Transcripts For CSPAN3 Lectures In History 20160619

Worship. Clearly he sometimes felt sensitive about the way in which he was viewed even then. Ways even someer scores with other generals who wore blue in such an artful way that a lot of people take his memoirs at face value instead of thatrative presentation emphasizes some things and things,discuss other such as the rumors of grants drinking. Even if he bought a farm next to where budweiser clydesdales are now housed in st. Louis. He entertained visits from confederate officers including buckner who surrendered to him in 1862. Now he welcomed buckner and messages from other confederates. Foralked about the need harmony and peace even as he reminded people because of the war had been slavery and justice had to be done to the black man. Several of those confederates acted as pallbearers after his death in 1885. Understoodgrant could not define the american civil wars ending at appomattox. That was one stage in a longer struggle. Although there had been achievements and successes there had been shortcomings and failures. Mind as to keep that in we visit battlefields such as this one or as you go to the site of lincolns gettysburg address where it talks about the unfinished work for us. Nt would say the rework the work remain unfinished and his time and it remains unfinished in hours. Ours. Thank you very much. [applause] i believe we have time for some questions. Now you can pepper me to your Hearts Desire and i will try to deflect with my trusty stanley cup. Yes . Murderedral camby was allen west. West andhreat to the on enforcement on reconstruction in the south drawing troops . No. , these are twon major blows coming within 48 hours to his policies. Theres not a major distraction. Heard the, we have military would rather seek service out west. That is where the glory was. It was also where custard went. It didnt have much of an effect, much more significant was the effect of the panic of 1873 and the economic depression which made many people think about their own interests rather than the interests of others. In his memoirsd he didnt mention general lee to a certain degree. Positive praise some others had. I was curious if they did have a history before the war in the mexicanamerican war. Why would he not give due respect to him like he did it appomattox . You can respectfully without the notion that there was a fourth member of the trinity and that was robert e lee. Exaltedought people had lees abilities beyond measure. Someone comes in and says we are being attacked on the flanks. I know what lee is going to do. Grant says this is bad news. Think he is going to do a double somersault and turn on our flanks and our e at the same time. Go back and think about what you are going to do, not what lee is going to do. He solve this veneration of lee. Lee wasnt even sure he remembered it very well. Grant is a lieutenant. He walks into headquarters and there is lee. They were buddies of any sort. Lee was not a man of great humor. The last time they meet, rants president grant is president. Lee comes lobbying for a railroad firm. I know lee, lobbyist. Grant looks at him and says you have more to do with destroying railroads then building them. Lee doesnt last. Doesnt laugh. To you think grants memorial day picks his vision of how he wanted to be remembered after his death or he would make changes to how his memorial was developed . I think rand understood he was crafting how people would remember him. I think grant was also able to admit mistakes. His memoirs admit the final and in at the harbor vicksburg were mistakes. He may not admit the mistakes others want him to admit but i think it is a human grant that comes out in those memoirs. To evenman who wants old scores and wounds that still hurt. I was just wondering. Grant is one of the first president s to expand suffrage. How do you think you change the roles of the presidency . Grant understood before one thing, the president had to work congress. A skilled johnson was lacking. Perhaps his cabinet should be people who support the administration. Not reluctant to use the executive detail detail vet. Veto. Assertiveness. Grant himself was the first United States president to advocate the lineitem veto. There are things grant does that try to rebuild residential power. Would you comment on how grants relationship with the Jewish Community ended up . It did not start off well. It is an order in 1862 during a series of setbacks. Recognizing the smuggling that is going on behind his line, he decides to strike at the people he thinks to be most responsible , jewish folk. By the way. People said if he had just said jewish paddlers were traders that would have been ok. Jewish to exile all people from his command, which to be hisnterpreted own soldiers. Word of this got to washington. Lincoln said you were going to resend it. Is the only charge grant response to during the 1868 campaign. He said that was a mistake in order, a dumb idea. There was a recent book to talk about grant actually did things that jews supported him on. This was a damaging thing and he knew it. He had blown it. He disavowed it was wrong. Grant had the ability to say he was wrong. There are president s who can say they are wrong. There are candidates who say they cant. Orderwas no defending the. Some biographers have tried to explain it gently but grant himself denounced his own act. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you, brooks. Have a wonderful evening. We will see you tomorrow morning. On thest session is return of union ventures. [inaudible chatter] that concludes our live coverage from Gettysburg College civil war institutes summer conference on reconstruction and the legacy of the civil war. Onwill air all of the events saturday, june 25 at 8 00 eastern on cspan 3. Every saturday at 6 00 p. M. Eastern time we feature the civil war and reconstruction. Youre watching American History tv on cspan 3. , on lectures in history andrew wiest and john young teach a class about the vietnam war, focusing on the mekong delta. Professor andrew wiest talks about the area and john young talks about what it was Like Fighting there. Guys know thatu we are talking about the vietnam war. Specifically, we will talk about the war in 1967. Andrew and even more specific, we will be talking about the mekong delta. 1967 was the year when the hisral had his chance for awardwinning plans. We know this war was complicated, going back to the book, no sure victory, it revolves around everything from counterinsurgency, but probably the two biggest words in case you forgot how pretty he looked, and in the commander and chief advisor to the military, as well. The chief aspect of the strategy that most americans know about was surge and destroy, it is sending out u. S. Forces into the lands of vietnam to pin down and destroy the enemy forces, being the North Vietnamese or the viet cong. The first main battle of the vietnam war was in the last lecture, about the battles fought in november of 1965. And it was indicated that we had technological advances that would enable us to achieve some startling victories. First off, the helicopter which is one of these images of the vietnam war, it provided us with a maneuverability. Anywhere the viet cong were found, we could hunt them down. Once we lost them in the battle, we had the technological advances to destroy them, airpower and artillery, usually used around the countryside. And it had worked so well in 1965, you remember we were talking about that, that battle involved at the most one u. S. Battalion and often times just little bits and pieces. They would go into battle and an entire enemy regiment, maybe two of them, this little force though they were vastly outnumbered, the artillery would come in and the helicopters, they had landings hopefully you remember that this is from joeell in galloway, the news correspondent, in the movie. But that Little American force fought that big North Vietnamese force. The numbers are always iffy in vietnam. It depends on how you look at the battles, how much you believe the body count, things like that. It is ok to estimate. 2000 iny lost about that battle, we lost about 250. It was indicated to west moreland that is tactics, once fully implemented, would cost the bad guys, the viet cong, so much that if he replicated the valley a couple of times, they would give up. The butchers bill would be so high, that the North Vietnamese would give up. In 1967, that was the year to test it. 1966, they were bringing in American Forces and by 1967, the efforts after was built. The infrastructure was built. It was time to search and destroy and make this a oneyear war. Up causingd wind them to in the war. End the war. The war in 1967, had been broken down into four separate wars. Up here, the northern part of south vietnam, along here we have the dmz. In that area, the Third Marine Division will be located. Down here in the southern provinces, the first marine division. And also there are two main divisions, first and second, and during the year as the war ramps up, we will see more american troops devoted to this area. This is a war in of itself, unlike the other wars in south vietnam. You are facing across the border, you are facing three divisions of the North Vietnamese. 35,000 regular troops. And there are troops based in areas along the trail the ho chi minh trail, that could threaten from the west. One of the troops one of the things troops refacing, a threat from the court. And what are they have, right across the border . Right across here . That is when you answer the question with something profound and correct. I will give you a hint. Artillery tubes. Hundreds and hundreds of their is artillery, so here conventional war where we do not always have the edge with firepower. Oftentimes, they have andwhelming firepower, most of these will be the seized by enemy artillery fire the siege by enemy artillery fire. So the numbers can get high in the battles fought near the dmz. And we are facing an enemy with almost equal fire support, but they do not have equal air support. Theyhe second war, what are looking at, this is the central highlands. This is a war of the jungle, the rain forest, and uninhabited parts of the country. The enemy here we face is a mixed enemy, there are these areas base areas, the north Vietnamese Forces coming across the border. Sometimes, there is artillery support, but most times not. And in the mountains, often they have special forces camps with troops helping them. So what we have is often a situation in which troops come across the border and take the camps, resulting in a battle. And also viet cong troops that are living in the area, providing more of a guerrilla war. Most troops are on the coastal areas and they react to whatever threat they face coming across the border. But in many ways it was a reactive war, it was a mixed war, that involves both conventional and unconventional warfare. And this is a war entirely his own its own. Here is saigon. And as you can probably figure out, this one was going to be really important. Saigon is the headquarters of the u. S. Forces, a governmental area for the south vietnamese, and it must be kept safe. Cannot be friends they cannot be threatened. Withhis area is abounding threat. And this is what we talked about last time, an enemy based area. You see right there, this is the command structure for the viet cong. It is located in or right outside war zone c. And here is the Enemy Division. Sometimes they were two of them, that could slip across the border, or go back to cambodia for a safe haven. It was a direct route to saigon. It is notrea, d, connected to the trail or a supply network from North Vietnam. So look out close that is to saigon, and it is a viet cong base, it has battalions from time to time. We definitely the last time talked about this, the triangle. Also, a base area. We talked about the war that was father, this was an area that was shot through with tunnels, the area in which a lot of the planning took place, and essentially this is in the suburbs of saigon. Where in 1967, corps isones, the 3 an important part and it will become the focus of the war for at least the beginning of the year. Three operations are run around the iron trying to, in an effort to pacify the area. In many ways, they would see those tunnels remain until we decided to plow them under. Discussedou know, we that they had to pause and she had to present this again, it was a free fire zone. Americans can assume anything moving in that area is an enemy force, and everything in that area is deserving of american firepower. This is a very fought over area. But it remains in many ways under enemy control, at least until 1969. The biggest area for 1967, in the saigon region, is war zone c. We run one of the biggest operations of the entire war, from the operation junction, that is worth looking at, maybe underlining it for your test. It was an 82 day operation beginning in february come in 1967. February, 19 67. 30,000 u. S. Troops, plus at tost another division, go war zone c from both sides. They are trying to pin down the Enemy Division that lives in the area, it is on the ninth viacom 9th viacom division. Viet cong division. Unlike attleboro from the year conge, the had the viet had gotten away, but this time we were not going to let them get away. Paratroopers come in and they tried to seal off the border to cambodia, which is the only escape route. So this operation is going to be what tacticians call a hammer and anvil operation. Airborne troopers will be the and bill, invading anvil, and the 30,000 forces will be the hammer and we will smash the enemy forces. Maybe 23 operations like this could in the war end the war. You tell me though, do we pin down the ninth division, or do they make good on there is good to cambodia . The viet cong will be desperately hard to pin down. They know the area, they lived in this area. They know the ways in and out. The anvil breaks and the viet cong getaway. That is not mean that there is not fighting. And the couple months during this operation, we kill about 3000 enemy forces and we lose about 300. So what is this . A crushing victory that they had hoped for . No, the enemy got away. Still, a good victory. In the number of folks we killed. But it was not a crushing victory, yet. The enemy is elusive and they get away with pretty great regularity. About most concerned today, this area. The mekong delta , the area south of saigon, if you go all the way back to the previous matt. The southernmost map. The southernmost area of the not. Bordered by one of the mightiest rivers. By the time it goes to south vietnam, it is beginning to stagnate and it flows slows, and it becomes nine rivers, and the mekong delta dominates this area. What does it mean for the mekong itself. It was flat. If you are driving around louisiana, same thing. There is waterways everywhere. So the ground and a landscape is flat. This is 40,000 square kilometers of wetlands. Those that have been tamed by the vietnamese population. And you can see it reasonably are on the map, there 600,000 kilometers of rivers, streams, you cannot go anywhere in the area without having to close cross a stream or river. So what does this do for the area . It has highways everywhere. A great transportation network. You have plenty of rivers floating around. And second, it gives me a nontheir most vietnam their most productive soil in the country, the best farming area in the country. Dotted with rice paddies, villages that meander on the banks of the river. And one of these ambiguities of the code is that one of these rice paddies in vietnam. It attracts most of the people, 8 Million People live in this area in 1967, and that is roughly half the population of the country. It produces almost all of their rice, but it is really important to keep them fed. And the fact that the dense population, over 200 inhabitants per square kilometer. That is the same density that massachusetts had at the same time. So what this means, this is the most valuable real estate in the country. It is a population center, whoever has this area will have the edge in the war. And the viet cong certainly knew this. The rivers give them a way to supply themselves with ease. They can move around as quickly as they like, as long as they are floating. And the population gives them a wonderful place to hide. Hide in plain sight among the people, swimming among the population like the fish would in the ocean. This is a perfect set up for a viet cong war, a different war than what they would need in ofer see in other sectors the is not. So viet cong resonate thousands designates thousands of troops in this area. But not all of those 81,000 troops are fighters, some of them are second line fighters, semipolitical operatives, carrying supplies around, some of themlans landmines. Plant landmines. Lived int forget, they this area a long time. Some viet cong lived in the area before that word was invented. Some of them had been men who fought the french and japanese from this area, so they have long connections to this area. They have builtin advantages. The enemy has advantages. The south vietnamese know that this is an important area, so they devote three Infantry Divisions to this area. 40,000. Americansfore the turn up, this will be part of the country where the most runscult, the war once deep. And we cannot really get into this but there is also a kind of different kind of trip troop here, from the army of vietnam. Do not forget, this out of enemies have what we would south vietnamese would happily call the regional guard. They protect provinces, the south the emmys version the enemys version of a state. And those that protect villages and let hamlet. So what are these National Guard guys . We will talk about them later. They are worth noting for a second. And in the hearts and minds of the people, these of the troops that live among the people, they form from the people. It is an important thing. For a war without front lines, and if you have heard anything about vietnam, they did not have front lines. They were all frontlines. They were bobble, they lived vulnerable, they lived in the villages. If you look at who loses the most dead in the war on the allied side, it is the regional forces. It woulde a huge be a huge advantage to build them up. That will be another lecture. But too often they are poorly supplied, poorly fed, poorly trained and motivated. Perhaps this would have been another way that the war could have been one, but perhaps giving them a bit more opportunity. Are forceshave contesting the countryside, and what does it mean . In reality, in 1967 again, the numbers are swishy, but the americans believe that the viet cong controls 25 of the people. They are threatening the rice harvest, the shipping of the rice to saigon, and this is a situation they cannot have. This is a situation that could spell the end of the war, and not a very good and end for us. So we decide to intervene in 1967. We go to river warfare. If you have a vision of what happens in the war, you have that vision. American troops arriving in battlefield on helicopters. Wet tohe delta is too land helicopters and it has its own highway system. What these guys will do is take ships into battle. They are based the ninth Infantry Division is reactivated and specially trained to operate in the watery environment. And the second problem, giving them a place to live. Every dry piece of ground in the delta has People Living on it. And running enough of them out of their to build an American City with an Infantry Division is a good way to get people to not be on your side. Brains got of big together, they got some of the biggest in the world, but them in the river, and they made new land by dredging up mud and putting it on to the countryside. They created a town. Place for theful americans and south vietnamese to get on the same page. Is ninth Infantry Division looking at a big piece of mud, and they have to build a base on it. And eventually, it becomes a much more advanced base later. Base, and alsot from the mobile phase, sometimes those troops were on chips ships, the best way to get them into battle where these ships, they were armored troop carriers. Those who rode in them said that they were tango votes baots. Boats. That is how they get from where theyre going to start, to where they finished, hopefully a battle somewhere. This is who the navy ships belong to. Their job is to pick up the ninth Infantry Division troops, use the waterways to get the viet cong no matter where they are. Remember, you can get them anywhere across the delta, lock them into battle and destroy them. By the way, these on their own are pretty well armed. They have a 20 millimeter on, sticking out. And machine guns, so these things have a little bit of a punch. Usually, the operating groups of four. They would get them, find intelligence, say that the viet cong is located here. The troops would come off and they would begin to search the countryside for the viet cong they heard were located in that area. Then they would remain around, because again in the delta, there is always another river to cross. If you do not find an enemy here, they will pick you up and moving to the next. And move you again. If you wound up any battle, they provided fire support, supplies, and they were also places to take the wounded. So they played a big role. Had along with these, you the marine force, this is a gunship. This is the firepower. If you look at it, you can see it carries to m16 machine guns, in the rear. In the middle, there is a mortar. And a 40 milliliter can. Non. If you got locked in a battle with the enemy, this is what would turn the side in your favor. That woulder, barges have artillery on them. Ownmobile troops get their artillery. They were significant firepower support. That is what we are doing. What is the enemy doing . Remember, to what we if you find American Forces that are too far away, what happens . Standing off from American Forces and they could call in the firepower, what happens . You are dead. Aircrafts come in and vaporized you, the other artillery comes in, and kills you. Do they have any artillery support of their own . This is as far away from North Vietnam as you can get. So what do they have . Small arms. The enemy is always going to be outgunned in the delta. So the first thing that is part of their plan, trying to get as close as possible. The viet cong call this hanging onto american belts. If you can find them for 50 feet away, and they call an artillery and air support, you make this a man on man, rifle on rifle battle, if you can. Second thing, you can see a well on this picture, the enemy wants to get into the battlefield. You prepare it. This is a standard looking picture from the mekong delta. All over the delta, rice paddies. And they have bunkers. It will be wet, but you will have a bunker. Treelined is a really good place to have the bunkers. So they prepare the battlefield and they have had years to do this. The entire mekong delta is a prepared battlefield. When you are in american going through the area, oddly enough, they do not go on that dock itself, you tended to go through the rice paddies. Anyone of these could be an enemy ambush. You always had to be ready. As anstance, using this example, the enemy is in the treeline, when do they want to fire on you . Here . When you are there. A placewhen they had where you cannot move or call on supportive fire. Say they are over there, and he moved that way. And you move that way. Will they fire on you . Probably not. You do not know whether there is a bunker system there. You do not know if it is occupied. Even when you get past it, you do not know. Quite often what we will see in the delta, the enemy will only open fire with a have advantages in place, they have secured the battlefield and the americans are in the wrong spot. Otherwise, they hold fire. And also in the delta, maybe a couple of snipers will fire on you and slow you down. Are they trying to kill 100 of you . No, to give the mess to give the rest of the forces an opportunity to fight another day. When it is more in their favor. So, sniper fire. Small contact, that is something you will see a lot of. And also, what can you run into in these rice patties . What can you run into all too commonly . Boobytraps. They are everywhere. They had a chance to get the entire battlefield ready. Of the american casualties in the delta, 65 of them are caused by mind and boobytraps. You are walking through and somebody has a leg blown off. Does that for you down . Quite a lot. You call a medic, a helicopter, and the whole time you are slowed down and the enemy is using it as a chance to get away. So in the mekong delta, this is egular waran irr against American Forces that want to block the major enemy forces, where they can find them. If you are an american trip, the you are dropped off troop, you are dropped off and half the time you might run into what is a long walk in the hot sun. Nothing bad happens, maybe you find a couple of people who could be viet cong, you arrest them and as the day goes on. Much more likely, you run into sniper fire. And more commonly, you run into booby traps that will mean you before you can mame you before you can do anything. But everyone can again, the situation is perfect. More than likely, we stumble into the exact right situation in which the enemy thinks it is a good time to open fire. Made 15,situation was 1967 may 15, 1967. It is Charlie Company of the ninth Infantry Division, and battalion of the ninth Infantry Division. The class knows who is about to come up, but for those who do not know, we will introduce an. It is john young, a squad leader in the first platoon of Charlie Company, which means the lead 10 soldiers into battle. He was there on may 15. I can portray to you what the worked,nd how things but john will tell you about the reality of fighting a small unit battle when things went wrong on may 15 1967. Ladies and gentlemen, john young. [applause] hi, that picture of the soldiers walking near the treeline. It brought up something that i have not mentioned. This photograph, it is typical delta terrain. It is mud and water. And tree lines in the distance. Typical delta terrain. This was clearly taken in a secure area, or what was believed to be a secure area. Why . Because the gis are walking on the dikes. In a nonsecure area, nearly all of the delta, you do not there walk on those dare walk on those, because they are mined. You walk through the rice patties, because the enemy has no doubt that landmines in the dikes, figuring that is where the gis want to walk, because it is the easiest way to cross the patties. And you wind up going to the mud to avoid the dikes. And another important thing you can see, it is, when you have your Company Moving across the country and you have a distant metersne, it may be 100 in front of you, you do not move the entire company into that open area in mass, and move toward the teree line that you hope is empty. Because you are likely to come under fire and the entire trip will be stuck troop will be stuck. But we did was send out one rifle squad. Whether it is 200 meters or 300 meters in the distance, let them walk across the open area, and get into the tree line to see if the enemy is there. Enemy is there, you only have 10 guys to get shot at instead of the entire company. And it will be a tripwire to let us know that the enemy is in fact there and we are about to have a fight. The idea also being that the squad is a big enough unit to essentially be able to take care of itself. Provide firepower, but not so many that you cannot afford to lose them. In theory. So we used to do that. We would send the rifle squad out until one day in midjuly, we sent out a squad to do a recon,e treeline and we lost the whole squad. Half of the men were killed and the other half, badly wounded. We spent the night in the rice paddy before we recovered then the next day. From that point forward, we only spent three men. We realized it was not worth losing the entire squad and we only send three men out cents three men out. It had the decision about who would go . In my platoon and all the rifle platoons, the Company Commander would radio and say, you need to send reconnaissance into the treeline and then he would look at the squad leaders and say, you are going to send three men. Am, i am 22 years old and i have a soldier and i have been a soldier for maybe one year, five, and now five months, and now i will pick three men to walk out and see if the enemy is in the treeline. Who am i going to pick . Do you want to go . How about you . You want to volunteer . I need to pick you. Within my squad, when the platoon leader tells me it is my turn, i pick myself first off. I took me and two men. My idea was, i could not tell anybody to do something i was not willing to do myself. Believe it or not, i believe it. I was going to run it and i was going to take my chances like everybody else, and full knowledge of the fact that during the rest of the day i will be called on to do the same thing 34 more times. Every squad have the chance. I picked myself the first ran the first one i ran every day. It really puts you on the spot about making a decision and you think, i am nothing but a squad leader, i am not going to make any lifechanging decisions about people. You are wrong. You make them every day. And it is not fun. Anyway, i am reminded of all those things looking at the delta terrain. May 15, 1967, Charlie Coveney was going to run its first operation in the mekong delta. We were going to an area that was called the secret zone, which meant nothing to us at the time, but it was a name that we would dread and fear over the rest of the year, because a long held enemy based area, the terrain was owned by the vietcong and it was always dangerous to us. When we went to the camps, we knew that we were not only going to lose people, we were going to get men killed and lose others. We went to the repeatedly throughout 1967. A most unpleasant experience. We knew none of this in midmay. We were just told that we were going there, it was our first trip. Upriver. He boats there is a picture of a bunch of the guys in the first platoon. You remember the name danny bailey, a man i admired. He is right there in the center of the photograph, with his helmet on. That is danny. There, if other guys can see one of them, two of them who did not survive 1967, both killed in the delta. Nearly all of them were wounded during that time. Operation. Y to run we were going upriver and we are 10 00d probably 9 00 or in the morning, and started moving inland from the river and each of the platoons in the company was broken up separately, and within the platoon you generally have two squads in the front, and the two of them trailing. And my platoon was going routinely across the rice paddy toward the tree line. And it was just normal terrain. And nothing seemed out of the ordinary but particularly threatening, and tell my platoon was approaching getting close to the tree line you can see. Squad wasight hand probably no more than 50 meters from the tree line, we came under fire from at least three directions, from the front, from the left, and from the right. Squad, it davids just happened to be the squad in that area, that part of the platoon formation, and his squad was caught dead to write right in what the enemy intended to be a kill zone. And within seconds, nearly every man in that squad with hit and down, and the rest of us realized the enemy fire was rapidly building and turning into something heavy, and we pulled back from where we had to ms. Littlee brown area, this little brown area, this dike, we were able to go there and we took cover behind it and returned fire and we spent about the next hour doing nothing much more than that, sadly trying to return fire simply trying to return fire. This included rifle fighter and machine gun fire. And we had one entire squad out there in the right, fresh and young, you could not see very far, but we had a squad out we dot did not know not know how bad off they were. But we were worried about all of them. And we probably traded fire with the enemy for about an hour or maybe two hours. And it was hot in the rice patties with the sunshine overhead, maybe 115 degrees out there. And after exchanging fire with the enemy for some considerable amount of time, are platoon our platoon leader, i overheard him say that we needed volunteers to go out there and get the casualties out of the rice. I heard him say that. And he used the word volunteer. A volunteer. You could not use that word around me without challenging me. I had enlisted, i was an infantry because i asked for the infantry, and i was in vietnam because that is where i wanted to go. So when he said he wanted volunteers to go out, i was one of the first met up. Three other men in my squad decided to go with me, and a couple of other men from other squads decided to go out there. And we all ran out there into the rice, trying to find our casualties. One man relatively quickly found the first one, who was don peterson. He was one of those bigger than life characters in the platoon. He was a big, heavy guy. He looked like a Big High School football player, that is what he had been. And don peterson was one of those big personalities, and he was a big man, click to tell a joke quick to tell a joke. And before we went out to vietnam, the High School Sweetheart that he had married, gave birth to a boy. Rules, through bending was able to help hold his son in his arms before he literally had to leave and get on a train to go to the west coast and then vietnam. So he got to hold his son for a few minutes before leaving for vietnam. He was one of the first casualties we found out there, he was dead. He was shot three or four times, the last one went to his heart and he died quickly. That is one of the first things we found out, don peterson was dead. Nevertheless, they were men out there that we do not know about and we ran out to find them. And i remember running out there, we took off our heavy gear, nothing but an m16. I remember running out there and it seemed like a long way at the time, it may have been 75 yards. It is a long way when you are under fire. I ran to the rice and i cannot see anybody. And finally to my right i saw a splash of green shirt and agi ride gi on his side. I had no idea who it was. I ran up and threw myself down behind him. And as i got close, i could see the jungle fatigue shirt, the whole back of the shirt was covered with a bloodstain, and in the center of the shirt, was able bullet hole. And i thought, this will be bad. I can see that. Threwhear myself down myself down behind him. I got up close and i looked over and it was a kid named carl, a brandnew replacement. To the best of my knowledge, that is carl on the left. That is him recently. As i said, he was one of the most recent replacements that we in, and iin gotten am quite sure that this was the first operation he had gone into. He is 19 years old and on his first operation, he had spent an hour in the rice paddy, shot in spine. And if you are 19 years old and you are brandnew in a unit and he did not know anyone and nobody knows you, and you know you are paralyzed from the waist down, what do you think about . Hours thatur or two it takes somebody to come out and get you. What do you think about. . I dont know. I got uplaying there, behind him and i knew who he was. I knew he was a rookie. And i said, i knew is named by his shirt, i said court right cortright, i am here and i am going to take you back. He said, ok. I cannot move my legs. I thought a little, because he was a big enough kid, if i was in a gymnasium with him i cannot pick him up and run with them. I had to think what to do. I guess i had not thought it through very well when i decided to go get him. I said, i am going to lie flat. You crawl up and get on my back. I do not know what else to do. I lay there flat and using his arms and elbows he got onto my back and i got up and i started to crawl back to the platoon. And it was hot in the rice paddy, i remember. And i called and i crawled called cr like ait seemed long time. And i said, i need to catch my breath. He said, ok. And we lay there flat in the rice for a couple minutes. Until i got a second wind. I got up on my hands and knees and started going again. And i noticed that this time, carl on my back, he put his hands down to help me there his weight bear his weight. And i crawled along with them him. ,nd after some time, he said you better lie down again. I said, no, i am all right. He said, know you better lie down again. They are shooting at us. I looked around and sure enough, you could see the dust picked up by the machine gun bullets again. So i lay down again. It was for a minute or two. Then i went somewhere with him. He was helping to maintain his weight with his arms. I finally looked up when i realized we were maybe 20 meters away from the platoon position and one of the guys from my squad, that had already recovered casualties, he saw me out there. John knew i was struggling. So he ran out and i got up and we each grabbed him by an arm and flipped him on his back and ran the rest of the way to get him behind the rice paddy. And it was not until we got there what was it like to be dragged on his spine . I did not realize until we got her that he was crying. And then of course, the medics went to work on him and that was the last i saw of him for a number of years. It happened in may of 1967, and i think that one of our reunions in the 1990s, he decided to come. Was in las vegas and from across the room at some point, there were a lot of people Milling Around in the party room that we had rented, and i looked across and there was a guy in a wheelchair. And i do not know what how you would have felt, but i do not know how i could talk to that guy. I did not know. You understand what i am saying . I did not know if i should talk to him or not. What does carl think of me . He might have wished that i let him out there to die. I do not know what to expect. So i looked at him from a distance for quite some time before i walked over to him. And i walked over to him when he was alone, and i said, you may not remember me, but i am john young. And he looked up and said, i remember you. Around,nd of stumbled because i did not know quite what to say, i was not sure if he wanted to see me or if i should come say hello. Can you understand my reluctance . I did not intend to talk about this. But i had difficulty approaching him, because i did not know what to think. , if it were not for you i would not be here, what i . I said, well, ok. Good enough for me. Almost alls been to of our reunions since that one and i always make sure that i spent time with him. He is still in the wiltshire, but he gets wheelchair, but he gets around well. We are having another reunion in midmay, it will be 50 years since we were thrown together as a platoon. It will be 49 years since the event i am talking about right now. So carl will be there again and i will get to see him again. He is a good kid. ,f course, he is 65 years old not a teenager anymore. None of us are. Anyway, i got carl and pretty soon we had medevacs coming and going. We had other casualties, don the squadid leader, we got him out of there. He had been within a few feet of don. They went flat on the ground unwounded, when the shooting started, and when they were laying there, he got a machine gun bullet that went into the top of his shoulder and came out his lower back and of course messed up everything, from his chest cavity all the way down. I do not remember who brought him back, but david was a good friend of mine, and when they brought him back he was barely breathing. His eyes were closed and he had let all over his face and blood all over his shirt, and i thought i was seeing him at the last time, because he looked like he was going to die. And they got him on a medevac, and it was about two months, he came back to us. I was very surprised. I was sure i was looking at him on the way to the morgue. We got all of our casualties back. Don petersons body we did not recover. Just not your teeth gnash your teeth at the thought of that was probably march. That is probably my favorite photograph of me and my entire life, because i was telling people who i was. I was clear eyed, true, honest, confident of myself and absolutely certain of what i was doing. At at that been shot time, i had a look of innocence, and my eyes were blue or blueer than they are now. That is me. We got all of the casualties out. Or at least taken care of. At this point, the platoon leader said to me, i want you to take your squad out and assault the enemys position to the right. Which did not make sense to me, because we had not drawn any fire from there, no meaningful fire. I could not see any enemy position in that area and it did not seem like there was a threat at all, and there did not seem to be a tactical reason for sending me out there. Yet, here was the platoon leader , an officer after all, and he is close to 30 years old. He said for me to get my squad together, get a bunch of ammunition, and assault the tree line. Now, if i was a mature soldier, i would have had the nerve and good sense to challenge him on that order. I would have said, i would have told him, there is nothing out there. There is no target. Nothing for me to attack. And i would have discussed it with him. But, i had been a soldier for barely over a year, and i was a rookie. I did not have the nerve and i did not feel like i had the authority. I shook my head and i said, ok, i will go. And i got my men together and we got all of the ammunition we could get and we headed out to assault the tree line, even though i could not see the target there. We got maybe halfway to the tree maybend excuse me, halfway, and i lost a man pretty quickly. He was shot through the wrist. And another man whose rifle was disabled from bullets coming from somewhere. Another man that ran out of ammunition. And i thought, we are stuck now. I have lost half our strength. And i need to stop this, i need to get back. And the platoon leader waved me on. And i had another man go out of action, i do not remember what happened, his weapon might of just stopped working. And finally the platoon leader gave me signals to come back. So i turn around and come back. And that was the stupidest five minutes i think i ever spent in the amount. That was vietnam. It was a totally useless order and it cost me a man or two. And we continue to fighting from where we were, but by this time we had artillery fire coming in and we had helicopters going in, and later in the day, we had airstrikes. S. Had f 100 and later on in the afternoon, one of the other companies in our battalion started to sweep where very top corner of they had come on from up there, started to move into the enemy it meantich was they had to get up and leave. By doing so, they exposed themselves to us. And our men accounted for quite a number of enemy soldiers that got up from hidden bunkers and started to run. And our people were able to shoot them down. I remember watching a man running, carrying a rifle, and one of our guys fired a grenade runningand the man was along and you could see the hand grenade go off and when that man put one foot down on the ground, it landed right at his foot. And it blew him into a tumbling role roll. They reminded me of when a pheasant rolls in the air. We killed him. We killed a number of men doing things like that. And i remember one man carrying machine gun ammunition, and i killed him. I may not have been the only man that hit him, but i thought i was at the time. I watched him go down. So i killed a man. And we continued to shoot like that for some time. Because Bravo Company was coming and forcing the men to move, and now the tables were turned and they were the ones in the open and we could do the target shooting. It felt good. It really did. Later, when the shooting had calmed, some of our people were able to go out and recovered. Petersons recover Don Petersons body. It was too late to get any more medevacs, so we got his body back to the platoon position and we put him anybody back and he stayed into a body bag and he stayed with us in the field. Four or five of us simply got around gathered around in the dark, and none of us were able to talk. To be close to him. To show you the reality, we do not want to get too close to him, because he was already starting to smell that. Bad. Oft one of the little facts dying as a soldier. You never see that in a movie. So that was the end of that days fighting, the first fight. And as it was written in the division newspaper within a few newspaperrding to the , the American Forces lost one man killed, don peterson. I believe they claimed we had killed 125 enemy soldiers. That is probably pretty close to true. So the kill ratio was 1251. Seemed worth it, unless your friend was the one killed, don peterson. And our introduction to the whole thing, endeavored to get a name. It