My name's Louis Bickford. I served in the Navy.

My name's Louis Bickford.

I served in the Navy.

I went in in January of '67 and I spent 12 years.

I did two tours of Vietnam.

I ended up as an E6 Electronic Tech when I got out.

I'm a Native American or American Indian.

They keep changing it on us.

And I'm a member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa.

I was a side gunner on Seasprite helicopters off the USS Hornet.

We would go out and try to rescue the pilots

if they were making a bombing run across North Vietnam.

And then they would try to ditch in the Gulf of Tonkin

and we would try to get to them before the North Vietnamese

gunboats did.