A Howard Watson Intrigue

Lessons from Vietnam After I graduated from WestPoint Academy, my father George literally screamed at me when I volunteered for early duty in Vietnam.  He never let up on the notion that Vietnam was the wrong war at the wrong time against the wrong enemy.  I can recall his words like it was yesterday. “Howard, this ain’t our fight! This is the white man’s M-O getting into another country’s business when they’re fighting against themselves! You don’t need to be getting into the middle of this mess. Ain’t a Vietnamese alive who’s done us wrong. Enough is enough!" Of course I was too headstrong to agree. I listened, but I didn’t agree.    His objection to the war, at least in his view, was important and right but  Vietnam was just something I had to do. When I stepped off that transport plane in Vietnam the heat hit me like a blast furnace. The greenery was so glistening it almost hurt my eyes. The strange smell that hit my nostrils I later fou...

Happy New Year 2019. Glad you're still around.  I've been getting a lot of questions about one of my colleagues - Tim Yamamoto. He's a great guy and even greater Agent..but then again, I'm biased. Tim Yamamoto's father Akashi is straight up Japanese and his mother Carrie is half-Japanese and half-Black. During World War II, twelve year-old Akashi, along with his father, mother and older brothers, were shoved into an internment camp in Colorado. During this time the Japanese had to constantly prove that they were as American as anyone else. It didn't help that they lived on the west coast and it was  feared that the transplanted Japanese might be loyal to their mother country.   FDR's Executive Order 9066   gave the military broad powers to ban any citizen of Japanese heritage from living on a 50 to 60 mile-wide coastal area stretching from Washington state to California and extending inland into southern Arizona. Years after the war, Akashi's fathe...

Hello again. Glad you can join me. Ok, the question that's been asked a lot. "What's up with you and Phil Davenport, the FBI Agent from Chicago?" Hope you like the answer. If you read THE PACT you will know that I met Phil Davenport in the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia. He had a very solid upbringing in an upscale suburb outside Cleveland, Ohio. I believe the Academy humbled him in many ways. But then again Quantico put all of us through a regimen that tested our fiber. Phil seemed always amazed at the thought that 80% of the new entrants made it through the Academy. What he failed to grasp was that the real test was getting in to the Academy. Phil and his roommate Michael Gras and my roommate John Mason and I became fast friends. In the beginning Phil preferred John's company because he told me years later that he thought I was aloof, even somewhat standoffish. I was floored. He also told me that at the beginning of our relationship he thought I was ...

Howard Watson here. Glad you could join me. Many of you have written and asked how I met my wife Carol. For those of you who have read The Gordian Knot this rendering might sound repetitive. My best friend and fellow FBI colleague John Mason and I were Army officers stationed in the same camp in Vietnam. Two years later by happenstance we found ourselves roommates in the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia. After reporting to the Director of New Recruits, I was informed that all new trainees had been divided into teams. Before I could locate my partner's name on the list, a finger tapped me on the shoulder. It was John. Both of us had proven our ability to cope well with difficulties in Vietnam so there was nothing much to prove in the Academy. The last three weeks of our 16 weeks training was review, review, review. Although I was the younger man, I felt something that I just couldn't explain, it was like I had a brother in John and so I deemed myself his protector, tel...

I am Howard Watson.  Glad you can join me again. After my last post I received quite a few queries on how I met John Mason. For those of you who didn't read The Gordian Knot my best friend and colleague John Mason and I met in Vietnam. I remember it like it was yesterday. When I stepped off the transport plane in Vietnam a blast of hot air hit my face. The place felt like a furnace. The country was not at all like I thought it would be. Vietnam was beautiful, true, but it was not a paradise. The greenery was the greenest I'd ever seen - glistening, but somehow threatening. I remembered what really scared me was the strange smell in the air. I later found out that it was the stench of death. I had, six months prior, graduated from West Point Academy as a Second Lieutenant. After receiving my instructions and meeting other officers in the camp I arrived at the tent where I would be quartered for the next seven months. Inside were two other lieutenants unpacking their be...

I am Howard Watson. I am an FBI Special Supervisory Agent in Charge of a Washington, D.C. unit that focuses on weaponry, forensics and other illegalities that cross state lines. I have been an FBI Agent for over 20 years. I graduated from West Point Academy, fought in several wars and I am fluent in the Russian language. My wife Carol is an attorney and we have three sons, two of whom are twins. My oldest son is in law school and the twins are in 6 th grade. I have two younger sisters, both married, and happy to say, to some pretty level-headed men. Both sisters have two children. My parents are still alive and living in Brooklyn, New York. My family and I live in Virginia. I've tackled some pretty serious cases while an agent. Some of them have made me believe I wouldn't make it home alive. They included the Iranian rescue mission, capture of a major drug lord from Peru, the breakup of an illicit diamond ring in Philadelphia, the secretive but amazingly lucra...

Dear Friends and Supporters of Haymarket Center , Just a reminder of the Skinny Williams Jazz Concert fundraiser for Haymarket Center on Wednesday, August 15, 2012.  Click on the link below as it will offer you a sample of Skinny’s wonderful sound. He is a dynamic performer and we are fortunate to have such a great artist perform for our fundraiser on Wednesday, August 15, 2012 from 5:30-8:00pm . Listen to his sound and then go to our website and for only $40 you can be part of the excitement. We accept VISA and MasterCard and you can pay by check. This will be an exhilarating and exciting 2 ½ hours on a hot summer evening in August!  www.HCenter.org  – you will not be disappointed! skinny williams on wgn tv children of the ghetto