Memories of Vietnam   Part Five Dec. 12th, 2006

I finished writing Part Four of these memories during March of 2005, so it has been some time since I decided to continue.

In Part Four, I wrote mostly about the Third Amtrac Battalion and the leaders thereof executing the move from Okinawa to Chu Lai in March 1966. I also wrote about some memories of the Marines who took part and were the leaders of the battalion during the early days of the war.. Many are close friends and legends in their own time. This part picks up at the end of September 1967 and will cover the events that took place in October of 1967, by which time the battalion had moved to the area South of DaNang called the Marble Mountains.

Upon my arrival in DaNang, I had expected to takeover command of the Armored Amphibian Tractor Company from Darrell Howarth and had been told this prior to my arrival. The events concerning my assignment to the Third Amphibian Tractor Battalion as the Battalion S-4 are covered in Part Three and need not be explained again , but I was still very upset fornot getting the chance for a Commanding Officer assignment as expected in a combat zone.

In addition, my arrival also included a part of my life known but to a few people and perhaps, could have ended my career if all the facts were known.

During my three years as Inspector/Instructor of the “C” Company of the Fourth Amphibian Tractor Battalion (Reserve) in West Palm Beach, Florida, I had made over one hundred casualty calls to families of Marines, whose sons had been killed or had been wounded in Vietnam. It was, without a doubt, the most difficult experiences of my life and each succeeding call became more difficult to handle than the one before. The first call I made as the I&I in the fall of 1964 was, as time later proved, the easiest one to make. They became progressively more difficult due to the various experiences and unexpected happenings with each new occurrence... be it a death or wounded notification.

Even though I said the first call was the easiest, in some respects it turned out to be the most difficult.

I received the call from Casualty Section at Headquarters Marine Corps at about 2:00 AM. I made the notes which were read to me from the Emergency Data information sheet and the some notes concerning the place, date and cause of the death.

The next morning was Sunday and I put on my dress blues and in the Marine Corps sedan drove to the prestigious “Bethesda By The Sea Episcopal Church” in Palm Beach. I had been there before and hoped to get an Episcopal minister to go with me since the religion of the Marine was noted as Episcopal. I met one of the Priests and he said it would not be possible for any of the 6 clergy men to go with me, because of the Sunday morning commitments.

I drove down South Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach, passing the Presidential Apartments several times before driving in and stopping at the front door. Once inside , I introduced myself to the man behind the desk and ask to see the family, who I was to contact. I was not prepared to have him say that he was the father. I then went into his office and gave him the details, as I knew them. Although visibly shaken, he said we must go up to his apartment to inform his wife.

They lived in the penthouse and before reaching the apartment door he told me which one it was, and he stood there. I went down the walk way and knocked on the door. The mother opened the door and she was wearing just a nightgown. I looked back to the father who remained where he was and I proceeded to tell the mother about her son’s death. She collapsed on the floor and began to cry uncontrollably.

I was able to locate a Doctor, who lived in the apartments and after remaining with the family for about two hours, he suggested I leave and return the next day. I explained to him some of the details that had to be discussed.

The next afternoon, I met with the father in his office. The decision was that his son would be buried in New Jersey and I was given the name of a funeral director. He also told me that his son had graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy and they wanted to form a small committee to recommend some memorial to placed there in his honor and would I be a member? I agreed. He also told me that there a Ford convertible left at Camp Pendleton which he would like me to disposed of.

All of these details were taken care of, except for one that made this casualty call unique. The family would not accept the four medals, including the Purple Heart, that were awarded to the Marine.

On the night before I left for Vietnam in 1967, almost three years later, I called the family at dinner time, and said that I had to meet with them. I drove to Palm Beach, went to their apartment and told them that they had to accept the medals which were awarded to their son as I could not in good conscience leave it as matter for my I&I relief to take care of.. They were accepted.

There were many incidents but perhaps my worst day was Easter in 1966... I made three death calls in one day. I had invited my mother and father for dinner but did not get home until 11:00 that night. I was still left with the problem of doing three funeral and doing all the administrative details that were part of the casualty call mission.

Anyway, some of my friends knowing how these casualty calls were affecting me, suggested I try taking an amphetamine before making the call. I started to do this. However, as advertised, an amphetamine does have quite an effect on one’s mind and did induce an exhilarating feeling. I helped me to knock on the doors and help that period of bringing such horrific news to a Marine family.

I also arranged for one of my Marines, Sgt Whitey Bressette, to drive the Marine Corps sedan, and I also took a long our Corpsman, Andy Maywalt. Both proved to be invaluable at times. One Marine wife, in Naples, went into labor after I notified her of her husbands death. There was no way to predict what might happen at each notification even to the point of being knocked down by one former Marine who guessed why I was there....and did want to hear about it. We later buried his son on a hillside in the Smokey Mountains and we became the closest of friends. His name was Jack Duckett and he had been wounded twice on Iwo Jima. While home recuperating from his wounds, he married the wife of his best friend who was killed on Iwo Jima.

I then started to take “downers” on my way home because, on several occasions, I had to attend social functions that evening and “downers” took the edge off things.. The only one aware of the effect of the drugs on me was my wife Joy, and she was very concerned as might be expected.

So it was by the time I arrived in Vietnam, I basically had a drug problem that left me with a mental depression and various states of fatigue. I had known a Navy surgeon in West Palm Beach who went on active duty in DaNang before I left. I located him at the main NSA hospital in DaNang and he putt me up for a couple of nights and brought me down.

This was all done very quietly and not known by even my closest friends. There was no notation made in my health record and finally this nightmare matter passed by.

So I leave the memories of that regretful time of my life behind me, but I feel that it is a part of my Marine Corps experience, that cannot be overlooked; nor an I ashamed of the help I was able to render to Marine Corps families.. who needed that help in such a traumatic time.. And so many of whom became lasting friends.

It was also because of these relationships that we decided to retire and live in West Palm Beach.

Returning to Vietnam.. On the 29th of Sept, 1967, on a Saturday afternoon, we were still in our old camp, and had a going away for Jack Rowley and Rule Dipoali. Both were leaving the next day. The party was held in our officers club called the Leaky Tiki which it was. Many of Jacks friend from 1/7 were there. It started around four in the afternoon and went to six thirty so everyone could return to their CP before the check points closed. No traffic moved at night in the Rocket Belt..except for the foot patrols.

The next day I drove Jack to the DaNang airport in my jeep. It only took a few minutes for him to check in and it was goodby.

On Monday we had a joint ceremony for the units in our area and the Commanding General, General Robertson awarded 145 Purple Hearts to our unit and those around us. After the ceremony, I left for a trip to the Marble Mountains to see how things were going. On the way back, I stopped to see Darrell Howarth and 1st Lt. JJ Roberson. I had known Robie from my second lieutenant days when we joined up to conduct the field test of the LXTPX-2... at Camp Delmar. Robie was a Staff Sergeant, who had served in World War ll and Korea and was a very knowledgeable Staff NCO on amphibian vehicles. Our mission was to test a new amphibian by conducting 400 hours of land testing and 200 hours in the water. We started off with three shifts of Marine around the clock..but ended up with two 12 hour shifts. It took almost three months. I then left for my tour in Korea in the 2nd Armored Amphibian Battalion on the Kimpo Peninsula.

I am going to end this chapter here to keep each part relatively short for e-mail.

I will then move on to the Month of October 1967 at Marble Mountain which was a deadly combat month for moving into a new camp. The war was all around us.