Vietnam 1st Battalion
Mark E. Young
C Company
Mark E. Young
BIG RED ONE!!
Anyone that has attended our reunions, has met Mark Young. He is, and has been good friends with John Nowlin and Ken Ihle for many years. He is an honorary “Cobra” with a true Airborne heart. It is because of this heart that I am proud to add a Mark Young page to the “Cobra” Company section of our site.
SP/5 and then became a commissioned officer after getting out…going to college on the GI Bill and went back in….couldn’t stand the BS and got out after two years. Photos here: “HOME SWEET HOME!!!” In front of my crib. BIG RED ONE!! Lai Khe, Michelin Rubber Tree Plantation (III Core) 1968.
I did two tours in ‘Nam one with the 1st Infantry…. 337th Radio Research (Army Security Agency) and the other tour with MACV (Military Advisory Command Vietnam) with 156th Aviation Company out of Can Tho in the IV Core.
My job in ‘Nam was to locate NVA and VC transmitters. (using a portable direction finding instrument) I then would turn these location of transmitters and their traffic activity over to someone else.
I flew with ARVNs and other special deals in Cambodia in ’70. I wound up with 22 air medals all C/A…(combat assault) and of course the wings that go with it…. We flew in a small aircraft (three seater) similar to a bird dog spotter plane. The small prop job we flew in was SSLLLLLOOW and we went from tree top canopy to up to no more than 2200 feet……. anyway, really got to see a lot of III CORE AND IV CORE areas and some great operations.
We carried incendiary grenades, M-16s, .38 pistols, survival kits….we were told if we went down we probably wouldn’t come out of the crash alive due to the glide ratio of the aircraft was like a rock (vs. a “paper” plane we made when we were kids)….but IF we did, use the grenades to melt all the classified shit…then use the 16s and then use the .38s for our heads because they’re worthless for anything else….. Looked cool wearing ’em though….
John Nowlin and I met in 1979 at the same church in East Lansing, Michigan… His son is a year older than our oldest (John Paul is 28 and our son, Jake is 27). The boys went to the Christian school together. I saw his 101st trademark and we became the best of buds since.
We have bow hunted, gun, drank extreme quantities of beer and smoked a zillion cigars…..raised our families… and John is the best buddy I have ever had. Many laughs, tears, tough times with many issues…but always a brother. K-Dog, Peter Morgan and I became friends a long time ago as well…can’t remember… ’80s with Ken and ’90s with Peter T. Morgan.
