Remembering CWO4 John Thomas Wise, USN

Born September 12, 1939 in Woodville, Texas; after graduation from high school John joined the Navy in September of 1957 at the age of 17 on what was then called a “kiddie cruise” . After basic training he was selected to go to Communications Technician School at Imperial Beach, California . . Upon arrival at Imperial Beach John was designated as a CTO Seaman Apprentice. While in training to become a CTO, John took the Foreign Language Aptitude Test (FLAT) and was selected for language training at the Army Language School at Monterey, California to study Vietnamese.

Everybody in Admin in Imperial Beach looked through the atlas and couldn’t find anyplace labeled Vietnam. Someone told John that Vietnam was somewhere around India and that he probably would be stationed at an embassy in Asia wearing civilian clothing. “Whoa! Gimme some of that action!” was John’s response. Upon completion of CTO “A” School in April of 1958, John was transferred to the Army Language School, still a CTSA.