Coach Dave Grimm

Coming from a long line of family military service, David F. Grimm, teacher and Head Football Coach at Kiski Area High School is no exception to that record. Starting with his father who served in the Air Corps during WW II, he had three Uncles in the Navy and one in the Tank Corps in WW II. His grandfather served in WW I, and his two great grandfathers served in the Civil War. One, from Armstrong County, served the North and the other, from North Carolina, fought for the South.

Mr. Grimm in Vietnam

After graduating from [the former] Washington High School in 1964, Dave went to Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. While there, he bunked with two ex-servicemen who told him many Green Beret stories. They also advised him to volunteer instead of waiting to be drafted because he would receive better treatment in the regular army. Dave followed that advice and signed up. After his boot camp training at Fort Gordon, Georgia, he was assigned to the 82nd Airborne division in Vietnam. That assignment lasted one week and he was transferred to the 25th Infantry at Camp Cu Chi, a base camp the size of a "small town with paved streets," he said.

Mr. Grimm in Vietnam

He was placed in the 2nd Battalion of the 27th Infantry and airlifted out to the Cambodian border. By daytime they patrolled the border, came back and slept, and then at night went out on ambush duty. The North Vietnam Army (NVA) was camped on the Cambodian side and his platoon's job was to ambush them when they came back into Vietnam. Dave said, "The term is to 'pop an ambush,'" infiltrating the NVA's routes where weapons and troops were being brought in. There was a lot of waiting, and fighting took place one out of ten trips.

Mr. Grimm in Vietnam

While assigned to a listening post at the outer perimeter of his camp, a 600-member NVA regiment attacked one night. He and his two companions had to retreat back to the camp perimeter, but before they could get there heavy rocket fire started. They were scattered and had to hide in the rice paddies while the fight ensued all night. Dave recounts that it probably saved their lives as 13 were killed at the outer perimeter posts while 198 of the enemy were killed.

Mr. Grimm in Vietnam

Dave recounts one incident that reflects some of the Vietnam War problems. During his time, he said, "Things were kind of getting loose." Vietnam was a different war. It was a conflict where the front line was not a trace on a map but was wherever the opposing forces met and fought.

His platoon of 28 men was assigned to a swamp area to take up a position. On the way there, an argument broke out among the men about taking up the assigned position. Those in opposition persuaded the men, including a green Lieutenant leader, to divert to a nearby house. Dave and three of the men, as he puts it, "didn't want to screw up," and went to their assigned position. That house was attacked and most of those 28 men were killed and the rest seriously wounded. The Army never acknowledged the true reasons for this incident and offered Dave and the three men transfers to wherever they liked.

He was reassigned to the Combined Reconnaissance Infantry Platoon for the rest of his tour in Vietnam, and that led him to many interesting missions. Some of these include involvement in the CIA's Operation Phoenix where high ranking Viet Cong were eliminated and an assignment with South Vietnamese troops to report any intelligence learned; another was on river boat patrols with the Navy and Marines and another was being teamed up with Special Forces to infiltrate Cambodia looking for sites to permit a major American invasion on safe grounds. It was during these missions that Dave was promoted to Sergeant.

Dave finally finished his tour in May of 1970. He went back to college at Duquesne University earning his Master degree in Education and then joined Kiski Area School District. He's carried a vision since high school to coach and teach and that has been fulfilled today with more than 30 years at Kiski Area School District.

A native of Vandergrift and growing up in Washington Township, he and his wife, Noreen, now live in Bell Township with their two children, Christopher, 24 and Anneliese, 22.