BY TOM STEPHENS
Examiner Contributor
China Beach, located in what was previously South Vietnam, was given its nickname by the American GIs who were stationed there during the Vietnam War.
So famous was the spit of land as an evacuation point and hospital for GIs that in the late 1980s, a television series called “China Beach” was produced and aired in the United States, compete with plenty of pretty nurses and love stories, giving a romanticized air to the area.
Logan County resident Robert Hart was stationed near there during his tour of duty Vietnam with the United State Air Force in the mid-1960s and visited China Beach (originally called My Khe by the Vietnamese) and was quick to remove any air of romance that was endowed on the beach by Hollywood.
“There was only one woman at China Beach,” Hart said with twinkle in his eye, “and she was made out of sand.”
Hart has been selected as the 2025 Logan County’s Vietnam War Veteran’s Day honoree. He will be recognized for his service during the Vietnam War Veteran’s Day ceremony at 11 a.m. today, Saturday, March 22, at the Harold Kerr American Legion Post 173, 120 Colton Ave., Bellefontaine. The public is invited to attend.
Originally from Morgantown, W.Va., Hart joined the USAF in 1953, did his basic training at Geneva, N.Y., and during the next 20 years, he was stationed at any number of locations through the United States. He completed two tours in England – which he remembers fondly – and spent exactly one year in Vietnam at the height of the American buildup in the country, serving first with the 35th Transportation Squadron and then the 366th Fire Squadron during his tour in Southeast Asia.
Hart was in Vietnam for exactly one year from January 1966 to January 1967, during which he served as a Transportation Supervisor on the coast of the South China Sea, being responsible for moving everything from GI socks and skivvies to napalm and phosphorus from his port inland to Da Nang. It was a 10-mile trip that was made on roads that were better served for foot traffic and bicycles than it was for a jeeps and deuce-and-a-half trucks.
The Corps of Engineers eventually laid a proper road between the two points, but that was after Hart left the country, noting that the 10-mile trip from the port to the Da Nang was a very bumpy one indeed.
During his 12-month tour of duty in Vietnam, he spent the entire time working 12-hours shifts – 12 hours on, 12 hours off. Anyone who has pulled such shifts for a week can testify how brutal a ’12-on, 12-off’ schedule can be, but Hart and those he supervised had to do it every day for an entire year, and is exceedingly proud how he and his charges made the constant round-trips over primitive roads without complaint.
Following his return to the Untied States, Hart stayed in the Air Force, where he bounced around at a number of bases, including being assigned to the 664th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, which was located on Campbell Hill just to the east of Bellefontaine and is now home to the Ohio Hi-Point Career Center.
Hart was with the 664th when it was decommissioned by the USAF in 1969, but throughout his travels, he remembered Logan County fondly, especially the kindness shown by the Lewistown United Methodist Church toward him and his fellow services members.
The photo accompanying this article shows Hart holding a photo of his 33-year-old self. The photo-in-the-photo was was taken by a reporter from a Peoria, Ill., newspaper while Hart was in Vietnam.
While stationed at Peoria, Hart saved the life of a man who had been run over by a truck. The driver of the truck, unaware of the accident, was preparing move along before Hart waved him down and got him to stop before the accident victim was flattened by the second set of wheels. Hart was credited with saving the man’s life and the Peoria reporter looked him up while he was in Vietnam and took the photo that Hart is holding.
Following his tour in Vietnam, Hart was assigned to a number of different bases. He was scheduled to be assigned to a base in Minnesota, but not wishing to be stationed one of the coldest areas in the states, finagled his way to get transferred to the 664th instead.
While stationed atop of Campbell Hill, his wife Mary worked as a nurse as Mary Rutan Hospital. Then, following his 20-year stint in the Air Force, when deciding where to live on his retirement from the USAF, they chose Logan County, and again with the aid of members of the Lewistown United Methodist Church, found a plot of land near Huntsville, which they purchased in 1973. Now headed into their 71st year of marriage, Robert and Mary have been there ever since.
When asked what attracted them to Logan County, Hart said, “We liked the area and the people and thought this would be a good place to settle.”
During today’s ceremony, his community will offer their appreciation for his 20 years of dedicated service in the Air Force, both abroad and close to home.