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Frank J Andruss Sr
TOP BOSS
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 Posted on: Nov 21, 2012 - 1:35am
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Thanks Mike. I ordered the PBR-2 Kit yesterday, and will look to have my friend Stan Pienkowski build it for me. I have not decided yet if I want it to be built as a Diorama, or not. I will need to check out colors for the boat, which from what I can tell was a dark shade of green.
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Drew Cook
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Nov 21, 2012 - 5:22am
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A good friend of mine I worked with in the late 1970's and early 1980's was an engineman on a PBR in Vietnam during the "Vietnamazation" period in which the Americans turned over their equipment to the South Vietnamese.
He did not see much heavy combat, but did come under fire from the shoreline several times during his year tour.
He told me of standing to in the middle of a river once, while he and an Army Ranger the boat was ferrying sat a few feet apart on the gunnel, dangling their toes in the water. He said they heard a "bloop" sound from the shoreline, and then saw what looked like a "white baseball" streaking towards them. He and the Ranger flipped backwards into the boat and the "white baseball," which was the warhead of a B-40 rocket, hit right between them, punching all the way through the fiberglass boat and exploding in the river on the other side!
He also related how his PBR would fire it's .50-cals -- the twins in the low turret on the foredeck and the pipe-mounted one on the stern -- at villages they took fire from, and how the tracer rounds would hit the built-up, concrete-hard mud banks and bounce up into the air.
Once, after a party at his house when everyone else had gone, we sat in his backyard drinking beer, and he tearfully told me that I was the only one of any of his family, friends or aquaintances who had ever asked him about or cared what he had done in Vietnam.
I really wanted to have the Tamiya PBR model made for him, but he had married a much younger -- and quite fierce -- woman, who also did not want to hear a word about his experiences in Vietnam. I was afraid if I presented him with the model his wife would refuse to display it, or destroy it in one of her rages, so I never did.
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Frank J Andruss Sr
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Nov 21, 2012 - 5:58am
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Drew, thanks so much for this heart warming story. Just to be appreciated is something all veterans want, and it is a shame his own Wife was not open to his experiences. Over the years I have had no less than 5 PT BOATS made for Veterans, just to give them to these guys that have meant so much to me over the years. Tear's of joy always followed these gifts, and it has always meant a great deal for me to so this. Sad to say, of those 5 Veterans I gave the boats to, only one is left. This is something we should remember on this board. It is one thing to have an open discussion on the the placement of weapons, or colors of the boats, but our PT BOAT VETS are fast heading towards their final patrol. I often wonder why a discussion on the boats will gather 50 hits, when I only see half a dozen hits for the passing of a PT BOAT VET. Trust me I am not being critical, just stating a fact. I think the PBR'S were a fantastic group of guys, that were right in the thick of the fighting and in just as close combat as the PT's were. Although not as heavily armed as the PT BOATS, they could turn on a dime, operate in 2 feet of water, and put out some pretty intense fire from the guns they did have. I love that twin 50 mount on the bow, now that's the position I would have liked on that type of boat.
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wclracer64
New Member
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Posted on: Dec 30, 2012 - 1:23pm
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Never built the kit, but I aquired a grouping of items from a TF117 veteran.
1. Black beret, saigonn makers mark with hand workeed TF117 Flash
2. PBR pin for dress uniforms
3. 100 or more color slides
4. MACV pay card
5. Ensign flown on his PBR
My favorites are two of the slides, one shows a hole through the bows of his PBR from an RPG that didn't explode and the other is of a montanyard holding a BAR which is about 2" taller than him.
I think he was in country around '68-'69.
We need to remember all our vets and say thank you!
Bill
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Pat Hutchens
Full Member
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Posted on: Dec 31, 2012 - 8:07pm
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Frank, I'd like to send you a couple pics of my diorama with the PBR kit that I did in '92, not long after the kit came out.
Please e-mail me at hutch157@yahoo.com, as I can't seem to access yours, and I'll get them to you.
Cheers,
Pat
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alross2
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Jan 1, 2013 - 1:22pm
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Just for contrast, here's the PBR MK1.
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These had a modification of the MK17 mount in the forward turret.
Al
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Frank J Andruss Sr
TOP BOSS
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Posted on: Jan 1, 2013 - 2:08pm
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Thanks Al, those would be helpful if I ever wanted to do a larger scale PBR.
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