By Gerald McGill

In August of 1966, I was CO of the Cape Fox, a 95-foot USCGC patrolling off the coast of South Florida, conducting search and rescue and drug interdiction. I had volunteered for this assignment, and it was common knowledge that this assignment was a prelude to a tour in Vietnam.

As the summer was drawing to a close, we learned of the first Coast Guard deaths in Vietnam. The Commanding Officer of the USCGC Point Welcome LTJG David C. Brostrom and Engineman Second-Class Jerry Phillips were killed while on patrol when their cutter was attacked and nearly sunk.  Eight additional crew members and a civilian photojournalist ride-along were also injured.  Even worse was the news that the cutter was attacked by U.S. Air Force pilots who knew nothing of Operation Market Time and mistook the Point Welcome for an enemy trawler.

The details were harrowing.

Shortly before 0400 on 11 August 1966, the Point Welcome was patrolling near the Demilitarized Zone in Division 12.  According to crew reports, the men on deck were watching military planes in the distance when out of nowhere the Point Welcome was illuminated by flares dropped from a USAF C-130.

After the Point Welcome was illuminated, the cutter quickly turned south.  The C-130 authorized a USAF B-57 fighter bomber to open fire on the Point Welcome with 20 mm gunfire.  The strafing ignited gasoline cans on the fantail and the Point Welcome’s rear section was engulfed in flames.  Fortunately, Chief Boatswain’s Mate (BMC) Richard H. Patterson was reporting early for his watch on the main deck at the time of the attack.  He grabbed a nearby fire hose and began spraying down the fire.

The crew immediately sent a distress call reporting that they were under attack and requesting assistance.  Before they receive a response, a second strafing pass showered the wheelhouse of the cutter and cut off all communication on the bridge.  This pass immediately killed LTJG Brostrom and severely wounded the ship’s executive officer, LTJG Jerry Ross.

Chief Patterson ran to the front of the vessel and assumed command of the Point Welcome.  He immediately turned on all the running lights and gunned the ship’s engines as they continued speeding south.

Even with the running lights illuminated, the Air Force planes failed to recognize the cutter as a U.S. vessel and continued their strafing and bombing runs.  Chief Patterson spent nearly an hour engaged in high-speed maneuvers, alternately gunning the cutter’s engines and slamming the cutter into reverse to avoid the hailstorm of firepower from above.

In the midst of this chaos, Chief Patterson instructed the less injured crew members to tend to those who had been seriously wounded.  Eventually, Chief Patterson made the difficult decision to abandon ship.  Before boarding the lifeboats, Chief Engineman William Wolf was able to make radio contact with the Marines, telling them to send word that the vessel under attack was actually a U.S. Coast Guard ship.  The Air Force planes quit firing.

But the nightmare was not over.  Once in the lifeboats the cutter crew found themselves the flashpoint of machine gun fire from two directions as a South Vietnamese Junk Force station mistook the crew for NVA and began firing, while Viet Cong snipers attacked from the beach.

Fortunately the USCGC Point Caution, which had heard the Point Welcome’s initial distress call, arrived on the scene at that very moment and instructed the Vietnamese Junk Force to stop firing.  Together a Junk Force vessel and the Point Caution rescued the Point Welcome’s crew.

Later that morning, Chief Patterson returned to the Point Welcome with four crew members and sailed the cutter back to Danang Harbor.

Following three months of repair, the Point Welcome was returned to service.  A military investigation determined that although mistakes were made, no one was to be held at fault for what happened.  Intra-military communications procedures were strengthened to prevent future misidentifications.

 I have previously mentioned that during peacetime the Cutters were commanded by a Master Chief Boatswain’s Mate (E-9).  These experienced seamen had invaluable knowledge and excellent navigational skills and we young officers were grateful to have men like BMC Patterson sailing with us. 

For his action that night, BMC Patterson was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat “V”.  The Point Welcome survivors felt that he deserved no less than the Medal of Honor, the highest military medal, a point with which I agree.  His seamanship kept the Point Welcome from being destroyed and probably saved the lives of the nine survivors.

LTJG David Brostrom graduated two years ahead of me at the Coast Guard Academy.  I did not know Dave well but as a member of the class of 1963, he was a part of the Cadre who trained our class. He was a born leader and had been with the Cutters since the creation of RON ONE. 

Dave was the first person I knew personally who died in Vietnam.  He was the son of a retired U.S. Navy Commander and his name is engraved on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C.  He left behind a wife and little boy.  He had just turned twenty-five years old.