Stories of Vietnam

Vietnam Service Medal

My husband, Don, was a Green Beret in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969. I have learned that they are only called "Green Berets" by civilians and in the movies. They call themselves Special Forces. He has some great stories of that time and for a while now I've been thinking I should write them down. I finally got him to sit down and tell them to me so I could type them up. I thought that at least I would be able to share them with our children. Then I got to thinking that there might be others out there who also had experiences in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam war who would enjoy reading Don's stories and sharing their own. Thus, Stories of Vietnam begins.

During his high school years Don was a member of the California Cadet Corps At Clairemont High School in San Diego. The corps was founded in 1911 by Brigadier General Edwin Alexander Forbes who was Adjutant General for the State of California Military Forces. There were shortages of personnel in the National Guard so the California Cadet Corps was formed to train youth in military discipline in the hopes that they would eventually enlist in the Guard. It developed into a very effective leadership training program.

In the sixties, CCC at Clairemont High School could be taken as an alternative to physical education class. Every day during third period the cadets would fall in at the parking lot of Clairemont High for attendance call. They had a classroom, office and firing range at their disposal. The next hour would be spent training in drill and ceremonies or taking a class on orienteering, patriotism, leadership or some such subject. Sometimes they would go up to Camp Pendleton and train with the Marines. The commandant, the adult teacher of this program, was hands off and rarely present so the students became adept at running it by themselves. Responsibility for the command, training, operations and logistics fell to the nine cadet officers.

Standing L to R: Mike, Norm, Max, Gerald, John
Seated L to R: Moses, Al, Paul, Don

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In Don's sophomore year he was a member of the Best Drilled Squad at Field Day. After the competition when the squad leader reported, the Marine Drill Sergeant said, "I would take your squad against anybody, any time, any place. You guys are that good." That was a defining moment for the team. It inspired them to high achievement in the years to come. Most of the nine boys on that squad would become officers in their senior year.

In his junior year Don taught some of the classes for the cadets, such as Browning automatic rifle, M1, and map reading.

They worked towards Field Day where they would compete against 10 other San Diego high schools in close order drill. It would be the Camp Pendleton Marines who would judge the competition. In his senior year Don was the executive officer and second in command. Due to extenuating circumstances the battalion commander was unavailable for Field Day so the command fell to Don. The team drilled every evening after school and on Saturdays. When Field Day arrived, the Clairemont team's bus was late to the competition. The Marine judges "penalized" the team by making them go first without any practice or preparation. The team was well trained and they didn't bat an eye. When the competition was over they saw that they had set the bar. No other team could top their score and they won best in the city. Their score was the highest ever attained and tied the score they had made in their sophomore year.

This was an exceptional group of young men who formed a bond, fit together, were very good friends, worked hard and were committed to excellence. They had been mentored by the very capable classes ahead of them in that tradition. Some of them went to Vietnam together. Some of them stay in touch to this day.

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Don walked into an army recruiter's office in San Diego in 1968. Two weeks later he boarded a bus in Los Angeles and traveled to Fort Ord in San Francisco. This was basic training and he was here for two months.

There were four platoons receiving training on the M1 rifle. They sat on the ground in front of a big wooden platform where a Drill Sergeant was standing and teaching the nomenclature, effective range of the rifle and other pertinent facts. This was old territory for Don. He had learned this well in the California Cadet Corps in high school and had even taught classes on it himself.

Somehow the Drill sergeant noticed that Don wasn't taking notes. He said, "Why aren't you taking notes? Do you know this already?"

Don stood up and said, "Yes sergeant."

"Do you know the nomenclature for the M1?"

"Yes sergeant! The U.S. rifle caliber .30, M1, is an air-cooled, gas-operated, clip-fed, and semiautomatic shoulder weapon."

"Fine. Do you know the three main groups?"

"Yes sergeant!"

"Well, what are they?"

"The three main groups are the trigger housing group, the barrel and receiver group, and the stock group."

"OK, you do know it. Sit down," he said with a surprised look on his face.

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Don after Basic Training with his Grandpa and Grandma

After basic training Don was sent to Fort Gordon, Georgia for advanced infantry training (AIT). This included familiarization with weapons.

The soldiers were living in the same barracks that had housed the German U-boat prisoners of war during WWII

The building was constructed of cinder blocks that had been painted and it had a pot bellied stove in the center. This was in February and March so it was cold and they had a fire in the stove all night. They took one hour watches to keep an eye on the fire and then the watcher would wake up the next person on the list. It was not unusual for the watcher to fall asleep for two or three hours and then wake the second or third person on the list. Someone on the watcher list would usually get to have a night of uninterrupted sleep.

There were no bathrooms in the barracks so they had to go outside and they had to shower out there too and it was COLD. I wonder if these living conditions have been updated by now.

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After Fort Gordon Don went to Fort Benning because he had signed up for airborne.

Ground Week ~This first week they jumped off of a 19 foot tower. They'd climb the tower to the room at the top where they were hooked up to a rope pulley system. They would jump out and grab their reserve. They'd go down to a berm, unhook and run back to the tower and do it again. They had to run everywhere they went. If you had to go to the bathroom, you ran. If you had to fall in you had to run to that area. In addition to all that running they ran three miles a day.

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Tower Week ~This involved a 200 foot tower. Your open parachute was hooked to the outer ring of a big metal umbrella and it lifted you up. You'd be dangling in the middle of your gear. At the top they'd say GET READY and they'd let it go. You'd float down. Somehow Don got the job of hooking up all the parachutes. This didn't look like fun and he didn't want to do it. He thought he'd keep his mouth shut and maybe slide by but someone noticed he hadn't done it and made him do it. It wasn't as bad as he thought but he was glad it was over. He decided to take it one step at a time and not worry too far down the road to when he'd have to jump out of a plane. This week they ran five miles a day.

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Jump Week ~It rained the first couple of days this week so they didn't get to jump. They would have to jump five times in order to get their wings. Finally on Wednesday they got out on the field. They were told that they didn't want to fall out of the harness so they were cinched up really tight. Then they couldn't take off because of weather. They sat there all morning and into the afternoon, tightly cinched, waiting for the weather to clear up. The circulation was impaired and the muscles were restricted. They were miserable. It was agonizing to sit there hour after hour, cinched up so tightly that they could hardly breathe.

Finally they got word that they were going to jump so they loaded on to a C-130 airplane. The first thing they noticed was that there was no padding and no insulation. It was stripped down. There were four large, extremely loud engines. The noise was deafening and hurt the ears. Everyone was sitting there and no one was talking. Everyone was scared but no one was saying it. "Oh man what have I got myself into?" Don wondered.

Finally, the jumpmaster at the front of the plane gave the signal to "GET READY." Don thought to himself, "I'm just going to stay in my seat and let everyone else go because there's no way I'm going out that door."

The jumpmaster says, "STAND UP!" And Don stood up. He thought, "What am I doing!? I'm going to freeze up in that door. This is stupid. Sit back down!"

"HOOK UP!" You know what he did. He hooked up. He couldn't believe it. He knew he wasn't going.

"CHECK EQUIPMENT!" You checked the equipment of the guy in front of you making sure his static line was hooked up to the cable that runs the length of the plane and you made sure everything looked good. Don did that, all the time knowing that he wasn't going.

"SOUND OFF FOR EQUIPMENT CHECK!" This started at the back and the first guy said, "One OK." Next guy, "Two OK." This continued until it reached the front of the plane.

"STAND IN THE DOOR!" An experienced jumper would be the first one in the door to set the example. They didn't want a novice there who would freeze. All the while Don was telling himself, "Just sit down, you're not going to do this. You're going to freeze in the door and you'll be in the way of the guy behind you. Will they push me out if I freeze?"

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He was as wound up as he could possibly be. His heart felt like a trip hammer. The noise of the plane was roaring. His legs, arms and back ached tremendously. You just wouldn't do this if you didn't have to, if there was any way out.

The light turned from red to green. "GO!" Now he could hear the wind in addition to all the engine noise. He shuffled to the door. "Oh man this is ridiculous. I ought to just step back now." He hit the door. It felt like he grabbed his heart right out of his chest and threw it out the door and his body had to follow. He was supposed to put his hands over his reserve chute but he was so scared that he put his hands over his eyes.

There was a static line going from his pack to the cable so he didn't have to pull a cord to deploy his chute. Before he knew what had happened he felt a tug and there was complete silence. Then he became aware of the sound of the wind blowing through the risers of his parachute. All the pain in the back and shoulders was completely gone. Every pain was gone. He was in a state of euphoria. He saw the other guys floating down and could hear their exclamations. "Yeah!" "Man this is beautiful!" "This is incredible!"

It was like he imagined a high to be. It was so peaceful and the wind in their faces felt so cool and fresh after being so hot and cramped on that plane.

"I can do this! I'm airborne!"

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