REMARKS ON VIETNAM ON MEMORIAL DAY 2014

NATIONAL CEMETERY

PRESIDIO OF SAN FRANCISCO

It is an honor to speak on behalf of my comrades, who fought in Vietnam long ago, and far away.There are a lot of memories from two combat tours. If what you are about to hear sounds in any way unique, it was not; I’m sure my experiences would be familiar to almost any soldier who fought as a combat Infantryman. When I first went to Vietnam in January of 1968, I was a 21-year old Infantry Lieutenant; a paratrooper and Ranger in the 82d Airborne Division. Our brigade of the 82d was deployed to Vietnam as reinforcements, during the TET Offensive that had begun that month.

After flying by way of Alaska and Okinawa, we finally landed at Phu Bai, just south of Hué. It was sheeting down rain. A Marine CH-46 helicopter landed beside our transport. It had just come in from Ke Sanh, the combat base which was under siege in the mountains to the west, near the Laotian border. As the tail ramp of the helicopter came down, a Marine ‘deuce and half’ truck backed up. Bodies in gray-green bags were offloaded into the truck bed.

Most of the paratroopers with me had served in Vietnam before. To them, this was an ordinary sight. It wasn’t ordinary to me. In those first weeks, it rained ceaselessly, and was surprisingly cold. But when the rain stopped and the sun came out, it was like operating in a sauna. Most of the fighting was small unit actions, and ambushes. Continue reading →