Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2022 i Vietnam

For 11 years, Janna Hoehn has been on a Vietnam War mission. The resident of Maui Island, Hawaii, volunteered to help track down photographs of service members listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, “the Wall,” so future generations can see not just the names etched into the black granite memorial but also the faces of the fallen. The pictures will be displayed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s “Wall of Faces,” a webpage where family members and veterans can reminisce about the more than 58,000 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice. Today the Wall of Faces is missing photos for only 18 men. Hoehn is determined to put faces with those names and is appealing to the public for help. “It’s important for everyone to get involved,” she…

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May 6 All in the Family dominates the Emmys with wins for outstanding comedy series, best actor in a comedy series (Carroll O’Connor’s Archie Bunker), best actress in a comedy series (Jean Stapleton’s Edith Bunker) and best supporting actress in a comedy series (Sally Struthers’ Gloria Stivic). May 7 The Los Angeles Lakers beat the New York Nicks 114-100 in Game 5 of the NBA finals to become the national champs. The series MVP was the Lakers’ Wilt Chamberlain, averaging 19.4 points and 23.2 rebounds. During the season the Lakers won 33 games straight, still a record. May 11 In major league hockey, the Boston Bruins outscore the New York Rangers 3-0 in Game 6 of the finals and take home the Stanley Cup. The series MVP was Bobby Orr of…

Air Force Maj. Fred V. Cherry, the pilot of an F-105D Thunderchief shot down by anti-aircraft fire on Oct. 22, 1965, was sitting in a dark 10-by-12-foot cell in North Vietnam. His left foot was wrapped in a cast and his left arm in a sling. Suddenly the cell door opened, and a guard ushered in another prisoner of war, Navy Lt. Porter Alexander Halyburton, a radar intercept officer on a two-seater F-4B Phantom II hit by anti-aircraft fire on Oct. 17, 1965. Cherry was the first African American service member captured in North Vietnam, while Halyburton came from a middle-class Southern family that employed Black servants. A prison guard ordered Halyburton: “You must take care of Cherry.” Neither man knew what to make of the other. Cherry, 37, explained…

FEEDBACK While I knew that Australia had sent troops to Vietnam, I had no idea that their returning combat veterans were treated as shamefully as they were here in the U.S. (Intel, “Australia Set to Commemorate War’s End,” April 2022). What was it that made this such a universal response when we should have been proud of them? Was this an independent action on the part of civilian Australians or was it learned from American media? Also, were the Vietnam combat veterans who returned to England treated in the same shameful way? Shelby Morrison Orlando, Florida Powell’s Americal Command Regarding retired Gen. Colin Powell’s death and “Turning Point at Tam Ky” (February 2022) about Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, during the 1969 Operation Lamar Plain,…

While the United States exported a variety of domestic beers to South Vietnam during the war, including Pabst Blue Ribbon, Schlitz and Budweiser, two local varieties—33 Beer and Tiger Beer—were cheaper and always available if American brands could not be found. Many U.S. service members discovered that the Vietnamese beers varied in taste from batch to batch, sometimes having particularly bitter notes, a vinegar aftertaste or an odor reminiscent of formaldehyde, a chemical used in building materials, industrial disinfectants and preservatives for funeral homes and medical labs. The popular 1987 comedy Good Morning, Vietnam starring Robin Williams contained a reference to the use of formaldehyde, further cementing the rumor in popular memory. Despite widespread speculation that 33 Beer and Tiger Beer contained formaldehyde, there is no evidence to support that…

No matter where you served in Vietnam in the 1960s, the slashing rock ’n’ roll guitar of James “Jimi” Hendrix was heard on radios, record players and eight-track tape decks. Electric Ladyland, the critically acclaimed album released by Hendrix in 1968, sold millions of copies and showcased Hendrix’s incredible talents. More than a few GIs soon came to think that “All Along the Watchtower” was really Hendrix’s tune—and not a cover of a song by Bob Dylan. “Purple Haze” and “The Wind Cries Mary” also were played over and over. Rolling Stone magazine considers Hendrix to be the greatest guitar player of all time. REFLECTIONS But many who served in Vietnam and admire Hendrix’s skill with a guitar do not know that he was a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne…

On Nov. 1, 1964, a Viet Cong mortar attack on Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigon destroyed five B-57B Canberra bombers and two helicopters, while damaging 13 additional B-57B aircraft. That attack largely reflected Canberra losses during the war—most occurred on or close to the ground. For example, four of the bombers that arrived on Aug. 5, 1964, the first deployment of U.S. combat jets to South Vietnam, were lost in poor weather. Originally intended as a nuclear-strike platform, the B-57’s outstanding ordnance load and ability to loiter over targets made it the ideal plane for ground support and interdiction efforts during the war’s early years. ARSENAL The U.S. Air Force decided in 1951 to add the British-made English Electric Canberra B.2 to its bomber fleet and selected Glenn Martin…

The Lockheed C-130E Hercules transport plane flew south toward Saigon with its right wing low and its No. 3 engine trailing smoke and flame. The aircraft was losing altitude fast and wouldn’t get back to Tan Son Nhut Air Base. It was going down. Meanwhile, Saber Flight from Troop F, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, was headed toward its Lai Khe staging base after a reconnaissance mission north of An Loc on April 18, 1972. As the crippled C-130 passed in front of his Huey, Capt. Robert Frank (call sign Saber 32), air mission commander, turned to his pilot in command, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Robert Monette (Saber 20), and exclaimed, “Wow! That looks like a bad day!” It was a classic understatement. Things were about to get worse. A…

The UH-1 “Huey” helicopter, one of the most recognizable symbols of the Vietnam War, continues to stir memories more than 60 years after American troops first heard the old workhorse’s distinctive whop, whop, whop as it approached for air support, the insertion of reinforcements, mail delivery or medical evacuation. “It can be a love-hate relationship,” said Huey pilot Phil Marshall, who was a 21-year-old warrant officer with the 237th Medical Detachment and continues to fly the chopper as a volunteer with a nonprofit organization founded to rehabilitate old Hueys and build a museum in Peru, Indiana. “The sound is something you will never forget. It can bring back good and bad memories, so it can be traumatic.” Marshall was shot in the arm during a night mission extracting three seriously…

VERY LIMITED Sold Out at the Mint! It’s been more than 100 years since the last Morgan Silver Dollar was struck for circulation. With a well-earned reputation as the coin that helped build the Wild West, preferred by cowboys, ranchers, outlaws as the “hard currency” they wanted in their saddle bags, the Morgan is one of the most revered, most-collected vintage U.S. Silver Dollars ever. Struck in 90% silver from 1878 to 1904, then again in 1921, these silver dollars came to be known by the name of their designer, George T. Morgan. They were also nicknamed “cartwheels” because of their large weight and size. Celebrating the 100th Anniversary With Legal Tender Morgans Honoring the 100th anniversary of the last year the Morgan Silver Dollar was minted, the U.S. Mint…

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Growing numbers of Vietnam veterans are being laid to rest in recent years, and in many cases their families are attending military funerals. Every eligible veteran can receive military funeral honors. Among military burial traditions, the 21-gun salute is the oldest. In the 14th century, warships and shore forces fired off their guns to show that their weapons were empty and they were friendly. Also of artillery origin, dating at least to the 18th century, is the custom of carrying a head of state or high-ranking military official on a two-wheeled horse-drawn caisson. Taps (referring to a soft triple beat on the drum) was composed by Union Brig. Gen. Daniel Adams Butterfield in 1862 as a quieter substitute for gunfire to signal the end of the day’s activities—and later adopted…

You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War By Elizabeth Becker PublicAffairs, 2021 MEDIA DIGEST Popular histories of Vietnam War journalism tend to focus on the male war correspondents. While many newsmen on the front lines have been praised to the skies, their female colleagues remain overlooked. In her informative and well-written book, You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of the War, journalist and historian Elizabeth Becker notes that not a single published work by a female war correspondent appeared on a recommended reading list accompanying Ken Burns’ acclaimed 2017 PBS documentary, The Vietnam War. That silence is an injustice Becker corrects exploring the lives and legacies of Catherine Leroy of France, Frances FitzGerald of the United States and Kate Webb of…