Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2017 i Vietnam

[Re: photo feature “Critical Care,” April 2017, which showed C-130 and C-124 aircraft carrying wounded troops out of Vietnam.] The C-141 Starlifter also played an important role as a transport plane for the wounded. I was a med tech with the 56th Aeromedical Squadron based in Yokota, Japan, in 1970-1971. Our medical crews, usually two nurses and three techs, staffed the flights. Flying out of Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, we would pick up the injured in Cam Ranh Bay, Tan Son Nhut or Da Nang in South Vietnam and take them to Japan where they were taken to various military hospitals for further treatment. We crewed other flights taking the wounded to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, where flight and medical crews changed and the plane…

Two Vietnam-related events just weeks apart vividly illustrated the shift in U.S. trade policy as the presidency transferred from Barack Obama to Donald Trump. On Jan. 13, Secretary of State John Kerry, on his final globe-crossing trip, met for the fourth time with Vietnamese leaders, The Associated Press reported. Kerry also toured the Mekong Delta town Ca Mau, where he commanded a Navy swift boat during the Vietnam War On his fourth trip to Vietnam since becoming secretary of state, Kerry talked up the Trans- Pacific Partnership, or TPP, a trade agreement signed in Feb ruary 2016 by the United States, Vietnam and 10 other nations to reduce tariffs and other trade barriers. The pact was seen as a way to draw Vietnam closer to the U.S. and reduce its…

Retired Lt. Gen. Hal Moore, one of the most recognizable names of the Vietnam War because of a book and movie about his leadership in the Battle of Ia Drang, died Feb. 10, 2017, in Alabama. He was 94. During the November 1965 battle, Moore, a lieutenant colonel, commanded the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), in the Army’s first fight with a large North Vietnamese Army force. He received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions. Moore’s We Were Soldiers Once… and Young, co-written with journalist Joe Galloway, became a movie in 2002 with Mel Gibson as Moore. Charles Liteky, an Army chaplain during the Vietnam War turned outspoken peace activist, died Jan. 20, 2017, in San Francisco, at 85. Liteky was awarded the Medal of…

The operative word in the title of James Wright’s superb book is “enduring.” It applies not only to members of all military branches who were “enduring” the horrors of combat alternating with the soul-numbing boredom of an assignment far from home but also to the families back home “enduring” the wait for their loved ones to return, while being bombarded daily with media reports primarily featuring bad news. Enduring Vietnam succeeds on several levels as it looks at a generation and those of it “who served and sacrificed.” On one level it is a well-researched, cogently written and thoughtful history of the war. On another, it gives Vietnam vets and their families the opportunity to tell their stories in their own words. Finally, it includes Wright’s own reflections on “why…

FRIDAY, MAY 26 9 p.m. Candlelight Vigil, Vietnam Veterans Memorial. SATURDAY, MAY 27 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. Thunder Alley open. The official vendor site for Rolling Thunder XXX is on 22nd Street and Constitution Avenue Northwest. Rolling Thunder patches, pins, T-shirts and leather goods are on sale, along with food and drink. Featured speakers will also be at Thunder Alley. 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. Barbecue at Harley-Davidson of Washington, 9407 Livingston Road, Fort Washington, Maryland. SUNDAY, MAY 28 6 a.m. Reveille wake-up call for all riders taking part in the Rolling Thunder XXX First Amendment Demonstration Run. Bikers rally in the North and South Pentagon parking lots at 7 a.m. for a noon departure. 9 a.m. Thunder Alley opens. 12 noon Rolling Thunder XXX First Amendment Demonstration Run. Bikes leave…

I can’t fully describe what happened; I don’t know how. The first time I saw it (or rather experienced it) was at the dedication in November 1982. It rained all the way from New Jersey, but cleared up shortly after our bus arrived. We were a ragtag bunch of vets from Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 12. We lined up on the National Mall, marched up Constitution Avenue and were funneled into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It took my breath away! Finally, something positive. After the ceremony, we were permitted to see it, touch it, cry next to it. To this day, it is hard to describe the feeling. Too many layers, too many emotions. I felt compelled to return to the Wall, and I did, every year, until 1994.…

One of the corridors of the Pentagon now houses a permanent exhibit honoring Vietnam veterans and their families. The museum-quality exhibit opened Dec. 20, 2016, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by then- Defense Secretary Ash Carter and former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam veteran who served two terms in the U.S. Senate. The displays include two Huey helicopter replicas, items left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (the Wall), works of art, historical information and interactive experiences. “This exhibit really and truly represents the service of a generation of citizens who were asked to do something for their country at a difficult time, as difficult a time as probably we’ve seen in our lifetimes,” Hagel said in a Defense Department press release. “This exhibit very much reflects all that and…

The site of the May 4, 1970, Kent State University shootings has been designated a National Historic Landmark. It was one of 24 sites receiving the designation in January 2017 by then-Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. The designation, according to a Kent State press release, encompasses a 17.4-acre portion of the campus, including the area where four students were killed and nine wounded by Ohio National Guardsmen during protests of President Richard Nixon’s decision to send troops into Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The shooting site was listed on the National Register of Historic places in 2010. A site usually is not granted National Historic Landmark status until it is at least 50 years old, but Kent State asked that its request be considered in time for the shootings’ 50th anniversary…

Developed in the 1950s and entering service in 1961 to replace rifle grenades as an infantry platoon support weapon, the M79 single-shot grenade launcher looks like a large-bore sawedoff shotgun and fires a 40 mm grenade. The gun employs the “high-low propulsion system” developed by the Germans in World War II. The round burns its propellant charge within a small high-pressure chamber. The pressure then bleeds through small holes into a larger low-pressure chamber to launch the round through the barrel. That system reduces the recoil forces, enabling the M79 to fire grenades containing 2.5 ounces of high explosives, tear gas, pellets or smoke agents. Two types of fuses are used: the M552, which arms 3 meters (3 yards) from the muzzle; and the M551, arming 14 to 28 meters…

The winds of war can take many years and long roads before the pain begins to ease. Sometimes on that journey fate draws you back to the long-ago but neverforgotten place that shaped the rest of your life. And along the way you may find that your route converges with the journeys of others who seek healing. T Such were the circumstances that brought the paths of four men together for a humanitarian venture 45 years after they had experienced the war in Vietnam, when one was a young boy in a battle-torn village, two were U.S. Marines and the fourth was the high school friend of an American soldier killed by a booby trap. Here are their stories. Binh Nguyen Binh Nguyen was just 9 years old when his…

Wall volunteers John Berry, Dan Kirby and I were near the apex of the memorial. I was showing a visitor the name Mary Klinker and relating the story of Operation Babylift, an American program to fly orphans out of South Vietnam as the Communists were completing their takeover of the country in April 1975. One plane experienced mechanical problems shortly after takeoff and was forced to do a crash landing, killing many of the passengers, including 78 children. Air Force Capt. Mary Klinker, a flight nurse, shown left, also was killed. As I described the plane crash, a woman standing near me exclaimed, “My son was on that plane! And here he comes now!” I said to John and Dan, “Come here. You need to hear this.” We talked to…

Cool rain fell steadily in Spitler Woods State Park on the Fourth of July in 1984 as Mike Ferguson made his way to the bandstand to address the crowd at the start of a fundraising effort for the proposed Illinois Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Slipping in the mud he dropped his canes and fell forward onto his hands. Slowly Ferguson regained his balance, which wasn’t easy because he had lost both legs after stepping on a land mine in Vietnam. Declining assistance from a nearby woman, the gritty, determined former Marine grabbed the microphone and harkened back to the weather in Vietnam. “Monsoon, guys. Get your parkas out,” he said. “Come on now, we’re not going to let a little rain stop us are we? Hell, we’ve slept in worse than…

A famous name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Registry on Feb. 3 as USS Enterprise, the world’s first nuclearpowered aircraft carrier, was decommissioned. That vessel, Hull No. CVN- 65, was the eighth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name. Authorized in 1954, the Enterprise had eight nuclear reactors driving four propeller shafts. At the Enterprise’s commissioning on Nov. 25, 1961, Secretary of the Navy John B. Connelly Jr. declared, “The new Enterprise will reign a long, long time as queen of the seas.” History proved him right. Enterprise’s 25 deployments over 51 years included participation in a naval blockade during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, deployment to the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War and to the Sea of Japan after North Korea seized a U.S. spy…

Collectors of historic firearms find it relatively easy to obtain weapons from the two world wars, but have had a tough time getting guns from the Vietnam War because of firearms laws and military policy. But now Colt Manufacturing Co. is bringing back the M16A1 rifle as a periodaccurate reissue, according to Task & Purpose website. Expected to cost $2,499, the Colt Vietnam-era M16 replica stays true to the details of the rifle that was the standard infantry weapon in Vietnam from 1967 through the end of the war. Another company, firearms manufacturer Troy Defense, is offering reproductions of Vietnam special operations weapons such as the GAU-5A/A rifle, carried during the raid on the Son Tay prison camp in 1970 and the XM117E2 rifle, which was used by an elite…

May 12 The Jimi Hendrix Experience band debuts its first album, Are You Experienced, showcasing the electric guitar sounds of the band’s leader—who served briefly in the Army— with tracks like rock classic “Purple Haze.” June 4 Mission: Impossible wins three Emmy awards, including best drama and best actress in a drama (Barbara Bain). June 1 The Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is released. The album, which includes “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “With a Little Help from My Friends,” was No. 1 in the U.S. from July 1 to Oct. 7. June 12 The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rules in Loving v. Virginia that Virginia’s law banning interracial marriages was unconstitutional. Virginians Richard and Mildred Loving, legally married in the District ofColumbia, had been…

Lieutenant Ed Knoll was awakened by his foot being gently pushed, the cautious and safe method of waking someone in combat. A handset was shoved in his face, and the radio telephone operator said, “EL TEE, urgent call from Defiant 3,” the battalion operations officer’s call sign. It was an operations alert for Knoll, a first lieutenant and commander of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment (the Black Lions), 1st Infantry Division. The call to Knoll, at the An Loc firebase about 95 kilometers north of Saigon, came just after midnight Sept. 12, 1968. The lieutenant’s unit was trucked to nearby Quan Loi, and in the morning the 1st Battalion (minus B Company handling base security at Quan Loi) was airlifted north to Loc Ninh. L On Sept. 11,…

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the literally millions of people who have helped with or participated in Rolling Thunder runs over the past 30 years since the first ride on Memorial Day, May 30, 1988. Rolling Thunder is a “First Amendment Demonstration” that draws attention to the POW/MIA issue, which—simply put—demands that we account for all who served in defense of our country and are still listed as missing in action. At this moment, there are over 82,000 unaccounted for, mostly from World War II, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. In the past year we have recovered the remains of over 40 Marines on the island of Tarawa, Kiribati, which in November 1943 saw some of the worst fighting of World War II’s Pacific…

A Daughter’s Note On Sept. 5, 1993, a young couple faced the Wall, she in front, he in back with his arms wrapped around her. Tears began to flow down the woman’s cheeks as they stood perfectly still. She then walked up to the Wall and laid a bouquet of flowers at the base of panel 2E. A small handwritten note was attached loosely to one of the flower stems. It read: To Lee Roy James Killed Sept. 5, 1965 Sept. 5, 1993 Dear Dad—Yesterday, your baby girl married a wonderful, wonderful man. Although I did not see you there, I felt your presence in my heart and in the hearts of your family and friends. I am leaving you the flowers I carried down the aisle when Tom escorted…

It was an unusually warm, springlike day at the Wall on March 1, 2012. While I was working in the midmorning hours, a man approached and asked if I was a docent. He had a female friend with him, and they appeared to be close to my age. The man was dressed in an outfit that included a boonie hat, peace signs, multicolored peace shirt and even a peace belt bucket. He also had a colorfully decorated artificial arm with a hook on the end of it. He wanted to know if I could take care of the artificial arm, which he wanted to leave behind. He also wanted to know if it would go into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection of objects left at the Wall and therefore be…