CAPT Paul Lutz - Recollections. . .Commanding CGC Sherman in Vietnam, 1970

In 2002 Captain Paul A. Lutz, USCG (Ret.), provided the Coast Guard Historian's Office with the following memoir where he describes three different incidents that occurred during Sherman's Vietnam cruise in 1970, where the cutter was assigned, under his command, to Coast Guard Squadron Three. Sherman carries the distinction of having sunk, in combat, a North Vietnamese trawler that attempted to land arms and ammunition to enemy forces in South Vietnam. Captain Lutz describes that battle in exciting detail. Sherman also carried out an intelligence mission, bringing her dangerously close to Communist Chinese territory, in an operation that once again demonstrated the varied capabilities and responsibilities of the nation's oldest continuous sea-going service. In the final narrative, Captain Lutz describes how medical personnel from Sherman, though under threat of Communist attack, saved a Vietnamese village from a cholera epidemic, a humanitarian mission that brought great credit to Sherman, her crew, and the U.S. Coast Guard.