#1

Ghost Stories

Some of the fondest memories of being in the bomb dump were talking with Jim Dages and others. I remember Jim telling me ghost stories about WWII Japanese ghost soldiers, Grufongs, the widow in the washout, and the GI who killed himself on CMS5.
I think it was Jim who told me he was on CMS2 or 3, sitting on his MSD can, kind of noddin' off, only to look up and see a WWII Jap soldier with a bayonet running right towards him. I think he said he kind of got scared/confused/bewildered and the guy kept getting closer to him, and as he got real close to Jim, Jim blinked and the soldier was gone.
Another story I remember was about Grufongs. Now Grufongs, as it was explained to me, were an experiment went bad.
During the Vietnam War, a line of nocturnal flesh eating apes was bred to help in the war effort, but something happened and they escaped or something, and they now lived in the bomb dump in the hills by CMS2 tower and gate.
I was cautioned by someone (Jim?) to not let my dog loose on an unknown target, because if it was a grufong, and my dog cornered him, my dog would not come out alive.
Gerry DeGroat I think (?) told the widow in the washout story to me.
This happened over near the washout and DOD tower near CMS 5-6, near the bridge.
Apparently, two Filipino men came on the base, up the washout and one of them was caught by Red Patch, who killed the guy. His buddy escaped and went back to the village (Mabalacat) and found the guys wife and told her what had happened.
The new bride freaked and got her wedding dress on and came up the same washout, looking for her husband, but all she found was the body. He had been decapitated.
She realized he had been killed and in her grief, she committed suicide.
They say if the time is right, you can see her in her wedding dress, coming up the washout looking for her husband's head, and for revenge.
Then there was the story about the GI on CMS5 who had gotten a "Dear John" letter from his girl in the states, and on post that night he was so upset and grief stricken, he went into the CMS 5 bunker near the bridge, which was open at the time, closed his dog in the bunker, walked away and committed suicide.
They say you can still hear his dog scratching at the door trying to get out.
I swear I was a witness to the last two stories, at the time they scared the bejesus out of me, and I am sure it was an overactive imagination, but at two in the morning, out there alone, with no moon, they sure seemed real to me.

#2

I was assigned special post one night with Marshall Swope and Copper. I was handling Count 569A, the dog I had brought back from the dog school in Okinawa. He was a re-trained sentry dog from Thailand, and he was 8 years old when I picked him up. Best dog I ever handled.
Anyway, Marshall and I were out by Sapangbato gate area, I think near the Knights of Columbus building. We were just sitting in the field, and then I saw people moving in front of some lights across the field. A whole bunch of people.
So Marshall and I started to run toward them. If you ever saw Marshall, this guy was built very muscular, and me being the twig that I was, ran faster than Marshall.
I started shouting, "Halt! Hinto!" several times, and the corrugated steel fell to the ground as the intruders ran toward the fence.
I turned Count loose and told him to "Get 'em".
The next thing I heard was Marshall yelling at Copper, "COPPER! OUT! COPPER! OUT!" I turned around and there was Copper, closing in on me fast. I just put my arm out and caught him, and froze. That dog can bite! Marshall kept calling Copper out, and he did come off and return to Marshall.
Copper had only bit once and held on, no typewriter action, I figured I was lucky.
So we called RP on the radio, and pretty soon, jeeps and police vehicles were all over the place.
I got my dog back, and was taken to the kennel to put my dog away to be taken to the hospital. Monty Moore caught up with us and asked to see how bad I had gotten bitten. He took one look, and asked, " Who bit you?" I replied "Copper." He says " You're lucky" and goes on his way, I am sure with the firm knowledge that indeed I was lucky.
I still carry the scars on my right arm today.

#3

How I got into K9 The only reason I ever enlisted in the Air Force was to be a security policeman. My uncle was an SP during the Vietnam war and was stationed at Korat AB, Thailand. We used to correspond when I was young. Perhaps he was a my role model.
I enlisted, and was guaranteed to be in Law Enforcement, but the recruiter could not guarantee K-9 school, so I enlisted anyway, figuring I would work it out later.
During tech school they had the K-9 tryouts, and I either overslept, forgot about the early a.m. tryouts or just plain figured that law enforcement was good enough. I don't remember.
So I didn't go to dog school at Lackland. I was assigned to Clark AB as an Airman Basic and then was put with the US Customs Section of the Security Police.
I sifted through dirty duffel bags, suitcases, etc for all the people leaving the country. I got sick of being in the terminal all the time, and was only there a couple of months, and I decided this was not what I wanted to do for my time here.
I was in Cops' Cove and I met then A1C Edwin Tritt, and started talking to him. Conversation came and went and he told me they were looking for more dog handlers.
Could this be my chance?
Ed was the most gung-ho cop I had met yet! Man, was he fired up about K-9! So I asked him how to get into K-9, and he told me to go down to the kennels and talk to MSgt. Owens.
Ed's advice was to go in an be the most gung-ho I could, and tell MSgt. Owens that if it was the last thing on this earth I was going to do, it was going to be a dog handler, and if I couldn't be a dog handler, then I would just die.
So MSgt. Owens filled out the paperwork, and sent it to TSgt. Ames, NCOIC of Customs, and boy did he have a fit!
I was bored and wanted out of his unit. He tried to talk me out of it several times, but I stuck to my guns and eventually got transferred to K-9.
The night before I was to fly to Okinawa, I went over to the Airman's club and had a couple of beers, got a bit drunk and went back to the barracks. The room started spinning around and I got up to vomit, more than a few times.
The next morning, nursing a hangover, Walt Dudley and I flew to Okinawa for dog school.
That was a flight I will always remember.
I think about Ed Tritt now and again, and he PCS'd before I got a chance to really know him and to say thank you for being the motivated dog man you are!
If it weren't for you Ed, I may not have ever gotten so fired up about K-9.