack on the flight deck the entire wardroom grabbed him and threw him over the side. He must have thought we were still underway because when he hit the water he started swimming as hard as he could away from the ship. When he looked back he could see the entire crew laughing at him and singing Happy Birthday. Later at the evening chow he got a pie in the face from the EO and we wound up with a food fight in the wardroom, which we had to spend the next next day scrubbing down and repainting.
WHICH INDIVIDUAL PERSON FROM YOUR SERVICE STANDS OUT AS THE ONE WHO HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON YOU...AND WHY?
I would have to say BOSN (ex QMC) John Anglin. He convinced me to strike for QM and to join the regular Coast Guard.
WHAT PROFESSION DID YOU FOLLOW AFTER THE SERVICE AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?
I retired from the Coast Guard on the last day of April 1987 which was a Thursday. On Friday the CG and the Law  Enforcement Agencies I worked with threw me a going away “roast” and the following Monday I was sworn in as Chief of Police in Griffin, Georgia where I served for 15 years before retiring again. I now list my occupation as “house slave”.
HOW HAS SERVING IN THE COAST GUARD INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU NOW APPROACH YOUR LIFE AND CAREER?
It gave me a sense of purpose, self discipline, and tenacity to tackle whatever task lay before me.
ARE YOU A MEMBER OF ANY MILITARY ASSOCIATIONS? IF SO, WHICH DO YOU BELONG TO AND WHICH ASSOCIATION ARE YOU THE MOST ACTIVE WITH? WHY THIS ONE?
I am a Life Member and past President of the Coast Guard Investigative Association, Life Member and Board Member of the Athens Chapter of the Military Officers Association, Life Member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart and Life Member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. I was most active in the Coast Guard Investigative Association until I moved off the executive board. I am probable most active in MOAA because of the chapter here in Athens.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU HAVE FOR THOSE WHO ARE STILL SERVING IN THE MILITARY?
Set lofty goals and work to achieve them. Don’t miss an opportunity to advance though not at the expense of others. When I was an SNQM on the ANDROSCOGGIN (WHEC-68), I decided that what I really wanted was to command my own vessel. I made it all the way to Commander with a high school diploma and a couple of years of college and was CO of two vessels.
HOW HAS TOGETHERWESERVED.COM HELPED YOU TO MAINTAIN A BOND WITH THE SERVICE AND THOSE YOU SERVED WITH?
TWS, along with other “Coastie” related websites and online resources have helped me keep in touch with old friends and shipmates. I enjoy reconnecting with them after the years and TWS is great resouce for that. |
CDR Armand Chapeau
View CDR Chapeau's Shadowbox on TWS
|
|
Share this Voices Edition on:
 |
|
TWS VOICES
TWS Voices are the personal stories of men and women who served in the US Military and convey how serving their Country has made a positive impact on their lives. If you would like to participate in a future edition of Voices, or know someone who might be interested, please contact Major Wesley Prater HERE.
This edition of CoastGuard Voices was supported by:
CoastGuard.Togetherweserved.com
For current and former serving Members of the US Coast Guard and US Coast Guard Reserve, TogetherWeServed is a unique, feature-rich resource enabling Coast Guardsmen to re-connect with lost Shipmates, share memories and tell their Coast Guard story.
To join CoastGuard.Togetherweserved.com, please click HERE.
|
|
