John Fister

John’s last overseas duty with the U.S. Navy (1974-1976) was as a staff Naval Officer aboard the Aircraft Carrier, U.S,S. John F. Kennedy, CVA

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From 1968-1971 John’s primary Flight Officer duty was a Mission Commander for Tracking/Pursuing Russian USSR missile carrying submarines during the Cold War. The search areas ran from the East Coast of the U.S. through the North Atlantic (near Murmansk, Russia) to the Far Eastern reaches of the Mediterranean Sea.

In early 1968 as a young, single Naval Flight Officer, John volunteered for Vietnam duty in a reconnaissance squadron whose primary duty was the interdiction of enemy supply convoys on the North Vietnam and Laotian routes of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. One of their most notable successes was to help break the siege of Khe Sanh during the 1968 TET Offensive.

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