Paladin

[Ed Harrow]

https://www.qcwa.org/n4ezv-28443-sk.htm

12 years ago. Who remembers?

Gracious, helpful, and generous to me, to our Daughter, and many others here, and elsewhere.

I still have his last voice-mail message to me on my phone.

[Canoez]

Definitely miss Chuck's presence here.

[TerryLL]

I looked for that dashing photo of him in the white suit, but couldn't find it.

Every time I buy a bottle of Ron Zacapa I think of him.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

I think we all miss him.

[hawkeye54]

His thread ' 1968, September' was brought back up by Spin Drift ( Thank you ! ! ! ) on 03 / 05 , but has fallen to page 3 already .



Rick

[bamamick]

Oh, I certainly remember him. A true Rennaissance man and a gentleman to boot. He lived a fascinating life.

Mickey Lake

[Paul Pless]

4050A54C-4F5E-4CC5-A1E0-15C574954A81.jpg

[TerryLL]

Oh yes, that is the photo.

[Rob Hazard]

Wow! Twelve years ago already? Yes, he certainly did have stories to tell! The Bilge was more entertaining back then.

[Tom Montgomery]

.
A good man fondly remembered and missed.

[JamesCaird]

Paladin- I remember him and his stories from SE ASia and the various multihull gambits. I actually saved some to read through still. One of my favorites is the long story from Vietnam where he finds and marries "Sweet Thing" and about the wedding feast which got interrupted by some high government officials... Miss the guy.

[Robbie 2]

Remembered and missed here as well.

[Ed Harrow]

If you look up his HAM call you will find some interesting stuff. His call is in the obit I linked.

He wrote a book on frequency hopping...

[Tom from Rubicon]

Thanks Paul,
That photo is the one,
Staged photo, Chuck had no love of clip fed shooters. He was a wheel gun man, and said so.

[JamesCaird]

Ed- None of the numbers look correct for Paladin's Ham call sign. What country?

[Puttputt]

If you enter N4EZV and the words “ham radio” on your search engine the document should pop up.

[Ralphie Boy]

Very James Bond to sport the Walther PPK.

[Paul Pless]

the pistol in that photo is a slicked up feg in 9mm makarov

[TerryLL]

the pistol in that photo is a slicked up feg in 9mm makarov

I took it for a Walther PPK. My dad had one in .380.

[Tom Hunter]

He is one of the reasons I am glad to have been on the forum for so long. We could use a few more like him.

[Ralphie Boy]

Not sure what a Feg is, but thanks for the info.

[Flying Orca]

Fondly remembered.

[Dave Gray]

I used to seldom visit the bilge so it took a while for me to understand Paladin was the real deal, not some Robert Ludlum knock off. Besides all of the great things he did for others, his recipes, and overall genial outlook I remember the post made by one of his buddies about when he stole his commander's plane to rescue an agent in Vietnam, showing true courage, valor, and dedication to his unit.

[robm]

I remember the post made by one of his buddies about when he stole his commander's plane to rescue an agent in Vietnam, showing true courage, valor, and dedication to his unit.

I missed that one. Any idea how to find it?

[wizbang 13]

I got the feeling he was like the Brad Pitt character in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

[skuthorp]

At one stage i talked about some time in Rhodesia (that was). It was a step-family visit but I got a quick query from Paladin re my possible contacts. I think he was involved in far more than we knew.

[willmarsh3]

I am glad I got to meet him at an EBS in Newport RI back in the day. He was a very interesting and likeable character.

[Dave Gray]

My recollection was a bit off, no surprise, but I found this post copied from the original

Originally Posted by chasbartlett
I’m not much of a story teller, so I’ll try to keep this short and to the point.
A CAP (Civic Action Program) and CAG (Civic Action Group) are small units assigned to Vietnamese villages to discourage the VC from terrorizing the populace. The VC would enter a village and intimidate or kill the village leader and his family to get the villages cooperation.
The military would routinely assign a half dozen to a dozen men to a village to “protect it” and assist with any village related projects like digging wells or other civil projects. A team might consist of a half dozen marines and/or navy personnel to include a corpsman. The highest ranking person involved might be a specialist or a sergeant. Some people might refer to them as peace corps with rifles, but peaceful it was not generally to be. They had a high rate of casualties.
On or about the 15th of February 1970 a small contingency of VC made a run on a small fishing village named Ninh Ma, with a population of less than 500 persons, and guarded by a 6 man CAP group. Ninh Ma is in the II Corps area just south of the Thuy Hoa mountains, and North of a Korean Firebase, and south of the Thuy Hoa Pass. There is a long stretch of open road in the area that was a favorite spot for ambushes involving supply convoys. During this action two men were injured by small arms fire, but not life threatening. The VC appeared to leave the area after the brief encounter.
On Monday, 19 February, a helicopter was dispatched from a base north of Thuy Hoa with replacement personnel, to deliver them to Ninh Ma, and to pick up the injured men. That morning there was light rain, very light, and did not impede the mission.
The helicopter landed just outside the village, alongside a semi paved road leading from the main highway to the village. As it touched down it was met with a hail of small arms fire, and the CAP group were in an open area.
The helicopter had to immediately withdraw, damaged and with two injured crew in addition to the two injured CAP persons. I was one of the replacements, and was on the ground. We were in a ditch alongside the road unable to move in any direction. The only communications that we had was the standard military backpack radio, that normally had a range of 5-6 miles, but because of the weather it seemed as if no one heard us. Then we lost the corpsman. The small arms fire continued for about 20 minutes. It seemed to slack off, but everytime someone moved it would start again.
And a shadow floated over head, no sound of an engine, and we thought the helicopter was trying to get back in. A silver, unmarked fixed wing aircraft floated down and literally stopped adjacent to our position, a door opened, and a Thai named “Jerry” helped us in, and we were gone in a matter of seconds.
The helicopter had made it to the Korean firebase and a armed convoy was sent, it arrived half an hour after we left.
We were delivered to a Special forces camp, and then the pilot left. We learned that he was nearby, heard the call, and disobeyed orders to get involved. The aircraft received multiple hits, and the pilot did not escape unscathed.

[Rigadog]

He sent me a guitar volume control for my Danelectro, how sweet and generous.

[Tom from Rubicon]

He died, but his spirit is with us still

[JimD]

Always willing to help out and make time for people. He won't be forgotten.

[Katherine]

Always willing to help out and make time for people. He won't be forgotten.

I named the range pony foal I bought after him. The trainer my Paladin boards with told this morning how much she likes him. He's fun, goofy, and has a HUGE personality.

[Ed Harrow]

I named the range pony foal I bought after him. The trainer my Paladin boards with told this morning how much she likes him. He's fun, goofy, and has a HUGE personality.

Perfect! How fitting.

Among my treasured Chuck presents is an autographed Tilley hat. Luckily we were both blessed with a fat head; it fits perfectly!