Renovo vet meets nephew of fallen friend after 55 years
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LOCK HAVEN -- After 55 years, a local veteran was able to meet the nephew of his friend who was killed in action during the Vietnam War.
David "Worm" Frantz, of Renovo, was able to unite with Austin Currie, the nephew of the late Frank Dunford, III, on Tuesday. Along with the two, they were joined by fellow Vietnam veteran and company member, Lauren Dates.
Frantz, Dates and Dunford all served in the 1st Battalion of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Both Frantz and Dates served for three years with them. In 1965, the Brigade became the first major unit of the United States Army to serve in Vietnam.
The trio's unit was made up entirely of volunteers as opposed to other drafted servicemen.
"They didn't force them over there, they asked to go over there. It was the good thing about our unit," Frantz said.
They shared memories of their time there and of their late friend, Dunford. At only 19-years-old, Dunford was the youngest staff sergeant in U.S. history at the time.
Currie, who was never able to meet his uncle, wanted to learn everything he could about him, through his mother, grandmother, and eventually Dates and Frantz.
Dunford died on Oct. 22, 1967, after succumbing to injuries while on an observation post, prior to the Battle of Dak To. He was shot in the throat while 1,000 feet above the rest of the company, according to Dates.
Dak To was a series of major engagements of the Vietnam War that took place between Nov. 3 and Nov. 23 in the Kon Tum Province in the Central Highlands of the Republic of Vietnam. Frantz was a combat medic during this time and volunteered himself, along with Dates, to go out to conduct first aid on Dunford.
Frantz was able to preserve his life and got him into a medivac helicopter after dark.
At the time, Dates said Dunford was showing full vital signs. However, when he arrived at a field hospital, he died shortly afterwards. Frantz received a Medal for Valor for his valiant efforts to save his fellow soldier and friend. Dates said it was a big loss for their company.
"Everyone liked Frank. He was a good soldier," he said.
For the following 35 days, there was constant fighting in Dak To against the Viet Cong. The battle came to a conclusion on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23, the same year.
Dates and Currie talked about how Dunford's mother, Sally, heard the news of her late son. She had seen a man in service attire through her window, calling from a payphone. They said it was regarding the death of her son. The loss would send a ripple through his family back in 1967. He was the oldest of 10 children.
Currie's mother, Mary, was only 7-years-old at the time.
"He was, being the oldest, in a lot of ways, the glue that held his family together," Dates said.
Growing up, Currie was surrounded by stories of his uncle, his many exploits and how great of a person he was. He joined Dates and Frantz Tuesday, coming all the way from Florida for the occasion. It would be the first time he'd meet the man who did his best to save his uncle's life.
"When he was killed in Vietnam, my mom was the youngest of 10 children. It was very saddening for them and my mom grew up with stories of Frank, of who he was when he was alive," Currie said.
He eventually came into contact with Dates about 12 years ago while doing a school report on the Vietnam War. There was a Vietnam memorial website Currie found.
On the website, there was a post made by Dates saying he was in the 173rd Airborne Brigade and had served with Frank Dunford. Currie said he was searching for where he was buried. They eventually got into contact with each other, met and have been in contact several times since.
"A friend of mine in the 173rd down in South Carolina told me about this virtual wall that is on the internet where you can post messages. I pretty much had given up, but I posted a message and then Austin picked it up and got in touch with me," Dates explained.
Currie's grandmother kept a cabinet filled with Dunford's medals, awards, photos, etc. Of the memorabilia, there was a photo of Dunford and Dates side-by-side.
"There was a picture in there that my grandma showed me for years where my Uncle Frank was sitting on a stool with a M1 Garand rifle, and there was a gentleman standing to the side holding a shotgun. I always thought it was a different soldier but apparently it was Lauren Dates," he said.
Dates and Frantz shared extensive memories of their times in Vietnam and the memories of their late friend, Dunford. Frantz had spent three tours in Vietnam. He related how guys would come and go between his tours.
"I always wanted to come back with that group of guys I was with. Somehow, they disappeared and then we'd get new guys. I'd say 'well I'll stay another 6 months and I'll go home with those guys.' Then some of them disappeared. Then you got some more guys come in and I was 'well 6 more months can't hurt anything,'" he said.
Dunford, before his death, extended his tour for another 6 months. A tour extension allowed serving members to come home for 30 days before returning to war.
"You bond with people and he didn't want to leave us," Dates said.
When Dunford was home, he had gotten engaged and even got into a car accident. It didn't stop him from returning to Vietnam.
According to Currie, there is a photo of him wearing a towel, duct taped, around his head. Possibly due to an injury from the crash, he said.
All three of them were barely the age of 20 when they enlisted for Vietnam. Frantz had only graduated high school just three months prior. He ended up choosing to be a medic from what his uncle told him all those years ago -- medics were always chosen for deployment.
"My uncle said to me 'make sure you go in and ask to be a medic.' He said 'we'd always go over.' Cooks and medics always go over," he said.
Frantz added how quickly they were pushed through training where he was stationed, Joint Base San Antonio -- Fort Sam Houston. After five months of basic training, he was off to med school. In less than a couple months, he would be stepping foot on the ground of Southeast Asia.
"We didn't have any night maneuvers. We had rifle range and basic stuff and then I went through med school... It was only an 8-10 week course," Frantz said. "They really pushed you through it. Everything was band-aid surgery there."
He and Dates had not seen each other for over 30 years prior to Tuesday. Life took them by the hands, and their tales went onward from there.
"We got on with life. Most of us when we're young, you're doing things. When I was discharged from active duty, it was Sept. 12, 1969. I had a job in Reno flying, if I could get there, before someone else took it, it was right after Woodstock. I drove pretty much non-stop across the country to Reno (Nevada) to get there and to get the job. It was a momentum being young, living, doing things that couldn’t get to where you were going by looking over your shoulder. As you get older, some of that energy and momentum slows down. You start thinking back and try to catch up with people," Dates explained.
After their service was up, Frantz and Dates went on their own paths. Frantz pursued medicine, however lacked the experience to become a doctor. Instead he became a nuclear welder, working on submarines.
"That's a big change from being a medic," he laughed. "Things happen, people change their attitude and life goes on. You have to make the best of it."
Yet, Dates said Frantz was one of the best medics he has ever known.
"When I knew him when we were in Vietnam, he was one of the best medics, if not the best. I hate to say the best but 'Worm' was always calm under pressure -- it didn't matter if hand grenades were going off, bombs, firing -- Norm was cool as a cucumber," Dates expressed.
For Dates himself, prior to joining the military, he was a pilot. When his service was up, he had another year left. He ended up becoming a drill sergeant during his final year. Once that was over, Dates continued flying, getting the flying job in Reno for a while. He eventually came back east, deciding to finish college and worked as a pilot for some time.
In the early 80s, Dates owned an aviation business that conducted aerial application crop dusting, spraying Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, parts of New Jersey and the Carolinas for gypsy (spongy) moths. After selling his business, he went to work for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as a pilot accident investigator. Dates finally ended up as a judge in New York state where he eventually retired at 70-years-old. But the memories of Frantz and Dunford always stuck with him.
"I have been very fortunate. I've done pretty much everything I ever wanted to do," he said. "But some of the best people I have ever known in my life were people like Worm and Frank."
About 2.8 million people served in Vietnam. Over 70 percent of them are gone already, according to Dates. Many living veterans have died about ten years younger than those who did not fight, he added. There are fewer than 850,000 Vietnam veterans living today.
According to Dates, when the three were there, only 10 percent of troops were actively fighting.
"When we were there, less than 10 percent of the troops were fighting. Us actively out seeking and engaging the enemy; it was a very small percent," he said.
Dates said he has no regrets of what he and his fellow servicemen did in Vietnam. He said he was always with good quality people
"I didn't do things in Vietnam I regretted. We were in the booneys. We were fighting the North Vietnamese army most of the time... We didn't burn down hooches (huts or simple dwellings) and villages... we were soldiers and we served with, for the most part, I thought good quality people," he said.
They joked about the compensation given to servicemen during the war. Dates said after turning in his military pay records while applying for Social Security, he only received less $7,000 (about $60,000 today) after his 36 months of service.
"That was combat pay, jump pay, active duty pay... If you were killed, the most money your family could get was $10,000 (about $87,000 today) and that was if you had taken a life insurance policy from the government and paid the premium," he explained.
Regardless of the pay and harsh reality of war, they stuck together to accomplish the mission. It was that mentality that pushed them forward.
"We always had the belief and attitude that no matter how bad it got, at the end of the day it wasn't any question about who was walking on whose bodies... It was the mentality of accomplishing the mission or whatever it took -- whether you survived it or worried about the welfare of the troops afterwards," Dates expressed.
Today, Frantz and Dates continue to do their part for the service men and women of the United States. Frantz is a member of the Renovo Honor Guard and Dates conducts military flyovers.
"We still try to do our part. It means a lot to us to do something like that for veterans," Frantz expressed.
Staff Sergeant Dunford is buried in Detroit. His name is listed on the wall of the Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. today.
"There are less than a handful of us left. But we carry on. There is always a story to tell but some of them you can't tell," Frantz said.