Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Vietnam Veteran Awarded Silver Star Medal
The many misperceptions about Vietnam War vets after the war and even wisps of which persist today have been widely proven false. Rather than drug ridden, nonproductive, anti- social individuals most have become productive citizens, good family people, and dedicated to their communities. Ken Gheen of Prairie Grove is a Vietnam vet who has lived a rich, productive life.
Gheen has lived a life of many chapters. As a youth he grew up in the history rich Washington D. C., Northern Virginia area. He was a combat soldier in the Vietnam War. His post war careers included owning his own businesses, being an advertising director for a large corporation and a production manager. Gheen has been deeply involved in veterans’ affairs and also started a nonprofit organization that feeds needy children.
Born in Washington, D.C., Gheen’s family moved to Leesburg when he was three. The historic ambience of this area induced a deep love of history and country. His natural inclinations guided him to join the U.S. Army. He graduated from high school in 1963 and enlisted in January 1964.
During the summer of 1965, Gheen went to Vietnam in the first of several tours, official and “unofficial.” His total time was three and a half years.
One period of time was spent with MACV- SOG… this was the “unofficial” tour. The innocuous sound of the acronym MACV-SOG stands for Military Assistance Command-Studies and Observations Group.
The MACV- SOG team led by Captain Gheen was comprised of two Green Berets (Gheen and a NCO) along with six Montagnards whom they recruited. Their missions were mostly near the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. They would monitor NVA [North Vietnamese Army] troops and their Laos and Cambodia supply stations.
On one mission they found hundreds of cases of AK-47 rifles, ammunitions, mortar ammo, RPGs and other armaments. They were able to direct effective aircraft and artillery fire to destroy this major arms depot. They did this as they hastily fled the area as hundreds of NVAs chased them.
Since they had small numbers on most missions, they had to flee so they didn’t have to face overwhelming numbers of enemies. Inevitably they had to engage in some fire-fights before leaving the area.
Gheen was awarded the Silver Star Medal for his actions on another tour when he was the company commander for a 101st Airborne unit. His unit was near Song Tri in Quang Dien Province in July of 1968. His troops became pinned down by machine gun fire out of several enemy bunkers. After getting his company HQ section out of harm’s way, he attended to getting his troops out of danger. He crawled across 50 meters, under intense gunfire to within 25 meters of the bunkers. He neutralized the threat by tossing several well placed hand grenades and his M-16 gunfire.
On his last tour in 1970 he was a senior advisor to the South Vietnamese Army, 49th Regiment, of the 25th Division. The South Vietnamese Army inflicted terrific damage on the North Vietnamese, at a 10 to 1 KIA ratio and confiscated and destroyed enormous amounts of armaments. Unfortunately, the drag of the U.S. Senate not supplying sufficient armaments to the ARVN [S. Vietnam] the mission was aborted before they could continue the devastation they were putting upon the North Vietnamese.
After returning home Ken Gheen was successful with some companies he owned and held some substantial positions with some large companies. His last venture was to buy houses, fix them up, and flip (sell) them. He detected the looming housing debacle and got out before the collapse.
Gheen is deeply involved in veteran needs and is currently serving his second term as the Commander of Lincoln VFW Post 4675.
One of his greatest achievements has been the establishment of Angel Lifeline, a 501C3 non-profit organization. Their motto is “Saving our children one meal at a time.” Ken’s wife Denise and he started this program to try and feed the 2,000 kids in Washington County in great need. They currently work with six school districts. Children who do not have a lunch or cannot afford one are provided lunch at the expense of Angel Lifeline. They hope at some time to have enough funds to be able to work this program with the Fayetteville and Springdale school systems.