Michael L. Kelley – U.S. Army 1964-67

Michael Kelley grew up in East Cambridge, Massachusetts and joined the Army in 1964 with the dream of being stationed in Germany, meeting beautiful “Fräuleins” and drinking German beer. However, the Vietnam War was heating up and in November of 1965 he got his orders to go to Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry Division. “I kept on putting in 1049 transfers to go to Germany. And they kept on rejecting them. President Johnson had just sent the 1st Cavalry Division airmobile to Vietnam. It was a special unit trained at Fort Benning to fight in the Vietnam War, 400 helicopters.”

After landing in Saigon Michael was sent to An Khe in the central highlands and assigned to the 9th Cavalry as a Crew Chief / Door Gunner. The unit turned out to be a reconnaissance unit, and it was SP5 Walter Titchnell’s job to train Michael in. “So, I'm looking out the door watching him firing his gun. It was like watching a war movie. I was just watching the action. I didn't know what the hell was going on because I'd never been in combat before. And so meanwhile, my heart's beating, and I'm scared as hell. Now what I'm supposed to do?” Michael would eventually replace Tichnell and crew both a UH-1B gunship and OH-13S Scout helicopter during the war.

Michale’s experiences as well as the experiences of many of the soldiers he served with are recoded in his book “The Gunner and the Grunt” available on Amazon - Click here to order Michael’s book