Seguin's Marine pilot, Capt. Dennis Brandon, was shot down and rescued during a fierce battle between U. S. Marines and North Vietnam Army last week.
    Capt. Brandon recovered immediately from this harrowing experience and has just completed his fifth additional mission since being downed by enemy gunfire.
    The 25 year old captain had completed almost 350 combat missions in Vietnam before being shot down on the afternoon of Monday, Jan. 22, near the Demilitarized zone separating North and South Vietnam. 
    His flight commander was also shot down and rescued during the same action.
    This action occurred when their unit flew to support U. S. Marines at Khe Sahn where they were under heavy attack by units of the North Vietnam Army.
    Captain Brandon's F-4B Phantom jet was hit as it was pulling out of its initial run over the target.  He immediately ejected from the doomed craft and managed to escape capture for 20 minutes until he was picked up by a Marine helicopter.
    In a Subsequent telephone call to his mother, Mrs. D. L. Brandon of 927 E. Ireland St. here Tuesday night, Capt. Brandon said he was resting briefly in Japan before again returning to Vietnam.
    He suffered only minor cuts, bruises and a sore neck when he was forced to parachute from his aircraft.  A Purple Heart will now be added to his long list of medals and honors.
    And during his telephone call here Tuesday, he reported that this second tour of duty in Vietnam would conclude in five weeks when he would return home permanently.
    He has now flown 352 combat missions in Vietnam since first arriving there in October 1966.
    He has been stationed a Chu Lai, 50 miles south of Da Nang, which is only some 150 miles from the border of North Vietnam.  Chu Lai is located on the coast of South China Sea.
    Captain Brandon's first tour of duty in Vietnam concluded in May 1967, a period during which he flew some 200 air strikes against the enemy.
    But following the conclusion of that original tour of duty the captain volunteered for a second tour of duty.
    At the time he told Gazette Publisher John Taylor the reasons for this rare decision today to return for another tour of combat duty.
    "I'm going back for several reasons.  First I feel it's necessary that our country is there.  We're committed to doing a job, and I feel I'm needed.  I'm going back also because I feel like I owe the Navy just a little bit more than most people do.  The Navy put me through school on a 4 year scholarship, and I won't forget the obligation I have."  
    He then pointed out his personal feelings about the Vietnam conflict:  " I feel it's necessary that we're there, and I feel our presence there has helped stabilize the situation a lot.  But I personally don't feel we'll win this war, so to speak, because it'll have to be concluded at the negation table.  We
just can't win an all out war with just what we have there now.  Even though Vietnam is a small country, the population is too great for us to adequately handle and win a war at the same time with the few troops we have.  Militarily, we've stabilized a lot of territory previously occupied by the Viet Cong.  But politically, it's obvious that many questions still remain unanswered."  
    The entire contents of Capt. Brandon's interview in the Gazette were subsequently picked up and published in the "U. S. Congressional Review" in Washington, D.C.
    Capt. Brandon is a 1960 graduate of Seguin High School and a 1964 graduate of Texas University.  He received his first commission as a second lieutenant in 1964 and then received his second commission after that to captain in March 1967.
    He has previously stated that the current tour of duty was his last in Vietnam.  He emphasized: "If this thing isn't over in six months, then I'm coming back home."
Seguin Gazette, February 1, 1968