In the history of the United States Navy, only seven men have earned all of the big three valor awards: Medal of Honor, Navy Cross, and Silver Star. Six were World War II officers, including one aviator. The seventh was James Elliott “Willy” Williams – considered the most decorated enlisted man in the history of the Navy.
Williams, a Cherokee Indian, was born November 13, 1930, in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Two months later he moved with his parents to Darlington, South Carolina where he spent his early childhood and youth. He attended the local schools and graduated from St. John’s High School.
In August 1947, at the age of 16, Williams enlisted in the United States Navy with a fraudulent birth certificate. He completed basic training at Naval Training Center San Diego. He served for almost twenty years, retiring on April 26, 1967, as a Boatswain’s Mate First Class (BM1). During those years, he served in both the Korean War and Vietnam War.
During the Korean War, he was stationed aboard the Destroyer USS Douglas H Fox (DD-779) from November 1950 to June 1952. He was detached off the Destroyer and operated off the coast of Korea by taking raiding parties into North Korea on small boats. From 1953 to 1965 he served tours on a variety of naval vessels.
In 1966, with only a year before he was to retire from the Navy, the burly man, 5-foot-8 and 210 pounds Williams volunteered for combat duty in Vietnam.
Williams arrived in Vietnam in April 1966 as a BM1. He was assigned in May to the River Patrol Force, River Squadron Five, in command of River Patrol Boat 105 (PBR-105). The force’s mission was to intercept Viet Cong and North Vietnamese arms shipments, supplies, and personnel on the waterways of South Vietnam’s swampy Mekong Delta and to keep innocent boat traffic on the river and canals safe.
On July 1, 1966, Williams led a patrol that came under fire from the Vietcong sampan. His deft maneuvers and accurate fire killed five VC and resulted in the capture of the enemy boat, earning Williams a Bronze Star Medal with a V for Valor. Twenty-two days later his crew captured another sampan, earning Williams a second Bronze Star Medal for Valor.
Less than a month later, he received his Silver Star and the first of three Purple Hearts he would eventually receive.
On the night of October 31, 1966, Williams was commanding PBR 105 alongside another PBR searching for Viet Cong guerrillas operating in an isolated area of the Mekong Delta. Suddenly, Viet Cong manning two sampans opened fire on the Americans. While Williams and his men neutralized one sampan, the other one escaped into a nearby canal. The PBRs gave chase and soon found themselves in a beehive of enemy activity as the VC opened fire on them with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms from fortified river bank positions.
Williams, who knew the area well from months of patrols, directed his two boats in a high-speed detour to a spot he knew the fleeing sampan would eventually emerge. Both threaded an alternative channel too narrow for the boats to reverse course. At nearly 35 knots they roared up the twisting passage, the heavily jungled bank passing in a green blur. Then as they rounded a bend to an area of more open water, to the surprise of all aboard, they stumbled into a major staging area for the North Vietnamese Army. Thirty to forty sampans were crossing the channel, each loaded to the gunwales with NVA troops and supplies.
The enemy was equally surprised and sprang to their guns. Along the shore, the familiar “thonk” of mortars could be heard. Williams had no choice but to gun his engines straight at the enemy! Tracers streaked across the water. Williams ran his boat directly at several sampans, splitting them in half under the sharp bow of his rocketing speedboat. The PBR’s twisted and jinked blazed their weapons and spilled hundreds of dead and dying NVA troops into the water. The speed and maneuverability of the Americans kept them ahead of the enemy return fire. They blasted through the enemy formation and back into the narrow channel beyond.
Momentarily safe, the PBR’s sped onward. Williams called in heavily armed UH-1B Huey helicopters from the Navy Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron 3 “Seawolves” for air support, but as his speedboats rounded another bend they found themselves smack in the middle of a second staging area as big as the first. Again, the narrow channel determined their fate, and both PBR’s sped boldly at the enemy. For a second time, their machine guns blazed and splinters flew from enemy sampans and NVA soldiers spilled into the water. And for a second time, the two American gunboats sliced through the enemy, blasting and ramming as they went. Secondary explosions from several of the larger junks confirmed Williams’ suspicion that they were ammunition and supply vessels.
Despite three hours of intense combat, Williams’ crew received only two casualties–one gunner was shot through the wrist, and Williams himself was wounded by shrapnel. For his conspicuous bravery above and beyond the call of duty he was put in for the Medal of Honor – which he received from President Lyndon B. Johnson on May 14, 1968, during the dedication ceremony of the Pentagon’s “Hall of Heroes.”
On January 9, 1967, the Navy dredge Jamaica Bay was blown up by mines and PVR-105 arrived to pick up seven of the survivors. Another man was wrapped in the rapidly sinking dredge. Williams dove into the water and, with a rope attached to a nearby tree, pulled clear and obstruction, then swam through a hatch to recover the Sailor. For this, he was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.
Six days later Williams was wounded while leading a three-boat patrol that interdicted a crossing attempt by three VC heavy weapons companies and 400 fighters. He and his boat accounted for 16 VC killed, 20 wounded in the destruction of nine sampans and junks. Williams was awarded the Navy Cross and his third Purple Heart.
Williams transferred to the Fleet Reserve in April 1967 and returned to his native South Carolina with a list of awards unmatched by any enlisted man in Navy history. His awards included the Medal of Honor, the Navy Cross, two Silver Stars and the Legion of Merit, three Bronze Stars, and the Navy Commendation Medal. He also received three Purple Hearts and was twice awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for rescue operations under fire.
He retired after 20 years of service and was appointed in 1969 by President Richard M. Nixon as a United States Marshal, serving more than a decade in the Marshals Service. His initial assignment was U.S. Marshal for the District of South Carolina where he served until May 1977. He then transferred to Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia as an instructor and National Armorer. He was called back to South Carolina in July 1979 to resume his appointment as U.S. Marshal and functioned in that position until April 1980. His next assignment was with the U.S. Marshal service Headquarters, Washington, D.C. as Program Manager, Health and Safety and In-District Training Officer where he performed his assigned duties until his retirement from the U.S. Marshal Service.
In the fall of 1999, he was in Florence, South Carolina where he suffered a heart attack and died on the Navy’s birthday, October 13th. He was buried with full military honors at the Florence National Cemetery in Florence, South Carolina. The procession of dignitaries at his funeral included seven Medal of Honor recipients and state and national legislators.
In addition to his wife Elaine, he was survived by three sons, James Jr., of Darlington, S.C.; Steven, of Dorchester, S.C., and Charles, of Charlotte, N.C.; two daughters, Debbie Clark of Palm Coast and Gail Patterson of Florence, and seven grandchildren.
Navy Guided Missile Destroyer USS James E. Williams (DDG-95) was named and christened in his honor on June 28, 2003, at Pascagoula, Mississippi. His widow Elaine was present at the ceremony.
Thank you, Brother – RIP !!!
This article originally appeared in the July 2017 edition (minus several photos that I added) of “Dispatches” – a monthly newsletter for the group, “Together We Served” of which I am a member. I’ve included the general website address for this group: https://togetherweserved.com/ Take a look around and join-up – it’s free!
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By Michael P. Walsh
The Washington, D.C., Vietnam Veterans Memorial is inscribed with 58,272 names – each a story of lost opportunity and heartache; ultimate sacrifices that, with time, are known by and intimate to fewer. The New Guy is one of those small stories, perhaps now, 48 years later, important to only me – that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be told.
Long Island’s morning fog was dense and chilly as I turned onto the drive at Pinelawn National Cemetery. Driving forward, I familiarized myself with the numbering of the stones. Donning my overcoat as I got out of the car, I crossed the roadway to walk another 50 feet over wet grass to The New Guy’s permanent address: plot 31313A in section “N.”
A stunted, winter-bare tree stood watch over his grave – it looked like it shaded him nicely in the summertime. The headstone, identical to the thousands surrounding it, is engraved with bits of personal information: born 12 days after I was, on July 14, 1947, he died March 7, 1968. Below those dates are chiseled the word “Vietnam;” farther down are the two letters “PH” confirming the Purple Heart was awarded posthumously. Exactly 40 years later, March 7, 2008, I was here for a long overdue visit. Although today I know his name, for most of the intervening years, I didn’t. In my recollections, he has always been, simply, “The New Guy.”
New guys were easy to spot. Naturally, there was the rookie’s nervousness, but that clean helmet cover was the giveaway. A seasoned Marine’s helmet might have a heavy rubber band encircling it, holding bug repellant and a well-used plastic spoon, but always printed on the fabric covering
his steel “pot” was a message. Sometimes a clever or rude manipulation of a biblical phrase; other times, it was a less-nuanced “Screw You” challenge to the enemy. The brazen tempted fate with a crude calendar counting down their remaining days in country. Attesting to the helmet’s use as protection, basin and stool, the messages were written on camouflage covers stained by rain, soil and sweat. In 1968, those young Marines with helmet covers awaiting a personal signature were known to the rest of us as “New Guys.”
I was a Marine forward observer scout. My helmet cover sported a faded green shamrock, surrounded by the words “All Irish F.O.’s.” Early March found Louis, my radio operator, and me attached to “Alpha” Company, one of two line companies of First Battalion, Third Marines, providing security up a backwater of the Cua Viet River.
It was a reprieve to patrol from a fixed location, allowing us to fortify positions, improve makeshift hutches and learn the lay of the land before, not during, ambushes. The few incoming sniper rounds were erratic – minor nuisances that were quickly suppressed – and the weather improved daily. Most importantly, we were alive. There wasn’t much not to like.
Suddenly, on March 7, 1968, our Vietnamese-speaking S-2 scout reported enemy combatants moving through Phu Tai, a neighboring village, after nightfall. Since it was our job to keep bad actors out of the neighborhood, Alpha Co was ordered on top of Amtrak’s in the predawn dark for a rough ride, over dry rice paddies to give this little village the once over. Maybe we’d find trouble, maybe not. Personally, I was thinking not.
With the bellowing of our Amtrak’s dual turbocharged exhausts announcing our pending arrival, all North Vietnamese Army (NVA) regulars working the area would surely be long gone before we showed up. For all intents and purposes, it looked like it would be an early morning cakewalk. Map and compass were close, radio communications checked; I was alert, not anxious. Turned out I should have been.
In the glow of a false dawn, we were rolling-up on Phu Tai’s western edge when suddenly a rocket propelled grenade flew out of the tree line, blowing a hole in our lead Amtrak. With it came a stupefying volume of incoming automatic weapons fire. Screams of the wounded and shouts for corpsman were coming from all quarters as Louis and I leapt off our Amtrak and scrambled to a nearby trench. So much for nobody being home. Dawn had arrived at Phu Tai with a promise of some serious mayhem.
A vestige of the French and Viet Minh conflict of an earlier time, our trench was typical of those surrounding villages near the Demilitarized Zone. Just to the north of it, outside the village, was an abandoned, French-era church. It didn’t show on my map, but there it was – two-stories tall and roofless, it was one of the few solid masonry structures in those parts. My view of it was blocked by a clump of bushes rimming our trench’s back edge, directly behind where Louis and I made our stand.
Looking over the forward edge of the trench, I located where Marines were digging in. Our near-instant heavy casualties and the sustained volume of incoming fire indicated a large, entrenched force – a motivated enemy that might mount a counterattack. The simultaneous firing of several batteries was initiated to provide a protective curtain of shrapnel while we got a handle on things.
Despite everyone’s best efforts, the day went badly fast. To my right, just beyond Louis, a Marine I had bummed a cigarette from a few minutes earlier was dead. To my left, in sequence, was another dead Marine, our wounded platoon commander and, scattered beyond them, a dozen, perhaps 15, Marines. Some dead, some wounded; those still capable struggled to keep our recently-issued M-16’s functioning.
During all this, I received a priority radio message advising me an NVA sniper had been spotted on the second floor of the church. The reason for the high number of casualties in my immediate area was now obvious: from his perch, the shooter could target men well below the trench’s rear lip. It was inevitable that Louis and I were going to find ourselves on that deadly score card if we didn’t put him out of business. Hoping to be quick enough to avert additional causalities, another artillery mission was worked up.
It was just then that I met The New Guy – part of a Marine company sent to reinforce our precarious position. As he dropped into the trench behind me, I turned to see by his clean helmet cover; the look on his face said that today was his introduction to the terrors of the fight. Still, he never wavered. Suppressing the fear, we all knew, he spoke the last words of his life: “What do you want me to do?” In the intervening years, neither our dire circumstances nor his response to them have been forgotten.
Quickly I pointed out the sniper’s position and explained the need to keep him down while artillery was brought on target; I don’t remember the precise number, but I can’t imagine that more than 15 words were exchanged. Turning toward the church without hesitation, he took a firing position at the base of the bushes. With my back now covered, I gave the final “fire for effect” that would eliminate that menace in the loft.
Moments later, six 105 mm artillery rounds landed in the church’s upper story, abruptly and decisively ending the shooter’s reign. Unfortunately, The New Guy missed our small victory. Seconds before his demise, the sniper fired his last round. It was on target, and it was fatal. The New Guy was dead.
Although aware that he had protected me, providing time to complete the task at hand, reflection was not an option as that March 7, 1968, engagement at Phu Tai still had plenty of promised mayhem to be played out. A brutal assault, with Marines engaging in close-quarters fighting, routed the NVA forces. Afterward, in the late afternoon’s fading light, we searched for our wounded and killed. I don’t recall there being any prisoners.
As darkness enveloped the field, “Puff,” the Gatling-armed C-130 flying transport, came on station, providing covering fire as needed and dropping huge illumination flares, lighting-up the dry rice paddy for the night’s remaining work.
With our men accounted for, the Marines withdrew from the village and linked up to form a perimeter where, from freshly dug fighting holes, weary eyes and lethal intent were focused into the evening’s menacing shadows. Inbound helicopter flights soon began landing with the necessities: munitions, food, water and, oh yes, more New Guys.
Following triage protocol, our corpsmen backloaded the outgoing flights with our 94 wounded. It wasn’t until the next morning, March 8, 1968, that The New Guy and his 12 companions, each now cocooned in a body bag, were finally relieved of duty. Marines gently loaded them into Hueys for their trip back across the Cua Viet to the first stop on their rotation stateside: the morgue at Dong Ha.
Curiously, though few things have had such a profound and lasting imprint on my life, many years passed before I dared replay those long-ago violent days. When I did, prominent and persistent was the question: “Who was The New Guy?” With research, I found the answer.
Three days after the battle of Phu Tai, the Department of Defense issued its weekly count of Vietnam casualties. The following day, March 12, 1968, The New York Times published the names of those who claimed New York as home. Last on their list of 22 was a young Marine from Brooklyn: Esau Whitehead Jr.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial website describes Esau at the time of his death as a 20-year-old African-American corporal from New York City. On “The Wall,” his name is found on Panel 43E, Line 49. The record states vaguely that he died from “ground, small arms fire, Quang Tri province.” Because of the chaos of battle, it is most likely I am the only person who knows the exact details. Wanting to share those, a letter was written describing Esau’s last moments; however, when unable to locate survivors, I rewrote it as the story of ‘The New Guy,’ hoping someday it would land where it belongs. Of course, after all this time, there may be no family left or, it’s also possible that no one cares.
But I do. I care. So, Esau, I’m writing your final story, hoping it will find its way to those who remember that 20-year-old kid from Brooklyn and wonder how it was for you at the end.
Cpl. Esau Whitehead Jr., you died living up to the Marine Corps motto – Semper Fidelis – while protecting a fellow Marine you knew for less than five minutes. Thank you again, Esau. Your family should know.
Pictured above from left to right: Cpl Michael Walsh, Cpl James P. “Pat” Daly and PFC Roger McLain displaying the shamrocks they added to their helmet covers in Vietnam, 1968. Lt. George Norris is to the rear and between Cpl. Walsh and Cpl. Daly. He was killed in action while serving as a Company Commander.
Reprinted with permission from the Marine Corps Association & Foundation, Leatherneck Magazine, May 2017
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Kent State, just hearing those two words conjures up images of unarmed college students, teenagers laying about on the campus Commons – all shot by Ohio National Guardsmen who proclaimed they acted in self-defense and reacted to the sound of a sniper firing. Newspapers fed the rumor mill for weeks afterward – many attempting to portray Kent, Ohio as a sleepy cow college town before May 70.
Before I show the events of that fateful day, let me share what I found during my research. The intent here is not to take sides but only to present the facts as they occurred – beginning two-years prior to the event.
In 1968, college campuses around the country were still experiencing Civil Rights demonstrations, anti-war protests and the undertones of a student movement and revolution. The Vietnam War – Tet Offensive in 1968 seemed to be a turning point for the American public’s support of the war effort. Adults and students alike began voicing their displeasure – joining peace rallies around the country. Many were disenchanted with the government and seeking ways to be heard.
Organizers for some of the more radical and militant groups took advantage of this turmoil and began spending more time on college campuses. Volunteers passed out informational leaflets, conducted rap sessions in dormitories, and solicited members for the cause. The goal of each group was to get enough people involved to be chartered and recognized by the administration. Some of the groups vying for members at Kent State were ‘Black Panthers’, BUS (Black United Students), CCC(Concerned Citizens of the Community), KCEWV (Kent Committee to End the War in Vietnam), and SDS (Students for A Democratic Society).
In the spring of that year, the SDS National Council initially preached Marxist ideologies but later moved toward a militant struggle aimed at stopping or impairing the functioning of bourgeoisie institutions (whose societal concerns are the value of property and the preservation of capital, to ensure the perpetuation of their economic supremacy in society).
SDS at Kent got its start in May of 1968. An organizational meeting for summer work in Cleveland was held, and people spent time preparing for various tasks from ‘draft counselling to leafleting. In August, several people from Kent went to Chicago and took part in the actions around the Democratic Convention.
SDSwas finally chartered in the fall with several hundred students attending the first meeting. Thereafter, attendees at weekly meetings numbered a couple of hundred.
In October 1968, SDS and BUS occupied the Student Activity Center to protest recruitment on campus by the Oakland, CA Police Force. Their protest of 500 students was a ‘sit-in’, peaceful, lasting several hours, and nobody was arrested. Students abandoned the protest following the assurances of the Dean of Students that the Oakland recruiters would not return the next day. The next day, however, recruiters reported for work as usual, and the University moved to suspend student “leaders” of the sit-in. SDScalled for amnesty.BUS led a walk-off by most of the black students, and the University, faced with bad press and liberal hostility, granted amnesty to all the participants.
During the winter of 1968 – 1969, SDS spent a lot of time preaching to students in the dorms. Members would talk about the war, racism and the status of students and the university, discussions were lengthy and often heated. The political consciousness within Kent State was significantly raised by spring and many students became revolutionaries by the process.
During this time, the group became sophisticated and stronger and planned a ‘Spring Offensive’ where they would make demands of the school administration. Eventually, they settled upon four demands: the abolition of ROTC, the end of war research, the abolition of the law enforcement training program, and the removal of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation crime lab housed in the chemistry building.
Organizing then began to focus on the counter inauguration in Washington. In January 1969, SDS went to Washington and took part in the demonstrations, as well as some street fighting. After returning from D.C. the chapter entered upon a relatively quiet period.
On April 8, l969, the ‘Spring Offensive’ was launched with a march on the Administration Building to present the 4 demands to the office of Trustees. Campus police blocked the entrances, and this led to some pushing and scuffling. No one was arrested at the time, but by that evening eight people – so called “leaders” were being sought. The eight were charged with assault and suspended from school. This triggered more demonstrations and then a week later, a march across campus to the Music and Speech Building, where hearings were to be held on the question of the suspensions. It turned out to be a trap, for as soon as the demonstration entered the building the hearings were canceled and the building was sealed off by police. Sixty people were arrested and charged with trespassing, and the SDScharter was revoked. Several hundred students protested in a march, but the charter was not reinstated.
Out of this bust several leadership cadre spent up to six months in jail, and one individual was given a l~7 year sentence in June 1970.
Regardless of the specific fate of individuals, the bust of spring ’69 was a real blow to SDS at Kent. By fall, SDS had ceased to function. A few isolated groups worked to get things going again, but nothing came of it. 500 people went to Washington in November, but no ongoing movement re-formed itself at Kent. An attempt at a draft resistance leaguein December got a good start, but failed to develop, and soon collapsed.
Most of the period from June 1969 to April 30. 1970 was very quiet at Kent. A lot of people had been frightened by the mass arrests at Music and Speech, and were afraid of being involved or identified with a political organization.
In terms of long range trends and short-term fluctuations, Kent was in a low point. Those still working with the campus felt a sense of fatalism and frustration. While people in the dorms spoke of waiting for the big upsurge, but the organizers felt it would never come. Even the Chicago 8 trial failed to elicit much response from the former chapter members. Kent was, to all appearances, dead.
During the last week in April, black and White students at Ohio State called a strike and had been in the streets demonstrating. The Ohio National Guard were called to Columbus, and one student had been wounded by police shotgun fire. Additionally, Teamsters in Ohio called for ‘illegal’ wildcat strikes in Ohio which the National Guard had been called out to suppress.
On the evening of Thursday, April 30, Nixon announced the invasion of Cambodia, and the official expansion of the war. A raging fire of protest quickly spread across the United States. At Kent State University, the reaction to Nixon’s announcement was similar to other campuses across the nation. Students were livid!
At noon, Friday, May 1st, 500 students gathered around the victory bell on the Commons – the usual site for rallies. The protest was organized by a group of history students who buried a copy of the Constitution, which they claimed had been murdered when the U.S. troops were sent into Cambodia without a declaration of war by Congress. Two veterans also burned their honorable discharges.
Closer view of people gathered near Victory Bell (W.H.O.R.E. event, burying the Constitution 5/1 It was called by a group of history graduate students calling themselves the World Historians Opposed to Racism and Exploitation, or WHORE
Three hours later, Black United Students held a rally, which had been scheduled before Nixon had made his announcement. Some 400-people gathered to hear black students from Ohio State University talk about the recent disorders on their campus with the Ohio National Guard who used ‘rubber bullets’ against the students. Word spread quickly that another rally, one to oppose the Cambodian invasion, was scheduled for Monday, May 4, at noon.
Man addressing the crowd in front of the Victory Bell (W.H.O.R.E. event, burying the Constitution) 5/1
During the evening hours, the downtown area in Kent experienced a spontaneous anti-war rally which broke out in the streets. Twice police cruisers passing by were pelted with beer bottles and rocks. After a bit, additional people joined in the protest.
They blocked traffic for an hour, and started a bonfire in the middle of the intersection while chanting anti-war slogans. As the crowd grew, they began walking down the street and breaking the windows of banks, loan companies, and utility companies. A motorist insisted on barging through the crowd, nobody was hurt, but the car had most of its windows broken when running the gauntlet. The mayor called a State of Emergency which then closed all the bars in town.
Hundreds of additional people now entered the melee after they were asked to leave the bars. The police came out in force and began ushering the crowd away from town and toward the college grounds. Police used teargas and batons to empty the streets, and arrested fourteen people during the violence.
At 5:00 pm, the mayor had called for the National Guard – the college administration was unaware of this. At 8:00 pm, 300 students gathered on the Commons; anti-war slogans echoed throughout and individuals made speeches. Shortly afterward, an impromptu march began and moved toward the dorms – gathering in size as it moved toward the former ROTC building.
Approximately 2,000 students surrounded the building and began chanting, gaining momentum. Suddenly, onlookers began throwing rocks and breaking the windows. Not long after, the building caught on fire.
Fire crews were impeded by students attacking firemen and cutting hoses. They were soon able to contain and extinguish the blaze. Soon as the fire trucks left campus, the ROTC building was ignited again and fire crews responded a second time – this time they were escorted by a massive police force. They surrounded the smoldering building and began using tear gas to disperse the students. As many of them evacuated to the Commons and front of the campus, students were shocked to see Ohio National Guard soldiers arriving in force.
Burned ROTC building
Students evacuated up the hillside and gathered to watch the fully engulfed fire and the National Guard soldiers. Armed with tear gas and drawn bayonets, the Guard pursued students–protesters and bystanders alike — into dormitories and other campus buildings. Some stones were thrown and at least one student was bayoneted.
Burned out ROTC building with National Guard personnel and others around building
Sunday, May 3rd, was a relatively quiet day. By now, however, the campus was fully occupied by Ohio National Guard troops, with armored personnel carriers stationed throughout the campus. Although some students and guardsmen fraternized, the feeling, for the most part, was one of mutual hostility. That morning, Ohio Governor James Rhodes, who was running for U.S. Senate, arrived in Kent and along with city officials held a news conference. Rhodes, running on a “law and order” platform, attempted to use this opportunity to garner votes in the primary election, which was only two days away. In a highly inflammatory speech, Rhodes claimed that the demonstrators at Kent were the handiwork of a highly organized band of revolutionaries who were out to “destroy higher education in Ohio.” These protesters, Rhodes declared, were – the worst type of people we harbor in America, worse than the communist element … we will use whatever force necessary to drive them out of Kent!”
Later that evening, a National Guard commander would tell his troops that Ohio law gave them the right to shoot if necessary. This merely served to heighten guardsmen’s hostility toward students.
Around 8:00 pm, a crowd gathered on the Commons near the Victory bell. As the group increased in size, Guard officials announced the immediate enforcement of a new curfew. The crowd stood fast and refused to disperse.
At 9 pm, tear gas was fired from helicopters hovering overhead, and the Guard dispersed the crowd from the area. Students attempted to demonstrate that the curfew was unnecessary by peacefully marching toward town, but were met by guardsmen. Students then staged a spontaneous sit-in at the intersection of East Main and Lincoln Streets and demanded that the Mayor of Kent and KSU President speak with them about the Guard’s presence on campus. Assured that this demand would be met, the crowd agreed to move from the street onto the front lawn of the campus. The Guard then betrayed the students and announced that the curfew would go into effect immediately. Helicopters and tear gas were used again to disperse the demonstrators. As the crowd attempted to escape, some were bayoneted and clubbed by the guardsmen. Students were again pursued and prodded back to their dormitories. Tear gas inundated the campus, and helicopters with searchlights hovered overhead all night. By midnight, Sunday night, Kent was in a real state of siege.
Because of President Nixon’s televised announcement on Thursday, the next three days the campus was filled with disorder, the downtown business district was trashed, and the ROTC building on campus burned to the ground. The National Guard occupied the campus and downtown area, and the Governor, who was predisposed with his upcoming election, made clear his total hostility to the protests and implied that violence will be used to stop any further demonstrations.Militant organizers preached that the time was right for a revolution.
Here’s four points of observation leading into Monday morning:
There was a distinct lack of leadership by all involved parties – school administration, government/military, students and organizers.
The NG units were ill-trained and came right from riot duty elsewhere; they hadn’t had much sleep in the last five days.
Many of the ‘organizers’ on campus were radical political activists – outsiders, and not students.
Students felt totally alienated from American society.
So now you understand the political climate on campus leading up to Monday, May 4, 1970.
Monday morning, many of the radical leadership felt exposed and fearing arrest, left town and hid out. Those remaining, called a meeting at 10:00 am in the student administration building. The organizers told the gathering that they were informed by Tom Hayden at Rutgers the night before to call off the rally and move to a student strike instead. However, with most of the leaders gone, the ‘movement’ was rudderless, leaving only a handful of people to orchestrate the events going forward. Moving across the campus in between classes, everybody reminded one another about the noon rally. By 11:30 am, several-thousand people had gathered on the Commons – the largest amount ever at Kent for a demonstration; the crowd was excited, and appeared to be taking on a life of its own.
The Liberty Bell began ringing at 11:45 am, signaling the start of the rally. A student rose and stood on the brick housing and addressed the crowd, telling them that the organizers were calling for a student strike instead. However, without a sound system or megaphone, only two-hundred or so students were actively listening and soon started chanting: strike…strike…strike!
At noon, a jeep left the NG area, stopping fifty yards from the edge of the crowd, a soldier tried to order everyone to disperse but he was pelted with rocks and drove away fast. There was a moment of stillness and the guard moved toward the Commons.
Riding in a jeep, Kent State Police Officer Harold Rice pleads over a bullhorn for Kent State protestors to disperse just before noon on May 4, 1970. (Copyright Paul Tople)
National Guard personnel walking toward crowd near Taylor Hall, tear gas has been fired
They fired a volley of tear gas that landed at the bottom of the hill. Most students began leaving the Commons and moving up the hill slowly – others remained and threw gas canisters back at the line of approaching soldiers who all wore gas masks.
By the time the soldiers reached the top of the hill, many of the crowd had circled around Taylor Hall and moved downhill to the parking lot. Here, the guard unit split up. Some went to the south of the hall and headed toward the parking lot. Others went around to the north and stopped on the football practice field.
Much of the crowd in the parking lot began moving backwards to an area bordering the dorms, leaving at least a thousand remaining in the parking lot. Students began closing in and throwing rocks at the guard standing on the practice field. It didn’t take long for them to realize that they were soon surrounded on three sides by screaming and chanting students. They quickly retreated to the top of the hill and then formed into a line facing those in the parking lot. Students continued to close in on the line of soldiers but stayed at least 100 yards away.
When the dozen or so soldiers reached the top of the hill, they stopped and turned suddenly, some dropped to a knee, and then the entire line assumed a firing stance. On the command to open fire, they fired into the crowd below with live ammunition. Sixty-seven rounds were fired, the gunfire lasting only 13 seconds. When they finished, the line of guardsmen turned and walked back to their lines.
Students dive to the ground as the Guard fires on faculty and students, May 4, 1970.
There were ambulances parked at the NG lines on the Commons but couldn’t react to the shooting until released by the guard commander a few moments later. Four students died: ALISON KRAUSE, JEFFREY MILLER, SANDRA SCHEUER and WILLIAM SCHROEDER. Nine were wounded – 1 paralyzed for life and several maimed.
NOTE: There is an ironic incident of Allison Krause putting a flower in one soldiers gun barrel during the fraternization between students and Guardsmen the day before.
May 4th – After the shootings, students in a state of shock, sitting, standing, surrounded by the National Guard. I hear students say ‘Go home, get back to your dorms, they’re going to charge again!
The next day, the college president terminated all classes for the rest of the semester and helped in the transfer of getting students home. The campus and town of Kent were also placed under martial law while an investigation ensued. Police raided homes and arrested perceived ring leaders and organizers of the Kent State University demonstrations.
In their coverage of the events at Kent State, the media used a photo, taken by a fellow student, of a woman kneeling in anguish, arms upraised, beside one of the slain students. This Pulitzer Prize-winning image soon became a symbol of the social upheaval of the time.
The unrest across the country escalated even further. Almost five hundred colleges were shut down or disrupted by protests.
Another, similar incident took place ten days later, on May 14, at Jackson State University, an all-black school in Mississippi. During a student protest, police and state highway patrolmen fired automatic weapons into a dormitory, killing two students and wounding twelve others, several other required attention for cuts from the broken glass.
No warning had been given and no evidence was ever found of student sniping that might have justified the shootings. This time, the National Guard soldiers were issued rifles but without ammunition.
Nevertheless, unlike the Kent State episode, this incident evoked little national attention, embittering many blacks who felt that the killing of black students was not taken as seriously as that of whites.
In the week following Kent State, construction workers rioted on Wall Street, attacking antiwar demonstrators and sending many to the hospital, some were permanently crippled.
Despite the public outcry, the Justice Department initially declined to conduct a grand jury investigation. A report by the President’s Commission on Campus Unrest did acknowledge, however, that the action of the guardsmen had been “unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable.” FBI concluded their investigation. Chief investigator from Justice Dept. recommending on basis of report that at least six guardsmen be prosecuted.
Eventually, a Grand Jury was empaneled in September by Ohio Attorney Gen. Paul Brown. Special state prosecutors were appointed to present the State’s evidence. Over 300 witnesses were heard, and the reports of the FBI and Scranton Commission were considered.
There was an attempt to blame a mysterious sniper, of whom no trace was ever found; there was no evidence, on the ground, on still photographs or a film, of a shot fired by anyone but the Guardsmen. One officer is seen in many of the photographs, out in front, pointing a pistol; one possibility is that he fired first, causing the others, ahead of him, to turn and fire. Or (as some witnesses testified) he or another officer may have given an order to fire. It is indisputable that the Guardsmen were not in any immediate physical danger when they fired; the crowd was not pursuing them; they were seconds away from being out of sight of the demonstration.
There was also an undercover FBI informant, Terry Norman, carrying a gun on the field that day. Though he later turned his gun into the police, who announced it had not been fired, later ballistic tests by the FBI showed that it had been fired since it was last cleaned– but by then it was too late to determine whether it had been fired before or on May 4th.
When classes resumed at Kent for fall, the students were Presented with “Think Week”, the theme of which was “Power to the Peaceful”. This was an attempt to induce a sense of passivity in the campus, and to isolate anyone who advocated an active political assault on the University. The school had received an $80,000 grant to create a model for the rest of the country.
On Oct. 16, the Grand Jury issued its report. This placed primary responsibility for the events of May 4th on the “permissiveness” of the KSU Administration. It issued 25 secret indictments against students, faculty and “outsiders”. The indictments ranged from riot to destruction of property and covered the entire period from May 1 through May 4,1970. Those indicted include a sociology professor, several local drug dealers, some high school kids who just dropped by for the action, and a few radicals from SDS and other campus political groups. The Grand Jury completely exonerated the Ohio National Guard, declaring the shooting of 13 students, killing 4, to have been justified.
A civil suit brought by the wounded students and the parents of the dead ones deteriorated among infighting by the plaintiffs’ lawyers. Unable to agree on a single theory of the case, they contradicted each other. The jury returned a verdict for the defendants.
This verdict was overturned on appeal–the main ground was that the judge did not take seriously enough the attempted coercion of a juror who was assaulted by a stranger demanding an unspecified verdict–and a retrial was scheduled. On the eve of it, the exhausted plaintiffs settled with the state for $675,000.00, which was divided 13 ways. Half of it went to Dean Kahler, the most seriously wounded survivor, and only $15,000 apiece went to the families of each of the slain students, a pathetically small verdict in a day when lives are accounted to be worth in the many millions of dollars. The state issued a statement of “regret” which stopped short of an apology for the events of May 4th, nine years before.
Did You Know? The Kent State shooting was the subject of the 1970 song “Ohio” by the group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Here’s their video:
Hate was in the air then, as it is today. Admittedly, the First Amendment protects hate speech, whether it comes from the most marginal extremist or the highest public official. Demonizing someone else for their beliefs or their race, or even calling for their immediate assassination, is legal in America today and was fifty years ago. But the fact that something is legal does not make it right to do, or relieve the speaker of any moral responsibility for the consequences.
The following is a representation of the goings on at Kent State University up to and including the shooting:
Since 1970, the central mystery surrounding the Kent State shootings has remained: “Out of 76 national guardsmen on the scene, why did a dozen men suddenly and simultaneously stop, turn and fire 67 gunshots from a campus hilltop down into a crowd of distant anti-war students killing four at distances hundreds of feet away?”
The FBI investigated our Kent State rebellion and tragedy of May 1-4, 1970, for nearly two months into the summer of 1970. Hundreds of eyewitnesses were interviewed. Many lies, exaggerations, half-truths and mis-truths have been circulated since 1970. Even the FBI failed to learn all of the truths about Kent State in May of 1970. They got some conclusions right and some wrong.
“By Monday [May 4, 1970], the cordoned-off areas, campus curfews, rumors of Guard bayoneting students and intended entry into dorms, girl-chasing by the Guard, and harassment of long-haired individuals had led to a feeling of occupation…and the situation was growing worse instead of better’.”
–Commission on KSU Violence, KSU report, Kent, 1971.
“…a few seconds prior to the firing by the National Guard troops he thought he heard a command to fire. He stated that this order may have been, in fact, part of a longer order which was muffled by the roar of the crowd.”
–Major _____, S-3, C Company, 145th Infantry Regiment, Ohio National Guard, interview statement, May 10, 1970.
In 2007, Kent May 4 Center Director Alan Canfora announced his discovery of the most significant Kent State 1970 evidence ever discovered:
digital audio recorded evidence proving the Ohio National Guard COMMAND TO FIRE! Timeline of key events regarding the May 4, 1970, audio recording made by KSU freshman student Terry Strubbe — Through grainy static and the high-pitched calls of protesters, it was possible to faintly hear someone shout “Point!” Mr. Canfora said the full command is recorded on the tape, with multiple voices shouting “Right here!” “Get Set!” Point!” and “Fire!” Those words, however, were difficult to discern when he played the recording. A 13-second volley of gunfire follows.
Gandhi once said, “we must be the change we wish to see in the world.” Will we ever get there? What’s your thoughts on this after 47 years?
Sources used for this article:
Kent State, May 4, 1970: America Kills Its Children: The Ethical Spectacle, May 1995, http://www.spectacle.org
My source for many of the details in this essay is William A. Gordon, Four Dead in Ohio (North Ridge Books, 1995.)
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This article originally posted on my friend, Joe Campolo’s website and is published here with his permission. It was Joe, who prodded Rene’ to write about her experiences, and then helped to put her story together. Joe, too, is a Vietnam Veteran and author of two books relating to the Vietnam War. His website offers a litany of information and I recommend a visit. Visit him at: http://namwarstory.com/
Many of the photos added are from my personal collection, here’s the story as it was posted:
My guest blogger today, Rene’ Johnson, was a member of a unique organization that put themselves at risk to provide moral support to their fellow Americans who had to fight that war. The “Donut Dollies” traveled all over South Vietnam to bases large and small bringing joy and happiness to thousands of American GI’s throughout the course of the war. I always objected to the Donut Dolly label; for they were so much more. With their good will and efforts they brought something to the GI’s that no one else could; memories and hope. Memories of the experiences from the world they had left behind……and hope that those experiences were still possible. I am honored to post this piece from my friend, Rene’ Johnson.
GOING TO WAR TO PLAY GAMES
As insane as that sounds, that is what I did.
In 1969, I was graduating from FSU and at a loss as to what I was going to do. My Plan A, actually my only plan, was not going to get me to Vietnam, which was my goal.
I was an Army Brat, and my father had returned from Vietnam in 1963. He told me that ‘this country was getting ready to make the biggest mistake it had ever made.’ Two weeks later the Diem regime was overthrown, and it became ‘game on’. For the next few years, as a college student, I dated men at Ft. Benning, where my father was then stationed, who had also served in Vietnam and were convinced that ‘we were saving the people, giving them democracy’. Yet, on campus, I heard from other students and some professors about the immorality, the wrongness of our involvement. I needed to find out for myself.
Fortunately for me, a classmate in one of my last classes was a Red Cross staffer who was on educational sabbatical. While we were working on a project, I bemoaned my fate of finding out that the Air Force, for which I already had a reporting date for the Officer’s Basic Course, would not send me to Vietnam, so I had declined the commission. He asked me if I’d considered the American Red Cross (ARC), and told me about a recreation program that was actively recruiting.
The program, Supplemental Recreational Activities Overseas (SRAO), was part of the Red Cross Services to the Armed Forces (SAF) program. Originating in Korea in 1953 at the request by the command to the Red Cross, the name came from a series of conversations about the type of program it was to be. Many of the women always thought of themselves as SRAOers, but as the program progressed in Vietnam, most of the newer staff accepted and embraced the sobriquet bestowed upon us by the guys, “Donut Dollies”.
While leadership at ARC really disliked the name, it was what the Clubmobile workers of WW II had been called by the G.I.s, and was meant affectionately. Those stalwart women drove converted trucks and busses and actually made and served doughnuts and coffee. When the Red Cross sent recreation staff to Korea in 1953, the doughnuts continued, although they were usually made in kitchens by local national staff and transported out by the women. Making donuts was not part in our job description in Vietnam. After twenty years, the SRAO program was disbanded in 1973.
A few days after Ernie told me about the program, I was in Atlanta, signing up. In early March 1969 I was in Washington, D.C., in a training class for what would be the biggest step of my life!
Training consisted of learning about military protocol, recognition of rank insignia, how to behave around military men (I already had that down!), and how to develop and construct game activities, or ‘programs’, that we would use in Vietnam or Korea, where some of our class were going.
On our flight left for Vietnam in April of 1969. Donut Dollies were the only women on board other than the flight attendants. One group that was on the flight was a Military Provincial Hospital Assistance Program (MILPHAP) team, doctors and corpsman who would be staffing a local hospital someplace in Vietnam. They were fun, we played cards and talked for a lot of the trip. It was really a privilege to meet these men, whose work is largely unknown. But they spent a year in a local hospital with the Military Provincial Hospital Assistance Program, treating wounded and sick Vietnamese citizens. This particular team went to Tam Ky and I was lucky enough to see some of them again when I was stationed at Chu Lai, to visit their hospital and see what they were doing to help the people of Vietnam.
But I digress ……….
We spent a few days in Saigon, getting IDs, more orientation, and then were sent out to our various assignments. We were assigned grade equivalencies by the military to conform to travel and billet regulations. These ratings were arbitrarily equated by the military as being of officer rank. This allowed us to eat in the officers’ messes, have PX ration cards, use of Officers clubs, etc., very much as Department of Defense civilians were given. We were advised (again) that we should limit our socialization to officers. To that, we all nodded our heads, and then, through the course of our tours, did whatever we wanted! Yes, there were probably good reasons for that, but – trust me! – most of us relied on our own instincts and chose to socialize with whomever we felt most comfortable with. I will say, for those who still criticize us for our ‘officer preference’, the circumstances made it very difficult to spend social time with GIs, although many of us did.
There were two types of Donut Dollie units – Center, and Clubmobile. The Center units operated recreation centers where the guys could come in, cool off, get a cup of coffee or Kool-Aid, shoot pool, participate in programs the staff planned, or just relax. The women working in the centers also went out to the field occasionally. The Clubmobile units were set up to be purely mobile, traveling out to firebases and landing zones (LZs), mostly by helicopter, and doing some programming around the base camps. I think that I won the assignment lottery as I had two Clubmobile assignment of six months each, first at Chu Lai with the Americal Division, and then at Cu Chi, primarily with the 25th Inf Div, but also serving the last remaining brigade of the 9th, and a few remaining units of the Cav at Tay Ninh.
The men that we worked with were amazing! Most did not really want to be there, and it didn’t help that the people back home made it known that they didn’t want to our troops to be there, seemingly blaming the troops for the war they were fighting in. But we were there to support those men, not the war. And if that mean ‘playing games’, that’s what we did.
Just think about it – men brought here to kill, folding paper for origami birds; pretending to be office tools, such as a stapler; men tied together with two strings, twisting and turning, trying to figure out how to separate from each other; men trampling each other trying to get an answer card on a game board. They smiled, laughed and for just a little while, were removed from the grim reality of the war. Not all participated, but that was okay. We understood.
Rene’ Johnson in Vietnam
One memorable day, we were on top of a mountain in the 196th Area of Operation (AO), the name of which I can’t recall. There were only a few men up there; most of the others were on patrol. One of the guys had been a hair stylist before being drafted, and mentioned that I could use a haircut. I agreed, but said I didn’t have a clue where there might be a beauty shop. Well, within minutes an OD green towel was draped over my shoulders, a couple of guys were pouring water on my head from their canteens, and instead of gathering around to play the games we’d brought, they were all around me watching me get a haircut. Our “ride” to our next stop, a loach, arrived just as he finished, and the pilot got a picture of me, hair still wet, as I was climbing into the front seat. (To be honest, I think that he was really a barber, not a stylist, but I did appreciate having my hair short enough to work comfortably again.) But I really appreciated the effort and was good to go until I went to Sydney on R&R a few months later.
One thing we avoided was focusing too much on the men’s names. The reason for this, as sad as it sounds, was we had to disassociate ourselves from the men on a personal level in order to fulfill our mission. When we returned to various areas and realized some men were no longer there, we understood that many had been killed or seriously wounded but could not forego our mission for reasons of personal grief. We would have easily been overwhelmed had we focused too much on casualties of the war. We were there to put a happy face forward. Today, when I visit “The Wall” in Washington D.C., I spend time at the sections covering the time period when I was in Vietnam and pay special respects. But I don’t know the names of all those brave men.
A typical work week, for me, was being on the helipad at 6:00 a.m. (or earlier), to fly to our first assignment of the day. If we arrived early enough to a location that had a mess hall, we might help serve breakfast. Some days, we would spend the whole day at one place, moving from unit to unit. Usually, we presented the programs that we brought with us, programs based largely on games such as ‘Concentration’, Jeopardy, Yahtzee, or many others of the time, and using topics of interest to the average man, such as sports, cars, WOMEN, animals, music, WOMEN, science fiction, photography, WOMEN, or whatever other themes we could come up with. Sometimes we helped serve lunch, if there was a mess hall or if ‘hots’ had come out on a resupply ship in marmite containers. Sometimes we shared ‘C’s (C-rations), sometimes we just kept programming, or talking. And, throughout the day, we smiled! And smiled! And kept on smiling, so long as it was appropriate.
There were times, such as when there had been heavy losses, if one of the guys had received a ‘Dear John’ letter, etc., we might not play our games, but we would listen. When we got home, anytime from late afternoon to early evening, we would shower (IF there was water), go to the nearby Officer’s Club for something to eat (it was the closest place to our quarters at Chu Lai), then work on developing the next program. On Saturdays, we would either visit hospitals or try out a new program on a small, but very honest, group of guys. And on Sundays we might have a free day – church, beach time, attending a stand-down to which we’d been invited, or ……… working on our programs.
Each of us was responsible for developing a program, which meant coming up with a theme, deciding what kind of activities to include, compiling the questions, building the props, gathering all of the supplies that were needed, and being sure that it could all be packed into a green military map bag and carried by one girl, if necessary. (However, we almost always worked in teams of two.) And we created or copied and handed out reams and reams of short-timers calendars! (Anyone in Vietnam who had less than thirty days of his tour was considered a “short timer”) Some examples are Snoopy, a helmet atop a pair of boots or a ‘freedom bird’. Of course, some of the men created their own short timers calendar using other designs.
Visiting hospitals was rarely easy for most of us. Because I’d worked at Martin Army Hospital at Ft. Benning during college breaks, maybe it was easier for me. Yet it was never easy at the Evac hospital to see a horribly wounded man, missing limbs or even part of his face, and try to tell him that yes, his wife/fiancée/girlfriend would still love him. Or, at a med-surg hospital, to see the men who had less serious wounds, or had some kind of illness, but who would be going back out to the field, the last place they wanted to go. We did our level best to chat them up. And we tried to do all of this with a smile. Sometimes those smiles felt so plastic!
I was one of 627 women who went to Vietnam as a “Donut Dollie”. In Vietnam, except for a few occasions when some really ambitious gals made a batch on their own, the only doughnuts that we actually served were the ones made by some enterprising mess sergeants and given to us to serve. Believe me, Dunkin Donuts had no competition! Over a period of 6 ½ years, we went to wherever we were invited by the command, when it was deemed ‘secure’. We traveled over 2,125,000 miles. We went to places as requested by the military, and which were deemed secure. But we didn’t even come close to seeing all of the men, in spite of our wishes and efforts.
We’ve been told that we were brave to go to Vietnam, asked if we weren’t afraid. I don’t remember being brave, and I truly don’t remember being afraid. Yes, we made many a run for the bunkers when there was incoming, and sometimes, as we were landing at a firebase, we’d see tracers coming up toward the chopper. I do clearly remember the morning of June 8th, when the rockets sounded so close that I didn’t go to the bunker, but tried to get completely under my bed. The 312th Evac was very close to our quarters, and that morning, we later learned, a nurse was killed by shrapnel from one of those rockets. (I never met Lt. Sharon Lane, but she was a Sister, and that date always reminds me that women, too, sacrificed their lives.)
During the years that SRAO was in Vietnam, only one woman was wounded. A round went through the floor of a helicopter that she was on and she received a flesh wound in the thigh, from which she fully recovered. One woman died of an injury received in a jeep accident. One woman died of a sudden illness. And one woman was murdered. And, at the end, a woman who had gone as a Donut Dollie but stayed after her tour, was killed as she was leaving Vietnam as a passenger on one of the Operation Baby Lift planes.
The purpose of SRAO was to bring “a touch of home” to the men there. We were the sisters, the girl next door, the high school classmate.
My friend, Emily Strange, was at Dong Tam with the 9th Infantry Division in 1968 and 69. An accomplished musician, poet, and raconteur extraordinaire, she became our unofficial poet-laureate and perhaps the best known of us over the years since Vietnam, thanks to her continued involvement with ‘our guys’. Emily described our role best:
A touch of home in a combat zone
A smiling face at a bleak firebase
The illusion of calm in VIETNAM
Yes, for a year, I played games in a war zone. I had the great honor of meeting some of the most amazing men ever, and they actually played those games with us. It was incredible! I’ve never regretted one minute of that year.
Rene’ Johnson
*****
I published an earlier article about the Red Cross and Special Services Group during the Vietnam War, all volunteers to bring a touch of home to those troops in the field – Click below to view:
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During its long withdrawal from South Vietnam, the U.S. military experienced a serious crisis in morale. Chronic indiscipline, illegal drug use, and racial militancy all contributed to trouble within the ranks. But most chilling of all was the advent of a new phenomenon: large numbers of young enlisted men turning their weapons on their superiors.
The Vietnam War was one of the least popular in American history. It was also the least “popular” with the GI’s who were sent to fight it. By the late 1960’s, news of GI unrest was being carried on TV and in newspapers around the country and Vietnam vets were speaking at anti-war demonstrations.
But word of the GI resistance in Vietnam itself trickled back more slowly – the soldiers flashing peace signs and Black Power salutes, the group refusals to fight, anti-war petitions and demonstrations, and even the fragging of officers. What we’ve read in the newspapers, however, has just been bits and pieces. Seldom have we had a chance to hear the whole story from the GI’s themselves.
These battle weary troops from the 1st Air Cav. had just staged a “combat refusal” at Firebase Pace.
The dictionary defines “fragging” as the term used to describe the deliberate killing or attempted killing by a soldier of a fellow soldier, usually a superior officer or non-commissioned officer (NCO). Fragging often consisted of throwing a grenade into a tent where the target was sleeping or in the shitters. The word was coined by U.S. military personnel during the Vietnam War when such killings were most often attempted with a fragmentation grenade, sometimes making it appear as though the killing was accidental or during combat with the enemy.
The high number of fragging incidents in the latter years of the Vietnam War was symptomatic of the unpopularity of the war with the American public and the breakdown of discipline in the U.S. Armed Forces. Documented and suspected fragging incidents totaled nearly eight hundred from 1969 to 1972; resulting in 86 deaths and 714 injuries. In 1971, army testimony before Congress cited the following: 126 incidents in 1969, 271 in 1970, and 333 in 1971. I couldn’t find a count for 1972, but it’s unlikely fragging suddenly ceased.
So why purposely try to kill a soldier with a higher rank?
Most fragging was perpetrated by enlisted men against leaders. Enlisted men, in the words of one company commander, “feared they would get stuck with a lieutenant or platoon sergeant who would want to carry out all kinds of crazy ‘John Wayne’ tactics, who would use their lives in an effort to win the war single-handedly, win the big medal, and get his picture in the hometown paper.” Harassment of subordinates by a superior was another frequent motive. The stereotypical fragging incident was of “an aggressive career officer being assaulted by disillusioned subordinates.” Several fragging incidents resulted from alleged racism between African American and white soldiers. Attempts by officers to control drug use caused others. Most known fragging incidents were carried out by soldiers in support units rather than soldiers in combat units.
Soldiers sometimes used non-lethal smoke and tear-gas grenades to warn superiors that they were in danger of being fragged if they did not change their behavior. A few instances occurred—and many more were rumored—in which enlisted men collected “bounties” on particular officers or non-commissioned officers to reward soldiers for fragging them.
In short, for all the tales of soldiers assaulting gung-ho officers they feared would get them killed, a more likely explanation is that fragging was the work of rear-echelon misfits with anger management and substance issues who sulked after getting chewed out and decided to have their revenge. The nature of the war as such likely contributed only indirectly — its unpopularity discouraged enlistment and compelled the military to accept more trouble-prone recruits. The prevalence of drugs couldn’t have helped either — one study of soldiers returning from Vietnam found one-fifth had been addicted to narcotics.
Contrary to Hollywood’s take on Vietnam, most of the drug and discipline problems were in rear echelon bases – not in the bush. The combat units largely remained cohesive. Boredom, poor morale and lack of discipline were a combustible mix. For fear of being fragged some leaders turned a blind eye to drug use and other indiscipline among the men in their charge.
After the Tet Offensive in January and February 1968, the Vietnam War became increasingly unpopular in the United States and among American soldiers in Vietnam, many of them conscripts. Secondly, racial tensions between white and African-American soldiers and marines increased after the assassination of Martin Luther King in April 1968. With soldiers reluctant to risk their lives in what was perceived as a lost war, fragging was seen by some enlisted men “as the most effective way to discourage their superiors from showing enthusiasm for combat.”
On the evening of October 22, 1970, Company L of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment was engaged in anti-infiltration operations in the “Rocket Belt,” an area of more than 500 square kilometers ringing the Da Nang Airbase. The company was set up in bunkers at an outpost on Hill 190, to the west of Da Nang. Assigned to guard duty that night, Private Gary A. Hendricks settled into his position on the perimeter and made himself comfortable. Too comfortable, it turned out. A bit later, when Sergeant Richard L. Tate, the sergeant of the guard, discovered Hendricks sleeping on post, he gave the private a tongue lashing but took no further action. Shortly after midnight the next day, Hendricks tossed a fragmentation grenade into the air vent of Sergeant Tate’s bunker. The grenade landed on Tate’s stomach and the subsequent blast blew his legs off, killing the father of three from Asheville, North Carolina, who had only three weeks left on his tour of duty. The explosion injured two other sergeants who were also in the bunker.
Journalist Eugene Linden, in a 1972 Saturday Review article, described the practice of “bounty hunting” whereby enlisted men pooled their money to be paid out to a soldier who killed an officer or sergeant they considered dangerous. One well-known example of bounty hunting came out of the infamous Battle of Dong Ap Bai, aka Hamburger Hill, in May 1969. After suffering more than 400 casualties over 10 merciless days of attacks to take the hill, the 101st Airborne Division soldiers were ordered to withdraw about a week later. Shortly thereafter, the army underground newspaper in Vietnam, GI Says, reportedly offered a $10,000 bounty on the very aggressive officer who led the attacks, Lt. Col. Weldon Honeycutt. Several unsuccessful attempts were reported to have been made on the colonel’s life.
In April 1971, Democratic leader Mike Mansfield of Montana emotionally spoke to the issue on the floor of the Senate. Mansfield related details of the death of 1st Lt. Thomas A. Dellwo, of Choteau, Mont. “He was not a victim of combat. He was not a casualty of a helicopter crash or a jeep accident. In the early morning hours of March 15, the first lieutenant from Montana was ‘fragged’ as he lay sleeping in his billet at Bien Hoa. Lt. Richard Harlan was also killed in the incident. He was murdered by a fellow serviceman, an American GI. Private E-2 Billy Dean Smith was charged with killing the officers but was acquitted in November 1972.
On 21 April 1969, a grenade was thrown into the company office of K Company, 9th Marines, at Quảng Trị Combat Base, RVN; First Lieutenant Robert T. Rohweller died of wounds he received in the explosion. Private Reginald F. Smith pleaded guilty to the premeditated murder of Rohweller and was sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment; he died in custody on 25 June 1982.
Why use a grenade?
If you shoot someone, there’s a lot of more forensic evidence. And the Army is pretty fanatical about keeping track of ammunition. A bullet can be traced to a particular lot number or a particular gun. You can’t associate a grenade firing pin with a particular grenade.
With a grenade, it splinters into thousands of tiny fragments. Trying to piece that together, there’s no way you’re going to get evidence off of that. Avoiding getting fingerprints on the spoon [the lever on a grenade that is held down to prevent it from going off] is pretty easy — just don’t touch the spoon with the tip of your finger.
Also, with a gun, you have to be there to shoot it. Whereas with a grenade, you have a certain amount of lead time. You could set it up as a booby trap if you wanted to, with a trip wire, or set it against a piece of furniture. There are many more ways you can make a grenade deadly that you can’t make a gun.
In Vietnam, it was really not that hard to get your hands on grenades. There were lax standards, which meant that there were crates of grenades available. You’d make your stop by the ammunition bunker, and platoon members could grab a couple or as many as they thought they needed.
Here’s an example of a shooting in a base camp: Sp4 Enoch ‘Doc’ Hampton, an African American soldier, was respected and well-liked by his fellow soldiers, he was top notch and knew how to take care of them in the field. The First Sergeant, Clarence Lowder, whom they called “Top did everything by the book. When on stand down at the basecamp, Top continuously harassed Doc for the length of his ‘picked out’ hair, threatening Article 15’s if he didn’t immediately get his hair cut. That night at chow, Doc Hampton said he was going to the orderly room to see the First Sgt. “Either I’ll come out alone,” he said, “or neither of us is coming out.”
Hanusey, the clerk, was working in the orderly room when Doc came through the doorway. “His face was cold, stone cold,” Hanusey said. “He looked like a man in the movies who was about to kill.” The barrel of Doc’s M-16 was pointed downward, his feet planted firmly apart. Slowly he raised the barrel and fired a full clip into Top. The sergeant’s back exploded as pieces of flesh and blood spattered all over the orderly room. Then Doc walked out and headed to the company latrine where he barricaded himself for a possible shoot-out with arriving MP’s. Surprisingly, his fellow soldiers also armed themselves and quickly formed a perimeter around the latrine to protect their brother in arms and preventing the MP’s from reaching Doc. The siege was short-lived when a single shot sounded from the latrine…Enoch ‘Doc’ Hampton took his own life.
How many soldiers were arrested for fragging?
Only a few ‘fraggers’ were identified and prosecuted. It was often difficult to distinguish between fragging and enemy action. A grenade thrown into a foxhole or tent could be a fragging, or the action of an enemy infiltrator or saboteur. Enlisted men were often close-mouthed in fragging investigations, refusing to inform on their colleagues out of fear or solidarity. Only about 10 percent of all fragging incidents actually ended up being adjudicated. Although the sentences prescribed for fragging were severe, the few men convicted often served fairly brief prison sentences.
For every actual fragging incident, there was an untold number of threats of fragging. These threats were made in various forms, such as the surreptitious placement of a grenade or grenade pin, or perhaps the detonation of a nonlethal gas or smoke grenade, in the potential victim’s quarters or work areas. Officers who survived fragging attempts often did not discover the identity of their attackers, and as a consequence they lived in constant fear the attacks would be repeated. According to Captain Barry Steinberg, an Army judge who presided over a number of fragging courts-martial, once an officer had been threatened with fragging, he was intimidated to the point of being “useless to the military because he can no longer carry out orders essential to the functioning of the Army.”
Twenty-eight soldiers were arrested in Vietnam and tried for fragging a superior officer. Ten were convicted of murder and served sentences ranging from ten months to thirty years with a mean prison time of about nine years.
In summary, eighty percent of the murders happened at base camps, not in the field; (b) 90 percent of the assaults took place within three days after an argument with the victim; (c) offenders typically felt they had been unfairly treated; (d) 88 percent of attackers were drunk or high when they did it; (e) on average they had been in Vietnam for six months; (f) 26 of the 28 were volunteers, not draftees; (g) only five had graduated from high school; and (h) many were loners or had psychological problems.
But since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military has charged only one Soldier with killing his commanding officer, a dramatic turnabout that most experts attribute to the all-volunteer military.
“Why did fraggers do it?” Journalist Eugene Linden, writing in Saturday Review in 1972 (“The Demoralization of an Army: Fragging and Other Withdrawal Symptoms”)
Fragging: Why U.S. Soldiers Assaulted Their Officers in Vietnam (Texas Tech University) by George Lepre
Jim Michaels, USA TODAY Published July 3, 2013
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The Vietnam conflict has been called “America’s first rock-and-roll war” because of the predominance of rock music that permeated the American experience there. As draft quotas were raised and deferment and exemption loopholes closed, an overwhelming number of military personnel belonged to one generation: the average age of combat soldiers was 19 and, according to some figures, 90 percent were under 23 years of age.
During the Siege of Khe Sanh, many of the Marines adopted the song, “No Place To Run” by Martha and the Vandellas as it seemingly depicted their plight at the time.
Many of these conscripts did not want to be in Vietnam, and no one wanted to be alienated from his own generation back home. Therefore, many GIs imported their tastes in music into the war zone. Rock music was the most popular genre, and beads and peace symbols were worn with and on many uniforms
According to an interview in Rolling Stone, most enlisted men preferred hard rock or psychedelic music; 30 percent enjoyed rhythm and blues; 10 percent, country; 5 percent, classical; and 10 percent, folk. See my list at the end of this article.
Some of the constraints on the type of music allowed on the airwaves came from the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) government, which prohibited from being played, among other songs, the Animals’ hit, “We Gotta Get Outa This Place.” Most of the radio programs were prerecorded in Los Angeles and included top 40 hits.
Because radio did not reflect the preferences of most soldiers, the status symbol among GIs was the tape recorder. Cassette tapes, either brought from home or purchased on leave, were the most popular medium for music in Vietnam. The tape players were small, battery operated, highly portable, and therefore easily carried into the field.
The rhythms, raw energy, and screaming guitars of rock music mirrored the confusion of war and firefights, and since music helps define a generation, music helped define the Vietnam War. Snatches from lyrics of popular songs were used in the context of the war. “Rock-and-roll” substituted for “lock and load,” referring to the procedure for readying the M16 for firing or for switching the weapon from semiautomatic to automatic fire.
Fifty years ago, when black musicians had a difficult time breaking into a music business that was divided by race, Motown changed everything. Catchy dance tunes blending R&B, gospel, swing and pop from Berry Gordy’s Detroit-based record company caught on nationwide. Initially, Mr. Gordy wouldn’t allow any of the groups under contract with Motown Records to record songs with anit-war lyrics – maintaining that policy until almost 1970.
African Americans contributed much of this sometimes forgotten anti-war music. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas released “I Should Be Proud” in 1970, the first anti-war song from the Motown label. It was followed a few months later by “War,” recorded first by the Temptations (not released as a single for fear of conservative backlash) and then rerecorded by Edwin Starr. With its simple but memorable refrain—“War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!”—the song went to number one on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.
More tender and soulful was Marvin Gaye’s plea for peace and love in “What’s Going On,” where “war is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate.”
“In 1969 or 1970,” Gaye said, “I began to re-evaluate my whole concept of what I wanted my music to say. I was very much affected by letters my brother was sending me from Vietnam,as well as the social situation here at home. I realized that I had to put my own fantasies behind me if I wanted to write songs that would reach the souls of people. I wanted them to take a look at what was happening in the world.”
As history has proven, music helps to define a generation and the U.S. soldiers imported their musical preference into the war zone. It is interesting to note that there was not significant separation in musical tastes between enlisted men and officers. Many songs of the period were inspired by the Vietnam War with even the most popular musical artists being influenced, for better or for worse, by the plight of the soldiers forced into battle. For instance, “Purple Haze”, by Jimi Hendrix, a former “Screaming Eagles” paratrooper, made reference to a slang term for the M-18 violet smoke grenade, used by United States armed forces. In the song “Magical Mystery Tour” by The Beatles, the lyrics “Coming to take you away, dying to take you away”, had special meaning for Marines during the battle of Khe Sanh (when the Marine base was isolated and there were a series of desperate actions that lasted 77 days).
There are few songs particularly representative of that period and, all of them, are openly against the war. In chronological order of recording:
“Eve of Destruction” (Barry McGuire)
“Give Peace a Chance” (John Lennon),
“Fortunate Son” (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
“Ball of Confusion” (The Temptations),
“Ohio” (Crosby Stills Nash & Young)
“War” (Edwin Starr).
I chose these specific songs because they are the most meaningful of the period and, at the same time, were influenced by and have influenced the Vietnam War Era. It’s interesting to note that these songs were written (except the first one “Eve of Destruction” which was released in the 1965) recorded and released between late 1969 and early 1970. In fact, a few of them were during in the same month: at the height of the American presence in Southeast Asia and at the height of the anti-war movement in the U.S.
Popular among the enlisted men were Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, and other Asian bands that could imitate British and American rock groups and their hits with uncanny accuracy, even though band members could not speak English.
These groups played in enlisted men’s clubs and civilian bars in Vietnam. Some of the more popular songs performed were: “Simon Says,” “Black Is Black,” “Unchained Melody,” “Gloria,” “San Francisco (Wear Flowers in Your Hair),” “Sky Pilot,” and “Hey Jude.”
My Whole World Ended (The moment you left me) – David Ruffin – 1969
What Does It Take (To win your love) – Jr. Walker & The All-Stars – 1969
I Can’t Get Next To You – The Temptations – 1969
Baby I’m For Real – The Originals – 1969
Up The Ladder To The Roof – The Supremes – 1970
Here is a list of the popular songs between 1965 and 1971
Note: This list is not all-inclusive and does not include every song published during those years. Take a look through this list of songs, how many can you count that were influenced by the Vietnam War?
Songs published during each category year are listed in alphabetical order only to help in locating your favorite tune(s).
Vietnam War Era Music
1965
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction – The Rolling Stones Action – Freddy Cannon All Day & All Of The Night – The Kinks All I Really Want To Do – Cher Baby Don’t Go – Sonny & Cher Baby I’m Yours – Barbara Lewis Back in my Arms Again – The Supremes California Girls – The Beach Boys Catch Us If You Can – The Dave Clark Five Come See About Me – The Supremes Downtown – Petula Clark Eight Days a Week – The Beatles Eve Of Destruction – Barry Mcguire For Your Love – The Yardbirds Game of Love -Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders Get Off of My Cloud – The Rolling Stones Hang On Sloopy – The Mccoys Hello Vietnam – Johnnie Wright Help – The Beatles Help me, Rhonda – The Beach Boys I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) – Four Tops I Feel Fine – The Beatless I Got You Babe – Sonny & Cher I Hear a Symphony – The Supremes I’m Henry VIII, I Am – Herman’s Hermits I’m Telling You Now – Freddie and the Dreamers It Ain’t Me Babe – The Turtles Laugh At Me – Sonny Like a Rolling Stone – Bob Dylan Mr. Tambourine Man – The Byrds Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter – Herman’s Hermits My Girl – The Temptations Nowhere To Run – Martha & Vandellas Over and Over – The Dave Clark Five Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag – James Brown Satisfaction – The Rolling Stones Seventh Son – Johnny Rivers Shotgun – Jr. Walker & All Stars Some Enchanted Evening – Jay & the Americans Stop in the Name of Love – The Supremes The Game Of Love – Wayne Fontana & Mindbenders The In Crowd – The Ramsey Lewis Trio The Last Time – The Rolling Stones The Name Game – Shirley Ellis This Diamond Ring – Gary Lewis & the Playboys Ticket to Ride – The Beatles Tracks of My Tears – The Miracles Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season) – The Byrds Unchained Melody – The Righteous Brothers We Gotta Get Out Of This Place – The Animals Wonderful World – Herman’s Hermits Wooly Bully – Sam The Sham & Pharaoh Yesterday – The Beatles You Were On My Mind – We Five You’ve Got Your Troubles – The Fortunes You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling – The Righteous Brothers
1966
(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration – The Righteous Brothers 19th Nervous Breakdown – The Rolling Stones 634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.) – Wilson Pickett 96 Tears – ? & the Mysterians Ain’t too Proud to Beg – The Temptations B-A-B-Y, Baby – Carla Thomas Ballad of the Green Berets – SSgt Barry Sadler Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) – Cher Barbara Ann – The Beach Boys Barefootin’ – Robert Parker Beauty Is Only Skin Deep – The Temptations Black Is Black – Los Bravos Born A Woman – Sandy Posey Born Free – Roger Williams Bus Stop – The Hollies California Dreamin’ – The Mamas & Papas Cherish – The Association Cherry Cherry – Neil Diamond Cool Jerk – The Capitols Dandy – Herman’s Hermits Daydream – The Lovin’ Spoonful Devil With A Blue Dress On – Mitch Ryder & Detroit Wheels Elusive Butterfly – Bob Lind Gloria – The Shadows of Knight Good Lovin’ – The Young Rascals Good Vibrations – The Beach Boys Guantanamero – The Sandpipers Hanky Panky – Tommy James and the Shondells Hooray For Hazel – Tommy Roe Hungry – Paul Revere and the Raiders I Am A Rock – Simon and Garfunkel I Fought The Law – The Bobby Fuller Four If I Were A Carpenter – Bobby Darin I’m a Believer – The Monkees I’m Your Puppet – Bobby and James Purify Just Like Me – Paul Revere and the Raiders Lady Godiva – Peter and Gordon Lighnin’ Strikes – Lou Christie Lil’ Red Riding Hood – Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs Love Is A Hurtin’ Thing – Lou Rawls Monday Monday – The Mamas and the Papas My Love – Petula Clark No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach’s In) – The T-Bones Nowhere Man – The Beatles Oh How Happy – Shades of Blue Paint It Black – The Rolling Stones Paperback Writer – The Beatles Poor Side of Town – Johnny Rivers Psychotic Reaction – The Count Five Rainy Day Women – Bob Dylan Reach Out I’ll Be There – The Four Tops Secret Agent Man – Johnny Rivers See You In September – The Happenings She’s Just My Style – Gary Lewis and the Playboys Sloop John B – The Beach Boys Somewhere, My Love – The Ray Conniff Singers Sounds Of Silence – Simon & Garfunkel Stangers In the Night – Frank Sinatra Stranger in the Night – Frank Sinatra Summer In The City – The Lovin’ Spoonful Sunny – Bobby Hebb Sunshine Superman – Donovan
1967
A Whiter Shade Of Pale – Procol Harum (We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet – Blue Magoos (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher – Jackie Wilson A Whiter Shade Of Pale – Procol Harum Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix (Bob Dylan) All You Need Is Love – Beatles Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie – Jay and The Techniques Baby, I Love You – Aretha Franklin Baby, I Need Your Lovin’ – Johnny Rivers Bernadette – Four Tops Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison California Nights – Lesley Gore Can’t Take My Eyes Off You – Frankie Valli Close Your Eyes – Peaches and Herb Cold Sweat – James Brown and The Famous Flames Daydream Believer – The Monkees Don’t Sleep In the Subway – Petula Clark Don’t You Care – Buckinghams Everlasting Love – Robert Knight Expressway To Your Heart – Soul Survivors For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield Friday On My Mind – The Easybeats Funky Broadway – Wilson Pickett Georgy Girl – Seekers Get On Up – Esquires Gimme Little Sign – Brenton Wood Gimme Some Lovin’ – The Spencer Davis Group Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon – Neil Diamond Green, Green Grass of Home – Tom Jones Groovin – The Young Rascals Groovin’ – Booker T and The MG’s Happy Together – The Turtles Here Comes My Baby – Tremeloes Here We Go Again – Ray Charles How Can I Be Sure – Young Rascals I Can See For Miles – The Who I Dig Rock and Roll Music – Peter, Paul and Mary I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night) – Electric Prunes I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) – Aretha Franklin I Take It Back – Sandy Posey I Think We’re Alone Now – Tommy James and The Shondells I Was Made to Love Her – Stevie Wonder I’m A Believer – The Monkees I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die – Country Joe and the Fish Incense and Peppermint – Strawberry Alarm Clock It Must Be Him – Vicki Carr Jimmy Mack – Martha and The Vandella Kind of a Drag – Buckinghams Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out) – Hombres Let’s Live For Today – The Grass Roots Light My Fire – The Doors Litle Ole Man (Uptight-Everything’s Alright) – Bill Cosby Little Bit O’ Soul – Music Explosion Love Is Her and Now You’re Gone – The Supremes Magical Mystery Tour – The Beatles Mercy, Mercy, Mercy – Buckinghams Mirage – Tommy James and The Shondells My Cup Runneth Over – Ed Ames Never My Love – Association No Place To Run – Martha and the Vandellas Ode To Billie Joe – Bobbie Gentry On a Carousel – Hollies Penny Lane – The Beatles Pleasant Valley Sunday – The Monkees Please Love Me Forever – Bobby Vinton Purple Haze – Jimi Hendrix Reflections – Diana Ross and The Supremes Release Me (And Let Me Love Again) – Engelbert Humperdinck Respect – Aretha Franklin Ruby Tuesday – The Rolling Stones San Francisco – Scott Mckenzie She’d Rather Be With Me – The Turtles Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron – Royal Guardsmen Society’s Child – Janis Ian Somebody to Love – Jefferson Airplane Somethin’ Stupid – Nancy Sinatra and Frank Sinatra Soul Finger – Bar-Kays Soul Man – Sam and Dave Sweet Soul Music – Arthur Conley Tell it Like it Is – Aaron Neville Thank the Lord for the Night Time – Neil Diamond The Beat Goes On – Sonny & Cher The End – The Doors The Happening – Supremes The Letter – The Box Tops The Rain, the Park and Other Things – Cowsills Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye – Casinos To Sir With Love – Lulu Waist Deep in the Big Muddy – Pete Seeger White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane Windy – The Association Your Precious Love – Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
1968
(Sittin On) The Dock of the Bay – Otis Redding 1,2,3 Red Light – 1910 Fruitgum Company A Beautiful Morning – Rascals Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing – Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell Baby Now That I’ve Found You – Foundations Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde – Georgie Fame Bend Me Shape Me – American Breed Born To Be Wild – Steppenwolf Bottle Of Wine – Fireballs Cab Driver – The Mills Brothers Classical Gas – Mason Williams Dance To The Music – Sly & Family Stone Delilah – Tom Jones Do You Know the Way to San Jose – Dionne Warwick Draft Morning – The Byrds Elenore – Turtles Fire – Crazy World Of Arthur Brown Girl Watcher – O’Kaysions Going Out of My Head – The Lettermen Grazing in the Grass – Hugh Masekela Green Tambourine – The Lemon Pipers Happiness Is a Warm Gun – The Beatles Harper Valley P.T.A. – Jeannie C. Riley Hello, I Love You – The Doors Here Comes The Judge – Shorty Long Hey Jude – The Beatles Hey, Western Union Man – Jerry Butler Hold Me Tight – Johnny Nash Honey – Bobby Goldsboro I Got The Feelin’ – James Brown and The Famous Flames I Heard it Through the Grapevine – Marvin Gaye I Love You – People I Say a Little Prayer – Aretha Franklin I Thank You – Sam and Dave I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight – Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart If You Can Want – Smokey Robinson and The Miracles Indian Lake – The Cowsills I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You – Bee Gees Journey to the Center of the Mind – Amboy Dukes Judy in Disguise (With Glasses) – John Fred and His Playboy Band Jumpin’ Jack Flash – The Rolling Stones La La Means I Love You – Delfonics Lady Madonna – The Beatles Light My Fire – Jose Feliciano Love Child – Diana Ross and The Supremes Love Is All Around – Troggs Love is Blue – Paul Mauriat MacArthur Park – Richard Harris Magic Carpet Ride – Steppenwolf Midnight Confessions – The Grass Roots Mony, Mony – Tommy James and The Shondells Mrs. Robinson – Simon and Garfunkel Never Gonna Give You Up – Jerry Butler Nobody But Me – Human Beinz On the Road Again – Canned Heat Over You – Gary Puckett and The Union Gap People Got to Be Free – Rascals Pictures of Matchstick Men – Status Quo Piece Of My Heart – Janis Joplin Piece Of My Heart – Big Brother and The Holding Company Playboy – Gene and Debbe Reach Out Of The Darkness – Friend and Lover Revolution – The Beatles Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud) – James Brown Scarborough Fair – Simon and Garfunkel Sealed With a Kiss – Gary Lewis and The Playboys Shoo-Bee-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day – Stevie Wonder Simon Says – 1910 Fruitgum Company Since You’ve Been Gone – Aretha Franklin Sky Pilot – Eric Burdon and The Animals Slip Away – Clarence Carter Soul Serenade – Willie Mitchell Stay In My Corner – Dells Street Fighting Man – The Rolling Stones Summertime Blues – Blue Cheer Sunshine Of Your Love – Cream Suzie Q – Creedence Clearwater Revival Sweet Inspiration – Sweet Inspirations Take Time to Know Her – Percy Sledge The Fool On the Hill – Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 The Good, The Bad and the Ugly – Hugo Montenegro The Horse – Cliff Nobles and Co. The Mighty Quinn – Manfred Mann The Unicorn – The Irish Rovers The Unknown Soldier – The Doors The War Is Over – Phil Ochs Theme from “Valley of the Dolls” – Dionne Warwick Think – Aretha Franklin This Guy’s in Love with You – Herb Alpert Tighten Up – Archie Bell & the Drells Time Has Come Today – The Chambers Brothers White Room – Cream Woman, Woman – Gary Puckett and The Union Gap You Keep Me Hangin’ On – Vanilla Fudge Young Girl – Gary Puckett and The Union Gap You’re All I Need To Get By – Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell Yummy, Yummy, Yummy – Ohio Express
1969
A Boy Named Sue – Johnny Cash Aquarius/Let The Sunshinshine In – The Fifth Dimension Atlantis – Donovan Baby I Love You – Andy Kim Baby It’s You – Smith Baby, Baby Don’t Cry – Smokey Robinson and The Miracles Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival Ball of Confusion – The Temptation Black Pearl – Sonny Charles and The Checkmates – Ltd. Build Me Up Buttercup – Foundations Can I Change My Mind – Tyrone Davis Color Him Father – The Winstons Come Together” / “Something – The Beatles Crimson & Clover – Tommy James & Shondels Crystal Blue Persuasion – Tommy James and The Shondells Dizzy – Tommy Roe Do Your Thing – The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band Easy to Be Hard – Three Dog Night Everybody’s Talkin’ – Nilsson Everyday People – Sly and The Family Stone Fortunate Son – Creedence Clearwater Revival Galveston – Glen Campbell Games People Play – Joe South Get Back – The Beatles Get Together – The Youngbloods Gimme Shelter – The Rolling Stone Gitarzan – Ray Stevens Give Peace a Chance – John Lennon Going In Circles – Friends Of Distinction Good Morning Starshine – Oliver Grazing In the Grass – Friends Of Distinction Green River – Creedence Clearwater Revival Hair – The Cowsills Hawaii Five-O – Ventures Honky Tonk Woman – The Rolling Stones Hot Fun In the Summertime – Sly and The Family Stone Hurt so Bad – Lettermen I Can’t Get Next to You – Temptations I’d Wait a Million Years – The Grass Roots I’m Gonna Make You Mine – Lou Christie In the Ghetto – Elvis Presley In the Year 2525 – Zager and Evans Indian Giver – 1910 Fruitgum Company It Looks Like I’ll Never Fall In Love Again – Tom Jones It’s Getting Better – Mama Cass Elliot It’s Your Thing – Isley Brothers I’ve Gotta Be Me – Sammy Davis Jr. Jean – Oliver Lay Lady Lay – Bob Dylan Leaving on a Jet Plane – Peter, Paul & Mary Little Woman – Bobby Sherman Love Can Make You Happy – Mercy Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet – Henry Mancini More Today Than Yesterday – Spiral Starecase Mother Popcorn Pt. 1 – James Brown My Cherie Amour – Stevie Wonder Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye – Steam One – Three Dog Night Only the Strong Survive – Jerry Butler Polk Salad Annie – Tony Joe White Proud Mary – Creedence Clearwater Revival Put a Little Love In Your Heart – Jackie DeShannon Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man – The Bob Seger System Reflections of My Life – The Marmalade Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town – Kenny Rogers and The First Edition Run Away Child Running Wild – Temptations Smile a Little Smile for Me – Flying Machine Someday We’ll Be Together – Diana Ross & the Supremes Spinning Wheel – Blood, Sweat and Tears Sugar, Sugar – The Archies Suspicious Minds – Elvis Presley Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond That’s the Way Love Is – Marvin Gaye The Chokin’ Kind – Joe Simon The Worst That Could Happen – Brooklyn Bridge These Eyes – The Guess Who Things I’d Like To Say – New Colony Six This Girl’s In Love With You – Dionne Warwick This Magic Moment – Jay and The Americans Time Is Tight – Booker T and The MG’s Time of the Season – Zombies Too Busy Thinking About My Baby – Marvin Gaye Touch Me – The Doors Traces – Dennis Yost and The Classics IV Twenty Five Miles – Edwin Starr Wedding Bell Blues – The 5th Dimension What Does It Take To Win Your Love – Jr. Walker and The All Stars When I Die – Motherlode You’ve Made Me So Very Happy – Blood, Sweat and Tears
1970
(They Long to Be) Close to You – Carpenters 25 or 6 to 4 – Chicago ABC – The Jackson 5 Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Diana Ross All Right Now – Free American Woman – The Guess Who Are You Ready – Pacific Gas and Electric Arizona – Mark Lindsay Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today) – Temptations Band of Gold – Freda Payne Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel Call Me – Aretha Franklin Candida – Dawn Cecelia – Simon and Garfunkel Child in Time – Deep Purple Come and Get It – Badfinger Come Saturday Morning – Sandpipers Cracklin’ Rosie – Neil Diamond Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time – Delfonics Easy Come Easy Go – Bobby Sherman Everything is Beautiful – Ray Stevens Evil Ways – Santana Express Yourself – Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band Fire and Rain – James Taylor For the Love of Him – Bobbi Martin Get Ready – Rare Earth Gimme Dat Ding – Pipkins Give Me Just a Little More Time – Chairmen Of The Board Green-Eyed Lady – Sugarloaf Groovy Situation – Gene Chandler He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother – Hollies Hey There Lonely Girl – Eddie Holman Hitchin’ a Ride – Vanity Fair House Of The Rising Sun – Frijid Pink I Just Can’t Help Believing – B.J. Thomas I Know I’m Losing You – Rare Earth I Should Be Proud – Martha & The Vandellas I Think I Love You – The Partridge Family I Want to Take You Higher – Ike and Tina Turner I Want You Back – The Jackson 5 I’m Your Captain (Closer to Home) – Grand Funk Railroad If You Let Me Make Love To You – Ronnie Dyson I’ll Be There – The Jackson 5 I’ll Never Fall In Love Again – Dionne Warwick In the Summertime – Mungo Jerry Indiana Wants Me – R. Dean Taylor Instant Karma – John Lennon It’s a Shame – Spinners It’s Only Make Believe – Glen Campbell Julie, Do Ya Love Me – Bobby Sherman Lay A Little Lovin’ On Me – Robin Mcnamara Lay Down (Candles In The Rain) – Melanie and The Edwin Hawkins Singers Let It Be – The Beatles Lola – Kinks Long As I Can See the Light/Looking Out My Back Door – Creedence Clearwater Revival Look What They’ve Done to My Song – New Seekers Lookin’ Out My Back Door – Creedence Clearwater Revival Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes – Edison Lighthouse Love Land – Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band Love On a Two Way Street – Moments Love Or Let Me Be Lonely – Friends Of Distinction Ma Belle Amie – Tee Set Machine Gun – Jimi Hendrix Make It With You – Bread Make Me Smile – Chicago Mama Told Me (Not to Come) – Three Dog Night Mississippi Queen – Mountain My Baby Loves Lovin’ – White Plains My Sweet Lord” / “Isn’t It a Pity – George Harrison No Time – The Guess Who Ohio – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young O-O-H Child – Five Stairsteps Patches – Clarence Carter Psychedelic Shack – Temptations Question – The Moody Blues Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head – B.J. Thomas Rainy Night In Georgia – Brook Benton Reflections of My Life – Marmalade Ride Captain Ride – Blues Image Run Through The Jungle – Creedence Clearwater Revival Signed Sealed Delivered I’m Yours – Stevie Wonder Snowbird – Anne Murray Somebody’s Been Sleeping – 100 Proof and Aged In Soul Something’s Burning – Kenny Rogers and The First Edition Spill the Wine – Eric Burdon and War Spirit in the Sky – Norman Greenbaum Still Water – Four Tops Thank You – Everybody Is A Star – Sly & Family Stone The Bells – Originals The Guess Who The Letter – Joe Cocker The Long And Winding Road/For You Blue – The Beatles The Love You Save – The Jackson 5 The Rapper – Jaggerz The Tears of a Clown – Smokey Robinson & the Miracles The Thrill Is Gone – B.B. King The Wonder of You/Mama Liked the Roses – Elvis Presley They Long to Be Close to You – Carpenters Tighter Tighter – Alive N Kicking Travelin’ Band/Who’ll Stop the Rain – Creedence Clearwater Revival Turn Back the Hands of Time – Tyrone Davis United We Stand – Brotherhood Of Man Up Around the Bend/Run Through the Jungle – Creedence Clearwater Revival Up the Ladder to the Roof – Supremes Vehicle – Ides Of March Venus – Shocking Blue Walk A Mile In My Shoes – Joe South War – Edwin Starr We’ve Only Just Begun – Carpenters Which Way You Goin’ Billy – Poppy Family Who’ll Stop The Rain – Creedence Clearwater Revival Without Love – Tom Jones Woodstock – Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young Yellow River – Christie
1971
Brand New Key – Melanie Aint No Sunshine – Bill Withers Amazing Grace – Judy Collins Amos Moses – Jerry Reed Another Day/Oh Woman Oh Why – Paul McCartney Beginnings/Color My World – Chicago Bridge Over Troubled Water – Aretha Franklin Bring The Boys Home – Freda Payne Brown Sugar – The Rolling Stones Cat Stevens – Peace Train Chick-A-Boom – Daddy Dewdrop Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep – Mac and Katie Kissoon Do You Know What I Mean – Lee Michaels Doesn’t Somebody Want to Be Wanted – Partridge Family Don’t Knock My Love Pt. 1 – Wilson Pickett Don’t Pull Your Love – Hamilton Joe Frank and Reynolds Draggin’ the Line – Tommy James Easy Loving – Freddy Hart Family Affair – Sly and the Family Stone For All We Know – Carpenters Funky Nassau – Beginning Of The End Go Away Little Girl – Donny Osmond Groove Me – King Floyd Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves – Cher Have You Ever Seen the Rain? – Creedence Clearwater Revival Help Me Make It Through the Night – Sammi Smith Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again – Fortunes Here Comes the Sun – Richie Havens How Can You Mend a Broken Heart – Bee Gees I Am I Said – Neil Diamond I Don’t Know How to Love Him – Helen Reddy I Found Someone Of My Own – Free Movement I Hear You Knocking – Dave Edmunds I Just Want to Celebrate – Rare Earth I Love You for All Seasons – Fuzz I Woke Up In Love This Morning – Partridge Family If I Were Your Woman – Gladys Knight and The Pips If Not For You – Olivia Newton-John If You Could Read My Mind – Gordon Lightfoot If You Really Love Me – Stevie Wonder If – Bread Imagine – John Lennon Indian Reservation – Raiders It Don’t Come Easy – Ringo Starr It’s Impossible – Perry Como It’s Too Late / I Feel the Earth Move – Carole King Joy to the World – Three Dog Night Just My Imagination Running Away With Me – Temptations Knock Three Times – Dawn Liar – Three Dog Night Lonely Days – Bee Gees Love Her Madly – The Doors Love Story – Andy Williams Maggie May/ Reason to Believe – Rod Stewart Mama’s Pearl – Jackson 5 Man in Black – Johnny Cash Me & Bobby Mcgee – Janis Joplin Me and You and a Dog Named Boo – Lobo Mercy Mercy Me – Marvin Gaye Mr. Big Stuff – Jean Knight Mr. Bojangles – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band My Sweet Lord/Isn’t it a Pity – George Harrison Never Can Say Goodbye – Jackson 5 Never Ending Song of Love – Delaney and Bonnie and Friends One Bad Apple – Osmonds One Less Bell to Answer – Fifth Dimension One Toke Over The Line – Brewer and Shipley Proud Mary – Ike and Tina Turner Put Your in the Hand – Ocean Rainy Days and Mondays – Carpenters Riders On the Storm – The Doors Right On the Tip of My Tongue – Brenda and The Tabulations Rose Garden – Lynn Anderson Sam Stone – John Prine She’s a Lady – Tom Jones She’s Not Just Another Woman – 8th Day Signs – The Five Man Electrical Band Singin’ The Vietnam Talkin’ Blues – Johnny Cash Smiling Faces Sometimes – Undisputed Truth Spanish Harlem – Aretha Franklin Stay Awhile – Bells Stick-up – Honey Cone Superstar – Carpenters Sweet and Innocent – Donny Osmond Sweet City Woman – Stampeders Sweet Mary – Wadsworth Mansion Take Me Home Country Roads – John Denver Temptation Eyes – The Grass Roots That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be – Carly Simon The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down – Joan Baez Theme from Shaft – Isaac Hayes Timothy – Buoys Tired of Being Alone – Al Green Trapped By a Thing Called Love – Denise Lasalle Treat Her Like a Lady – Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose Uncle Albert Admiral Halsey – Paul McCartney Want Ads – The Honey Cone War Pigs – Black Sabbath Watching Scotty Grow – Bobby Goldsboro Wedding Song – Paul Stookey What’s Going On? – Marvin Gaye Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get – Dramatics When You’re Hot You’re Hot – Jerry Reed Wild World – Cat Stevens Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who Woodstock – Matthews’ Southern Comfort Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore – John Prine You’ve Got a Friend – James Taylor Yo-Yo – Osmonds
If you would like to read more about the music during the Vietnam War, my brother in arms and Vietnam Veteran, Bob Staranowicz, wrote a few articles in 2012 about the music of the times. In addition to Vietnam, the first article also includes favorites from World War II and Korea.
If you still haven’t had enough, you may also be interested in visiting another page of mine showing 40+ Vietnam War Videos with background music of the time. Click here to be redirected:
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This particular chapter was originally written for “When Can I Stop Running” and cut out completely from the final copy by my editor. It’s a chapter that tells of a frightening tale from our childhood – funny today, but terrifying at the time. I’m certain some of you reading this will have experienced something similar way back then when ‘Running’ got you to safety. Well most of the time anyway. Here’s the original Chapter 19 – I added photos to give the article some flair:
Isn’t it funny that when talking to others about something scary, everyone has a story of their own to tell. Last night at our weekly social outing, my friend Jerry (Boober) shared his haunting experience with me.
Jerry was about 15 years old at the time when he and a friend, Nick, were propositioned by the owner of the local drive-in theater – Bel-Air Drive-in – on 8 Mile Road (from M&M’s famed song) and Van Dyke – the boundary between Detroit and its northern suburb, Warren, MI.
The deal was that if the two of them cleaned the lot of trash (cups, popcorn, empty containers, bottles, etc.) from the night before, then he’d allow them both to sit up front and watch the first movie along with complimentary soda, hot dog, and popcorn. It was the first time for either of them to see a movie at the drive-in, and were excited about this great opportunity. They worked hard during the afternoon, dragging oversized garbage bags around and poking at empty cups and popcorn boxes on the ground. They each had a five foot long wooden stick with a six-inch long nail poking out from one end – using them like spears, they’d throw the weapon at refuse on the ground and then stripped their catch into the bags.
It was early evening when they finally finished – well before any of the cars arrived. They considered themselves too old to horse around in the playground under the large movie screen so they invented a new game using their spears. They’d stand, facing each other about six feet apart, and take turns throwing their spears into the ground as close as possible to the others’ foot – actually, within twelve inches. If it stuck within that range, that person would have to move his foot to the spear and then take his turn from that position. The purpose of this ‘game’ was to get the opponents’ legs so far apart that they could no longer stand. In Vietnam, we played a similar game in the bush, but using our Bowie knives and K-Bars, calling it ‘stretch’ and/or ‘chicken’. Soon, cars began entering the lot and jockeying around for the best spot.
Most families parked near the concession stand and restrooms while young couples parked further away in more secluded spots. When kids of all ages swarmed to the kiddiepark, Jerry and Nick stopped their game and headed to the concession stand to turn in their spears and collect their payment. Hands full, they found a spot on the grass just beyond the playground, and in the first row near a post with speakers attached and waited patiently for dusk and the movie to begin.
The first movie was called, “Night of the Living Dead.” They knew little about the film but heard from others that it’s supposed to be scary and was about dead people reanimating – whatever that meant – and roaming the countryside killing others and turning them into what they called, zombies. Both were excited and up for a little scariness.
Jerry told me it was a movie he’d never forget. Both youngsters sat before the screen, captivated, never before witnessing anything like this. After a while, screams began echoing from some of the vehicles behind them – mostly female, but it sounded like guys were screaming, too. The movie and sound effects made them extremely anxious – too bad they had not yet learned how to watch a scary movie with their hands covering the eyes and sneaking peeks between the fingers.
At about the half way point, Jerry and Nick found they were beginning to over-react to any sounds from behind them; horns beeping, doors closing, gravel crunching and then seeing shadows moving in the darkness; each incident resulted in a quick head turn to scan the dark surroundings behind them. The interruptions were causing them to miss parts of the movie and soon agreed that as long as the noises weren’t moving toward them – they’d ignore them and focus more on the movie. Yeah, right! It turned out to be a long two hours!
When the movie concluded, the lot lights turned on to signal the start of a fifteen-minute intermission before the next movie began. Some car headlights came on, and vehicles began moving toward the exit – dodging the brave souls who were heading toward the concession stand. It was now midnight and time for Jerry and Nick to leave for home.
The two of them walked side by side, eyes wide and alert, their movements, somewhat awkward and jerky as they walked westward along 8 Mile Road. Their heads swiveled like radar masts, side to side, remaining alert for any threats that might be lurking in the shadows. Their pace was brisk and neither spoke a word since leaving the drive-in theater almost a mile back. When they came upon the edge of a park, an unheard command in their heads ordered them to quicken their step. During the day, it was actually a block-long playfield where kids of all ages played baseball, football, threw horseshoes, and flew kites. Older trees bordered along the east boundary and eight-foot-high fencing enclosed it; several gaps along the perimeter allowed access and egress.
Usually, this is where they’d split up; most times, Jerry taking a shortcut through the field, and Nick continuing alone for a couple more blocks. Only on this night, Jerry sent a telepathic message to Nick telling him that he wasn’t about to cross the empty field full of shadows and become fodder for any zombies that might be waiting for him in the darkness. They continued on in silence, but now moving at a quicker step – half way between running and jogging.
When reaching the corner of Jerry’s street, they hesitated for a brief second or two – running in place while contemplating their next move. Nick still had a couple more blocks to go before turning south from 8-Mile – his home was the fifth house on the right. Jerry, on the other hand, had to go about a block and a half down his dark, narrow, and shadowy street; fourteen houses beyond the single traffic light swaying back and forth at the next corner.
Finally, the two buds each raised a hand chest-high to wave goodbye; both still numb from the movie and trek home, neither able to talk yet. When the traffic light down the street turned green, they moved in different directions. Trotting slowly at first, then running as fast as their legs could carry them.
Jerry ran along the center of the street so he could keep on eye out for anything suspicious moving toward him from in between the houses on his right. He was a third of the way down the block when he noticed a shadow moving diagonally across the fenced-in field to his left. It was running too, and heading toward one of the gates at the lit intersection. He panicked when it suddenly dawned on him that this ‘thing’ might attack him at the end of the block. ‘What to do?’ He thought. ‘Do I stop and go back or should I turn on the afterburners and try to beat him past the intersection?’ He chose to run faster.
‘It’ll be close!’ Jerry thought, his arms pumping back and forth mechanically, and keeping pace with his racing heartbeat. At that point, he had a sudden revelation that he was now running faster than he could ever remember. Unfortunately, there’ll be no witnesses, awards or recognition from others, he’ll just have to settle on congratulating himself once he makes it home. Jerry glanced toward the moving shadow in the park, and realized that it, too, had also increased its pace. ‘Oh shit,’ he thought, ‘If I stop for the traffic signal at the end of the block, that monster will get me for sure.’ The light turned red as Jerry closed in on the intersection; houses in this neighborhood stood rather close to the corner, and it was extremely difficult for one to see the on-coming cross traffic; this is why most street corners had traffic lights, stop signs or those triangle yield signs. He had to chance it, thinking, ‘If I stop…I’m dead!’
He chose to cross the intersection against the light – never changing his stride. Jerry’s lungs burned and begged him to stop; his racing heart now feeling like it was off-kilter and threatening to break out of his chest. ‘I’m going to make it!’ Jerry thought, noticing the shadow still several steps away from the exit. Still unrecognizable. A beast. He was halfway through the intersection when he caught a flash of light in his peripheral vision. A car, moving straight toward him. The car horn blared, tires squealed loudly, the driver frantically trying to avoid hitting the kid. Jerry had too much momentum, and it was impossible to stop in time. He closed his eyes, offered up a quick prayer and launched himself into the air like a deer jumping over a fence. Luckily, he cleared the hood by mere inches before the car slide by. It was a miracle!He didn’t stop or look back, and was determined to continue this pace for the next fourteen houses.
When reaching home, the 15-year-old leaped onto the porch in a single bound and crashed into the door that was never locked. Jerry twisted the knob and stepped through the doorway – collapsing onto the couch – completely breathless. Panting deeply, he tried to control his breathing, but began hyperventilating. He sat up and then bent over keeping his head low and between his knees – breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. The technique was something he learned in sports; it always worked after hitting an inside-the-park-homerun during a league baseball game.
Everyone was already sound asleep, so he locked the front door for the first time ever and headed to his bedroom.
He was still afraid of the living dead and did not attempt to check on his parents and siblings. ‘What if they died while I was gone and already turned like those creatures in the movie?’ As a safeguard, he used his desk chair and propped it under the doorknob to stop anything from entering his bedroom. All at once, Jerry’s legs and arms started shaking involuntarily, evidently, his adrenaline making the circuit. This worried him, as it was something he’d not experienced before. He reached into his nightstand and pulled out a 12-inch long hunting knife, a gift from his father, and then sat back on the bed and leaned against the headboard. He remained fully clothed in the event he’d have to make a run for it and kept the knife on his lap. Every sound in the settling house spooked him, and caused him to sit up straight and pay close attention to where he heard the sound. This continued for most of the night, until Jerry eventually fell into a fitful sleep.
He told me that even though this event occurred 44 years ago, it affected him so much that he has yet to watch an episode of “The Walking Dead.”
Thank you for taking the time to view this article! Don’t miss out on the many other stories, pictures and videos available to you on this website (see below).
If you enjoyed this article and want to learn more about the Vietnam War – subscribe to this blog and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader. Meanwhile, you can check into my special pages, most recent articles and those most popular – all listed to the right of each article. If you’d rather sample every post, then click HERE to be redirected to this blog’s main page. There, you can scroll down through all the published titles, listed chronologically – the most recent is first.
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Warning: Many of the written and visual examples shared within this article are graphic, disturbing and sometime revolting – if descriptions and photos of brutalized human beings bother you, then I’d suggest you bypass this post and select another to read while you’re here.
This article is about the VC/NVA atrocities that occurred in Vietnam. They are not unique and incidents like these have occurred all over the world throughout history; in fact, these “crimes” continue even today. During the Vietnam War, United States troops were charged with ‘war crimes’ against humanity – most notable of all, the My Lai Massacre. There are 320 incidents listed in the Army report, and another 500 alleged atrocities that were either unproven or were otherwise discounted – at least 194 civilians were killed. These exclude My Lai so the total civilian death toll is presumably about 694. From January 1965 through August 1973, 36 cases involving war crimes allegations against Army personnel were tried by court-martial – 201 U.S. soldiers and 77 Marines were convicted of serious crimes against the Vietnamese. Allied malfeasance and atrocities were rare exceptions, most due to simple human idiocy rather than policy.
The VC/NVA soldiers, on the other hand, terrorized the populace and murdered many civilians as a matter of routine and did so on a daily basis. This was not reported on the nightly news or posted in daily newspaper stories. This terrorism was an integral part of Communist strategy in Vietnam which was in line with the idiom: “Cut off the head of the snake and the rest will be easier to deal with”. In military jargon, this means to remove the most dangerous opponent or leaders first then those left standing will be more docile. This extensive use of terror on a daily basis received comparatively little attention from Western journalists occupied with covering the big unit war. Terror was meant to demonstrate that both the rural and urban dweller were powerless against the Viet Cong and that the government could not protect them.
This is not an all-inclusive list of atrocities from the Vietnam War, and is meant only to give readers a glimpse of what civilians faced on a daily basis.
The terror had its real beginning when Red dictator Ho Chi Minh consolidated his power in the North. More than a year before his 1954 victory over the French, he launched a savage campaign against his own people. In virtually every North Vietnamese village, strong-arm squads assembled the populace to witness the “confessions” of landowners. As time went on, businessmen, intellectuals, school teachers, civic leaders — all who represented a potential source of future opposition — were also rounded up and forced to “confess” to “errors of thought.” Their public “trials,” were followed by conviction and, in many cases, execution. People were shot, beheaded, beaten to death; some were tied up, thrown into open graves and covered with stones until they were crushed to death, Ho had renewed his terror in North Vietnam periodically. Between 50,000 and 100,000 are believed to have died in these blood-baths — in a coldly calculated effort to discipline the party and the masses.
To be sure, few who escaped Ho’s terror now seem likely to tempt his wrath. During the 1950s, however, he had to quell some sizeable uprisings in North Vietnam — most notably one that occurred in early November 1956, in the An province, which included Ho’s birthplace village of Nam Dan. So heavily had he taxed the region that the inhabitants finally banded together and refused to meet his price. Ho sent troops to collect, and then sent in an army division, shooting. About 6,000 unarmed villagers were killed. The survivors scattered, some escaping to the South. The slaughter went largely unnoticed by a world then preoccupied with the Soviet Union’s rape of Hungary.
With North Vietnam tightly in hand, the central committee of the North Vietnamese communist party met in Hanoi on March 13, 1959, and decided it was time to move against South Vietnam. Soon, large numbers of Ho’s guerrillas were infiltrating to join cadres that had remained there after the French defeat in 1954. Their mission: to eliminate South Vietnam’s leadership, including elected officials, “natural” leaders, anyone and everyone to whom people might turn for advice. Also to be liquidated were any South Vietnamese who had relatives in their country’s armed forces, civil, services or police; any who failed to pay communist taxes promptly; any with five or more years of education.
VC soldiers routinely left bombs in markets, hotels and restaurants within the larger cities to target civilians and soldiers who might be visiting.
A captured VC guerrilla explained how his eight-man team moved against a particular target village: “The first time we entered the village, we arrested and executed on the spot four men who had been pointed out to us by the party’s district headquarters as our most dangerous opponents. One, who had fought in the war against the French was now a known supporter of the South Vietnamese government. Another had been seen fraternizing with government troops. These two were shot. The others, the village’s principal landowners, were beheaded.”
On 25 December 1965, the Viet Cong massacred 25 unarmed workers who were helping build a government canal. They were sleeping in a Buddhist pagoda when the Viet Cong attacked. The same thing occurred in My Tho, but in that case those that survived the initial onslaught were marched 4 kilometers to a public highway and killed in a political act to frighten other Vietnamese workers and citizens.
In battles at Ia Drang (23 October to 20 November 1965), NVA troops slaughtered U.S. wounded. Most bodies recovered were shot in the head or back. At other locations, wounded American soldiers were tied to trees, tortured, and then murdered.
Marines spoke of Vietcong who came home to two other villages. In one case, a 15-year-old girl who had given the US Marines information on VC activities was taken into the jungle and tortured for hours, then beheaded. As a warning to other villagers, her head was placed on a pole in front of her home. Her murderers were her brother and two of his VC comrades. In the other case, when a VC learned that his wife and two young children had cooperated with Marines who had befriended them, he himself cut out their tongues.
During another Marine patrol, a village chief and his wife were distraught as one of their children, a seven-year-old boy, had been missing for four days. They were terrified, because they believed he had been captured by the Vietcong.
Suddenly, the boy came out of the jungle and ran across the rice paddies toward the village. He was crying. His mother ran to him and swept him up in her arms. Both of his hands had been cut off, and there was a sign around his neck, a message to his father: “If he or anyone else in the village dared go to the polls during the upcoming elections, something worse would happen to the rest of his children.
The VC delivered a similar warning to the residents of a hamlet not far from Danang. All were herded before the home of their chief. While they and the chief’s pregnant wife and four children were forced to look on, the chief’s tongue was cut out. Then his genital organs were sliced off and sewn inside his bloody mouth. As he died, the VC went to work on his wife, slashing open her womb. Then, the nine-year-old son: a bamboo lance was rammed through one ear and out the other. Two more of the chief’s children were murdered the same way. The VC did not harm the five-year-old daughter — not physically: they simply left her crying, holding her dead mother’s hand.
December 5, 1967, communists perpetrated what must rank among history’s most monstrous blasphemies at Dak Son, a central highlands village of some 2,000. Montagnards — a tribe of gentle but fiercely independent mountain people. They had moved away from their old village in VC-controlled territory, ignored several VC orders to return and refused to furnish male recruits to the VC.
Two VC battalions struck in the earliest hours, when the village was asleep. Quickly killing the sentries, the communists swarmed among the rows of tidy, thatch-roofed homes, putting the torch to them. The first knowledge that many of the villagers had of the attack was when VC troops turned flamethrowers on them in their beds. Some families awoke in time to escape into nearby jungle. Some men stood and fought, giving their wives and children time to crawl into trenches dug beneath their homes as protection against mortar and rifle fire. But when every building was ablaze, the communists took their flamethrowers to the mouth of each trench and poured in a long, searing hell of fire — and, for good measure, tossed grenades into many. Methodical and thorough, they stayed at it until daybreak, then left in the direction of the Cambodian border.
Morning revealed a scene of unbelievable horror. The village now was only a smoldering, corpse-littered patch on the lush green countryside. The bodies of 252 people, mostly mothers and children, lay blistered, charred, burned to the bone. Survivors, many of them horribly burned, wandered aimlessly about or stayed close to the incinerated bodies of loved ones, crying. Some 500 were missing; scores were later found in the jungle, dead of burns and other wounds; many have not been found.
The massacre at Dak Son was a warning to other Montagnard Settlements to cooperate. But many of the tribesmen, instead, joined the allies to fight the communists.
General Walt, US Marines, tells of his arrival at a district headquarters the day after it had been overrun by VC and North Vietnamese army troops. Those South Vietnamese soldiers not killed in the battle had been tied up and shot through their mouths or the backs of their heads. Then their wives and children, including a number of two and three-year-olds, had been brought into the street, disrobed, tortured and finally executed: their throats were cut; they were shot, beheaded, disemboweled. The mutilated bodies were draped on fences and hung with signs telling the rest of the community that if they continued to support the Saigon government and allied forces, they could look forward to the same fate.
These Communist atrocities are not isolated cases; they are typical. For this is the enemy’s way of warfare, clearly expressed in his combat policy in Vietnam. By the end of 1967, they had committed at least 100,000 acts of terror against the South Vietnamese people. The record is an endless litany of tortures, mutilations and murders that would have been instructive even to such as Adolf Hitler.
TET 1968 – Battle for Hue
Months of meticulous planning and training had made the TET Offensive possible. The Communists had carefully selected the time for the attack. Because of Tet, they knew the city’s defenders would be at reduced strength, and the typically bad weather of the northeast monsoon season would hamper any allied aerial re-supply operations and impede close air support.
In the days leading up to Tet, hundreds of Viet Cong (VC) had already infiltrated the city by mingling with the throngs of pilgrims pouring into Hue for the holiday. They easily moved their weapons and ammunition into the bustling city, concealed in the vehicles, wagons and trucks carrying the influx of goods, food and wares intended for the days-long festivities.
Image/Picture produced and copyrighted by Citinomad.com
Like clockwork, in the dark, quiet morning hours of January 31, the stealth soldiers unpacked their weapons, donned their uniforms and headed to their designated positions across Hue in preparation for linking up with crack People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and VC assault troops closing in on the city. Infiltrators assembled at the Citadel gates ready to lead their comrades to strike key targets.
At 3:40 a.m., a rocket and mortar barrage from the mountains to the west signaled the assault troops to launch their attack. By daybreak, the lightning strike was over and the invaders began to unleash a harsh new reality over the stunned city. The Viet Cong set up provisional authorities shortly after capturing Huế in the early hours of January 31, 1968. They were charged with removing the existing government administration from power within the city and replacing it with a “revolutionary administration.” Working from lists of “cruel tyrants and reactionary elements” previously developed by Viet Cong intelligence officers, many people were to be rounded up following the initial hours of the attack. These included Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) soldiers, civil servants, political party members, local religious leaders, schoolteachers, American civilians and other international people.
As PAVN and VC troops roamed freely to consolidate their gains, political officers set about rounding up South Vietnamese and foreigners unfortunate enough to be on their “special lists.” Marching up and down the Citadel’s narrow streets, the cadre called out the names on their lists over loudspeakers, ordering them to report to a local school. Those not reporting voluntarily would be hunted down.
Phase one was a series of kangaroo court trials of local ARVN officials. The highly publicized trials lasted anywhere from 5 – 10 minutes and the accused were always found guilty of “crimes against the people.”
Phase two was implemented when the communists thought that they could hold the city long-term, and consisted of a campaign of “social reconstruction” along Maoistdogmatic lines. Those who the communists believed to be counter-revolutionaries were singled out in this phase. Catholics, intellectuals, prominent businessmen, and other “imperialist lackeys” were targeted in order to “build a new social order”.
The last phase began when it became evident that the communists could not hold the city and was designed to “leave no witnesses”. Anyone who could identify individual VC members who participated in the occupation was to be killed and their bodies hidden.
The communists’ actions were based on a series of orders issued by the High Command and the PRG. In a 3500-page document issued on January 26, 1968, by the Trị-Thiên-Huế Political Directorate, the political cadres were given specific instructions of operating in close support of the regular military and guerrilla elements, the political cadre were to: destroy and disorganize the Republic of Viet Nam’s (RVN’s) administrative machinery “from province and district levels to the city wards, streets, and wharves;” motivate the people of Hue to take up arms, pursue the enemy, seize power, and establish a revolutionary government; motivate (recruit) local citizens for military and “security” forces .. transportation and supply activities, and to serve wounded soldiers, pursue to the end (and) punish spies, reactionaries, and “tyrants” and “maintain order and security in the city”
It was reported that on the 5th day of the Viet Cong occupation in the Catholic district of Huế, all able-bodied males over age 15, approximately 400 boys and men, who took refuge in Phủ Cam Cathedral were taken away and killed. Some had been on the VC’s blacklist, some were of military age and some just looked prosperous. In an interview Ho Ty, a VC commander who took part in the advanced planning of a general uprising, recounted that the Communist party “was particularly anxious to get those people at Phủ Cam. The Catholics were considered particular enemies of ours.” It was apparently this group whose remains were later found in the Da Mai Creek bed. The murders of 500 people at Da Mai were authorized by PRG command “on grounds that the victims had been traitors to the revolution.
Three professors, Professor Horst-Günther Krainick, Dr. Alois Alteköster, and Dr. Raimund Discher, who taught at the Huế University’s Faculty of Medicine and were members of the West German Cultural Mission, along with Mrs. Elisabeth Krainick, were arrested and executed by North Vietnamese troops during their invasion of Huế in February 1968.
Two French priests, Fathers Urbain and Guy, were seen being led away and suffered a similar fate. Urbain’s body was found buried alive, bound hand and foot. Guy, who was 48, was stripped of his cassock and forced to kneel down on the ground where he was shot in the back of the head. He was in the same grave with Father Urbain and 18 others.
Alje Vennema, a Dutch-Canadian doctor who lived in Hue and witnessed the battle and the massacre, wrote The Viet Cong Massacre at Hue in 1976. He recounts numerous stories of murders. A 48-year-old street vendor, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Lao, was “arrested on the main street. Her body was found at the school. Her arms had been bound and a rag stuffed into her mouth; there were no wounds to the body. She was probably buried alive.” A 44-year-old bricklayer, Mr. Nguyen Ty, was “seized on February 2, 1968…His body was found on March 1st; his hands were tied, and he had a bullet wound through his neck which had come out through the mouth.”
At Ap Dong Gi Tay “110 bodies were uncovered; again most had their hands tied and rags stuffed in their mouth. All of them were men, among them fifteen students, several military men, and civil servants, young and old.” “Sometimes a whole family was eliminated, as was the case with the merchant, Mr. Nam Long, who together with his wife and five children was shot at home.” “Mr. Phan Van Tuong, a laborer at the province headquarters, suffered a similar fate by being shot outside his house with four of his children.”
Vennema listed 27 graves with a total of 2397 bodies, most of which had been executed. He cited numerous eyewitness accounts of executions by PAVN and VC troops and described the condition of bodies found in the graves. Many had their hands tied behind their backs. Some were shot in the head. Some had rags stuffed in their mouths and had no evidence of wounds, apparently having been buried alive. Some had evidence of having been beaten. A few were identified as PAVN or VC troops killed during the battle.
An eyewitness, Nguyen Tan Chau, recounted how he was captured by Communist troops and marched south with 29 other prisoners bound together, in three groups of ten. Chau managed to escape and hide in the darkness just before the others were executed. From there he witnessed what happened next. “The larger prisoners were separated into pairs, tied together back to back and shot. The others were shot singly. All were dumped into two shallow graves, including those who had been wounded but were not dead.”
The Battle of Huế began on January 31, 1968, and lasted a total of 26 days. During the months and years that followed, dozens of mass graves were discovered in and around Huế. Victims included women, men, children, and infants.
The estimated death toll was between 2,800 and 6,000 civilians and prisoners of war, or 5%-10% of the total population of Hue. The Republic of Vietnam released a list of 4,062 victims identified as having been either murdered or abducted. Victims were found bound, tortured, and sometimes buried alive. Many victims were also clubbed to death.
On April 5, 1968, the bodies of the executed professors along with many Vietnamese civilians also executed, were discovered in mass graves near Huế. Khmer Rouge (Cambodian Communists) were particularly brutal; as guerrillas they slaughtered whole villages — after gaining power estimates of dead from their actions run into millions.
Some graves were found purely by accident. A farmer working in his field tripped on a wire sticking out of the ground. He pulled on it to remove it and a skeletal hand popped out of the ground. Other graves were found when people noticed suspiciously green grass in sandy areas. The Da Mai Creek massacre was discovered after three VC defected and told authorities about the murders. An ARVN soldier on patrol south of Hue noticed a wire sticking out of the ground. Thinking it was a booby trap, he very carefully worked to uncover it. He discovered the body of an old man, his hands tied together with the wire. Two days later 130 bodies had been uncovered.
During the first seven months of 1969, a second major group of graves was found. Then, in September, three Communist defectors told 101st Airborne Division intelligence officers that they had witnessed the killing of several hundred people at Da Mai Creek, about 10 miles south of Hue, in February 1968. A search revealed the remains of about 300 people in the creek bed. Finally, in November, a fourth major discovery of bodies was made in the Phu Thu Salt Flats, near the fishing village of Luong Vien, 10 miles east of Hue. All total, nearly 2,800 bodies were recovered from these mass graves.
We may never know what really happened at Hue, but it is clear that mass executions did occur and that reports of the massacre there had a significant impact on South Vietnamese and American attitudes for many years after the Tet Offensive.
In total, from 1957 to 1973, the Viet Cong assassinated 36,725 South Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499, only several thousand returning, indicating tens of thousands others were assassinated. The VC death squads focused on leaders at the village level and on anyone who improved the lives of the peasants such as medical personnel, social workers, civil engineers, and schoolteachers. The 36,000 figure alone, given Viet Nam’s 17 million population, represents a national mortality proportion that would equal about 420,000 Americans assassinated, exclusive of combat fatalities, of which South Viet Nam’s military sustained 275,000 killed.
The perception that a bloodbath like the one that occurred at Hue would follow any takeover by the North Vietnamese cast a long shadow and significantly contributed to the abject panic that seized South Vietnam when the North Vietnamese launched their final offensive in 1975—and this panic resulted in the disintegration and defeat of the South Vietnamese armed forces, the fall of Saigon and, ultimately, the demise of the Republic of Vietnam as a sovereign nation.
After North Vietnam violated the Paris Peace Agreements and took over South Vietnam by bloody military force, they murdered thousands more civilians. Those that were not executed were taken from their homes and jailed for years in forced labor concentration camps. Some are still being held today.
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During the Vietnam conflict, there were no individual personal cellular or landline telephones available for soldiers or sailors to use for calling family members back home. To address this, United States MARS (Military Affiliate Radio Service) stations from all branches of the service, Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force, were deployed throughout Vietnam. The MARS system offered soldiers and sailors a way to personally communicate with loved ones back home via the use of a “phone-patch” telephone connection over short-wave radio. MARS stations would allow each soldier a free 5-minute personal radio telephone call home to the United States.
The Navy-Marine Corps MARS program was established officially on 17 August 1962, and began operations on 1 January 1963. This follows the Cuban Missile Crisis and President Kennedy’s concern for viable and extended communications capabilities. Each military service had it own MARS program, networks, frequencies, operators and stations. A ham could apply for MARS membership and help service members call home.
One of the operators explains the process in making a patch. First the band would have to be open to patch quality conditions. Then a MARS operator would call the MARS station in Vietnam for a “Listing” of service members who wanted to make a call, to whom and what phone number. The only cost was a collect call charge the family had to accept from the ham’s location. The HAM operator in the states would then get a telephone company operator on their home phone line and have the collect call placed. Once the charge was accepted and the family member was on the line, the operator would instruct the family member that only one person could talk at a time and they had to say “over” when they were finished talking and not start talking until after the service member said “over.” Then the operator would call Vietnam for the service member to come on line. The call then proceeded.
When using this system, soldiers were required to follow a certain protocol. Since this was a non-secure band, we were not to mention anything about where we were or what we were doing in Vietnam. The time limit was also strictly enforced – the crew member would hold up his hands and count down from 10 before terminating the call.
The most difficult part of the conversation was in remembering to say “over” when completing your comment, this was required for the ham radio operators listening in to switch back and forth. I remember speaking with my mother once when she forgot to say “over” after her comment and there was a longer than usual silent pause. I hollered into the handset several times for her to say “over” but she couldn’t hear me until the circuit was switched. Finally, after what seemed to be almost a full minute of silence, I heard her gulp and quickly respond, “oh, over,” which then allowed the switch to take place so I could talk again. In just about all cases, MARS was the only way soldiers could call home from Vietnam. In other words, “MARS was the soldiers’ Telephone Company.”
When wanting to place a call, there was a sign-up list for your name, the name of the party you’re trying to reach and that phone number. For us grunts, sometime. we weren’t able to use the system because of an exceptionally long waiting list or the MARS group was unable to get a decent connection. Both required time, a luxury that grunts on stand down did not have. I should mention that in any location where field hospitals were present, a patient wanting to place a call always got to skip to the front of the line.
The process was a science! Operators on both ends had to know:
when the peak of the sunspot cycle would ionize the ‘E’ layer of the ionosphere
when to point an antenna at exactly the right spot a hundred miles out in space
how to reflect a high frequency radio signal off the ionized layer, over the curve of the earth, and into a similar station in the United States
how to hook it all up to a telephone line for the call to take place.
Sometimes, when the signals became too weak to be ‘phone patch quality’, they sent and received written messages for the troops in the form of MARSGRAMS by ‘CW’, or Morse Code, that could blast through the interference.
Photo courtesy of Gardina-mars7-454
A network of more than 80 Army, Air Force and Navy/Marine MARS stations in Vietnam transmitted more than 2.5 million phone patches and handled more than 1 million MARSgram messages to several hundred stateside MARS stations, some in the homes of volunteer ham radio operators and the others on military bases.
Station
Location(s)
Sponsoring Units
Years
AB8AB
Qui Nhon
HHD, QNH Sub-Area Command
66-72
AB8AC
Cam Rahn Bay
C Co 41st signal
67-68
AB8AD
Di An
121st Signal Battalion, 1st Infantry Division
66-70
Kontum
Task Force #2, ADV
70-72
AB8AE
An Khe
509th Signal Battalion
66-67
An Khe
41st Signal Battalion, 1st Air Cavalry Division
67-70
DaNang
142nd Trans
71-73
AB8AF
Soc Trang
52nd Signal Battalion
67-70
Long Binh
USARV Headquarters
70-73
AB8AG
Nha Trang
54th Signal Battalion
66-73
AB8AH
Phuoc Vinh
1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division
66-69
Bien Hoa
HQ, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
69-70
New Port (Saigon)
USS LTC Page
70-72
AB8AI
Bac Lieu
MACV Advisory Team 51
66-69
Ca Mau
MACV Advisory Team 51
69-72
AB8AJ
Cu Chi
125th Signal Battalion, 25th Infantry Division
66-71
AB8AK
Phan Rang
3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division
67-68
Camp Eagle (Hue)
HQ, 1st Brigade. 101st Airborne Div.
68-71
Song Be
MACV Advisory Team 28
71-73
AB8AL
Lai Khe/Thu Dau Mot
MACV Advisory Team 70
66-71
AB8AM
Bien Hoa
173rd Airborne Brigade
66-68
Due Pho (LZ English)
173rd Airborne Brigade
68-71
AB8AN
Can Tho
13th Aviation Battalion
66-72
AB8AO
Xuan Loc
MACV Advisory Team 95
66-71
Cao Lanh
MACV Advisory Team 84
71-72
AB8AP
Hue City
Special Forces Advisory Group
66-70
Camp Eagle
MACV Advisory Team 3
71 -72
AB8AQ
Phu Bai
8th Radio Research Field Station
66-73
AB8AR
Cam Ranh Bay
1st Trans Battalion, USNS Corpus Christi
66-68
Off of Vung Tau
1st Trans Battalion, USNS Corpus Christi
68-72
AB8AS
Pleiku
4th Infantry Division
66-70
AB8AT
Co A 53d Signal Bn, II Field Force Vietnam
66-68
Long Binh (north) The Plantation
Units of the 25th Infantry Division
68-70
AB8AU
Camp Bear Cat / Dong Tam
9th Signal Battalion, 9th Infantry Division
66-69
Bien Hoa
HQ, II Field Force, USARV
69-71
AB8AU/AZ
MOBILE Unit Traveled throughout AOR
9th Signal Battalion, 9th Infantry Division
68-69
AB8AV
Vung Tau
369th Signal Battalion 36th Evacuation Hospital
68-71
AB8AW
Nha Trang
HQ, 5th Special Forces Group
66-71
AB8AX
Hoi An (Hawk Hill)
196th Light Infantry Brigade
68-70
AB8AY
Phan Thiet (LZ Betty)
MACV Advisory Team 37
67-68
Phan Thiet (LZ Betty)
3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division
69-70
Tan Son Nhut (Saigon)
224th Aviation Battalion
70-73
AB8AZ
Dong Tam
9th Signal Battalion, 9th Infantry Division
67-69
Phu Bai
501st Signal Battalion, 101st Airborne Division
69-71
AB8AAA
Long Binh
1st Logistical Command
68-70
Saigon
Headquarters, MACV
70-72
AB8AAB
Bien Hoa
3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division
68-70
Bao Loc
MAC V Advisory Group
70-71
AB8AAC
Bear Cat Mountain
4th Infantry Division
68-70
Dau Tieng / Phuoc Vinh
587th Signal Company for 3rd Brigade 25th Infantry 1968
13th Signal Battalion, 1st Air Cavalry Division
70-71
AB8AAD
Chu Lai
523rd Signal Battalion & 27th Evacuation Hosp & Americal Division
67-72
AB8AAE
Camp Eagle (Hue)
501st Signal Company, 101st Airborne Division
68-71
AB8AAF
Tuy Hoa
261st Signal Company
68-71
AB8AAG
Camp Evans (north of Hue)
1st Air Cavalry Division
67-68
AB8AAH
Duc Pho
11th Infantry Brigade
67-71
AB8AAI
Dong Ha (near DMZ)
Units of 101st Airborne Division & 5th Mech
69-71
AB8AAJ
Pleiku
43rd Signal Battalion & 71st Evacuation Hospital
68-71
AB8AAK
Camp Red Devil (Quang Tri)
1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized)
69-71
AB8AAL
Phu Loi
520th Transportation Battalion
69-72
AB8AAM
Pleiku (Camp Frank Jones)
146th Signal Company
70-73
AB8AAN
Dalat
5th Special Forces Advisory Team
69-72
AB8AAO
Dong Ba Thi
MACV Advisory Team
70-71
AB8AAP
Vinh Long
7th of the 1st Air Cavalry & 164th Aviation Group
68-71
AB8AAQ
Camp Evans
3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division
69-72
AB8AAR
Firebase Mace
199th Light Infantry Brigade
69-70
AB8AAS
Phu Bai
XXIV Corps HQ & 101st Airborne Division
69-71
AB8AAT
Da Nang
37th Signal Bn Compound 69-70 China Beach 71-73
68-73
AB8AAU
Phu Lam (near Saigon)
Stratcom HQ, USARV/MACV
69-73
AB8AAV
Song Be (Phan Rang)
MACV Advisory Team
69-71
AB8AAW
Cat Lai
MACV Advisory Team
68-71
AB8USA
Long Binh
Headquarters, USARV
65-72
Tan Son Nhut (Saigon)
69th Signal Battalion, USARV
72-73
AB8SG
Saigon
U.S. Embassy
73-75
The last MARS facility to go off the air was probably AB8SG located in the American Embassy in Saigon during the evacuation of the Embassy in 1975. Just about every Army unit in the field had a MARS station, including Airborne Brigades, Special Forces Advisory Groups, Infantry Divisions, Transportation Battalions, Medical Units, Aviation Battalions, and of course most Signal Corps units.
The traditional land or sea band MARS Radio Phone Patch is largely a thing of the past because land and sea based MARS stations have been dismantled in favor of Satellite Phones. However, modern military aircraft are still equipped with HF radios, and many military aircrews still use MARS Phone Patches as a backup or substitute to Satellite Communications. The USAF MARS Phone Patch Net provides 24/7 HF Radio Phone service to all branches of U.S. military aircraft worldwide.
Today, satellite phones and using Skype with a laptop makes it much easier for soldiers around the world to keep in touch with families.
I think I used the MARS system twice during my tour in Vietnam. Anybody else?
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This author’s description of a veteran will most likely describe most if not all veterans who read this. For non-vets, here’s a way to find out what makes us tick!
This article was written by Ray Starmann and originally posted on his website just before Veteran’s Day, 2015:
It is important for those who have never served to take a moment to understand the solitary world of a vet.
Millions of vets are and have been successful in all endeavors. They are doctors, lawyers, business people and a thousand other professions. Not all have PTSD; not all are the troubled, brooding, street corner homeless guy, although they exist and need help desperately.
No matter how successful a vet might be materially, more often than not, vets are often alone, mentally and spiritually each day and for the rest of their lives.
Vets’ stories are all different, but some elements of the common experience exist.
Many vets experienced and saw and heard and did things unimaginable to the average person. They also lived a daily camaraderie that cannot be repeated in the civilian world. In fact, many vets spend the rest of their lives seeking the same esprit de corps that simply is absent from their civilian lives and jobs. They long to spend just 15 minutes back with the best friends they ever had, friends that are scattered to every corner of the earth, and some to the afterlife itself.
Painting courtesy of Tom Lea
Vets are haunted by visions of horror and death, by guilt of somehow surviving and living the good life, when some they knew are gone. They strangely wish sometimes that they were back in those dreadful circumstances, not to experience the dirt and horror and terror and noise and violence again, but to be with the only people a vet really knows, other vets.
Civilians must understand that for a vet nothing is ever the same again. Their senses can be suddenly illuminated by the slightest sound or smell or sight: sights of death all around, a living version of Dante’s Inferno; sounds so loud that they can only be described as Saving Private Ryan in surround sound on steroids; smells vast and horrific; rotting death, burning fuel and equipment, rubber, animals and…people. The smoldering ruins of life all around them.
All vets have these thoughts nearly every day. Some may experience them for fractions of second, or for minutes at a time. They replay over and over again like an endless 24 hour war movie.
A visitor at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington passes early in the morning on Veterans Day, Monday, Nov. 11, 2013, to look at the names inscribed on the wall.
Part of the solitary world of the vet is being able to enjoy complete bliss doing absolutely nothing. This is a trait grating to civilians who must constantly search for endless stimuli. Unbeknownst to them, the greatest thrill of all is just being alive. A lot of vets have an Obi-wan Kenobi calmness. After what they went through, how bad can anything really be?
As King said to Chris in Platoon, “Make it outta here, it’s all gravy, every day of the rest of your life – gravy…”
So many, if not all vets walk around each day lost in their own special story. They were once great actors on a giant stage with speaking parts and props. Maybe they were heroes and now they aren’t anymore. Maybe they helped save the world and now they can’t. Maybe they gave orders and now they take them. Maybe they thought that they could accomplish anything and now they know they can’t. Perhaps their lives now are smaller and slower and sometimes in the vet’s mind, just incidental, even though they’re not.
Most civilians are oblivious to the solitary life of the vet. But, it’s there. It’s the same eternal and universal philosophy, whether you fought in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Iraq or Afghanistan. The experiences may have been different, but the emotions are the same.
A problem with the solitary world of the vet is that the vet has a hard time explaining what he or she did to those who didn’t serve. Some vets want to talk, but they have no outlet. Maybe their only outlet is watching a war movie or reading a book about the conflict they were in.
How often do people say, “Grandpa never talks about Korea.” That’s because Grandpa knows no one can understand except other vets. That’s because Grandpa knows most people don’t care.
Part of this taciturn mentality is that vets speak another language, a strange and archaic language of their past. How do you talk to civilians about “fire for effect” or “grid 7310” or “shake and bake” or “frag orders” or “10 days and a wake up” or a thousand and one other terms that are mystifying to the real world?
You can’t.
All of this adds to the solitary world of the vet. Some are better at handling life afterwards than others. Some don’t seem affected at all, but they are. They just hide it. Some never return to normal. But, what is normal to a vet anymore?
So, if you see a vet sitting by themselves at a restaurant or on a train or shopping at the grocery store alone, take a moment to speak with them. Take them out of their solitary world for a moment. You’ll be happy you did.
[Ray Starmann is the founder of U.S. Defense Watch. He is a former U.S. Army Intelligence officer and veteran of the Gulf War.]
Thank you brother for a great article…many readers will say that you wrote these words about them. God Bless!
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During the Vietnam War, those of us in the bush, carried everything we owned on our backs and were always on the move. The water in our canteens had a bitter after-taste from both the plastic canteen itself and the iodine tablets we used to ‘purify’ the water; supposedly killing the bacteria and other parasites, but leaving those dead ‘thingies’ floating around like the contents inside of a shaken bottle of apple cider vinegar. Thankfully, the canteen wasn’t see through. There was only one time of the day when the canteen water was ‘chilled’ and that was the first thing in the morning…but, of course, we heated it to make hot coffee or cocoa. Afterward, it was tepid and lukewarm – not refreshing at all, but kept us going.
We ate C-ration food ‘meals’ both cold and heated (cold when we were on the move and heated when there was enough daylight left after settling in for the night). Most meats were covered in a layer of grease – kind of like what’s left in a cooled frying pan after making a dozen crispy pieces of bacon. When heated, this slimy glob disappears as it is absorbed into the meat; when having to eat it cold, we’d first scrape the thick film from the meat patty before sandwiching it between two round crackers.
In my opinion, scrambled egg chunks, beans and wienies, and spaghetti and meatballs were the best choices for cold meals. Either way – cold or hot, the taste of c-ration meat was either bland or contained way too much salt. Of course, we’d sometime combine ingredients like pineapple bits or applesauce into some heated meals to liven them up; or just feast on peaches or fruit cocktail – providing you had some in your stash. The popular meals with pound cake, peaches and fruit cocktail were prized and worth their weight in gold – many soldiers hoarded them to barter for items during evening chow breaks; only one of each are included in every case of twelve meals. Note: Those hoarding were usually the non-smokers who also hoarded cigarettes and used them to trade for these prized deserts.
Some of the personal gear carried inside our rucksacks were a watch with glowing hands, wallets with some MPC notes, transistor radios w/earbud, photos of wives and/or girlfriends, a camera, a paperback book, writing material / pen, and letters from home to read over and over again. That was about it! During a resupply, many of us hoped to get mail – but if somebody in your squad got a care package from home – it was like winning ‘The Publisher’s Clearing House” sweepstakes.
Care packages were few and far in-between, and when received, they not only brought us a ‘touch from home’, but also included cherished items to make our lives easier. Of course when this happened, everything else was secondary; fellow squad members were an anxious bunch and wanted to uncover the bounty and divvy everything up. Getting a package from home also made us feel that someone really cared about us which also brought up morale. Many packages arrived crushed, beat-up and unrecognizable – some even spilling its contents onto the ground through large holes that mysteriously appeared during transit, but each one was special and held many treasures – items that we’d requested in earlier letters home.
Every package included tins of “cookie crumbs” broken up, and pulverized – home-made chocolate chip, peanut butter, almond, and butter cookies; scooping handfuls into our mouths and chewing slowly to savor the taste. It was like a visit to Heaven!
Other treasures included sweetened Kool-Aid, Tang, lemonade, and gourmet instant coffees were excellent at camouflaging the taste of our water; Heintz-57, Tabasco sauce, and mustard enhanced the taste of our food; suckers, hard candy and packs of chewing gum helped keep our mouths lubricated while humping or during nightly guard duty; small cans of Spam, tuna, Vienna Sausages, Campbell soups, deviled ham, sardines, corned beef hash, popped bags of popcorn (usually ended up as cushioned filler inside the box), melted chocolate bars, pretzel rod pieces, letters and cards from family, magazines, home town newspapers and Sunday comic sections usually rounded out the bounty. Many of the Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and southern gents always received various colored peppers from home and would eat them like potato chips. Needless to say, many of us – me included – wanted to try one. What a huge mistake! We ALL learned our lessons after only taking one bite.
The recipient of the package always got first dibs and took what he wanted, and then everyone else would take turns until it was gone and the packaging burned and ashes buried. Single items like condiments were shared within the group nightly and life in the jungle was just a little bit better for the next week or so.
After providing feedback to senders on the shape of the package and its contents, the next shipments were much improved and cookies were whole again and usually devoured first. I remember my mother sending me a canned ham in one of the packages I received. If you read my book, “Cherries”, then you know the squad took turns carrying that five pound container for three days in anticipation of a grand meal on the third day.
When everything was ready and the can was finally opened – the ripe scent of spoiled pork flashed through the perimeter and almost resulted in a revolt by fellow platoon members. Thankfully, once everything was buried, and cleaned up, the smell dissipated and fortunately, we didn’t have to relocate to a different position. We all shouldered the blame because none of us took the time to read the can and see “Keep refrigerated” printed in large block letters on the side. I was the brunt of jokes about my poor mom for the next couple of weeks, but it was all in fun and between us brothers. None of them would accept the excuse that mom couldn’t read English because they knew she personally wrote most of the letters that I received. Still, they appreciated the gesture – each wrote individual ‘thank you’ notes which I included in the next couple of letters home.
Prior to Christmas, mom sent a package containing a small table top Christmas tree complete with lights, garland, and tiny ornaments. I was lucky that we were in Cu Chi for stand down, otherwise, it would have to be buried with the trash as I wasn’t going to try and hump it through the jungles. We did put it together and as it turned out, had the only holiday decoration within the company, which solicited visits from those staying in the other hooches. Note the coffee cans above with individually wrapped home baked holiday cookies. (I’m on the left looking away)
Most holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and other personal milestones came and went without fanfare. However, when receiving a care package from home, it was a time for a celebration. When multiple packages arrived on the same time – it was a treasure overload!
What about today’s soldiers? The following is a list of recommendations courtesy of J.O.S.H. – a group that will create a package to send for you. Their website: https://www.justoursoldiershelpers.org/care-packages.htmlHowever, be advised that this is not a personal endorsement, because there are tons of websites out there that will build and ship a package for you…or…you can still build one and ship it yourself.
These are some of the items usually included in packages today:
Antiperspirant/Deodorant (Axe, Degree, Dove, Right Guard – solids only)
Baby Wipes
Body Wash (Axe, Dial, Dove, Nivea, Old Spice)
Razors (Schick, Gillette – good, lubricated razors only)
Shaving Gel (Squeezable tubes only. We cannot ship aerosols of any kind.)
Other items we ship are:
Canned Chili and Soup (Pull Top Cans)
Canned Fruit (Pull Top Cans)
Chicken and Tuna Salad (Foil Pouch or Ready to Eat Kits)
Dried Fruit
Easy Mac in Cups
Granola Bars/Energy Bars/Protein Bars
Instant Coffee (Individually Packaged)
Microwavable Popcorn
Pop Tarts
Protein Shake Powder
Pumpkin Seeds
Rice Krispie Treats (Winter months only)
Sandwich Crackers
Sunflower Seeds
Trail Mix
Note: Pork products cannot be shipped to the Middle East, so no Vienna Sausages, please.
Hygiene Items
Bar Soap
Chap Stick, Carmex, Blistex
Dental Floss
Eye Drops
Fabric Softener Sheets (small boxes)
Feminine Hygiene (Tampax Sport, Playtex Pearl, Always Pads)
Foot Powder
Laundry Detergent – (Small bottles of liquid detergent or small bags of laundry pods)
Lotion (Hand and Body – Bath & Body Works is a big treat for females)
Q-Tips (Q-Tip brand only, no large packages please) Toothpaste/Toothbrush
Over-The-Counter Medications (Nothing with aspirin and no sleep-aids)
Advil
Antacids
Bengay
Cough Drops
Icy Hot
Motrin
Neosporin
Tylenol
Miscellaneous
Air Fresheners (Solids or Stick-Ups)
Black Ink Pens and Mechanical Pencils
Black or Green Boot Socks (Cotton or Wool)
Brown/Black Hair Ties for Female Soldiers
Hand Warmers (October through February only)
Socks, White or Black (must cover ankle, no logos)
Winter Hats (Wool)
*****
Thanks, mom and my younger sis, Christine! Your packages to me were always a wonderful surprise – those of us in the First Platoon were always grateful for your gifts from home and for making our days in Vietnam more tolerable and special…in more ways than you’ll ever know! RIP MOM! I miss you!
What about you readers…did you receive packages when deployed? Who usually sent it and what was the best package you received?
Thank you for taking the time to view this article! Don’t miss out on the many other stories, pictures and videos available to you on this website (see below).
If you enjoyed this article and want to learn more about the Vietnam War – subscribe to this blog and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader. Meanwhile, you can check into my special pages, most recent articles and those most popular – all listed to the right of each article. If you’d rather sample every post, then click HERE to be redirected to this blog’s main page. There, you can scroll down through all the published titles, listed chronologically – the most recent is first.
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This is a guest post from my friend, Jonas Thorsell, a Swede, who routinely travels to Vietnam on business. He and two other partners have visited former war sites over the past few years and recently launched a website and blog to chronicle their findings. After 40 – 50 years, veterans are still curious about what those places may look like today. Jonas and his team go to great lengths to find and visit a site of significance. From hacking their way through the thick jungle to climbing up the sides of mountains, very little stops them from finding evidence and taking pictures of bygone battles of the war.
The photo above is from a Vietnamese shrine on the summit of Hill 937 – Hamburger Hill – commemorating those who lost their lives in that battle. It is a photo from Jonas’ website and was also used in an earlier article that I published in 2014. The direct link is at the end of this article.
More than 40 years after the war in Vietnam ended, a country once devastated by decades of conflict has blossomed into a major tourist destination boasting its own megacities of Hanoi and Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City). Saigon, itself, is now a city of 10 million people where business is flourishing and the economic growth seems unstoppable. In the countryside, villages have become small towns, and towns like Pleiku in the highlands have grown into cities. Yet large sections of the countryside still look very much the same as they did 40 or 50 years ago with farmers still growing their rice and worshipping their forefathers as they have done for centuries.
In the midst of all this, Vietnam has also become a very popular tourist destination with large resort developments popping up along the south and south-central coastlines and golf courses appearing at a rapid rate. This is the modern Vietnam trying to attract the more affluent tourists to come and visit a country that for so long was just part of the backpacker trail.
golf course in Da Nang
There is also another type of tourist that has been coming to Vietnam for years and these are the history tourists and veterans interested in the visiting (and often re-visiting) the sites the Vietnam War and the first Indochina War.
Firebases and battlefields
For those who have a connection to the war or are interested in the history, there so much to see, especially outside the cities and the museums. The war played out literally all over the former Republic of Vietnam, and so naturally its remnants can be found everywhere. Some of these old battlefields now have museums of their own, like Khe Sanh Combat Base, which has become a very popular destination for tourists visiting the areas around the old DMZ. There are tours going from the ancient capital of Hue up to the DMZ all the way west to Khe Sanh, passing other important sites like Camp Carroll, The Rockpile and Con Thien. In the south, the Cu Chi Tunnels are also a very popular site to visit. Part of the area where the Viet Cong dug their tunnels is now an outdoor museum where English speaking guides give tours around the area, complete with a trip into a few of the old tunnels themselves — modified to fit the comparatively hefty bulk of the average Western tourist. There is even a firing range where it is possible to try out some of the weapons from that time.
Cu Chi tunnels museum
Away from the museums, the rest of the country awaits the explorer. Legendary places like the An Khe Pass and the Mang Yang Pass can be visited on the QL19 between Quy Nhon and Pleiku — now without the fear of ambush.
As many of the readers of this blog already know, the countryside was strewn with U.S. Fire Support Bases, Combat Bases, Special Forces Camps and larger facilities like in Da Nang, Cam Ranh, Bien Hoa and Chu Lai. While some of these places like An Khe and Bien Hoa are now used by the Vietnamese military and so off limits to travels, others are now civilian airports like Da Nang and Chu Lai.
Bien Hoa
When it comes to the smaller bases and camps scattered around the country, however, the story is fortunately different – most of those places are now more or less deserted and used as farmland. They often have a runway or chopper pad, which makes them quite easy to find. At a place like Kham Duc the former SF camp in the mountains of western Quang Nam province (then Quang Tin), the runway is just outside of town and it possible to walk or drive down the runway and navigate from there, the same goes for Ben Het, Loc Ninh, Dak To and several others. In Aluoi the old runway is now a street in the small town.
Kham Duc runway
LZ Stallion
Aluoi runway
Other places like Firebase Gela are completely overgrown and no traces remain.
A few of the locations even date back to the days of the French, including old bunkers and watchtowers located along roads and strategic points around the country.
watchtower Xa Mat Lai Khe
Our website
Having traveled to many of these places over the last 15 years, I decided a few months ago to set up a website to share my pictures and videos from my visits. Together with a couple of like-minded individuals that I have come in contact with over the years, we have accumulated a vast amount of material between us, which we now are making available on our Vietnam War Travel themed website https://namwartravel.com/
Our small team consists of myself, a history-interested middle-aged guy from Sweden, an Australian historian with a keen interest in what the ANZAC soldiers went through and an American combat veteran who has lived in Vietnam for quite some time and is probably the most knowledgeable person on III Corps. Between the three of us, few will have visited as many places of interest from the war and traveled the country as much as we have. Our overall aim is to make history available to our readers.
A Shau Valley
We are not in it for the money. We don’t have any sponsors and all our material is free for anyone to access. Also, all the material is from the three of us, only original pictures, videos, and texts. We do not borrow content or have any sent to us. This we believe will ensure credibility and quality over time. There are plenty of other websites with copied material from the internet, I have even seen some of my pictures and screenshots from my videos being used on other sites without my consent.
One of our aims is to help the veteran who might be interested in going back finding his former AO. Although returning to Vietnam might not be for everyone, our experience is that the vast majority of those who do return do not regret it. It is strictly a personal matter. And for those unable to go, this website can at least help show what it now looks like at that base camp or battlefield today. We also believe that families of veterans will appreciate seeing the areas where their loved ones once served.
Loc Ninh runway
Traveling in Vietnam
Traveling in Vietnam today is as easy as it gets. There’s an abundance of options, just like in any developed country. Domestic air travel is affordable, safe and very flexible, so getting around longer distances between the larger cities is very easy. For shorter and medium distances buses and trains are available. Our recommendation is for the traveler to rent a car with a driver through your hotel. If you are a group then a bus or minivan will be the best option. That way you get to decide exactly where you want to go and how long you want to stay at the places you visit. Some areas in Vietnam are closed off, that especially goes for areas close to the borders with Cambodia and Laos. Your hotel will be able to help you get in touch with local authorities to get the proper permits for traveling there.
frontier area sign Loc Ninh
Our team mostly travels via motorbike, which is easy to rent but comes with the hurdle of negotiating the traffic. It is a great way to get around the country, but all of us have had more or less serious accidents over the years so we would only recommend it to experienced drivers. One also has to make sure to have a local driving license and all insurances in place before getting on a bike.
Contact
For those who are interested in what you or your relative’s former AO looks like today and you can’t find it on the website, just contact us through the email on the website and we might be able to help you with information or we can put it on our list of places to visit on our next journey.
riding to Plei Trap
Thank you for all you do for us Vietnam Vets. Good luck on your website and blog – I hope many of my readers visit and take you up on your kind offer. The best to you and your crew!
I published an earlier article about “Hamburger Hill” – Hill 937 – then and now in 2014 and used photos from Jonas’ website. Here is the direct link to that posting:
Here is the direct link to Jonas’ website: https://namwartravel.com/Please take a moment to check it out and see his offerings.
Thank you for taking the time to view this article! Don’t miss out on the many other stories, pictures and videos available to you on this website (see below).
If you enjoyed this article and want to learn more about the Vietnam War – subscribe to this blog and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader. Meanwhile, you can check into my special pages, most recent articles and those most popular – all listed to the right of each article. If you’d rather sample every post, then click HERE to be redirected to this blog’s main page. There, you can scroll down through all the published titles, listed chronologically – the most recent is first.
I’ve also included a poll to help identify my website audience – before leaving, can you please click HERE and choose the one item best describing you. Thank you in advance!
When I was a kid in the Marines, I remember the first place I saw the WHITE ONLY, COLORED ONLY signs. They were on the wall in this train station in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina. . . . I’ll never forget seeing them, never. We all had our green Marine Corps uniforms on, but the colored kids had to go one way while the white kids could go the other way. All of us probably ended up in Vietnam. I know I did. I don’t know whose freedom I was fighting for, but I know whose freedom I won, and that was mine.
— Corporal Albert French
Sammy Davis, Jr., a United Service Organizations performer and part of President Nixon’s anti-drug program, talks with troops at Bien Hoa Air Force Base, Vietnam on February 22, 1972. Davis, a World War II veteran, observed a different military experience in Vietnam: “They’re regarding men as individuals. When I was in the Army, I was on a post where a colored guy couldn’t get his hair cut.” (National Archives)
African American troops served in the military with distinction during the Vietnam War. In the 1960s and 1970s, the United States’ long history of racial inequality and segregation culminated in the civil rights movement. The social and political turmoil crept through American society, including the U.S. military.
At the same time, the military organization struggled with its own forms of institutional discrimination. As the war progressed and the nature of the unrest in U.S. society evolved, the military experienced changes in its mission, organization, and personnel. Within this context, African American Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines faced a unique and difficult challenge. They bravely served their country while simultaneously bearing the burden of second-class citizenship. Their stories help demonstrate the variety of American experiences in the Vietnam-era military.
A LEGACY OF MILITARY SERVICE
Even before the American Revolution, African Americans served in the military. Through World War II, however, they generally served in segregated units. Despite inequality, they served for a variety of reasons—including patriotism, adventure, and a desire to prove their loyalty and claim first-class citizenship.
Lieutenant Colonel Harry Townsend (left) of the 268th Combat Aviation Brigade stands in front of his helicopter with the Sergeant Major, South Vietnam, 1967. (Courtesy of Colonel [Retired] Harry Townsend).
As African American officers faced a Communist enemy in Southeast Asia, they also struggled for equal opportunity rather than tokenism. Racial tensions rose throughout the war and the need for African American leadership became apparent, but the percentages of African American officers did not change significantly. In 1962, African Americans constituted less than 2 percent of the officer corps in all services, and ten years later approximately 2.3 percent. Lingering institutional discrimination affected their ability to advance. Weak officer evaluations from the 1950s, a remnant of more overt discrimination, could damage overall efficiency ratings, blocking promotions and command experience. In 1968, Frederic E. Davison became the first African American to lead an active combat brigade when he commanded the 199th Light Infantry Brigade in Vietnam. Other African American officers likewise achieved a number of firsts throughout the era. But as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Equal Opportunity, and Vietnam veteran, H. Minton Francis pointed out in 1974, “the very fact that women and minorities still make news when they are placed in [these] positions . . . makes it evident, in their perceptions, that it is a one-of-a-kind advancement.
In 1948, President Harry S. Truman issued an executive order mandating the desegregation of the armed forces. The process took time, and the armed forces did not fully desegregate until the end of the Korean War (1950–1953). With this step, the military became one of the first large institutions in the United States to desegregate, gaining a reputation as a relatively progressive organization. Throughout the 1950s, many in the African American community perceived military service as a path to greater social and economic opportunity, and they enlisted and reenlisted in proportionally larger numbers than other segments of the population. Vietnam veteran Brigadier General J. Timothy Boddie entered the Air Force in 1954. He grew up learning about that legacy of military service, and wanted to fly fighter planes like the famed World War II pilots, the Tuskegee Airmen.
By the beginning of the Vietnam War, the racial climate in the military had improved. The Department of Defense not only desegregated
the military in the 1950s, but also on-base schools for military dependents and civilian defense facilities as well. Yet despite these efforts, as the United States sent increasing numbers of troops to Southeast Asia in the 1960s, racial inequality in the armed forces persisted. African Americans entered the military in large numbers as volunteers and draftees, and they continued facing discrimination in areas such as training, promotions, assignments, and administration of military justice.
THE EARLY YEARS, 1961–1967
During the advisory period and as the war escalated, African Americans consistently volunteered and reenlisted, serving in numbers roughly proportionate to their overall population percentage. Many volunteered for combat units because, as African American Green Beret Melvin Morris pointed out, “it was the prestigious thing to do, and if you got in, you went.” These units also offered faster promotions and additional pay.
Air Force F-4 pilot Major J. Timothy Boddie, Jr. receives a patch for his 200th combat mission, including 57 missions over North Vietnam, in summer 1967. The majority of African Americans in the Air Force were concentrated in administration, air police, food service, and supply and transportation. (Courtesy of Brigadier General [Retired] James Timothy Boddie, Jr.)
By 1966, African Americans represented over 20 percent of the Army’s two airborne units in Vietnam. At the same time, African Americans frequently lacked access to the same economic and educational resources as whites. They were less likely to receive occupational or educational deferments, and they scored lower on military entrance examinations, leaving them ineligible for some of the more technical military occupational specialties.
Most of the prejudices, for a while, went away. Even though blacks were into their Black Power salute, and a few whites had their confederate flags and stuff, there was a togetherness that I think you can only get in times of peril.
— Chief Warrant Officer 3 Doris Allen
In addition, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara (1961–1968) introduced “Project 100,000” in 1966, a program in which the military began accepting men who did not meet physical or mental standards in order to satisfy growing personnel requirements. The secretary hoped to provide disadvantaged groups with educational and medical support, and valuable skills for post-military life. The project ran for six years and some 350,000 “New Standards Men” served. These men were disproportionately southerners and African Americans, and frequently landed in combat specializations with little marketability in civilian life.
Captain Don Phillips (left) of the 173d Airborne Brigade discusses artillery support for upcoming operations with a forward observer, November 10, 1966.
Colonel (Retired) Phillips’ daughter, historian Kimberley L. Phillips, later recalled the paradox of African Americans defending the freedoms they were often denied at home: “This is forever etched in my brain. When I was not even 6-years old we were traveling [from Fort Benning, GA] across to Los Angeles. . . . we could not stop for food because we were black. . . . My dad was off to Vietnam, but he could not stop along the highway to get something to eat.” (National Archives)
These high ratios of African Americans in combat produced proportionally larger black casualties through 1968 [table 4]. The Department of Defense recognized this disparity and worked to remedy the imbalance, but the damage had already occurred. Even with the corrections, the perception of inequality in conscription and assignment remained, and many in the African American community began speaking out against the war. Discontent with systemic discrimination against black troops fed into a growing unrest over urban racism and inequality across the United States. It was one of many factors contributing to volatile civil rights protests in several northern U.S. cities in 1967. Leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. condemned the use of black troops to “guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem,” and urged young African American men toward conscientious objection. Only weeks after King took a stand on Vietnam, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to serve and received a conviction for draft evasion, later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Former military heavyweight boxing champion Staff Sergeant Percy J. Price (left) leads Marines on an operation south of Da Nang in 1967. African American officers and non-commissioned officers led squads, platoons, and companies as part of the III Marine Amphibious Force in Vietnam. (National Archives)
A GROWING RACIAL CONSCIOUSNESS
You’re over here in this heat . . . in this hellhole, and then look, just look at what’s back there waiting for me.
— Specialist Fourth Class Russel Campbell, 1968
These divisions on the home front affected African Americans in the military and of military age. The African American veterans who served early in the war finished their tours in Vietnam and in the wake of the 1968 Tet Offensive larger numbers of draftees entered the military. African Americans continued to volunteer, some seeking to escape the urban poverty and unrest that swept the nation. But the growing radicalism of the civil rights movement spread within the military, affecting the wave of new service members in Southeast Asia. By the late 1960s, mounting numbers of American troops of all races reflected these attitudes from the home front and opposed the war. One African American journalist spent a month interviewing African American GI’s in Vietnam in April 1968, and found that 80–85 percent of the interviewees expressed negative feelings about the war or the military’s treatment of African Americans, frequently both. Many of them joined a rising subculture of increased black nationalism, and some began displaying symbols of racial pride such as black power salutes or “dapping,” a gesture of racial solidarity.
Clyde Fields (left) and another American soldier “dap” with a Chu Hoi Vietnamese soldier, a Communist defector, at an American fire support base in South Vietnam, 1970–1971. This formal greeting was a gesture of camaraderie, and the more elaborate “dap” could take a number of minutes to perform, occasionally to the exasperation of fellow white soldiers. (Courtesy of Clyde Fields)
These high ratios of African Americans in combat produced proportionally larger black casualties through 1968. The Department of Defense recognized this disparity and worked to Members of the 25th Infantry Division load their gear as they prepare to cross remedy the imbalance, but the damage had already occurred. Even with the corrections, the perception of inequality in conscription and assignment remained.
Members of the 25th Infantry Division load their gear as they prepare to cross a canal in a 3-man assault boat, May 13, 1968. (National Archives)
African American military personnel after 1968 represented a new mentality. Only a few steps removed from the movements on the home front, black service members around the world (including some career military personnel) became less willing to tolerate systemic discrimination, cultural intolerance, or overt bigotry such as racial epithets, expressions of white supremacy, and Confederate flags. African American and white military personnel grew increasingly distrustful of one another. Racism, misunderstanding, and a Department of Defense largely unprepared to address institutional inequalities left an environment primed for racial conflict.
South Vietnamese soldiers walk past an American Marine’s tent with the Confederate flag flying above it, 1968. The display of the Confederate flag generated tensions between black and white American troops in Vietnam. (U.S. Marine Corps History Division)
TURMOIL IN THE MILITARY
It is self-deception to think that [American service members] . . . come untainted by the prejudices of the society which produced them. They do not. — Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Chief of Naval Operations, 1972
As Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt described, a tumultuous home front certainly affected race relations overseas, and the military consistently blamed the problems it faced on the unrest within U.S. society. Yet some historians argue that a home front in turmoil and increasing proportions of draftees were insufficient in explaining the racial discord that emerged within the military. By 1969, poor discipline and low morale plagued the U.S. military in Vietnam. Disillusionment with the war filtered in from society, but the military also increasingly suffered from leadership deficiencies. Scandals and cover-ups such as those surrounding the My Lai massacre hinted at a larger breakdown in the professionalism of the officer corps.
A U.S. Navy Mobile Construction Battalion (Seabees) lays explosive lines to clear a route of buried mines to construct roads in South Vietnam, September 1970. By 1972, as news of the riots aboard the Kitty Hawk and Constellation spread throughout the Navy, it awoke underlying racial tensions between Seabees at Naval Station Midway Island leading to violence between black and white Seabees. (Navy History and Heritage)
And the non-commissioned officer (NCO) corps faced problems as well. The standard one-year fixed tour in Vietnam meant that many NCOs rotated home just as they accumulated leadership experience, and an NCO shortage as early as 1967 led to accelerated training programs. Tensions between career military personnel and younger troops also produced mistrust. With the emergence of the White House’s Vietnamization policy in 1969, American service members of all races increasingly saw little point in fighting and risking death in Vietnam as the United States openly sought to extricate itself from the war.
Specialist Fourth Class Esther M. Gleaton works as a clerk-typist for the Women’s Army Corps detachment at Long Binh in Vietnam, 1968–1969. (Women’s Memorial Foundation Collection)
Beginning in 1968, those tensions erupted into violence on bases in the United States and in Vietnam. By the summer, African Americans made up almost half of the prison population of the major stockades in Vietnam, despite constituting less than 11 percent of the armed forces. Factors such as inconsistent sentencing for minor infractions contributed to these disparities. On August 15, 1968 at the Navy’s Da Nang Brig in Vietnam, a group of mainly black prisoners fought with white prisoners and guards. It took commanding officers nearly a day to restore order. Two weeks later, on August 29, a small scuffle between black and white prisoners at the Army’s Long Binh Jail escalated into disorder and arson throughout the compound as several hundred black prisoners took control of the facility and held it for a month. Between January and September 1969, more than 20 violent racial altercations occurred between U.S. troops in Vietnam.
At the 1966 U.S. Coast Guard Academy commencement ceremonies, Colonel Merle J. Smith, Sr. (right) congratulates his son, Ensign Merle J. Smith, Jr., while Commandant Admiral Willard J. Smith observes. Merle Smith, Jr. was the first African American Coast Guard Academy graduate, and in 1969 he commanded a patrol boat in Vietnam, becoming the first sea-service African American to receive a Bronze Star. (U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office)
The majority of racial violence occurred at large bases or support units “in the rear.” In the field, where men depended on their comrades for survival, troops had less opportunity or motivation to engage in racist practices or political disputes. Vietnam veteran General Colin Powell, a major in 1968, recalled that, “Our men in the field, trudging through elephant grass under hostile fire, did not have time to be hostile toward each other. But bases . . . were increasingly divided by the same racial polarization that had begun to plague America.”
Army nurse Captain Joyce Johnson treats a patient at Long Binh in 1967. She recalled of her fellow nurses in Vietnam: “The esprit de corps was automatic. We were all there for the same reasons, no matter where or what part of the country we had come from, we had the same goal. . . . You knew what had to be done. And you could do it.” (Courtesy of Lieutenant Colonel [Retired] Dr. Joyce Bowles)
While the records of their service are incomplete, somewhere between 7,000 and 11,000 American women volunteered and served in Vietnam. Statistics on African American women are even less available. On a daily basis, African American women faced a variety of challenges in the military, notably racial discrimination and gender bias. They performed a range of important tasks in Vietnam, however, from nursing to intelligence analysis, and many of these women observed that when it came to racial problems, “we don’t have time for that.”
While their stories are largely absent from the Vietnam War narrative, their military service and leadership in the officer and nurse corps challenged contemporary ideas about gender. At that time, African American women rarely held leadership positions over groups that included white men. Some activist servicewomen united with other activists in the military. Even as civilian women activists complained of sexism in the civil rights and antiwar movements, military activists at times exhibited greater gender cooperation and equality, challenging prevailing gender stereotypes.
An African American radio operator in the 1st Marine Division receives a haircut in the field, June 18, 1969. Barbers remained largely inexperienced in cutting African American hair until the military expanded its diversity program and began providing them with training in 1973. (U.S. Marine Corps History Division)
Both the Army and Marine Corps struggled to control the racial unrest through 1970. Initially, the Air Force and Navy avoided the racial violence. With more technical and rear-echelon assignments, those two services could recruit a better-educated and more homogeneous enlisted demographic, often men who sought to avoid being drafted into the ground forces. As one African American lieutenant commander noted, “You could go aboard a carrier with 5,000 people . . . . walk into the areas where I work with all the sophisticated computers, and it would look as if there were no blacks on the entire ship.”
Mineman Second Class Franklin Marshall, part of the Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal team responsible for harbor security, searches for mines, especially those attached to ships’ hulls, April 1966. (Naval History and Heritage Command)
When President Richard M. Nixon scaled back the draft in the early 1970s and moved toward an all-volunteer force, however, that predominantly white recruitment pool narrowed. In 1972, major riots occurred on the aircraft carriers USS Kitty Hawk and USS Constellation.
In response to the unrest, the Department of Defense began implementing reform programs in 1969, including a review of the military justice system and founding the Defense Race Relations Institute in 1971 to educate its leadership about diversity and tolerance. The programs alleviated some of African American troops’ grievances, but imbalances remained as the military moved toward an all-volunteer force in 1973.
CONCLUSION
Lieutenant Colonel Roscoe Robinson (right) shows Major General John J. Tolson his unit’s position on a map during Operation PEGASUS to lift the siege of Khe Sanh, April 6–8, 1968. Robinson became the first African American four-star general in the U.S. Army in 1982. (National Archives)
African American veterans experienced the war in a variety of ways; there was no standard narrative or story. Lieutenant General Larry Jordan, a second lieutenant in Vietnam, recalled that it made him into a better leader: “I can honestly say I think my Vietnam experience was a good one. I don’t regret going, I did what the nation asked me to do.” First Lieutenant Joseph Biggers expressed dismay about coming back to the United States and facing criticism from some African American activists who denounced him as part of an unjust system. Each sacrificed for his country despite facing a determined enemy in Vietnam and the added burden of discrimination.
Captain Joan Ford, a flight nurse with the 56th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron, greets ambulatory patients as they board a C-141 aircraft at Clark Air Base in the Philippines for airlift home, March 1966. The military often evacuated wounded servicemen from Vietnam to the Philippine Islands for immediate medical care. (National Archives)
The hurdles that African American veterans confronted paved the way for important reforms in the Department of Defense that improved conditions for future generations of service members. Both during and after the war, the Department of Defense began to modernize its equal opportunity system and improve cross-cultural communication. Equal opportunity remains a challenge, and African Americans in the military still face systemic inequalities such as low representation in the officer corps. Yet these veterans left an enduring legacy: thanks in part to their experiences and struggles, the military has undergone racial progress since the 1960s and 1970s.
A GRATEFUL NATION THANKS AND HONORS OUR VIETNAM VETERANS
NOTE: This article is part of a series commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War and originally published in 2012. The Vietnam War Commemoration website provides resources such as historically accurate materials and interactive resources, posters, fact sheets, primary sources, and maps. African Americans in the Vietnam War is presented here in its entirety as it appears on the website:
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Happy New Year Everyone!!! Here is my first post of 2018 – many more interesting stories are in the works with planned releases weekly. If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up above and we’ll notify you by email when any changes occur.
I’d like to introduce Michael Lansford, a gifted writer and author of dozens of articles which are also published on http://memoirsfromnam.blogspot.com
I have asked myself this question many times — What is an Old Vet?
What is it that actually defines what an Old Vet is?
Thousands of us began as fairly innocent young kids, (or men, if you prefer), who were sent off to do unknown things in a world few will ever know.
We became Old Vets long before our time, because we survived all the horrors of war in ways I still find hard to think about, let alone try and explain.
Those of us that survived — and still survive today — were already old by the time we were 18, (or whatever age fits).
We came back to a changed world from the one we remembered and longed to come back to. It was a world that had become not only tired of war, but tired of us, as well.
The world didn’t know a thing about the who, the what, or the why, of it all, and we couldn’t explain it to them for many reasons. Some people had — and still have — closed minds to the cold hard truth of war. Some did try to understand, but we as “Old Vets” couldn’t tell anyone anything. We feared the reality of what society already thought of us.
The irony is, the world still thought of as kids, and we weren’t allowed to do certain things, because we weren’t “OLD” enough, or mature enough, to make decisions that impacted our lives (as well as those of society). In one respect, we were years ahead of the rest of the world. In yet another, we were years behind.
Michael Lansford on Hamburger Hill
Nothing like being in combat with the permission and ability to take or save a life, call in air strikes, artillery fire, risk our lives in suicide missions, handle explosives and weapons, live like animals, or worse, and yet back in the world, we weren’t even old enough to buy beer.
My biggest issue to this day was being told I couldn’t vote — I wasn’t mature enough to make decisions that affected the future of our country? We were sure old enough to go off to war …
So, we did what we had to do to survive. We withdrew and tried living in what the world perceived to be a normal life with all it had to offer. From where we came from, we never quite seemed to fit in, or adapt, to a changed world. From our viewpoint, we only exchanged one evil for another — one which was much more dangerous.
A song, a picture, nightmares, sounds, or cross words spoken to and about us, all brought back the reality of our war, so we withdrew even more, some to the point of no return and no escape. Some blocked it out completely, but it was still there — deep inside it still lurks, always. Even now, as true Old Vets, we constantly live with our demons.
We were a generation that asked nothing for what we did, and we gave all we had to keep us alive and, in our minds, to keep America safe and free. For us, it was a small price to pay for freedom. Whatever it took, we stepped up and paid that debt in full — some more than others.
We never failed, backed down, ran, or quit. What we were and are will be with us forever. We were willing to give our lives for our country, our comrades, and everything we considered right, and no one will ever take that away either.
We have survived to be where we are now, and we owe so many for the blessings bestowed on us by family and friends who never gave up on us.
For the most part, we as Old Vets have survivor’s guilt. I do. We have questions, too. Why, how, and what were the ultimate reasons we survived? There are no answers, just more questions.
At times, being old Vets makes us wonder what if? What if we didn’t come home? What about those that didn’t — how would their lives have turned out? Would any of them have made a real difference back home?
Most of us can’t, nor will we ever, truly come home. Vietnam will be with us forever, like it or not. We lived it, breathed it, and we remember it, regardless. As long as one Vietnam Vet lives, who we were will never die.
We are truly one, no matter what branch, or where, we served. We are a band of brothers and sisters, just like it has always been said about past Old Vets. What we are in life reflects on who we all were and what we believe in, even to this day.
Michael Lansford (laying on belly) awaiting Medevac during battle for Hamburger Hill
How others see and hear us, shows we are many things they never knew about us and it represents us all, in one way or another.
What they see and read speaks volumes about us. We can’t change outsiders’ opinions of us, but we can write the truth and hope they will listen to what we have to say.
We are who we are and if they only knew we would give our life to save them, they might have a different view of us and our war – a war that made us such Old Vets to begin with. Only we can know what’s inside us from where we came. Some things truly can’t be explained. Life isn’t always fair, it’s just life, and we live it every day, each in their own way.
I hope the next generations are, (and will be), learning more about the horror of war and combat, and how it changes someone from day one, for the rest of their life. Fact is, now days, society is seeing the reality of war, thanks to all the tech things out there. Real war comes face to face with them daily. They get a new look at what all wars really are, just sitting on the sidelines watching.
For us, we didn’t necessarily have to be in actual combat, but we still had to show up. There were no timeouts, breaks, days off, or holidays. Combat was 24/7. There was no second place in war.
Being Old Vets, we have traveled many roads in our lives, both good and bad. We still feel we are at war, no matter what is going on. We’re still fighting for benefits that shouldn’t ever have been questioned in the first place. We paid our dues and stand to this day by the Oath we took long ago.
Through it all, the only thing we ever wanted when we survived and came back to the world was a simple “Thank You”. Money doesn’t buy what that means to us — it never will. The people we owe thanks to are fellow Vets, (past, present, and future), family, friends, our Combat Medics, Medevac’s, doctors and nurses, as well as the Donut Dollies, who also showed up to give us hope and helped us remember the world we left behind. Even Bob Hope showed up. Now that’s courage to boot.
So from one Old Vet to all my brother and sister Old Vets, I say thank you from the bottom of my Heart. It’s been a long and hard road — but if any of us could do it differently, would we? As we learned from the generation of WWII Vets, let’s hope this next generation will also learn from us …
Remember, always stand up for what you believe in. Never second guess what you believe, or do, in life. Things don’t always go as planned, but staying committed to what you believe in, is worth more than winning at something you don’t. Life doesn’t always give you a do-over or re-do, whatever you want to call it. For some of us, we have been blessed with second chances. Learn to make life better, whatever you perceive it to be.
From just one of many “Old Vets”,
Michael Lansford
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Tabasco C-Ration Cookbook
Shane K. Bernard Ph.D. Historian & Curator for the McIlhenny Company (makers of Tabasco hot sauce) kindly provided the following copy of their C-Ration Cookbook. I hope that you will enjoy viewing this cookbook and remember the McIlhenny Company (Tabasco sauce) who cared about their soldiers over in Vietnam.
Doesn’t this just make you want to run out to the local Army/Navy surplus store to purchase a case of C-rats?
This cookbook was originally posted onhttp://www.tom.pilsch.com/Vietnam.html (Vietnam War Resources) – a website rich in information about the war and its warriors.
Thank you for taking the time to view this article! Don’t miss out on the many other stories, pictures and videos available to you on this website (see below).
If you enjoyed this article and want to learn more about the Vietnam War – subscribe to this blog and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader. Meanwhile, you can check into my special pages, most recent articles and those most popular – all listed to the right of each article. If you’d rather sample every post, then click HERE to be redirected to this blog’s main page. There, you can scroll down through all the published titles, listed chronologically – the most recent is first.
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This short story was published by CJ Heck on May 23, 2013 on Goodreads.com. Ms. Heck is a published Poet, Writer, Freelance Editor, Author of 5 books, and a Vietnam War Widow. Her blog address is listed at the end of this article.
“There is a brokenness out of which comes the unbroken; a shatteredness out of which blooms the unshatterable; a sorrow beyond all grief which leads to joy; a fragility out of whose depths emerges strength, and a hollow space too vast for words through which we pass with each loss, out of whose darkness we are sanctioned into being” ~ Bri Maya Tiwari
The worst day of my life was September 13, 1969. Actually, there were more, but that’s the one day I can talk about, at least for now.
I was living at my childhood home in Ohio with my parents at the time. I had recently married my high school sweetheart, Doug Kempf, in January of 1969. Though in our hearts we were still newlyweds, Uncle Sam had other plans for Doug and in May, he was sent to Vietnam, where he would be an Army combat medic.
Doug and I shared a beautiful life from January to May. During those months before he went to Vietnam, we lived in a trailer on base at Ft. Bragg, Fayetteville, North Carolina. We were military-poor but we didn’t care. We were together and we were happy. There, we loved and laughed and planned our future for when he returned.
We dreamed of buying an old Victorian with lots of bedrooms, oak woodwork, a huge kitchen for entertaining family and friends, and a large front porch with a wooden swing. There we could cuddle and talk, read a book, or just swing and watch thunder storms together.
We wanted three children, two boys and then a girl. That would be perfect. Our sons would be tall and handsome with their daddy’s bowed legs, legs that loved to dance, and they would have his sense of humor and infectious laugh. They would grow up to be good men, looked up to for their strength of character. Like Doug, they would be smart, kind and gentle husbands, loving and playful with their children, as well as proud and fiercely patriotic.
Doug decided our little girl would be, (in his words), “Pretty like her mommy, with big blue eyes and just a hint of tomboy to defend herself from her big brothers.” In my heart, I knew she would always be her daddy’s little girl.
Sp-4 Douglas Doc Kempf
Saying goodbye at the Columbus Airport in May, was soul-crushing. I promised myself I wouldn’t cry, but it was a foolish promise and one I wasn’t able keep. One thing I can truthfully say is, it never once occurred to me that Doug wouldn’t return home safe.
Our letters were happy and full of love. The intimate moments we had shared and memorized were yearned for and always included in the letters between us. But what we wanted most and what we actually had, broke our hearts and we counted the days to our Hawaiian R&R, which was never to be.
On September 13, 1969, my world stopped. I was working as a secretary in the office of a manufacturing company a few blocks from my parents’ home. That afternoon, mother called me at work. “Honey, you’d better come home. There are some men here from the Army and they need to talk to you. It’s about Doug.”
I couldn’t say a word. I dropped the phone on my desk and with my heart in my throat, I ran out of the building. I didn’t stop running until four blocks later, in front of the house I grew up in, the home where I had always felt safe and loved.
I was filled with fear and dread. Parked in front of the house and looking out of place, was a large black car with something printed along the side. I gathered my courage and climbed the front steps and opened the front door.
Just inside the foyer stood two uniformed men locked to attention, their hands behind their backs, hat tucked under an arm. Their faces were somber. Daddy and mama stood nearby. Daddy had his arm around mama’s waist and she was crying softly.
No. No. No. Dear God, why are they here? No, wait, I don’t want to know. Go away! Please, just go away.
“Mrs. Kempf, we regret to inform you that your husband, Sp4 Douglas S. Kempf, was killed in action while performing his duty in Vietnam on September 5 …”
I didn’t hear the rest of what the man had to say. Daddy said I fainted where I stood, just inside the front door in the foyer.
When I came around, I was lying on the couch in my parents’ living room — and then I remembered. Oh God, I remembered, and I wanted to die, too. I was devoid of all feeling, except soul-numbing grief.
My whole world had turned upside down in one heartbeat. How could everything still look and sound so normal? The sun still shined through the front windows with Mama’s white curtains swaying in a light breeze. The birds still sang outside in the gnarled old apple tree I used to climb as a child. A neighbor somewhere was mowing his lawn, and I could hear children laughing and playing in their yard.
Only a few minutes ago, that had been real. Now it all clashed with my new reality and I suddenly felt I was losing my mind. Why? Why? Why?
Then I focused hard, until only the couch was real. I was on the couch where Doug and I first held hands and hugged; the couch where we had our first disagreement, then kissed and made up. The same couch where I often sat in front of him on the floor between his knees, leaning back against him while we watched TV and he ran his fingers gently through my hair. The same couch where he nervously asked me to be his wife and I accepted.
No, nothing would ever be the same again. My life was changed forever and I felt helpless and so completely alone, even though I was surrounded by people who cared and who also grieved. All I could do was cry, and I remember fighting a growing anger, as well. God! How could You do this? Why would You reach down inside me and rip out my heart? And always, the question, Why?
There was so much grief and hurt and I went through the following weeks and months and even years in a fog. There are some things about that time that I can’t remember at all, but there is one thing I will never forget. That was the first and only time I ever saw my father cry.
“Sharing can be a way of healing. Grief and loss can isolate, anger even alienate. Shared with others, emotions unite as we see we aren’t alone. We realize others weep with us.”
~Susan Wittig Albert
That day in 1969 was the worst day of my life. But, in the years since, that day has also carried me through some really bad times, too. There have been things that have happened since then, when I’ve said, “This hurts. Yeah, this really hurts — it hurts like bloody hell! But I will survive, because I can tell you what real hurt is.” For the rest of your life, that one day becomes your yardstick for measuring pain. You know with a final certainty that nothing else can, or ever will, hurt you quite that bad again.
When I look up into the night sky, I pray that it isn’t stars I see, but little openings in heaven’s floor where the love of my lost one pours through and shines down to let me know he is happy …
[In loving memory of Douglas Scott Kempf, who earned the Bronze Star with first Oak Leaf Cluster, The Purple Heart and five other medals posthumously: SP4; RA; HHC, 4th BN, 12th INF, 199th LIB.]
Panel 18W Line 40
Thank you CJ Heck for this heart-felt and inspiring article. We know it took a great deal of courage for you to express yourself here. Good luck with your other ventures and speaking engagements.
“We all have an inner voice, our personal whisper from the universe. All we have to do is listen, feel and sense it with an open heart. Sometimes it whispers of intuition or precognition. Other times, it whispers an awareness, a remembrance from another plane. Dare to listen. Dare to hear with your heart.”
~CJ Heck
Thank you for taking the time to view this article! Don’t miss out on the many other stories, pictures and videos available to you on this website (see below).
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The Vietnam War was one of the most controversial and bloody wars in U.S history. It carried on for twenty years (1955-1975) and the total amount of deaths ranged from 2.5 to 3.5 million people. Almost 60,000 American lives were claimed during that time. The Vietnam War was essentially a proxy war waged by the U.S against the Soviet Union as part of the Cold War effort to block the spread of communism and Soviet political influence. The following incredibly rare photos give a chilling, never before seen portrayal of the Vietnam War.
1. Heavy Cover from Above
The date is March 1965, northwest of Saigon, the fierce Viet Cong lie ahead and the South Vietnamese Army troops are advancing through the field towards the tree line. If not for the U.S Army helicopters flying overhead, they might as well be sitting ducks.
sputniknews.com
The tactic employed here is to overwhelm the Viet Cong forces positioned between the trees with heavy and ceaseless machine gun fire. This way, the troops have time to progress, while the enemy has no other choice but to take cover.
2. Masked Activists in the Mekong Delta Mangroves
In this incredibly unique photo from the Vietnam War, you can see female activists making their way through the Nam Can forest, bearfoot and balancing on a narrow trunk. The gathering was highly secret, thus they masked their identities.
mashable.com
The idea behind the mask was that if they got captured or interrogated they wouldn’t have been able to supply any information or give any one up. The photographer later explained that from these Mekong Delta mangroves it was extremely difficult to deliver photos to the north.
3. Moments of Empathy in the Vietnam War
In this picture you can see a U.S Marine holding a bottle of water to the lips of a North Vietnamese prisoner of war. While there are testimonies of severe mistreatment of prisoners on both sides, there were also moments of notable empathy.
Getty Images & bigthink.com
These three prisoners from the North Vietnamese Army were seized during a U.S patrol and immediately brought back to base. Labels containing the specifics of where and when they were captured were promptly placed on their chest.
4. An Enlisted Pup
This image captures a heartwarming moment between a U.S soldier and a camera-ready pup. The atrocities of the war had left many men completely numb to the joys of life, but this uncharacteristically cheerful encounter demonstrates that where there’s life there’s love, even during
Express Newspaper/Getty Images/bigthink.com
What strikes most about this photo is its contradictory nature: the tank in the back, the tough combat soldiers trained to be killing machines—yet all this vanishes into the background when we get a look at their tender expressions.
5. Improvised Operating Rooms
During war time, and especially during the Vietnam War, there aren’t always proper setups in which to grant medical assistance. This improvised operating room sprung up in the middle of a mangrove in the Ca Mau Peninsula.
groovyhistory.com
In this photo, a victim of U.S military bombings is being lead through water on a stretcher, to be trusted into the care of the Vietnamese nurses. Taking the humidity and the bacteria-infested water into consideration, these insanitary conditions translated into unfavorable chances for the gravely wounded.
6. Live Entertainment for the Troops
The 60’s was a time of musical rejuvenation. During leisure time, U.S military troops would attend music concerts; Some of which were even performed by the local population. This helped to provide a much-needed distraction from the atrocities of war, the loss of friends and comrades, and the painful injuries.
historyinorbit.com
During the war, American troops struck up intimate relationships with the local women and many fathered children. Some of these kids never got to know to know their fathers, for they died in the war or got shipped back to the U.S, never to be heard from again.
7. Orphans to Rebuild Vietnam
The Vietnam War had left both the North and the South of the country in complete ruin. Apart from the trauma inflicted on the whole of the Vietnamese people, the infrastructure was severely damaged: cities decimated, villages burned or abandoned, and organizational chaos.
gettyImages.com
These two little orphaned girls will take part in the rebuilding of the country. This photo shows their excited expressions as they ride in an English coach on the way to Sussex, to the Pestalozzi Children’s Village. They will receive five to seven years of education and then head back to Vietnam to take part in the nation’s reconstruction.
8. Soldiers Leaving their Uniforms Behind
South Vietnamese Army soldiers had stripped their army uniforms in order to conceal their identity from the enemy, who was quickly approaching the outskirts of Saigon. The quantity of boots and army gear is astonishing.
groovyhistory.com
You can really feel the hurry of these men to distance themselves as fast as possible from any form of identification with The South and the U.S. North Vietnamese army soldiers were known to mistreat prisoners, to say the least.
9. Search and Destroy
During the Vietnam War, the U.S army devised a counter strategy to the Viet Cong guerilla warfare named Search and Destroy. U.S troops would patrol the wild terrain of Vietnam looking for the Viet Cong, which they called “Charlie.”
historyinorbit.com
These patrols had to watch out for booby traps and land mines, which the Viet Cong set in an extremely efficient way. Moreover, since the Viet Cong tried to blend in with the villagers, it was difficult for these patrols to tell them apart.
10. Operation Dumbo Drop
During the war, the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong utilized elephants to carry heavy supplies and ammunition. The South Vietnamese units also made use of the giant beasts to cross deep rivers as well as patrol.
Doan Cong Tinh/mashable.com
During a military operation named “Operation Bathroom,” the U.S Army Special Forces air-dropped two elephants as an effort to aid a South Vietnamese village. In 95′ there was a movie made about this operation called Operation Dumbo Drop, starring Danny Glover and Ray Liotta.
11. Raquel Welch Fascinating the Fighters
In 1967, Raquel Welch made it all across the world to Vietnam in order to support the troops and provide them with some much-needed distraction from the constant fighting and the rough living conditions.
Getty Images/bigthink.com
Her vibrant dancing absolutely captivated the G.I’s attention. In this photo you can see the soldiers dancing around her. There was a huge crowd at that event, which also included the now legendary Bob Hope.
12. Children of Vietnam
It is estimated that during the Vietnam War there were around 84,000 child casualties. Battles and bombardments (including incredibly toxic chemical weapons) affected the entirety of the population, and the children of Vietnam, as well, paid a very high toll.
standardnew,com
Schools were destroyed or burned down and children were left with no one to care for them, since many parents lost their lives. Furthermore, some children were recruited by the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong to serve as soldiers.
13. Hippie Soldiers
During the 60’s, the hippie movement became a phenomenon in the U.S. Their anti-war sentiments were very vocal, and peace protests sprung all over the country. They had strong convictions that the U.S military should immediately withdraw out of Vietnam.
Dennis Thornton/ businessinsider.com
This photo portrays a soldier wearing a necklace with the hippie symbol of peace. During the Vietnam War there was compulsory enlistment, and many pacifists who did not believe in the concept of war found themselves fighting.
14. Huey Choppers
During the Vietnam War, choppers were a central part of military tactics. The Bell UH-1 Iroquois, nicknamed Huey, was used to spot enemy pockets in the field ahead and keep the troops on the ground apprised of their location.
kiwireport.com
In this photo you can see U.S soldiers laying low in a ready position, making slow and tactical advance towards the enemy. The guidance and directives provided by the Hueys were invaluable in saving lives of U.S troops.
15. Wartime Gallantry
In this photo, taken on February 1970, a Lance Corporal U.S soldier from Portsmouth, Ohio is seen carrying an elderly Vietnamese woman in his arms. The woman is barefoot and dressed in traditional, rural Vietnamese clothing.
Getty Images & Bigthink.com
She was too feeble to advance in the fast pace of the U.S patrol, so this gallant soldier decided to lift her up and a carry her along. The Vietnam War was devastating for the old and the weak.
16. The Vietnamese Marines
The South Vietnamese Marines suffered a lot of casualties fighting the Northern Army and the highly skilled guerilla fighters. In this photo, you can see an injured Marine being supported by a comrade amid the sugar cane plantations.
Horst Faas/atchuup.com
It is estimated that the death toll of South Vietnamese soldiers was about 250,000. After the U.S and Australia pulled out of the war in 1973, many South Vietnamese troops were left to carry on the war with very scarce equipment and few resources.
17. The People of the Mountain
In this photo you can see an American officer interacting with a Vietnamese ethnic group called the Montagnard, which in French means “people of the mountain.” The South Vietnamese and the Americans sought to recruit troops from local minority groups.
This group, which dwells in the Vietnamese Central Highlands were seen as a great potential ally. In order to strengthen American prospects throughout Vietnam, the American Special Forces trained them in unconventional warfare.
18. Advancing in the Rice Fields
This photo from December 1964, taken in a Mekong Delta battle field, shows a U.S “Eagle Flight” helicopter providing assistance to the South Vietnamese soldiers while they make way through the rice fields underneath.
Horst Faas/atchuup.com
Rice fields were a common setting in which bloody battles and lethal ambushes took place. The Viet Cong used the rough terrain of the Mekong Delta to gain an advantage over the U.S Military, which wasn’t highly trained to fight in these harsh conditions.
19. Viet Cong Prisoner
Taken in 1965 on Tanh Dinh Island, this photo shows a battalion commander, Captain Thach Quyen of the South Vietnamese Army, grabbing a Viet Cong prisoner by his upper arm as part of an interrogation.
Huynh Thanh/atchuup.com
In 1965 the Viet Cong enjoyed a surge in influence among the local villages, and the North Vietnamese Army rapidly replenished its supplies and recruited more men. In response and in an effort to better aid the South Vietnamese Army, the U.S increased its forces and aid.
20. Mourning for Comrades
In the distorted reality of the Vietnam War, losing dear friends and comrades becomes a routine occurrence. However, getting used to the pain is impossible. These friends and comrades are mourning the casualties of the war.
kiwireport.com
The friendships cultivated during the service were deep and strong. The shared experiences of fear and trauma, and the intensity of being in each other’s company and seeing one another during extreme situations made lifelong friends out of complete strangers.
21. Bereaved Father
During a pursuit of guerrilla forces into a small village near Cambodia, this father lost his child. In this tragic photo he is holding the body while an armored vehicle loaded with South Vietnamese Army Rangers passes by.
Horst Faas/atchuup.com
It was not uncommon for innocent villagers to get caught in the line of fire between American and South Vietnamese forces on one side and the Vietcong on the other. The civilian death toll during the Vietnam War is estimated to be somewhere between 30% and 50% of the total deaths.
22. Displaced Families
In this rare, heartbreaking photo, a mother fleeing from a hot zone crosses a deep river with her children. Since the healthy men took part in the war effort, families were left to fend for themselves and evade bombings and cross fires.
groovyhistory.com
After the war, displaced families who had to flee from their villages found themselves with no home to return to. Some tried to escape South East Asia by sea, which created a huge humanitarian crisis. They were known as boat people.
23. Face-to-Face Encounter
This is an incredibly unique image of a face-to-face encounter between Viet Cong soldiers as they close in on heavily camouflaged South Vietnamese Army soldiers from the direction of the rice fields. By the look of it, this battle occurred in the Mekong Delta region.
Hoang Mai/mahshable.com
The camouflage fatigues used by the soldiers in this picture were absolutely essential in the Mekong Delta fighting conditions, since this area is characterized by dense vegetation. However, in this encounter they are exposed in broad daylight.
24. Heartwarming Comradery
In this legendary and powerful image, a Marine Sergeant is concerned about an injured comrade. This photo was taken south of the demilitarized zone on October 1966 by photographer Larry Burrows. The desolation and utter anguish of the soldiers is strikingly vivid in this photo.
Larry Burrow/time.com
The Sergeant’s name is Jeremiah Purdie. He is injured in his head and has a blood-stained bandage around it, but his priority is still to attend his comrade, who is lying wounded in the mud.
25. Soldiers in the City Thanh Tri
For lack of better war gear, the Vietnamese opposition had to use outmoded weaponry. In this photo you can see soldiers during target practice in the city Thanh Tri. Despite the outdated weaponry, other tactics compensated and posed major difficulties to the U.S Military.
groovyhistory.com
The Viet Cong guerillas had attacked the city of Thanh Tri and killed 25 guardsmen in the process. During this onslaught many people were killed, and the communists took every weapon they found as well as set fire to a few buildings.
26. The A-1 Skyraider
The A-1 Skyraider seen in this photo was a single-seat aircraft used for air-bombings during the war. The U.S Military transferred some of its Skyraiders to the South Vietnamese Airforce. Here you can see it in action, dropping two 500-pound bombs on a Viet Cong target.
Horst Faas/atchuup.com
The U.S started using this aircraft during the Korean War, a decade before the Vietnam War. Although it was to be replaced by a new jet aircraft, it was still part of U.S operations in North Vietnam.
27. The Impossible Vietnamese Terrain
U.S troops crossing the murky waters of the Mekong Delta. Imagine getting dropped in a hostile environment completely unknown to you. Besides the fearsome guerilla soldiers lurking behind every bush, humidity, heat, mud, and dense, untamed vegetation make it difficult to advance or even take a good deep breath.
historyinorbit.com
In this region there are about 800 different types of reptiles and amphibians and a whopping variety of 430 different species of mammals. Lethal snakes and insects, Indochinese tigers, Asian Elephants—all these make the new environment even more estranged and threatening.
28. Vietnamese Soldier Guarding an Injured Woman
In this powerful photo, smoke is rising in the background while a Vietnamese soldier is grasping a rifle and crouching over an anguished injured woman. She has bandages wrapped around her foot and upper thigh, as well as bloodstains on her garments.
Philip Jones Griffith/Magnum Photos/ time.com
What is most captivating about this image is the look in the soldier’s eyes. It could be interpreted as either worry or resilience, but nevertheless the composition of his face his body posture are absolutely compelling.
29. Taking Cover in the Trenches
American soldiers taking cover in the trenches. These men are holding on to their helmets and getting flat on the ground as a means to protect themselves from the incoming fire and the bombings overhead.
history.com
Machineguns, submachine guns, rockets, RPGs, hand-grenades, and tank artillery supplied by the Soviet Union and China were used by the Vietnam People’s Army and the Viet Cong alike. Their impressive arsenal of weapons, among other things, hindered U.S Military advancement.
30. Tough Situations Make Tough Men
This U.S soldier is bandaging his comrade after an injury. The latter is balancing a cigarette in his mouth and seems not to be tickled by this undoubtedly painful procedure. These were some tough soldiers.
Charlie Haughey/theatlantic.com
There’s nothing like Vietnam War to make men resilient in the face of any type of adversity: pain, discomfort, and gut-wrenching sights. However, it is years later that these unimaginably intense experiences come back to haunt and take their toll.
31. Missing Home
It’s not easy to be invariably in the company of men. During downtime, soldiers found comfort leafing through all sorts of magazines, if just so they could get a little lost in imagination and forget about the war.
starfluff.com
Some soldiers had left girlfriends back home, and some haven’t seen any American women in many months. In wartime, you do what you can to keep your sanity.
32. Bone-Drenching Rain
In this incredible photo, American soldiers are standing under the Vietnamese bone-drenching rain. They are filling their canteens with the water streaming down the elongated leafs. Imagine continuing patrol in these conditions, pacing through thick mud in completely soaked uniforms.
standardnews.com
The peak of the monsoons hit Vietnam more or less between the month of August and October. It can rain for days on end. One can go crazy in the open nature with no dry inch of land to be found.
33. The Landing in Red Beach
This photo was taken in 1965 as the U.S substantially increased its military support to the South Vietnamese Army. President Lyndon Johnson authorized two Marine battalions to land in Red Beach.
Official US Marine Corps Photo/mcu.usmc.mil.historydivision
At first, these Marines were tasked only with safeguarding the Da Nang Air Base, but a few weeks later they were ordered to combat the Viet Cong guerilla fighters as well as the soldiers of the North Vietnamese Army.
34. Utter Desolation
A big part of U.S military tactics included heavy aerial bombardments, and the North Vietnamese Army also had an air force made up of Soviet Union and Chinese planes. Ruin and desolation could be found everywhere.
history.com
This photo demonstrates the utter destruction of the war. There is Fire running wild in the background, and the village had been completely wiped out, its inhabitants had either died or fled.
35. Agent Orange
Chemical weapons were used by both sides during the war, but mostly by the U.S army. There was heavy use of Napalm, which was developed during WWII. Furthermore, the U.S used an herbicide and defoliant called Agent Orange.
Charlie Haughey/ theatlantic.com
19 million gallons of this toxic herbicide were sprayed across millions of acres in Vietnam. Some chemical weapons used by the U.S damages victims’ DNA, and decades after the war new generations still suffered from the effects of the bombings.
36. Acute Fatigue
This image conveys the fatigue of the soldiers during the Vietnam War, with this young man on the verge of collapse. Apart from the fear, the bloody battles, and the trauma, the war demanded tremendous physical endeavor from the soldiers.
kiwireport.com
Even some of the most fit troops found it difficult to deal with the constant movement, the sleepless nights, the heat and dehydration, and the rough terrain. Many deaths were due to exhaustion and fatigue.
37. Probing for Weapons
In this photo, a U.S Marine, alongside a South Vietnamese Army comrade, is searching for weapons hidden by the enemy. This is taking place in Xuan Thiue village on March 11, 1970, while official peace talks between the U.S and North Vietnam are going nowhere
U.S Marine Corps Lance Cpl. A.Wiegand/ undertheradar-com
In 1970 Nixon decides to embark on an incursion into Cambodia and shocks the U.S with these news. The decision is part of a strategic effort to weaken the Northern forces, which is gaining ground in Cambodia.
38. Execution in the Streets of Saigon
This is a photo taken during the time of the Tet Offensive (February 1st, 1968). A captured Viet Cong officer, Nguyen Van Lem, is being lead through the streets of Saigon by South Vietnamese Armey troops.
businessinsider.com
In a few moments he will be executed on the street, shot in the temple by General Nguyen Loan, the chief of the national police. The photo of the actual execution will later become iconic of the Vietnam War.
This article originally appeared in “ICEPOP” on August 31, 2017 by Jeremy Styles. Here is the direct link:
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This article was forwarded to me by my friend, R J Del Vecchio via e-mail. Its’ author, Don Taylor, originally posted this on 1/29/2018 on Free Republic dot com and didn’t include photos…those you’ll see within the essay were added by me for this posting. This is an excellent report on what one man saw on the eve of TET and shows how many of the signs were discounted as “normal”. In the final two paragraphs, he slides into politics a bit further than perhaps some will like, but he is entitled to his opinion on that. This is what he had to say:
As we approach its 50th Anniversary, please allow me to share with you my memories of the Vietnam War’s 1968 Tet Offensive, and the “Butterfly Effect” spawned by this Tet Offensive.
The Chinese New Year celebration was called Tet in Vietnam and it was the only holiday they celebrated during the year. Tet celebrations lasted for two weeks, and it wasn’t just a time for drinking, feasting, and partying, it was a time for family reunions where Vietnamese traveled great distances to be with their families during those two weeks.
Prior to Tet 1967, a truce had been negotiated with the Communists, and both sides had agreed to a cease-fire during the two weeks of Tet in 1967. The Communists had honored this mutually agreed upon truce and had maintained a cease-fire throughout the 1967 two week Tet celebration, but we had observed them blatantly moving troops and equipment in the open without fear of attack from us.
In 1968, the South Vietnamese Government negotiated another truce with the Communists and both sides agreed to another cease-fire again for Tet 1968. The Communists had profited greatly from the previous Tet 1967 cease-fire when they had used the cease-fire to resupply and refit their units in the field without interference from U.S. air and artillery strikes, so we fully expected them to honor their agreed upon Tet 1968 cease-fire, as it was fully to their advantage to do so, or so we thought at the time.
However, the Communists used this 1968 mutually agreed upon cease-fire to infiltrate its Viet Cong combat units into all major cities in South Vietnam under the cover of the extensive pre-holiday travel that preceded Tet, when many Vietnamese returned home to be with their families during the Tet holidays. This infiltration was in preparation for simultaneous attacks throughout South Vietnam at midnight on January 30, 1968. An estimated fifteen Viet Cong battalions, to include the entire Viet Cong 9th Division with its 271st, 272nd, and 273rd Regiments, were infiltrated to positions in and around Saigon with the intent of capturing South Vietnam’s Capitol. For some reason, we had all forgotten that all Communists are “Ends Justify the Means” liars, and in the end, it cost the South Vietnamese their freedom from Communism.
As luck would have it, I flew into Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base outside Saigon on the afternoon of January 30, 1968 returning from leave, and that day was Chinese New Year’s Eve with the Tet Holiday beginning at midnight. I couldn’t get a flight out to return to my Special Forces A-Camp at Chi Linh until the next day, so I decided to phone my old friend Glenn Forsythe and ask him to come out to Tan Son Nhut and pick me up.
Glenn Forsythe and I had gone through Special Forces Training together at Fort Bragg, NC in 1963, and after SF Training, Glenn remained at Fort Bragg with the 5th Special Forces Group, but I transferred to the 1st Special Forces Group in Okinawa. We met again in Vietnam in 1967 when Glenn was assigned to the Special Forces Camp at Loc Ninh and I was thirty kilometers away at the Special Forces Camp at Chi Linh. When Glenn transferred to a classified unit in Saigon, he gave me his phone number and invited me to call him whenever I was in Saigon, and I did just that.
Glenn drove an M-151 Jeep out to Tan Son Nhut, picked me up and took me back to the hotel where his unit was located. Glenn’s unit, Special Forces Detachment B-57, had taken over a four story hotel off Tran Hung Dao Street in down town Saigon, not far from the Presidential Palace, and had turned it into a very secure compound, so we spent the evening drinking in the hotel bar and listening to the Vietnamese celebrate New Year’s Eve. As usual, the Vietnamese were celebrating the arrival of Tet with firecrackers and shooting in the air with every weapon they had. We did notice that this year they had added grenades and other explosives to their usual celebratory shooting and they didn’t stop at midnight like they usually did, but what the heck, we thought they were just celebrating a little harder this year.
Even with the sounds of what we thought were Tet celebration still ongoing long after midnight, we called it a night and went to bed, as we had to get up early the next morning and return to Tan Son Nhut to catch our flights; I had a flight to An Loc in Binh Long Province, and Glenn had a flight to 5th Special Forces Group Headquarters in Nha Trang. When we got up shortly before sunup the next morning, what we thought to be celebratory firecrackers and shooting, to include explosive detonations, hadn’t stopped, but we ignored it. We took an M-151 Jeep, along with a Nung driver, and drove off toward Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base five miles away.
It wasn’t quite sunrise when we turned off Truong Minh Gian Street onto Doan Thi Diem Street and passed by the Philippine Embassy. The gates to the Embassy compound were blown off and several bodies were lying in the street, but we ignored it and considered it just another everyday occurrence in Saigon. We thought the Philippine Embassy attack was just another isolated terrorist attack that occasionally happened around Saigon, and these terrorists never hung around after sun up because they knew if they did, they’d be killed. We just knew it couldn’t be anything more than that, because the Communists had agreed to a cease-fire, or so we thought at the time.
When we turned onto Hai Ba Trung Street, usually the busiest street in Saigon, the sound of celebratory firecrackers and shooting still continued around us, but the usual hustle and bustle of Saigon’s morning traffic was nowhere to be seen; ours was the only vehicle on the street, and there were no people to be seen anywhere. The streets of Saigon were absolutely deserted and they should have been filled with people celebrating the New Year.
We continued driving north on Hai Ba Trung Street in our topless Jeep clearly visible as two U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers driving toward Tan Son Nhut, and we met no other vehicles or saw anyone on or near the street as we drove the five miles to the air base. When we approached the front gate to Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base, we found the entrance blocked by concrete barricades and concertina barbed wire, but no one was visibly guarding the entrance. At the time, we had no way of knowing the north, east, and west sides of the Air Force Base were currently under full attack by elements of the Viet Cong 9th Division, and the air base was anticipating an attack from the south, the direction from which we were approaching.
I was in the front passenger seat as we drove up beside one of the five-foot tall concrete barricades blocking the entrance, and I noticed the barrels of automatic weapons protruding from the firing ports of the two bunkers on each side of the entrance, and the weapons were aimed directly at us, but I still saw no one around the gate…until I looked down. Lying in the dirt near the bottom of the concrete barricade was a U.S. Marine Corps Master Sergeant with a M-16 rifle aimed at me, and he was in full summer dress Tropical Worsted uniform, complete with ribbons and badges, as he looked up at me and I looked down at him. I was so taken aback by what I saw and what it meant, that for a moment I was speechless, and then I said, “We’re going to have to move these barricades; we have a plane to catch,” but the Marine looked up at me as if I was an apparition (or a clueless idiot) and replied, “You ain’t going anywhere; Charley owns the other end of the runway.” The continuous “celebratory” gunfire, the destroyed Embassy, the bodies lying in the street, and the deserted streets hadn’t alerted us to the fact that something was terribly amiss that morning, but the sight of that USMC Master Sergeant in Summer Dress uniform complete with ribbons and badges and in the low-crawl in the dirt told us without a doubt that there was no cease-fire and war had unexpectedly come to Saigon.
We turned around and drove back into Saigon, but this time we didn’t take Hai Ba Trung Street (Never return the same way you came), we took Cong Ly, an adjacent street. Cong Ly Street was just as deserted as Hai Ba Trung Street had been; until we came upon a lone U.S. Army Special Forces soldier running down the center of the street ahead of us. We overtook and pulled up beside him, but before we could ask if he needed a ride, he jumped into the back of the Jeep and shouted, “Go! Go! Go! They’re all around us.”
I could see he was unarmed and frightened out of his wits, so I asked him, “Who’s all around us?” He shouted back at me, “The VC!! I was staying at my girlfriend’s house, and last night around midnight the VC came down the street where she lived pulling people out of their homes and shooting them, so I took off running and they’ve been chasing me all night.”
Two U.S. military policemen aid a wounded fellow MP during fighting in the U.S. Embassy compound in Saigon, Jan. 31, 1968, at the beginning of the Tet Offensive. A Viet Cong suicide squad seized control of part of the compound and held it for about six hours before they were killed or captured. (AP Photo/Hong Seong-Chan)
We drove back into Saigon, dropped off the Special Forces soldier at the Special Forces compound on Pasteur Street, and then we returned to Glenn’s compound on Tran Hung Dao Street. By that time, Glenn’s unit had been alerted to the fact that the city was under attack, and we took up defensive positions on the unit’s perimeter. Apparently, Glenn’s Special Forces unit (B-57) was so highly classified that they were out of the “loop” and didn’t receive timely alerts from IDC (Installation Defense Command), or IDC failed to realize the cease-fire agreement had been broken and the city was under attack. The Viet Cong probably didn’t know B-57 was there, and Glenn’s unit was never attacked during what came to be called the Tet Offensive, but we had a ring-side seat as the Tet Offensive raged around us. Initially, none of us completely understood what was happening, but when we observed air strikes from the hotel’s rooftop and saw the U.S. Air Force bombing targets and conducting strafing runs in the middle of Saigon, we began to understand the seriousness of the situation.
During the next two weeks, reports continued to come in and we were eventually able to piece together what had occurred on the morning of January 31, 1968. When we drove away from Glenn’s compound that morning, the U.S. Embassy had already been attacked and penetrated by the Viet Cong; the Presidential Palace was under attack a few blocks away, as was Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base and every other military compound and Embassy in and around the city, and these attacks were simultaneously occurring in every city throughout the country. Fifteen battalions of Viet Cong had been broken down into squads and platoons and fanned out across Saigon led by Communist agents who lived in Saigon. These Communist agents had prepared name and address lists of all military and police officers in the city, and these squads and platoons systematically went to these officer’s homes, pulled them out into the street and shot them in front of their families.
With the number of Viet Cong troops known to be in Saigon the morning of January 31, 1968, how Glenn Forsythe and I managed to drive through Saigon all the way to Tan Son Nhut AFB and back again without incident remained a mystery, but the real puzzler was intelligence reports stated the two bridges we crossed going and coming from Tan Son Nhut had been under communist control since midnight of January 30, 1968.
It was two weeks before Saigon and Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base could be cleared of Communist forces and I could return to my comparatively quiet Special Forces Camp on the Cambodian Border. The Cambodian border areas were quiet then simply because the Viet Cong units we had been in combat with for the previous two years had all been elements of the Viet Cong 9th Division, and the Viet Cong 9th Division no longer existed. It had gone into Saigon with its 271st, 272nd, and 273rd Regiments and they never came out; they had died almost to a man.
The 1968 Tet Offensive was a coordinated “Do or Die” attack by every Viet Cong unit in Vietnam on the night of January 30 and the morning of January 31, 1968 that simultaneously struck every South Vietnamese City, village, and military installation in an attempt to win the war in one country wide attack; they failed and they paid the price for their failure; they died. The annihilation of Viet Cong units was carried out by American and South Vietnamese combat units throughout South Vietnam and was a disaster for the Communist insurgency, as it never recovered from its losses. The war was carried on after Tet 1968 by invading North Vietnamese, and North Vietnam could never move sufficient troops down the Ho Chi Minh Trail to ever hope to defeat the United States effort in South Vietnam, so they resorted to their favorite Communist tactic; they lied.
1968 was a Presidential Election year, and the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) attempted to use the Tet Offensive to influence the election by claiming it was a Communist victory and the war was lost. The CPUSA organized an anti-war movement and assembled enough strength through this movement to seize control of the Democrat Party that summer during the 1968 Democrat Convention in Chicago. These Communists attempted to nominate a Presidential candidate who would quit the war and they failed, but the CPUSA still retained control of the Democrat Party, and this Party managed to elect enough Leftists to Congress to cut funding for the Vietnam War, pulled all U.S. Forces and materiel support out of South Vietnam, and the war was then lost, so in this way the 1968 Tet Offensive was indeed a Communist victory.
[paragraph deleted]
And I’ll always wonder about how that Marine Master Sergeant came to be crawling around in the dirt in his summer dress uniform at the Main Gate of Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base the morning of January 31, 1968.
Thank you for your service and sacrifice, Donald J. Taylor! Welcome Home!
Here is the direct link to the original article: http://freerepublic.com/tag/*/index?more=3627237
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Just like the commercial for Dos Equis Beer, Rev. Bill McDonald is a most interesting man. He is a Vietnam Veteran and was a crew-chief/door-gunner on a Huey helicopter for the famed “Tomahawks” – 128th Assault Helicopter Company in Phu Loi, South Vietnam in 1966-67. He was wounded, shot down several times and almost captured. His awards include The Distinguished Flying Cross, The Bronze Star, The Purple Heart, 14 Air Medals, and other medals and ribbons.
Today, he is an inter-faith/non-denominational minister who helps veterans, the homeless, inmates and others seeking his services and advice. He performs chaplain services for several non-profit organizations, is an author, award winning poet, International Motivational Speaker, documentary film advisor, veteran advocate, artist, yoga meditation teacher, actor and a frequent radio and TV show guest.
In 1967 he was a crew-chief/door-gunner with The 128th Assault Helicopter Company out of Phu Loi, S. Vietnam. He had a vision that foretold what would happen to Huey #744 and tried unsuccessfully to prevent it from happening.
Rev. Bill is the founder and past president of both “The American Author’s Association” & “The Military Writer’s Society of America”, has written many books and helped other authors with contributions to dozens of their books (forewords, book cover blurbs, contributing stories and chapters to their books etc.).
My veteran brother has a YouTube channel where he has published over 50 different videos – some detailing his experiences during the Vietnam War. I did find two of his videos quite interesting and have posted them here for this article. I highly encourage visiting his page and looking over his collection…there’s something for everybody. His page address: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXUVf8UOT237rw2RfsB9haA
In his first story, Rev. Bill McDonald talks about the visions he had on April 5, 1967 predicting the crash and the deaths of those flying on Huey #744 (his aircraft) on the following day. He refused to fly in that helicopter and warned his company commander and those in charge that it was going to crash the next day and that men would be killed.
Crew members lost that day: CPT Richard Newton, WO1 James Darcey and door-gunner Al Durell. Four passengers were also killed in that April 6th crash. Cause of crash was later determined to be from a trunnion bearing failure. This story is told in even greater detail in Rev.Bill’s book “Warrior A Spiritual Odyssey.”
In his second story, Rev. Bill McDonald tells how he and the door-gunner on his Huey faced a horrible choice – obey a direct order order from a Major, or face a charge of mutiny. In the military when two or more people choose to disobey a lawful order they can be courts-martialed. They could have been sent to prison for up to life, or even put in front of a firing squad for the most serious offense that you can be charged with in the Army – mutiny.
So, when Rev. Bill and his fellow door-gunner refused to fire at a formation of 30 “enemy” troops with their M-60 machine guns – they were making a life changing decision. Whatever way they choose, it will be life altering.
His first published book is “A Spiritual Warrior’s Journey” and followed by two poetry books and an autobiography titled, “Warrior a Spiritual Odyssey”. Rev. Bill is currently awaiting publication of his newest book about detailing his spiritual experiences of the last six years and is titled “Alchemy of a Warrior’s Heart”.
The Reverend volunteers with many non-profit organizations and spends some of his time each year in overseas countries like India, Germany, Peru, Bolivia, Canada, and The United Kingdom. He married his high school sweetheart, has two grown children and 6 grandchildren.
Rev. Bill McDonald stands in front of the Black Virgin Mountain (Nui Ba Den) during one of his many trips back to Vietnam. This is the area of operations where Bill’s helicopter unit flew support for those units on the ground.
Bill founded Spiritual Warrior Ministries as way to help the veteran community and works with veterans, battered woman, police and first responders on issues of PTSD and “Moral Injuries. If you wish to contact him, Rev. Bill’s email address is Huey576@gmail.com
Rev. Bill McDonald’s autobiography book cover is shown below – click on the photo to read a sample portion of his story without leaving this page.
Thank you brother for allowing me to post your incredible stories on my website. Thank you also for all you’ve done and for all you continue to do! God Bless!
Here is a second article written by JC Pennington that is well worth reading: I had published in Air Facts Journal about a “gut feeling” that saved my life…and three others.https://airfactsjournal.com/…/gut-feeling-might…/…
Did anybody else have a similar “inner voice” in Nam – one that you listened to and saved your life?
Thank you for taking the time to view this article! Don’t miss out on the many other stories, pictures and videos available to you on this website (see below).
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My friend, RL Del Vecchio, contacted me after posting my article about the NVA / VC atrocities of the Vietnam War to inform me that none of what I posted was even mentioned in Ken Burns’ documentary about the Vietnam War. Instead, he showed My Lai and other photos of the “napalm girl” (ARVN pilot and not US dropped it in error), the assassination of the plainclothes VC officer on a Saigon street, and American soldiers burning villages. Making it look like we were the bad guys during the war.
Del mentioned that he is part of a group, Vietnam Veterans for Factual History, who is trying to get Mr. Burns to set the record straight and to come clean with the inaccuracies in the film. I was part of a special group of veterans who was invited to a private showing of the one-hour long preview that circulated the country prior to the event beginning on local PBS stations. It was during that preview that my wife continued to mention that the film was biased and leaned more toward the POV of the enemy than from our own soldiers. Her opinion was confirmed after watching the first two episodes. I soon heard from other Vietnam Veterans and how disappointed they were in the documentary; citing the same reasons.
Mr. Burns’ camp continues to evade the VVFH, however, the group did receive a response from PBS which I quote here in part: “…the film generated a tremendous amount of attention, from the public, members of the military community and veterans, nearly all of which praised the film’s respect for our soldiers and its balance. Maybe more poignantly, not a day goes by when I do not hear from veterans of the war about how thankful they are for the film, helping them speak about their experience with family and friends, something they had rarely done before.
“Ken and Lynn went to great lengths to include diverse voices in the film. We did the same in our outreach across the country, meeting with veterans’ groups, Vietnamese-Americans and those who opposed the war, as well as with a wide-range of historians and military experts. The film was extremely well received at the Air Force and Naval Academies, the Army Command and General Staff College, as well as at the Pentagon…”
Do you believe that “nearly all” of the veteran community “praised the film”?
I’ve put together a short video (less than 2 min.) using the Powerpoint presentation Del forwarded to me last week:
Images of compassion These are assorted pictures of US soldiers and Marines protecting, helping, carrying Vietnamese in the midst of the war. Why didn’t Ken Burns include photos like this in “The Vietnam War” instead of portraying us differently?
CREDITS Original PowerPoint presentation/photos: R J Del Vecchio Video/audio set up: John Podlaski Music: Buffalo Springfield (1967) “For what it’s Worth” Vietnam Veterans for Factual History website: http://vvfh.org/
For those who have interest, here is the presentation Del made in Georgia to the Atlanta Vietnam Veterans Association, to whom he’s indebted for the availability of this video. He hopes people find it useful, and please feel free to disseminate (56 min).
Atlanta Vietnam Veterans Business Association presents R.L. Del Vecchio, “Correcting The Myths of the Vietnam War” – Ex. Sec. of Vietnam Veterans for Factual History – February 6, 2018. NOTE: I have a mistake in my speech. For some reason I said it was Paul Vallely in the Burns show, but it was Thomas Vallely. There is a real Paul Vallely who is a vet and a fine guy.
So, what’s your opinion? Here’s the direct link If you wish to visit the website of VVFH and perhaps join their cause: http://vvfh.org/
Thank you, Mr. Del Vecchio for allowing me to share your information with my readers. Good luck with VVFH’s mission!
Thank you for taking the time to view this article! Don’t miss out on the many other stories, pictures and videos available to you on this website (see below).
If you enjoyed this article and want to learn more about the Vietnam War – subscribe to this blog and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader. Meanwhile, you can check into my special pages, most recent articles and those most popular – all listed to the right of each article. If you’d rather sample every post, then click HERE to be redirected to this blog’s main page. There, you can scroll down through all the published titles, listed chronologically – the most recent is first.
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Burned out ROTC building with National Guard personnel and others around building
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