Steve Mulvihill served two tours in Vietnam. The first was aboard the USS Skagit, where he served on the landing boats delivering supplies up rivers to bases. The downside to this tour was being shot at like a moving duck on the shooting gallery at a carnival. The upside was the ports of call the ship made in Asian countries.
US Navy Veteran Steve Mulvihill
Steve didn’t approach these port visits like your average sailor. Oh sure, he had his fair share of wild times, but mostly Steve liked to explore and learn about the local culture.
He often found himself wondering into areas off-limits to sailors. Once in an off-limits part of Hong Kong, Steve and a friend came across a man trying to sell a baby girl to a crowd. They pooled their money ($50), bought her, and immediately took her to a nearby orphanage run by nuns. To this day, Steve still wonders about his little “China Girl” and how her life turned out.
Steve volunteered for the second tour, which proved to be much different than the first one. Steve was now a member of the Navy’s Beach Jumpers, a Naval Special Warfare unit. They were akin to the Navy Seals, which eventually absorbed them in 1974. His unit operated off the USS Iwo Jima, doing missions along the coastal region. The upside was he was
now able to shoot back. The downside was that what he experienced changed him forever. He, like so many of our veterans, experienced things no one should ever have to.
Brad Hoopes has a passionate project of preserving the stories of our veterans. To view veteran stories, please visit:
www.youtube.com/@rememberandhonorstories.