Vietnam remembered on 'Big J'

CourierPostOnline: Vietnam remembered on 'Big J'
The battleship New Jersey hosted the inaugural Vietnam War Living History Day here Saturday, and nearly 400 people came aboard for the event that featured Vietnam re-enactors throughout the ship and presentations from veterans

As music from the era played over the ship's loudspeakers -- the Beatles, the Doors, etc. -- veterans talked to visitors about their experiences while "in country."

Paul Niessner of Buena served as an engineman on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal. He spent just four days off the coast of Vietnam.

"On the 29th of July 1967, we suffered the worst fire aboard a ship since the Second World War," Niessner told a captive audience of about 30 visitors and other vets in the Officers' Wardroom.

"A power surge on one of the aircraft we were starting up for a strike launched a missile across the flight deck and into another aircraft's gas tank. The ensuing explosions killed 134 men and injured almost 400 more.

"We also lost quite a few planes."

Niessner, who is 68, and "two months to the day older than the New Jersey," then threw in a fun fact about the other aircraft that was hit by the missile.

"That plane was flown by a young Lt. Commander by the name of John McCain," he says of the Arizona senator and former presidential candidate.

The legendary battleship played a limited role during the Vietnam War, arriving at Danang in September 1968, and firing its guns for the last time on March 31, 1969.

But the New Jersey's presence was definitely felt during that brief time.

Army Sgt. Maj. Paul Hanson recalls being in a firefight with North Vietnamese troops who were about to overrun his small group of soldiers.

"We called for artillery support but we weren't sure where it was going to come from," said Hanson, an Aston, Pa. resident.

"Next thing this bombardment comes in and it was so big and so loud we knew it had to be from the New Jersey.

"It was so massive that it totally destroyed the road the enemy was coming down toward us. It wiped most of them out, and the rest retreated."

Jack Willard, the senior vice president of marketing for the battleship, said the concept of a Vietnam War Living History Day came from an event the ship hosted last summer.

"We did a World War II re-enactment and it was a great success," Willard said.

"So we thought that as part of the ship's history we ought to do this for the various eras of its service. The battleship was re-commissioned for the Vietnam War on April 6, 1968, so it was good timing for us to do it now."