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33 3: Changes of Command, November 1966– March 1967 M aj. Peter Hilgartner arrived in Vietnam in August of 1966. Hilgartner enlisted in the Marine Corps on 8 October 1945 and served as an enlisted Marine for nearly two years before he reported to the US Naval Academy, from which he graduated with the class of 1951. Hilgartner immediately reentered the Marine Corps and went to war. He served as an artillery forward observer as a second lieutenant during the Korean War and earned a Bronze Star for his actions in combat. Upon his arrival in Vietnam, the very senior Major Hilgartner became the operations officer of the 7th Marines. Peter Hilgartner vividly remembers his first introduction to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines: One Five was widely regarded at that time as the worst battalion in the 1st Marine Division. Our regiment, 7th Marines, had taken operational control over 1/5 in October 1966. We sent them out on a search-and-destroy operation one day. I remember that day very vividly because Roy Rogers and Dale Evans happened to be in Vietnam, visiting us at the time, and I had lunch with them. I got called to the regimental tactical operations center (TOC) and found out that, basically, 1/5’s battalion commander had turned tail in the face of the enemy. Colonel Snowden, the CO of the 7th Marines, went into a rage and stormed out of the operations tent. A short time later, Snowden called the division commander and then summarily relieved 1/5’s battalion commander of his command. Then Colonel Snowden turned to Major Hilgartner and said, “Pete, I’m giving you command of 1/5.” Hilgartner requested two officers from the 7th Marines staff, Maj. Dick Alger and Maj. Gerald Turley, officers Hilgartner knew and trusted, because Charlie One Five: 34 he knew he needed help. He knew that taking command of 1/5 under these circumstances would be difficult. Pete Hilgartner took command of 1/5 on 3 November 1966 at Hill 54 Combat Base and appointed Major Alger as the battalion operations officer (S-3) the following day. Major Turley stayed with the 7th Marines.1 Colonel Snowden felt that if Pete took Turley, the regimental staff would suffer too much by losing all three majors at the same time. Hilgartner knew that in order for him and his battalion to succeed, they would first have to shed the tarnished image earned, unfairly, by a battalion commander clearly out of his element. One Five’s reputation as an outstanding infantry unit under fire while serving all those months in combat under Lieutenant Colonel Coffman had now changed for the worst, and Pete determined to get that behind him as rapidly as possible. That meant that he would have to make some changes. He met the executive officer (XO) and told him that he would keep him around for a couple of weeks, and then the XO could rotate to the rear, which turned out to be fine with the XO. Pete Hilgartner was determined to clean house, and he did. He went through that battalion, in his words, “Like Grant through Vicksburg.” He knew from long experience that no commander succeeds by himself. He knew they could only succeed if he had confident and competent officers around him. Hilgartner wanted the best officers , and he wanted the best NCOs that he could find. Absolutely determined to accomplish the battalion’s missions, Hilgartner had also privately made the decision that his battalion would do things right, that they would do things well, and that they would send home as many Marines as possible, alive and well. That was Pete’s philosophy when he took over the battalion. Hilgartner first fired the battalion mess sergeant. When he assumed command and arrived at the battalion’s location, he saw immediately that he had a problem. Hilgartner knew that Marines fought, largely, on their stomachs. Combat Marines during the Vietnam War bitched endlessly about their C-rations, but they ate them and got the energy they required. When in a rear area, a combat base, the boredom of C-rations became instantly intolerable. Marines expected three hot meals a day, or at least two, and the battalion mess sergeant’s job was to provide exactly that. At Hill 54 Combat Base, the battalion mess sergeant had set up an officer’s mess tent, with a parachute lining the top inside of the canvas shelter, chairs and...

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