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Today's featured veteran is Ron White. Ron enlisted in the United States Army in May of 1968. He desired to go into the intelligence field, and he felt that the Army gave him the best opportunity to make that happen. He says that from about the 9th grade, he knew what he wanted to do. He had done a lot of research about Army Intel, and although he knew that he would most likely be sent off to war, he did not hesitate to enlist.
After completing his basic training, Ron was sent to Fort Devens in Massachusetts to attend the Morse code intercept school. Next, he was off to Fort Holabird in Maryland. While there, he received his order to go to Vietnam.
In Vietnam, Ron was assigned to the 509th Radio Research Group. Their job was to support the commanders on the ground by providing them with the best tactical and strategic intel they could obtain through signals intelligence.
Ron’s flight into the country was a memorable one. They flew into Bien Hoa Air Base at 0100 under heavy enemy fire. Once on the ground, they were met by Air Force Security Police, who, armed with .50 caliber machine guns, were firing into the jungle on both sides of the airplane. The enemy returned fire with mortars. Fortunately, none hit their intended target.
For the next year, Ron worked 12-hour shifts gathering and disseminating ground and air operations in Vietnam. He worked mostly overnight, playing volleyball during the day to pass the time and unwind. Work and recreation were occasionally interrupted by North Vietnamese rockets.
One incident that Ron vividly recalls is when he was recruited to go out on a special mission. He met with two plain-clothes individuals who drove him to a forward location a few hours away from his base. The two plain clothes men went into a building and instructed Ron to provide security telling him to not allow anyone into the building under any circumstances. He was told to shoot anybody who refused to comply. Ron says that the two individuals were in the building for two or three hours and that while he was outside, he could hear a firefight going on very near to their location. When the two individuals came out of the building, they all left, according to Ron, as quietly as they came.
Ron would spend a year in Vietnam. In a ceremony prior to leaving, he received a Bronze Star. He’s not sure, but he believes that he received it for the secret mission he was on with the two unknown individuals. The citation he received states that it was for providing ground support for an intelligence operation.
After returning home and getting out of the Army, Ron embarked on a career working in the intelligence community. He has many very interesting stories about his time after the Army including working in the White House during the 1980’s, and even being a person of interest in an espionage investigation. (The perpetrator was revealed to be someone else.) He also made some pretty high-level friends during his time in the Reagan White House including Vice President Bush, former National Security Council member, and fellow Vietnam Veteran, Oliver North.
Thank you Ron for your lifetime of service to the United States, and for sharing your story with us.
To watch our full interview with Ron White, go to our website at https://www.americansinwartime.org/explore/voices-of-freedom/ronnie-white.
If you’d like to sit down and have your story documented, email Dennis at dgill@AmericansInWartime.org. If you or your loved one are not local, not a problem. We can accommodate you with a virtual interview.
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