Dartmouth Veterans: Vietnam Perspectives

The Road from Dartmouth to Vietnam

The Road from Dartmouth to Vietnam ---------------------------------------------------------john t. lane : u.s. army S ome things in life are controlled by our will. However, I have found that very often one small, unplanned event creates an impact many years later. My road to Vietnam started with freshman year at Dartmouth. A senior living across the hall was recruiting freshman to fill the ROTC training unit. At the time I had no particular interest in the military, and there was no economic incentive to join the Army ROTC unit. Nevertheless, when my hall-­ mate asked for help, I signed up. Freshman year’s commitment to the military was minimal. I made friends in the program, and consequently I continued with ROTC. I spent the summer of my junior year at officer basic training with students from all over the country. One name I never will forget is Cadet Mahar from the Citadel. He had a booming command voice and was the ultimate gung-­ ho cadet from a military school. I was to meet a much-­ changed Lieutenant Mahar in Vietnam. Upon graduation I received my commission in the Army Medical Service Corps. My initial posting was with the Eighty-­ Second Airborne Division . Three months after I joined the division, the unit was deployed to the Dominican Republic. That nation was involved in a bloody civil conflict with significant Cuban involvement. Over one thousand people were killed or wounded before international forces arrived to stabilize the political situation. Our division paid a high price. I vividly remember one aspect of the conflict. There was a temporary cease-­ fire in one sector of the city. At the time, our rules of engagement prohibited any firing, except in return of hostile activity. One platoon was stationed across from a rebel position. The rebels reinforced their position, adding a .50-­ caliber machine gun, 48 : dartmouth veterans and then opened fire. One American was virtually cut in half by the machine gun. Four others in the sector received fatal injuries before the rebel position was silenced. I saw the remains of the carnage as the soldiers were evacuated through our medical channel. It was a life-­ changing event for me. During this deployment, my college roommate, Chuck Marsh, was stationed on a destroyer in the Santo Domingo harbor. Fate had drawn us together again. Three months later I received orders to join a hospital convalescent unit that was being sent to Vietnam. For various reasons it was deemed highly preferable to keep relatively healthy sick and wounded soldiers in Vietnam for convalescence and return them to duty, rather than replacing all casualties with fresh troops. We were initially supposed to locate in Hue. Fortunately, wiser heads decided that Hue was too exposed, and consequently our hospital avoided the heaviest fighting in the Tet offensive. Instead we were sent to Cam Ranh Bay. Prior to deployment I went home to Tennessee. I visited my old high school. Much to my surprise, one of my former teachers was very upset at my volunteering to serve in Vietnam. She was strongly antiwar and against violence. During our discussion, I could only remember the soldiers who were killed in the Dominican Republic while hoping the rebels would refrain from violent activity. My initial duty with the Convalescent Center was to supervise the shipment of all equipment and supplies from the United States to Cam Ranh Bay. The transport was executed with a minimum of problems; however, when I arrived on station, we determined that we needed to obtain certain items from Saigon. I was sent to procure them, but when I arrived in Saigon there was no billet available. My Dartmouth fate would take care of me. I decided to go to the U.S. Armed Forces radio station in Saigon. It was my wild hope that the Army had decided to use Al McKee’s WDCR experience to good use in Vietnam . When I arrived at the station Al, an SAE fraternity brother, was broadcasting. He took me to his billet for the evening. All went well until 2 a.m., when a major explosive was detonated at the front of the billet. We were not harmed, but the lesson was clear. No place was safe in Vietnam. When I returned to Cam Ranh Bay, work had begun on the site for the Convalescent Center. We were located on the ocean shore at the end John T. Lane...