Dartmouth Veterans: Vietnam Perspectives

Vietnam in the Course of a Navy Career

Vietnam in the Course of a Navy Career ---------------------------------------------------------michael w. parker : u.s. navy G raduating from Dartmouth with a regular commission in the Navy in 1964, I was obligated to serve at the pleasure of the president for a minimum of four years after graduation. When I submitted my letter of resignation to attend dental school, having served four years, the president was not pleased. I was told that I could not resign until I had completed a one-­ year tour in Vietnam. The prospect of serving in the war was a looming shadow almost from the time of my commissioning. We had sent advisers in country before I graduated, and it seemed likely that the U.S. role would escalate. It quickly did after the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which arguably was staged specifically for that purpose. I remember a poignant evening aboard my first ship in 1965 that brought the point home. Following a shipyard overhaul, our aging destroyer was undergoing a rigorous course of refresher training at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Exhausted after a long day of exercises and remediation, we were watching a movie on the weather deck beneath a starlit sky when a sister ship, USS Bache, unexpectedly got under way nearby. Word quickly spread that she had received sudden orders to deploy to the South China Sea for patrol duty off Vietnam. Our ship, USS Waller, would take her turn there, too, but only after I had left her to become executive officer of the coastal minesweeper Frigatebird. My experience aboard the minesweeper would dictate my assignment in Vietnam. My orders in lieu of release were to report in May to Commander Naval Forces Vietnam (COMNAVFORV) as the mine countermeasures and swimmer defense officer. The ’68 Tet offensive was making headlines as I headed to Coronado, California, for overseas indoctrination and SERE training. The Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape course had the reputation of being a significant physical and mental challenge in prepara- 152 : dartmouth veterans tion for falling into the hands of the Viet Cong. I like physical challenges, but I can’t deny relief when I was told that only pilots would attend SERE. That policy reflects the relative safety of staff assignments (at headquarters ). As a staff officer my capture was so unlikely that it was not cost effective to teach me how to escape. While my pilot friends underwent SERE training, I returned to Maine and saw my son take his first steps, then rejoined the SERE graduates for the charter flight to Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon. Residual fighting from the Tet offensive was prominently reported to be ongoing in the Cholon neighborhood of Saigon. Before leaving for my flight I assured my family that I would stay well clear of that, a promise I kept for about two hours. I was met at the airport by the man I was relieving at COMNAVFORV. He was an entertaining fellow, suffering severely from hemorrhoids and driving his own misappropriated Navy jeep, which would not be conveyed to me in his turnover of duties. He announced that we would check in at headquarters and then drive to the building where I would be billeted . . . in Cholon. The fighting there was not personally threatening. Tracer fire was visible from the rooftop, where we would often spend evenings writing home or reporting in with cassette tapes. I carried a sidearm, but it was little more than decoration. My assignment was challenging and demanded my full attention. I made frequent forays into the field to evaluate our defenses and our countermeasures in sites up and down the country, but staff duty is not field duty. Staffs operate behind the scenes in relative safety. Those in the field often face bullets, explosives, and other harsh realities of war. For instance, I was not greeted upon arrival in my workplace by a medevac helicopter carrying the remains of my commanding officer, whose title I would immediately assume, as was my classmate, Jim Laughlin. I did not come under enemy fire, nor was I exposed to Agent Orange, nor did I fear for my safety in any particular way. I soon moved out of Cholon to a billet a block from my office in downtown Saigon and walked to work through a park. Excellent meals were served at a converted hotel dining room a couple of blocks away. After a painful two-­ month waiting period, my membership application was accepted at Cercle Sportif a...