Westpac '72

In the latter stages of the Vietnam War it became clear that little progress had been made, and public opinion of more than 6 years of war had become even more negative. The peace talks were not progressing well, and in early 1972 a stepped up naval air offensive was ordered by President Nixon in order to further fortify the DMZ (demilitarized zone) between North and South Vietnam. This offensive was to be part of an operation known as “Linebacker”.

WESTPAC ’72 describes detailed accounts of the author’s experiences just prior to and during the deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) to Vietnam in that year. Daily life aboard ship, both routine and under combat conditions is only part of the story. Racial tensions between black and white crewmembers began to build over the course of several months, and repeated line extensions only exacerbated the problem. It ultimately came to a head, and resulted in an incident that temporarily crippled the ship's operations. And the author unknowingly found himself directly impacted.