Captain Warren Hudson USN (ret)

“I was OIC (Officer in Charge) of Swift 70. On Nov 6, 1968 we were shooting at bunkers on the south side of Cape Batanga. We were ambushed by on 75 mm recoilless rifle and several automatic weapons. One crewman was killed and a USMC rider was blown overboard and never recovered. Two crewman and I were wounded. The photo is from that day. I’m the guy with my back to the lifelines without a shirt getting one of the two morphine shots that morning. The photo shows a Coast Guard doctor bent over working on a crew member who died. “

Commissioned in 1966, Hudson qualified as Officer of the Deck on the USS William Wood (DD-715) then volunteered for Swift Boats. He trained with crew in Coronado then went into VN as a unit assigned to PCF-70 in Chu Lai, June 1968.

A Swift Boat crew consisted of 5 enlisted, the OinC, and a VN Liaison Petty Officer. …… ….

Husdon reported aboard Tulane in the summer 1969 after recovering from wounds, continuing a 26 year Navy career. As a Lieutenant Hudson was the Freshman NROTC Instruct at Tulane 1969-1972. His twilight cruise was CO/PNS Tulane NROTC from 1990 to 1992. While PNS, He taught Freshman Midshipmen. In particular Hudson convinced the President of Tulane to offer free room and board to Scholarship Midshipmen. As a consequence 112 Midshipmen selected Tulane and became the class of 1995, the largest commissioning at Tulane since 1946. Due to the high cost of TU scholarships to the USN, Tulane was thrilled but Hudson endured some criticism from Naval Training Command.

Warren Hudson
Captain, USN (ret.)