Charlie One Five: A Marine Company's Vietnam War

Afterword

292 Afterword A ccording to research data, approximately 8.7 million Americans served in the military on active duty during the war years (August 5, 1964– March 28, 1973). Of those, approximately 2.7 million trudged daily across the soggy rice paddies and struggled through the mountainous jungles of the Republic of South Vietnam or provided direct support in the skies over North and South Vietnam or offshore in the South China Sea. Strangely, according to census figures reported in August 1995, the number of Americans claiming to have served in-country during the Vietnam War was nearly ten million. This is a somewhat surreal statistic and is very confusing to most of us Vietnam veterans because of the very cold reception we received upon our return to the United States after serving there. At that time, no one wanted to be a Vietnam veteran. Even those of us who did not get directly spit on or otherwise disrespected felt a pervading contempt from many of our fellow Americans that stuck with us for decades. Most of us managed to move on with our lives; like others, I simply tucked my memories, good and bad, down as deep as possible and seldom if ever brought the subject up. As you will recognize from my acknowledgments, death has struck the combat veterans of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines many times since the war. Of the two dozen or so contributors to this book, five have passed away in the few short years since I recorded their stories or wrote about them. David Babb, Joe Cody, Buck Darling, Pat Polk, and Dale Hatten—all great Marines—are gone. I am grateful that I got to know them and call them my friends while they lived, and most important, I am grateful that I was able to capture their stories for posterity before they departed this earth. I honor their service to our Corps and country and acknowledge that their involvement in this book project has made this a better history. I mourn their loss; to me, they were all heroes. The writing and publication of this book could not have been possible without Afterword: 293 the creation of a new veterans’ organization, the 1/5 Vietnam Veterans, which was created by many of those US Marines and US Navy corpsmen whose stories are told in Charlie One Five. I am honored to be a part of that organization. We started organizing annual reunions in 1997, after the publication of my first book, Phase Line Green; The Battle for Hue, 1968. Although I had not contacted any of my fellow Marines who served in the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, when the book was published, word started getting around and the phone started ringing. Within a year, our looseknit group had found the 1st Marine Division Association, a grand old veterans’ organization created by Guadalcanal veterans in 1947, and we had found a home. We have conducted a reunion every year since 1998 in conjunction with the Old Breed, a name given to the veterans of the 1st Marine Division by a Marine Corps legend, Lt. Gen. Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller. A regular attendee at these reunions, I began to meet Marines, US Navy corpsmen, surgeons, and chaplains who served before me and after me in the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines during the Vietnam War. Marines, especially combat veterans, love to tell stories. Listening, I quickly became fascinated with stories of places and events such as Hill 51, Hill 110, the Que Son Valley, the rescue of Staff Sgt. Jimmie Howard’s recon team, Operations Union I and Union II, and, the deadliest action of all, Operation Swift. My fascination with these stories led to the writing of this book. To all the members of the 1/5 Vietnam Veterans, especially those who remembered and told those stories, I owe you a huge debt of gratitude. The multifaceted mission of the 1/5 Vietnam Veterans, chartered in 2003, is to support the 1st Marine Division Association and its scholarship program; preserve incidents and memories of the Marines and sailors who served with 1/5 during the Vietnam War; foster, encourage, and perpetuate the memory and the spirit and comradeship in arms of the 1/5 Vietnam Veterans; perpetuate the spirit and traditions of the United States Marine Corps; and support the Marines and sailors who are currently serving in the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines and the Fighting Fifth Marine Regiment. Since the beginning of...