HISTORY
REMEMBERING A WAR HERO
It was the first time the two men had met.
Their Navy SEAL platoon was preparing a
stealth night op out of My Tho in the Mekong
Delta in Vietnam. Within the space of
a few hours, they would be under attack, both
would be badly wounded and evacuated to
military hospitals. They wouldn’t see each other
again for 45 years.
But on that night in 1968 a bond of sacrifice
was forged through a bloody confrontation with
North Vietnamese guerrillas.
Retired Capt. Ronald Everest Yeaw, who made
his home in Port St. Lucie, died June 21 having
built a stellar 30-year naval career including three
combat tours of Vietnam and as commanding officer
of SEAL Team 6.
Ron and the Vietnamese combat interpreter
Nguyen Hoang Minh were introduced as they
stepped onto the patrol boat that would ferry
them to their objective. It was a moonless night >>
Port St. Lucie Magazine 25
Navy SEAL Capt.
Ronald Everest
Yeaw’s 30-year
naval career took
him from the
jungles of Vietnam
to the Pentagon.
BY MARY ANN KOENIG
Firefight secures former officer and Vietnamese
interpreter a place in SEAL lore