Dave Barr - Four Flags, the Odyssey of a Professional Soldier: Part 1: US Marine Corps Vietnam 1969-72, Israeli Defence Force 1975-77

Dave Barr has had a penchant for trouble since day one: born in the back of a car; shooting by the time he was five; riding a motorbike at seven

Dave regularly got into fights at school and the only reading he would do growing up involved motorbikes, shooting, Westerns and the military. After reading Battle Cry by Leon Uris aged 12, he knew he wanted to be a Marine. Following a series of menial jobs including working at a barbers and in service stations at 17 he joined the Marines before shipping out to Vietnam. This was his dream come true flying as a helicopter gunner and he ended the war with an impressive 57 Air Medals.

After leaving the Marines, like many veterans Dave found it hard to hold down a good job and stay out of trouble. It was then that he read about Israel. Always looking for a rush, Dave learnt to skydive before deciding to take his chances emigrating illegally to Israel. He was inducted into the Israeli Army and then the Paratroopers, where the training was difficult involving long tough marches, as well as learning Hebrew. After serving his time, he left Israel and back in the USA, Dave was stuck in a rut and ready for his next adventure

This is the first volume in the gripping and action-packed memoirs of Dave Barr providing a rich and colorful account of one mans odyssey as a professional soldier: seeing war at the sharp end.

Dave Barr was born in Los Angeles California, April 12, 1952 and raised in West Covina California where he attended school; his high school was Edgewood High.

He entered the US Marine Corps on June 30, 1969; the Israeli Parachute Brigade from May 1975 to May 1977; the Rhodesian Army, Rhodesian Light Infantry, January 1980 to December 1980; and the South African Army, 44 Parachute Brigade, Pathfinder Company, from January 1981 to January 1983.

Dave now lives in Bodfish California, in the mountains and his hobbies include sky diving (from June 1973 to May 2011), pistol shooting and motorcycling.

He wrote Riding The Edge, the chronicles of a journey around the world on his 1972 Harley Davidson (self-published); Riding The Ice, his Guinness Record ride across Northern Europe, Russia, and Siberia in the winter of 19961997, on his 1996 Harley Davidson Sportster (self-published) and also made a documentary of his Southern Cross Adventure, another Guinness Record ride to the four extreme compass points of the Australian continent on a 2002 Harley Davidson Sportster.

Dave has two children, Luke and Jillian Barr.

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Published by Helion & Company 2015
Designed and typeset by Farr out Publications, Wokingham, Berkshire
Cover designed by Euan Carter, Leicester (www.euancarter.com)
Printed by Lightning Source, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

Text Dave Barr 2015
Photographs Dave Barr unless noted otherwise

ISBN: 978-1-909982-70-3
EPUB ISBN: 978-1-911096-81-8

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written consent of Helion & Company Limited.

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We always welcome receiving book proposals from prospective authors.

This book is dedicated to Colonel Breytenbach, but for whose bravery that fateful day on August 29, 1981 this story would not be told.

To Luke Coztze who was always there to listen.

To all the Marines and Israeli soldiers that I served with, thank you for the time we served together.

Lastly to my mother and father, Lucille and Preston Barr, for always understanding and standing by me.

Contents

List of photographs

Glossary

Acknowledgements

The Early Years

1 Childhood

My Marine Experience

2 Marine Boot Camp

3 Vietnam

4 The End of the Marine Corps

Basic Training, Israel

5 Going to Israel

6 Basic Training, Israel

7 Basic Training Continued

8 NCO

9 Returning Home

List of photographs

Insert 1

Dave, aged two, with Taffy - the familys collie dog.

Dave, aged three, posing for a photo.

Dave, aged four, with his father, Preston; his mother, Lucille; and Taffy.

Dave, aged four, with a young neighbor in La Crescenta, CA.

Dave, aged 10, playing the accordion and not so well!

A PBY Catalina in dive somewhere over the Pacific Ocean between 1942 and 1945. This photo was presumably taken by Preston Barr from his aircraft.

Preston Guy Barr and his friend, Bill, standing in front of the PBY in the Pacific, 1943.

A crew posing in front of the PBY in the Pacific, 1944. Preston is in the middle of the front row.

Dave on Graduation Day at the MCRD in San Diego, CA, September 14, 1969.

Dave in his hooch after a brawl at Marble Mountain in Da Nang, Vietnam, 1970.

Graduation Day - September 14, 1969 at the MCRD in San Diego, CA. Standing from left to right: Cousin Mindy, Kristine Prause, Dave, Lucille Barr, Preston Barr and Mary Ellen (Daves sister).

Dave and Kristine Prause going to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball at the Hollywood Palladium, CA, November 10, 1969.

Another photograph of Dave and Kristine going to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball.

Dave leaning on the external LMG of The Greasy Rider in Vietnam, DecemberJanuary 197071.

Dave in front of the TV-13 The Greasy Rider. This gunship had four external LMGs and two internal LMGs. The rocket pods could hold 18 2.75 7 lb warhead rockets.

Insert 2

Mike Swaiteckis Helo The Muff Diver loaded with two three-stage concussion bombs.

Mike Swaiteckis Helo the Muff Diver on a rocket run in Vietnam 1971. (Taken from Dave Barrs Helo the Greasy Rider.)

Two rockets on their way to a hilltop target from Mikes Helo.

Two gunships on the roll taking off from Marble Mountain in Da Nang, Vietnam, 1970-71.

Mike Swaitecki in Dress Blues after he returned from Vietnam.

Bedouin women and a little girl collecting - what is precious - water in the Judean desert on the edge of our camp. This was tolerated because the Bedouins were pro-Israel - sometimes serving in the IDF.

Anti-tank training in the Negev Desert, 1976.

Showing off in the Negev Desert, 1976.

Heflock and Dave taking a break in the Judean Desert, 1976.

Dave and Heflock standing in front of shelter halves in the Judean Desert, 1976. This was the way they lived while in the field and training for months at a time.

The squad taking a break in the Judean Desert, 1975.

Dave and Zockme. Dave used to have to pick up Zockme in a firemans carry when he was being punished. Both Zockme and Heflock fitted nicely on Daves shoulders.

Dave during a MAG/LMG border patrol in the Golan Heights along the Syrian border.