Dick Fontana, RD2 Radar man, Petty Officer, E5 2nd class
Captain of the Honor Guard, Cook VFW POST 1757
If you know an Honor Guard member or any veteran, please thank them for their service again and again as they continue to serve our community and our country!
It takes a communicator to be captain of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Honor Guard. There are sixteen proud members of the Cook Honor Guard who serve regularly at ceremonies, parades and veterans’ funerals. Dick Fontana is that communicator. He has developed that skill over the years while serving in the Navy from 1964 to 1968, working for John Deere company for thirty-one years, serving as a UAW Representative ( The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America) and serving as the all-state commander of VFW POST 9662 in Iowa. Now, Dick and his wife, Mo, live on Lake Vermilion and Dick continues to serve Cook VFW POST 1757.
Dick grew up on a small farm in Iowa and graduated from Ankeny High School in 1963. In 1964 he voluntarily entered the Navy. After basic training he was assigned to radar class ”A” school in San Francisco on Treasure Island. After training, Fontana was assigned to a Navy destroyer, The USS Ingersoll DD-652 (In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers.)
Fontana served from January 1965 to April 1968. On his first tour in Vietnam (May through November, 1965) The Ingersoll provided protection during the building of the U.S. facilities in Da Nang. Dick was trained as a “shore bomb talker”, communicating with U.S. troops and small aircraft, to protect the shoreline and the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) from the enemy, North Vietnam or Viet Cong. Also part of the mission was intercepting Viet Cong supplies along the coast. Junks (Asian boats) were stopped and interrogated by South Vietnamese interpreters to determine whether they were fishermen or Viet Cong operatives running supplies.
While on this tour, The Ingersoll was sent up the Saigon River in the “Brown Water” area of South Vietnam. (Agent Orange was a designation created by the U.S. Veterans Administration.) Agent Orange was a chemical spray used to kill foliage that grew in abundance in Vietnam.) The target of the mission was a Viet Cong ammunition and supply depot. After being spotted on target, The Ingersoll provided continuous 4-gun salvos until all magazines were emptied.
After six months, Dick returned to the U.S. for R&R and continued underway training before returning to Vietnam for a second tour of duty from October 1966 until May 1967. The Ingersoll conducted shore bombardment on missions against the North Vietnamese aircraft artillery batteries. Ships also rescued and recovered from the water, airmen whose aircraft were shot down by aircraft artillery.
Dick Fontana proudly served his country at a very difficult, politically troubling time and continues to serve the community
Thank you for your service, Dick Fontana!
