Home » Santa Clarita News » Hometown Heroes - Our Veterans » Santa Clarita U.S. Navy Veteran Continues To Give Back
Michael J. Angulo Portrait

Santa Clarita U.S. Navy Veteran Continues To Give Back

Veterans Center Connection
While visiting Newhall’s Veterans Center, I met Mike Angulo who was on volunteer duty there and after a short chat, he and I agreed that we would meet soon to create this Veterans Page.  On Feb. 20, Mike and I met at George Thomas’ iconic 1960’s themed Route 66 Restaurant in Canyon Country.

Eternal Valley Banner Static


Sponsored Articles


Vietnam Veteran Bill Reynolds is our KHTS Director of Veteran’s Affairs. If you know a local veteran, please email us at Hometownheroes@hometownstation.com.


Agriculture Migrants

Michael J. Angulo Inspection

Michael John Angulo was born on Nov. 4, 1961 at the Natividad Medical Center in Salinas, California, resulting from his migrant parents working in agriculture.

Because of his parent’s divorce, Mike grew up on the move attending 13 schools. After his mother’s second marriage to a career Army soldier, Mike ultimately graduated from high school on June 20, 1980 at Long Branch High School near Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.  

Mike’s stepfather served there as a First Sergeant. After his stepfather moved his family to Grafenwohr, Germany, Mike worked at the base commissary warehouse. At Fort Monmouth, Mike worked in the Army Exchange, thus his strong work ethic began in earnest.  

He readily admitted that he preferred competing in high school sports, especially soccer, but his stepfather heavily influenced the necessity of earning wages.

Navy Avionics Training

“During high school my relationship with my stepfather, who had been orphaned, deteriorated resulting in me becoming somewhat incorrigible, so I ended up living with a high school administrator for a short while,” said Mike.  

Michael J. Angulo Unit Patch

On his 18th birthday, the Iranians took 52 Americans hostage including diplomats and citizens. Three weeks later, Mike enlisted in the U.S. Navy taking eight weeks of boot camp in San Diego.   

Following Mike’s exceptional technical testing right after boot camp, he was promoted to Airman E-3 assigned to avionics training for five months at Millington Naval Base in Tennessee.  

Graduating near the top of his class afforded Mike numerous technical positions which led to his next assignment at Miramar Naval Station in California.  

For the next six months, Mike trained extensively in data communications on Northrop Grumman’s E-2 Hawkeye, a tactical early warning aircraft nicknamed “Super Fudd.”

USS Midway Deployment
On Dec. 30, 1981, Mike departed Travis Air Force Base to Yokosuka, Japan and was assigned to the Aircraft Carrier USS Midway which was our Navy’s largest aircraft carrier post World War II through 1955.  

Michael J. Angulo Unit

Presently, the USS Midway is a museum ship in San Diego. For two years, Mike served as an Avionics Technician as the USS Midway made ports of call at Pusan, Korea, Perth, Australia, Hong Kong, Pattaya, Thailand, Subic Bay, Philippines and one 48-day task force mission entirely at sea.  

After serving on the USS Midway, Mike was sent to Point Mugu, California to work on TA-7 Corsairs and A-3 Sky Warrior aircrafts and was soon promoted to 2nd Class Petty Officer, E-5 in charge of electronics personnel.  

This was Mike’s first role in a supervisory position, which parlayed into his future endeavors. In September 1983, Mike received an $11,000 reenlistment bonus for four more years of service at Miramar Naval Station.  

While at Miramar, he landed a side job in a Navy Calibration Laboratory.  On Sept. 16, 1987, Mike was honorably discharged after almost eight years of service and he promptly joined the Navy Reserves for four years.  

Among his awards are the Good Conduct Award and Navy Expeditionary Medal.

Mike’s Resiliency
While serving at Point Mugu, Mike met his first wife Linnea King, a Navy Wave, at their Enlisted Men’s Club, which led to dating five months and then marriage in 1983, which produced one daughter.  

Michael J. Angulo & Crew

“However, after five years with Linnea I finally accepted that I was married to a complete pathological liar and while still serving, she thoroughly cleaned me out,” said Mike.  

Meanwhile, he began turning his life around landing an excellent position with Lear Astronics Corporation in Santa Monica as a Quality Test Technician working a great deal of overtime.  

One year later, Mike landed a job with Guidance Technology in Chatsworth, but when the company relocated back east, he worked for several other local companies. In 1991, Mike became a systems integrator working on machinery automation with Banner Pharmacaps Company in Chatsworth until 1995 when they also relocated back east.

Soul Mate

Michael J. Angulo & Kathleen Wedding

In 1988, while attending a dinner party with close friends in North Hollywood, Mike met a stunning beauty who possessed a terrific outgoing personality.  

After meeting Kathleen McCune, Mike said, “I was instantly captivated by her and it was though no one else existed at that very moment.”  

Though, when he asked for Kathleen’s phone number she surprisingly refused, Mike, being blatantly assertive, simply followed up by contacting her at work. This led to their first date at Mulligan’s Dance Hall in Tarzana.  

After dating four years, Mike recognized that Kathleen was his “soul mate,” and he proposed marriage in January 1994 leading to matrimony June 24, 1994 at San Juan Mission John’s Catholic Church in Lincoln, New Mexico.  

Creating a magical wedding ceremony, they planned it to coincide around Kathleen’s family reunion with relatives traveling from near and far. Mike reported that the infamous outlaw “Billy the Kid” was shot dead by Pat Garrett at nearby Old Fort Sumner.

Solid American Patriot
In February 1998, Mike was hired by Lockheed Martin Skunkworks in Palmdale as a manufacturing engineer specialist while earning his bachelors and masters degrees in information technology in July 2006.  

Michael J. Angulo College Graduation

While employed at Lockheed, Mike volunteered to manage the company’s golf league and he volunteered with the American Diabetes Association before leaving Lockheed in December 2011.  

Mike has also donated blood to the American Red Cross his entire adult life, having reached the four gallon mark this year.  

He joined SCV’s Elks Lodge in 2011 and these days, he volunteers for SCV’s Collaborative Veteran Services. As a solid American patriot, Mike enjoys Santa Clarita’s Independence Day parades and Elks Lodge Veteran events.

He’s very proud that he served his country in the U.S. Navy and has continued working in a national defense capacity. Mike, your patriotism, your excellent service and your volunteerism to our community is much appreciated.

Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking KHTS Santa Clarita News Alerts delivered right to your inbox.

Hometown Heroes - Dignity Memorial

Report a typo or error, email Corrections@hometownstation.com

KHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Clarita’s only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

KHTS FM 98.1 & AM 1220 - Santa Clarita News - Santa Clarita Radio

Santa Clarita U.S. Navy Veteran Continues To Give Back

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About Bill Reynolds - KHTS Director of Veteran Affairs

I’ve lived in Santa Clarita since 1980 with my wife, with whom I have two wonderful children and five beautiful grandchildren.I’m the first son of a World War II veteran and an Australian WWII War Bride. Instead of being born in one of the world’s most beautiful cities, Sydney, Australia, I was born in Mineral Wells, Texas. After moving around various small west Texas towns and having lived near Sydney, Australia, my family finally settled in the San Fernando Valley in 1955. I graduated from Cleveland High School, attended Pierce College and worked at General Motors in Van Nuys. In the spring of 1966, I was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Vietnam. I recently starred in National Geographic’s Emmy nominated documentary, “Brothers in War” now seen on Netflix. Read about "Hometown Heroes - Our Veterans" series, click here...