Throughout 2025, Shipmate is commemorating the service and sacrifice of Naval Academy alumni who served in the Vietnam War. More than 40 alumni shared their stories to help further the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association and Foundation’s Legacy of Valor series.
For all who stood watch, we honor your service and will not forget.
On 24 April 2025, the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association and Foundation hosted a roundtable discussion on the emergence of SEALs during the Vietnam War. ADM Robert Natter ’67, USN (Ret.) moderated the event at the Fluegel Alumni Center. Nearly 100 attendees, including about 20 Naval Special Warfare selectees from the Class of 2025, heard stories from Vietnam veterans and former SEALs CAPT Tom Murphy ’66, USN (Ret.), CAPT Dick Couch ’67, USN (Ret.), and CAPT Sandy Prouty ’67, USNR (Ret.). The panelists took questions form the audience and offered a glimpse into the rigorous training prospective SEALs will experience after commissioning.
NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE
SEALS EVOLVE INTO NIMBLE, DIRECT-ACTION UNITS IN VIETNAM
Everything went smoothly for then-Lieutenant Junior Grade Charles Sanford “Sandy” Prouty ’67, USNR (Ret.), and his MIKE platoon on a raid in Vietnam until evacuation time. The freshly minted SEAL had been in Vietnam for less than three months when his 10-man unit received significant and credible intelligence. A former Viet Cong fighter turned informant relayed the location of a large medical cache. On 3 November 1969, Prouty led a SEAL heliborne operation into enemy controlled territory. The medical supplies—bandages, medicines, surgical instruments, stretchers—were exactly where the informant indicated. The supplies were being loaded into a helicopter’s cargo net when the pilot said he thought the rotor had been hit by enemy fire and could no longer stay on station. So began a tense evacuation process in which Prouty’s team persevered in the face of enemy fire, a close call from their own air support and multiple harrowing helicopter endeavors. Throughout the three-hour ordeal, Prouty demonstrated unflappable leadership.
UNFORESEEN DESTINY
BOLDEN REACHED THE HEAVENS DURING AN UNPREDICTABLE MARINE CORPS CAREER
Major General Charles Bolden ’68, USMC (Ret.), spent 680 hours in space on four U.S. Space Shuttle missions. As a Marine Corps aviator, Bolden flew the A-6A Intruder in more than 100 combat missions during the Vietnam War. He flew more than 6,000 hours as a test pilot assessing aircraft including the A-6E, EA-6B and A-7C/E. He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2017.
UNCOMPROMISING PRINCIPLES
CHAMBERS CREDITS CAREER TO UNWAVERING BELIEFS, COMMITMENT TO HIS PEOPLE
Unsolicited and vociferous advice was thundering down on then-Captain Lawrence Chambers ’52, USN (Ret.). Chambers, commanding officer of the aircraft carrier Midway, was ensconced in chaos in the waters off South Vietnam. During the 30-hour evacuation of Saigon starting on 29 April 1975, Midway would receive and process about 2,000 evacuees from Vietnam. Helicopters jammed with the last American civilians and at-risk Vietnamese nationals jockeyed for dwindling space on Midway’s deck.
NOT FORGOTTEN
Alumni Lead with Courage and Selflessness
Selflessness is a common theme among the 22 alumni who were awarded the Navy Cross for their service during the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Colonel Frank M. Wroblewski ’63, USA (Ret.), also demonstrated an unfailing commitment to his soldiers, earning the Army’s Distinguished Service Cross. While there is no official policy to explain why, fewer Medals ofHonor were awarded during the decade-plus of U.S. involvement in Vietnam (261) than in the four years of World War II (473).
MEKONG DELTA and the SeaWolVES
In 1966, the U.S. Army forces in the delta realized they could not police all the water routes, which carried food, ammunition and personnel to support the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong (VC) fighting forces, numbering 50,000 combatants. A partnership with the Navy arose, with the Navy providing land and floating bases for various river boats, SEAL detachments and a new Navy helicopter squadron—Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron Three (HA(L)-3)—flying donated Army UH 1B gunships. HA(L)-3 was the only squadron commissioned and decommissioned in a foreign country. The Seawolves were born.
A FAMILIAR NAME IN A STRANGE PLACE
CAPTAIN HOMER L. SMITH ’49, USN: A STORY OF VALOR
The Vietnam War’s influence on Annapolis graduates has been profound. The alumni who fought in the war left an admirable legacy including 39 POWs such as Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale ’47, USN (Ret.), Captain John S. McCain III ’58, USN (Ret.), and Vice Admiral William P. Lawrence ’51, USN (Ret.). This is the story of one whose impact was monumental although he isn’t a household name. Outside the small circle of strike mission pilots who fought the air war over the skies of North Vietnam from 1965 onward, Commander Homer Leroy Smith ’49, USN, doesn’t elicit instant understanding of his service and sacrifice. His captivity at Hoa Lo prison lasted for one day, perhaps two.