Andrew Michnowski: Learning what war is

By David Adams, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interview Volunteer

Andrew “Andy” Michnowski was born in Brexham, England, on January 11, 1949.  His parents and their family, Polish citizens, had been deported to Siberian labor camps by the Soviet Union as a result of the German and Soviet conquest of Poland in 1939.  When the Soviet Union became an enemy of Germany and joined the Allies, it repatriated his family and nearly a million other Polish citizens to various countries including those in Western Europe during the years 1941 onward.  

His father served in the Polish Army attached to the 8th British supply unit which then fought alongside American forces in Italy until the end of the war.  Andy and his family immigrated to the States in 1952.  All became naturalized citizens over time.  Both of his brothers served during the Korean War.  Military service permeated family history to include his great grandfather, grandfather, father, uncles (Polish underground), brothers, and cousins.  No surprise that Andy sought to serve his country during the Vietnam War.  

The family, newly arrived from England with Polish sponsors, settled first on Chicago’s South Side.  He grew up in Humboldt Park graduating from St. Boniface School and Lane Tech High School, class of 1967.  Andy attended Wright Junior College until his enlistment in the Marines and induction on June 23, 1969.  In addition to college classes, he worked at Continental Bank which held his job for him awaiting his return from service.   

Marine Corps Boot Camp, San Diego, CA 1969  

Overall, Andy says it was “a breeze for me”. He picked up the nickname “Ski” because an instructor could not pronounce his name.  There were challenging moments.  He recalls that “as a punishment, we had to do ‘Mountain Climbers’ endlessly. This is an exercise where you get in a push up position and bring your knees to your chest, alternating legs. I had a severe charley horse in my calf and my Staff Sergeant Drill Instructor (DI) was dressed in his khaki uniform and he jumped into the ditch and immediately massaged my calf to remove the charley horse. That was highly unusual for a uniformed Staff Sergeant DI to assist a recruit!”

All work and no mischief was not in the cards for Andy and his buddies.  He remembers that they “passed ourselves as Warrant Officers at night using our National Defense Ribbons on our collars as Warrant Officer bars. We challenged our fellow guards and drilled them on questions and their orders. Had the boots on guard duty saluting us.”  One wonders where they got that idea. Unit cohesion and extremely hard work paid off; his platoon was recognized as Honor Platoon!

With training including AIT completed, Andy qualified as a Field Wireman, MOS 2511.  As such he learned, according to the Marine Corps website, to construct, operate, and maintain wire networks to link key outposts, control points, and headquarters with reliable paths for the transmission of telephone, teletype, facsimile, and digital data messages. Typical duties of his MOS were, among others, installing telephones and switchboards, laying wire and cable, adjusting equipment for proper operation, recovering wire, locating wire system faults, and operating switchboards.  He found the additional skill of pole climbing useful to his battalion in Vietnam. 

Vietnam 1970

Traveling by air from California, Andy landed in Vietnam on his 21st birthday, January 11, 1970.  He joined his unit of Headquarters Battery, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines at Landing Zone Baldy.

LZ Baldy, also known as Hill 63, was a base located northwest of Chu Lai and south of DaNang, Quảng Nam Province in I Corps. It functioned as a Military Fire Support Base for the Army and Marines. Marine batteries at the LZ included 105 mm and 155 mm howitzers. Comms between the command bunker and the various batteries were essential.  If the comm lines were down, Andy insists, “guys will die”. When comms went out, he picked up his tools, spools of wire, and his M16 and hurried out to the battery to restore the lines. Time was of the essence.

During Andy’s “tour” the level of conflict at LZ Baldy is learned from monthly intel reports, now declassified.  For example, when Andy set foot at the base this was the report: “The enemy continues his basic plan of operations to harass the Free World Military Armed Forces by mortar and rocket fire and continues to avoid contact. He can be expected to continue those tactics. The enemy is suffering shortages of food and munitions due to large rice  and munitions cache uncovered  by the 7th Marine Regiment.” For all of 1970 until the 3/11 left for CONUS the, intel was essentially unchanged. 

Andy remembers that he “got caught a couple of times in enemy/friendly crossfire. Short rounds exploding overhead from the 105 artillery guns caused hearing loss.”  He also received enemy fire while on a special run for comm supplies to DaNang and participated on several operations with 7th and 5th Marines.

The telephone pole

Then there was his fall from a telephone pole.  His story. “My crew and I were about 18 hours into installing 50 pair cables up 25 -30 ft poles. We started at 9 am and finished about 3 am the next morning. During the night, so I can see where I was climbing, we used the jeep headlight beams and a guy with a flashlight at the base of the pole. While I was climbing up the pole, my spike hit a weather crack in the pole, which is where wood is split from the pole, so nothing was holding me to the pole, and I dropped down 25 feet.  After I fell, I woke up a few minutes later and climbed right back up the pole to finish installing the cables. I only noticed the sliver in my chest when I took a cold shower after. When the water hit my chest, I screamed, and 3 guys came running with flashlights. They wanted to pull out the sliver with their k-bar knife, but I wouldn’t let them. I pulled it out myself with my fingers. I didn’t seek any medical attention after that.”    

Medical interventions

He encountered a couple of “minor” health events.  The first involved getting “bit by a poisonous spider”. The story goes as follows: “It was monsoon season, and we were soaking wet. I was sleeping on the perimeter and when my buddies woke me up to relieve them, they were laughing at me because my eyes were swollen shut and face was completely swollen and disfigured. I looked like a monster. I had to wait until we were relieved the next morning to receive medical attention from the Navy doctors. They had to use a magnifying glass to examine my face and see where I was bitten. I was bitten in the corner of my eye. They gave me antibiotic pills, and it took about 12 hours for the swelling to reduce. I recovered within 48 hours.”

The second: “I had severe stomach pains for days and the Navy doctors on our hill decided to send me to DaNang hospital for further evaluation. When I got to the DaNang hospital via helicopter the Navy corpsman requested a [stool specimen] in a dixie cup. I already made my morning deposit for the day so his response was ‘Well, you can’t leave until you leave a deposit.’ So, I got to stay 2 more nights at Freedom Hill in DaNang. After examining my [stool specimen], they confirmed parasites and gave me antibiotics. I returned to my battalion at LZ Baldy via helicopter.”

Beer run episode

He and his first sergeant went on a “beer run” to DaNang.  Upon driving through the main gate, the sergeant said, “you get the beer, I’ve got to get some stuff”.  On the way out of the gate with a supply of beer, Andy waited for the sergeant.  He came around the corner of a building driving another jeep, this one Army, which he said, “was borrowed, permanently”.  Back at LZ Baldy and during the night, the jeep was painted to conform with Marine vehicles.  The paint was not yet dry the next morning. The captain in charge of the motor pool noticed this remarking, “I don’t want to know about it”.  You may recall a similar event from the 1970 movie M*A*S*H.  Captain Hawkeye Pierce picked up a newly-assigned surgeon at headquarters and drove back to the 4077 in one of its jeeps. When asked by Colonel Blake if he stole the jeep, he said, “No, no, I didn’t steal a jeep, it’s right outside”. Radar O’Reilly changed the jeep’s numbers anticipating the Colonel’s request to do just that.

Milk runs  

From time-to-time Andy made “milk runs to the villages with Naval medical staff.” As he tells it: “One time on a milk run, (where we would provide medicine and supplies to nearby villages) a Private First Class, new in-country, in my communications platoon, made the mistake of passing out candy to kids. He was surrounded by kids and when we got back to the hill, I was informed that his M16 was missing. Luckily, I reported it to our Senior Non-Commissioned Officer, and it was returned by the instructions of the village Chief.”  No harm, no foul. 

Chicago flag

“Visited by my buddy LCpl Nick on LZ Baldy . . . who later was severely wounded from a booby trap. On top of that I had a visit from my two of my buddies from the south side of Chicago serving with 1/7 on LZ Baldy.  Their names were Andy Jonsevic and Mike Pocious. We took a picture of us three and sent it to Mayor Daley of Chicago. I requested a Chicago Flag.  I received a letter and the Chicago flag from Mayor Daley.” 

Visit to ammo dump

“One day the Officers gassed the troops for training purposes at LZ Baldy. I was on the perimeter repairing some wires when we got gassed. We didn’t have our gas masks with us, and I remembered from physics class that gas goes to the lowest point. So, I ran up the hill to my communication bunker to escape the gas. When I turned around, I saw dozens and dozens of Marines running around trying to find their gas masks. I guess some of the Officers thought it was funny to see the reactions of the troops. So later, that evening, I had a Mustanger, a person who becomes an Officer from an enlisted rank, come down to the perimeter and instructed me to get a jeep and drive him down to the ammo dump on the other side of the hill by the 7th Marines. To my surprise, he went and got gas grenades! We returned to our side of the hill and while the Officers were taking showers, we gave them a surprise! We gassed them and disappeared!”  Turnabout is fair even in the Marines.

Some of the Best Moments 

In his opinion and that of all Marines, the USO show-girls from the Philippines were beautiful and entertaining.  He lucked out by providing security for them. Andy has good memories of his 24-hour in-country R&R to China Beach. “We drank beer, BBQed and swam in the China Sea. I was hoping the salt water would heal the heat prickles on my back and it did! While I was swimming, I bumped into my buddy from Chicago.” Finally, “I was asked by MSgt Green to return the battalion Comm back to the states. I was going home!” 

The 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines shipped back to CONUS on the USS St. Louis (LK-116).   He arrived at Long Beach, California on November 2, 1970.

Stateside 1970 – 1971

He was posted next to Camp Pendleton where he was responsible for wire communications equipment, maintenance documentation, and preparing the battalion for readiness.  Then he took a well-deserved 30-day leave in December 1970. In January 1971 he reported to 5th 175th Gun Battery at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina where he was NCO- in-charge of the wire platoon. 

Hawaii 1971 – 1972 

In June he transferred to 2nd Battalion 3rd Marines at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay. As at Lejeune, he was in charge of the communication platoon. On December 1, 1971, he received a Meritorious promotion to Sergeant, E5.  After one year in a tropical paradise where no one shot at him his enlistment was up.  

Discharged as Sergeant E-5 on June 15, 1972. Andy was awarded these decorations, medals, and badges: Marine Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal w/3 stars, Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation, Vietnam Campaign Medal w/device, Rifle Marksman Badge, and Pistol Marksman Badge. 

A civilian again, he returned to Continental Bank as Operations Manager, supervisor of check processing. After several years he moved on to the Great Lakes Naval Base as a facilitator for the Transition Assistance Program (TAP), a component of the Illinois Department of Employment Services. He taught a week-long class designed to help veterans in adjusting to the civilian world. This included job readiness, interviewing, dress for success, finance, and benefits. Andy developed relations with corporations, communities, non-profit organizations to assist veterans.  He retired from the Illinois Department of Employment Services in September 2010 culminating sixteen years of further service.

Retirement

Andy and his wife have a son, a daughter and granddaughter. “I enjoy spending time outdoors, reading a book in the sun with my faithful Service Dog, Red. I look forward to spending more time with my family and my granddaughter. And to keep my promise to my daughter, I plan to be around until my granddaughter graduates college.” 

Final thoughts on his Marine Corps service

“I served my country to the best of my ability with pride and honor to God, country and my family. Looking back at my family history, my grandfather served in WWI, my father served in WWII, two of my brothers served in the Korean War and then there was me. Good Morning, Vietnam. I landed in DaNang on my 21st birthday and I was considered the old man in my platoon. The average age was 19 in Vietnam. Coming from a family that was in Siberian labor camps, during WWII, having lost three baby brothers from starvation, I learned at an early age what war was! Growing up in an integrated city like Chicago, listening to older people talk about Communism, Freedom, and value of life, I learned what it all meant. At the age of 8, I came across concentration camp pictures that American soldier photographers took, until this day, that memory is burned into my mind. So, in a way, I was fighting for our country, that we would never have to have that experience for our children and future generations. Amen! Returning from Vietnam, it took me years to adjust to civilization. Dealing with why people are looking at me and not being able to trust anyone. In my mind, I was always surrounded by an enemy and the fear of harm coming to my family. I was always on defense, fighting a war that ended years ago. That is still with me today.”  

Andy, you have more than earned your Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.  Enjoy every moment!