RON ARABIAN • VIETNAM
Ron Arabian, 77
Gloucester, MA
Born: 6/3/1948
Born/Raised: Gloucester
Rank: Specialist E-4 (Sergeant)
4th Division, 2nd & 9th Artillery, B Battery
Attached to the 25th Infantry
Service: US Army
Ban Me Thuot, Dak To, Kon Tum Province, Vietnam
Dates of Service: 1968-1972
When Ron Arabian graduated from Gloucester High School in 1967, he was planning on becoming an engineer. He was accepted and started to attend the Franklin Institute in Boston. Having to work for his tuition took its toll and he left in February 1968 only to be drafted by the Army in March.
The following October, as part of the 4th Division, he and his team were assigned to the 25th Division, in the 2nd of the 32nd infantry battalion, a field artillery unit that functioned as a reactionary force securing LZs or Landing Zones. He would be part of securing 18 different LZs during his tenure in-country.
“I’m proud of what I did; proud of how I reacted. I knew what my job was and I did it to the best of my ability.” His battery operated six M102 howitzers with his being nicknamed “Snoopy.” At one point during his year in Vietnam, he and his team were assigned to a Special Forces group to train South Vietnamese Army troops how to use the weapon.
Ron is one of five children (Kay, James Jr. (Fred), Clair and Kevin) born to his mother Janette and father James. While he was in Vietnam, his older sister Kay, who worked at Gorton’s, sent him a reminder of home in the form of a half-gallon of canned steamed clams.
Following his active service in 1970, he took a position at the Gloucester Marine Railways where his father, James, worked as a blacksmith. He worked there for 21 years becoming a foreman before moving across the harbor for a job at Rose’s Marine for another 16 years and eventual retirement.
Ron has been married three times, the second of which, to Cindy, who would make him a father to son, John and daughter, Shannon. He has been with his current wife Colleen for 27 years.