The 6258th was the first home for the Air Police assigned to Phan Rang AB: RVN starting in Oct 1965. The Air Police were assigned to the Group HQ.
I arrived in Dec of 1965 and there were 13 enlisted personnel and two officers there when I arrived. One of the officers was CAPT Reg Maisey who returned to RVN in time for the Tet season of 1968 when he was killed while trying to get ammo to one of his bunkers. (He received the Air Force Cross for this heroic action and - personal opinion - had he been on flight status he would have won the Medal of Honor). The other officer was 1LT Fred Reiling. They were both TDY to Phan Rang and left soon after I arrived, to the best of my knowledge. (Memories for that kind of detail get a bit fuzzy after 35 years).
The 6258th was commanded by one of the "wildest" and most beloved officers I've ever had the pleasure to work for. COL Ben Matlick was responsible for getting Phan Rang built and he gave us the impression that the sun went up when the cops ran it up - and God help anyone that tried to mess with "his" cops. (He was so respected that about 90% of the 600+ cops volunteered to go with him to Phu Cat when he finished at Phan Rang).
COL Ben gave us the support we wanted and made sure that we had first "dibs" on whatever we needed and he really was good at looking the other way when we needed to find needed supplies and equipment. For example, anyone remember the M151 jeep with the 66K5432 hood number? Uh - my last four of my serial number at the time - why, it was 5432 of course! (We used real serial numbers not the SSAN now in use).
We had a small perimeter around the compound and the runway area was the responsibility of the RVN forces until we received more troops in Jan of 66. The runway was PSP and the famous CO RMK/BRJ was building the "real" runway and the permanent housing.
The cops were living in hooches we built ourselves - first basic tents on concrete pads and then we framed them in. Seems to me we had 10 cops or so per hooch and we managed to survive.
One special thing I remember was that the first Purple Heart awarded at Phan Rang went to a dog handler that met a punji stick the hard way. Now, this may have been after we became the 35th APS but I tend to remember that COL Ben made the presentation.
On 8 Feb 1966 the names were changed and we became the 35th APS and the rest, as they say, is history.
Joseph V. Barth
Maj USAF (Ret)
OFFICIAL HISTORY & LINEAGE of the 6258th AP /DET-is unknown. What little is known is courtesy of the 1st Mobile Communications Group & 1882nd Communications Squadron.