Andrew Rewis went in the Army on September 19th, 1969 and served until March 24, 1972. He did his basic training in Fort Gordon, GA. From there, he went to Fort Rucker, AL, for his aircraft maintenance training. He then went to Vietnam in March 3,1970 and stayed there until November 9, 1971. He went to Phu Lou and Indochina.
Upon arriving in Phu Loi, it was extremely hot and humid. Vietnam smelled very, very bad.
Andrew’s job assignment was helicopter repairman and aircraft maintenance. He was also a door gunner.
He experienced a lot of mortar rounds coming in, and he was also fired at as he did his job as door gunner on the helicopter. There were many casualties in his unit. He witnessed a helicopter shot down.
The most memorable experience was the North Vietnamese were coming into the base. They were trying to come through the Concertina wire, and we were firing on them heavily, he said. Another memorable thing was when we would experience heavy rocket rounds coming in especially at night, he said. Andrew was not a POW (Prisoner Of War). Andrew was not injured physically, but was mentally injured.
