Edd Wooten (back, center) is shown inspecting a fishing vessel in Qhi Nhon Harbor in Vietnam along with South Vietnamese troops (two men in foreground). Wooten said the photo was taken in February or March of 1969.

Wooten recalls 20 years of service in the Navy

More than 20 years after his full military retirement, Sparta resident Edd Mack Wooten received his final Navy commendation, a combat action ribbon.

During his 20 years of active duty, including 18 years at sea, Wooten accumulated a number of medals, traveled to many ports of call and served on a number of naval vessels. During Wooten’s service he held active duty stations aboard vessels in two wars, including supporting the U.S. military objectives in both Korea and Vietnam.

“You experience a lot being in a different part of the world,” Wooten said of the medals he received. “But there is just no place like the United States.”

Wooten joined the Navy as a seaman recruit on Oct. 30, 1951 at the age of 17 and began his service in 1951 at the Naval Training Center in San Diego, Calif.

Following boot camp in San Diego, Wooten had a nine-month tour of duty in Korea to officially begin his service. From June 1952 until March 1953, he was stationed in the waters offshore of that country, followed by a second nine-month tour of duty the year after.

“For the first nine months I was in Korea, I had a hard time dealing with being away from my family,” Wooten said. This family included his parents Charlie and Lena Wooten and his younger siblings — five sisters and three brothers. His stint in Korea marked the first time he had ever been away from his Whitehead community home for an extended period of time — while going to San Diego marked his first time away from Alleghany County.

“I liked it out there,” he said of San Diego. “I really enjoyed that.” While in boot camp, he was required to stay on the base for nine weeks straight. However, he had little time to get homesick. “They kept you occupied.”

The intensive training was followed by a leave of 14 days, during which time he returned to Alleghany County by bus.

“I went out to California on a train, it took three days and three nights to get out there,” Wooten said. “Coming back on the bus took about the same amount of time, the best I can remember. I liked the train better because you had better facilities to work with.”

After returning from leave, Wooten was further trained on a decommissioned World War II ARG, a repair vessel. After that training, he and his fellow sailors helped the get the ship re-commissioned for service in the waters off Korea. The official name of the ship was the ARG-17 U.S.S. Hooper Island, which had the mission of maintaining liberty boats and other small landing craft. However, Wooten’s primary work was maintaining the USS Hooper Island itself, including painting, cleaning and other routine maintenance.

Wooten was allowed to take some liberty time in Sasebo, Japan. He said the Japanese kept their port city cleaner.

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