Albert "Chip" Albertelly and I were friends and we were classmates at Palm Springs Junior High and in the Hialeah High Class of 1965. He lived at 5860 N. W. 120th Street in the county section of Hialeah in between Red Road and Lake Tahoe during high school.

Chip enlisted in the U. S. Marine Corps after high school at the height of the Vietnam War and he served three tours in country with the VMA-311 (Marine Attack Squadron 311 of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing) Tomcats. VMA-311 had earlier deployed to the air base at Chu Lai in April 1965 and the operations tempo was intense. The squadron flew 240 sorties flown from May 5-8, 1968, and by September the Tomcats had logged 25,000 combat sorties and were the undisputed pacesetter in what was believed to be a record number of combat sorties for any fixed wing squadron in a single conflict of war. The squadron relocated to Da Nang air base in the summer of 1970. For VMA-311 the war ended on Jan. 29, 1973, with a total of 54,625 combat sorties flown and 105,000 tons of ordnance dropped in support of troops throughout Southeast Asia.

Chip and I lost contact after high school so I don't have any more information on what he did in life after his service in the Marine Corps.

Chip was born on February 11, 1948 and he passed away at the age of 54 on February 5, 2003, in Pompano Beach, Florida. Our condolences to his son Anthony and to Chip's family. Rest in peace, Chip, it was an honor to be your friend back in our high school days.

Please click on the photos to see them at a larger size and on Chip's name image below to view his obituary from The Miami Herald.