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THOUGHTS AND TRAVELS
Journal of the Gray Wolf

Lunch With the Vietnam Veterans of America

5/6/2021

5 Comments

 
The Vietnam War ended in April 1975, I graduated from High School in June of 1975. What if I had been born just a little earlier, or if the war had lasted just a little longer? Today I ate lunch with a group of guys who didn’t have to wonder, they were called and they served.
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Like a lot of “facts” dealing with the Vietnam War the start date is a little hazy. Different sources put it at different dates but most seem to settle on November 1, 1955. Its ending date is firmer, April 30, 1975. Twenty years of involvement in a foreign war. Twenty years when American soldiers/airmen/sailors were put in harms way. Over 58,000 American dead. The number for Vietnamese, north and south, is much higher. Just a little background for the historically challenged.

Last Saturday Kat and I parked cars in a big open field. Why? Because there was a Spartan Race going on and the local chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America had an agreement with Spartan Inc. to park cars. Spartan would then make a donation. They advertised for volunteers and Kat and I went to help. Our reward, other than it just being a cool thing to do, was to attend their monthly meeting and be treated to lunch.

For those of you who didn’t grow up in the sixties and seventies, the tumult around our involvement in Vietnam and the protests it inspired make this past summer (other than the nonsense still going on in Portland, OR) look like child’s play. My Dad would watch the nightly news and each week they would give the body count. There were X number of US deaths, XXX number of “enemy” deaths. If you were morbid enough you could keep count. I remember my Mom and Dad worrying how long it would go on and if it would affect me and my brother.

It didn’t. I registered for the draft in February 1975. The war ended, and so did the draft, that spring. My high school class, and those right after, never had to do anything. We were never put into a position of serving or hiding. Lucky us, I guess.

I’m not much younger than some of the guys that were at the lunch, most had served somewhere in the hay-day years between 1965 and 1975. Looking around the room I saw a group who America had called on, a group who answered America’s call and then were deserted and, sometimes, defiled for their service. It was clear that life for some of these guys had not been easy. They were worn, they moved slow, there were more that a few canes hanging on the backs of chairs.

What the years and the politicians couldn’t take away however was their spirit and the overwhelming sense of comradery. I might not be a veteran of Vietnam or any other conflict, but I am a veteran of many thousands of business meetings. This meeting was not just efficient, it was inspiring. And not just a little politically incorrect.

Here was a group of late sixty and seventy-year old men and women with a purpose. They were here to support each other and to help other veterans. It was a meeting filled with humorous cat calls from the back of the room. It was run with a sarcastic, self-depreciating humor that had me smiling the whole time I was there. Chili cook-offs, car shows, picnics. These guys were active and moving forward with a mission.

America had treated many of them like shit but they had as the Marines say, adapted and overcome. They embraced a common bond, a common experience that the rest of us will never know. They wore their badges of service on their hats, on their biker vests and on their ‘you can’t beat me down’ attitudes.

It was supposed to be just a thank you lunch for me and Kat. Instead, for me, it was a humbling, educating, ‘thank you God for guys like this’ experience.

You can find out more about the Vietnam Veterans of America organization here: https://vva.org/
5 Comments
William Lindman
5/6/2021 11:50:29 am

In 1973, upon graduation I activated my naval reserve commission and as per my request, I was assigned to a ship (USS Midway) destined to be homeported in Japan. My dad served in the Pacific during WW2, so to did want to serve in the same area. In September we sailed west to Japan arriving in October.

In December we were at Yankee Station to “rattle the sword” as South Vietnam slowly began to come apart. We were the “go to” carrier should Washington ever decided to get involved. In April 1975 we moved moved Marine helicopter assets from Okinawa to Subic Bay that were later used to evacuate Phnom Penh. we sortied to an area off Vung Tao to stand by to evacuate Saigon. We had previously embarked 10 USAF H-53s and left the air wing in Subic.

During the evacuation we took on board over 3000 evacuees, fed them, processed them and flew them off to other ships for transport to the Philippines and beyond. We took on board many South Vietnamese helps, some of which were thrown overboard to make the deck available to land an O-1 Bird Dog observation plane with a major, his wife and 5 small children on board. Our captain took a lot of heat from the embarked admiral who wanted the plane to ditch instead, which would certainly have resulted in dead innocents. Apparently the admiral was more interested in the helos that were tossed overboard.

After the evacuation we sailed to Satihip Thailand to take on board approximately 50 South Vietnamese jets that had escaped and landed at Utapao Airbase. Shortly after we anchored just outside territorial waters a South Vietnamese fishing boat came alongside with about 50 refugees on board. After consulting Washington we were told that we could only take them on board if the boat was unseaworthy or otherwise in danger of sinking. Shortly thereafter, after attention brought the ship’s HT’s the boat sunk. We left aThailand now with about 100 aircraft bound for Guam.

After departing Guam the Mayaguez was captured so we took on board our air wing and headed back towards Cambodia. We were positioned as a floating air field midway between Subic and Cambodia until the conflict was resolved.

Former naval officer, mariner, educator

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Anthony Palmiotti link
5/7/2021 08:11:49 am

Morning Bill,

I remember on one of our many tug trips you said: "If you can learn to sleep under a catapult, you can sleep anywhere."

The Midway must have been interesting duty

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William Lindman
5/8/2021 07:56:30 am

It was interesting. A carrier is people intensive (and is a small city with small city issues, but that is a discussion for another time). Bridge watches are intense in part due to the number of people on the bridge and also to the ship’s design, mission, and operational tempo. You also seem to be more involved in what’s happening inside the ship as opposed to what’s happening on the horizon. I never understood why carrier ops areas always seemed to be placed right in the middle of busy shipping lanes, always inviting trouble with merchant ships.

Getting back to the evacuation, while we were glad to have rescued all those people out of Saigon, I was more pleased with the rescue of the 50 in the Gulf of Thailand. The people who came out of Saigon were selected to be evacuated because of their choice to side with us in the conflict and the certainty of reprisal from the communists. The 50 had no such golden ticket. While they had their reasons to leave, they were on their own and they cast their fate to God and the helping hands of the sea. They also had the good sense to give Cambodia a wide berth, unlike the Mayaguez. We happened to be in the right place at the right time. In retrospect, it was great being on a warship that saved lives rather than taking them. It was even better that they all became US citizens.

Hugh Stephens
5/7/2021 09:28:15 am

Dear Anthony,
WWI was the "War to End All Wars". So I participated in WWII. My oldest son was an Air Force MP in Viet Nam. Every third night, his squad became "Minute Men" protecting the perimeter of Danang Airport. One night his squad was called out to stop Viet Cong infiltrators. He was the last man in a single file line. He had two pungi sticks pierce his boots . He went down and noone realized it. They marched away and he lay there for two days until they found him He's had PTSD ever since.

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Anthony link
5/7/2021 06:00:59 pm

Hello Hugh! I hope this finds you well. My younger son, Brian, was also an MP but he served two tours in Afganistan. Your son's experience sounds horrible. I hope he finds peace

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