Vietnam Veteran News with Mack Payne

In this episode to the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast another outstanding representative of the great Vietnam Veteran Generation will be featured. His Name is Darnell Childress and he served in the US Navy. Recently a friend of this podcast, Skip Vaughn, editor of the Redstone Rocket, wrote a piece about Darnell. It was placed in the Redstone Rocket website theredstonerocket.com. It was titled: Vietnam-era veteran loves Navy colors.

The gist of the story is that military service is beneficial and even more so military service in Vietnam. In Vaughn's story Darnell tells how the Navy provided him with stability in life when he was a young man looking for direction. He decided the Navy could provide what he was looking for in life.

The learning process for Darnell came soon after his induction into the US Navy during boot camp at Orlando, Florida. He said “Four weeks of it was straight to hell, Yeah, buddy, they were breaking you in then.” The Navy quickly transformed Darnell the troubled teenager from the Edmonton Heights area in Huntsville into a man.

Darnell summarized his philosophy as follows: “You can’t take a hill by standing at the base, talking about it, you’ve got to go up the hill and take it. It’s the structure and the belief that it’s in all of us to overcome any obstacle that’s put in our way, but you know the most important thing is that the military always teaches you this uniform is not just to make you better as a person but it’s to make America better as a country.”

Darnell is one of the reasons history shows the Vietnam Veteran Generation is as great as any out there. For instance, 97% of them received honorable discharges, they maintained lower unemployment rates and earned 20% more than their non veteran contemporaries.

2.7 Million Americans put on a uniform and went off to serve their country in Vietnam. The vast majority of them served their country well in war and peace. 97% of those who served in Vietnam received an honorable discharge. The records show they were better people as a result of their time in country. Vietnam Veterans had lower unemployment rates and earned on average 18% more than their non-veteran contemporaries. They were less likely to go to prison and they did not have higher drug usage levels than non vets.

In is estimated that of the 2.7 million who served in Vietnam, 850,000 are still with us today living the good life. Jim Gorman, one of those Vietnam Veterans still with us today was recently named a hometown hero in Hillsboro, Ohio. A story about him and his award was in The Times-Gazette of Hillsboro, Ohio. It was titled: Vietnam veteran selected as a Hometown Hero and was submitted by Jeff Gilliland.

Gilliland said in his piece that "Gorman should have never been sent to Vietnam. He probably never should have been wounded and suffered through months in hospitals and other issues." It seems that back in 1968 Gorman was a 19 year old sole surviving son whose father had died four years prior. He had taken over management of the family farm and was supporting his mother and four sisters. Apparently the local draft board figured they needed him more in Vietnam so he was drafted and sent off to fight in Vietnam.

On March 8, 1969 he was wounded in action and had to suffer through numerous surgeries during his recovery. Unfortunately the Army lost track of him for a while along with his shot record. As a result his pay was held up for two months and he had to repeat all his shot inoculations. Through all that he kept his sense of humor and positive attitude.

He came home and continued to serve his country as a farmer and postal service employee. He joined every veterans organization he could and continued serving. He was recently recognized for his service when the People’s Bank of Hillsboro presented Gorman with a Hometown Heroes Award along with a check for $500. He immediately donated the $500 the Highland County Veterans Honor Guard.

Jim Gorman is an excellent representative of the great Vietnam Veteran Generation.

This episode will deal with immigration to the USA. Currently there is much consternation afoot throughout the nation and in other parts of the world that was kicked off by an order from President Trump. The dastardly thing he did was carry out a campaign promise. Specifically he put into effect a six week temporary hold on immigration from seven countries former President Obama declared as most likely to spawn terrorists intent upon harming this country and its citizens.

That action has put opposition politicians (primarily Democrats) in a tizzy. It even brought the minority Senate leader Senator Schumer to tears and caused George Soros to loose his professional protestors to do their havoc raising activities.

Dealing with refugees is an important function of government. It is eye opening to examine how previous refugee crises after crises have been handled. Unfortunately for the naysayers in the current refugee maelstrom, history is proving them to be nothing more than a bunch of pathetic hypocrites.

There was an observation about refugees in The PowerLine blog titled: The left’s view of refugees, then and now posted by Paul Mirengoff. He took a look at the rush of refugees after the Vietnam War. Mirengoff pointed out in his post that some of the same players engaging in the vituperation of Trump's immigration policy were singing a totally different tune when it came to Vietnamese refugees.

Governor Jerry Brown of California and Joe Biden of foot in the mouth fame were a part of the left wing objection to letting in Vietnamese trying to escape Communist tyranny in their home country. Apparently they were unhappy about letting in the Vietnamese people who had the audacity to fight against the saintly "Uncle Ho Chi Minh" and his murderous cohorts.

In the current refugee crises the same pack of jackals who railed against accepting Vietnamese refugees are all in favor of admitting hordes of refugees from the middle east that contain those who want to do harm to Americans and our way of life. I don't recall every hearing Vietnamese refugees making the same threats.

Listen to the podcast and you decide. Your comments are welcome.

In the two previous episodes of this podcast the stories of two fallen heroes of Vietnam were featured. The stories had to do with the families of the veterans who did not come home finding "closure." One was about Gerald Woods who flew with the Comancheros of the 101st Airborne Division. He died on a mission to extract a CNN team in Laos. He remained were not recovered so the family was never able to close the book on their loss until something wonderful happened that brought them closure (see what that was in episode 822).

The other story was about an Air Force pilot, Robert Russell Barnett, who died on a bombing mission in Laos. As with Woods his remains could not be recovered at the time due to terrain and hostile people in the area. Much to the family's relief after many years of searching enough of his remains were recovered that enabled them to have a burial ceremony for their loved one lost in war.

In this episode a living Vietnam Veteran will be highlighted. His name is Lawrence Ashton. He not only is still living but he is still married to the same woman who bore him seven children. Last Saturday, his wife and all seven children sprung a surprise on him at the Airborne and Special Operations Museum on Bragg Boulevard in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The event was covered in a story in The Fayetteville Observer titled: Vietnam War veteran honored at Airborne & Special Operations Museum By Steve DeVane Staff writer ([email protected] or 910-486-3572).

DeVane tells how the family brought Ashton who is a Vietnam Veteran that served both in the US Marine Corps and the US Army to the museum for a visit without telling him he would be honored in a special ceremony. He was surprised to discover a paver stone bearing his name was being dedicated. It made his day. Get the whole story in the podcast episode.

If you know a special veteran you would like to honor, an excellent way to do that is with a paver stone dedication at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville. CLICK HERE to discover how that can be done.

In this episode we will look at another story of closure for the family of a fallen hero in the Vietnam War. The story comes from The Waco Tribune titled: Family finds finality 50 years after father died in Vietnam War by Tommy Witherspoon [email protected]. In the story Witherspoon tells about how the family of Robert Russell “Bear” Barnett found closure. Barnett was a captain in the US Air Force flying bombing missions out of DaNang when his B-57 was shot down on April 7, 1966. The Air Force at the time concluded him as presumed dead, missing in action, body not recovered.

His family was devastated by the news and their grief was compounded because there were no remains which prevented them from conducting a proper funeral and burial. After many years of grieving for their father, Barnett's daughters, Debra Coffey, her sister, D'Lynn, and their mother, Betty Sue, heard from the Department of Defense in 2005. They were informed the location of the crash site was found. It was identified by a piece of the tail section of the B-57 Barnett was flying the day he died.

The family was excited about the news until they were informed many crash sites were being identified and it may take some time before excavation at Barnett's crash site could begin. About one year later they were officially informed by the Department of Defense a body part was found that allowed positive identification of their father. It was a difficult task because the crash site was in a remote mountainous area with dense jungle vegetation. After a thorough search of the debris field from Barnett’s bomber that stretched for more than 300 yards.

In addition to Barnett's body part the search team found his co-pilot’s dog tags, a Zippo lighter case, fabric from a boot and flight suits, parts of flotation devices, oxygen hoses and parachute remnants.

Robert Russell “Bear” Barnett's are planning to have a memorial service for him on April 7, 2017, the 51st anniversary of the date of his death. They intend to bury his remains at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin if their application is approved.

In this episode we will be honoring the memory of a brave Vietnam Veteran who flew helicopters with A Company of the 101st Aviation Battalion in the 101st Airborne Division, The Comancheros. His name was Gerald Woods and he died on Feb. 18, 1971 near the A Shau Valley when his helicopter was shot down while in the process of extracting a Special Forces team in harm's way. There was a story about him in The Statesman Journal of Salem, Oregon titled: Salem man honors Vietnam pilot: 'He’s not coming home, but his memory is' that was submitted by Capi Lynn, a writer for the Statesman Journal.

In Lynn's story she describes what happens as a result of the strong bonds members of helicopter units developed in Vietnam. Fred Thompson served in the same unit with Woods in Vietnam. One of his additional duties in the unit was that of graves registration officer. During his tour of duty he handled the affairs of nine members of his unit killed in combat. It was his job to help with closure for the families of the fallen. In Woods case that was a challenging task since his remains were never recovered after the crash.

After the war Thompson settled down in Salem and became an insurance agent and never stopped trying to track down family members of his friend and fellow Comanchero Gerry Woods. Finally a clue emerged. In May 2015, Lynn wrote a column about a fallen Salem soldier who never came home from Vietnam. Thompson contacted Lynn and as a result located Woods' sister, Yvonne Sanders, who lives in nearby Silverton, Oregon.

Thompson got in touch with Sanders and presented her and her family with a signed and customized limited-edition print by aviation artist Joe Kline. It shows a UH-1 Huey extracting a Special Forces team. The painting was customized to show the red diamond symbol of Woods' unit and the tail number 15255 of the aircraft he was flying when he died.

Fred Thompson is a truly outstanding representative of the great Vietnam Veteran Generation especially for what he did to bring closure to the family of Gerald Woods.

Today is a noteworthy time for all Vietnam Veterans. Today is the 44th anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords signed on January 27, 1973. They ended US involvement in the Vietnam War or as the Hindus call it the "American War." In recent episodes of this podcast we have also looked at the genesis of large scale American military entanglement in Southeast Asia. That was both a and b versions of OPLAN 34 formulated in January of 1964. That infamous plan led to activities that resulted in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident which gave President Johnson political cover to move forward with a major military intervention into the conflict against world communist domination being played out within the confines of a civil war in Vietnam.

Also featured on a recent episode of this podcast was the last battle of the Vietnam War that was called the Mayaguez Incident. It occurred in May of 1975 when the Khmer Rouge seized an American freighter en-route from Saigon to a port in Thailand. The captors took the ship to a island off the coast of Cambodia and arrested the crew. A detachment of Marines from Okinawa was sent to rescue the ship and its crew. They landed on the island of Koh Tang and engaged the hostiles. Thirteen brave Marines fell in the battle that ensued.

There was a story in The Hindu newspaper of Chennai, Madras, India titled: Drawing a truce that was submitted by Archana Subramanian and it gave the Hindu viewpoint of the peace accord and a review of the American War in Vietnam. It is quite interesting to look at the war and how it ended through the eyes of someone watching the conflict from a relatively close range yet they managed to avoid being sucked up into it.

Recently back in episode 816 of this podcast we talked about the event that led to the beginning of the War in Vietnam. The starting point for massive American involvement in that war can be pinned to OPLAN 34 that was cooked up back in January of 1964. That bright idea kicked off a chain of events that led to a military force of more than 500,000 serving in country and eventually to a black monument in Washington DC with the names of 58,000 + fallen heroes engraved upon it's descending walls.

Some writers say the Vietnam War started and ended with a lie. It is agreed by many historians the last battle of the war was fought on Koh Tang Island off the coast of Cambodia. It occurred after the Khmer Rouge seized the Mayaguez, a US cargo ship. The Communists took the crew hostage and put them under arrest on shore. President Ford decided to send in the Marines from Okinawa to rescue the ship and its crew and thus began the last battle of the Vietnam War even though it was fought on an island off the coast of Cambodia.

Sadly the wars ends as it started, with a lie. A story from Newsweek.com titled: The Truth About the Lost Marines of the Vietnam War's Last Battle that was submitted by Matthew M. Burke describes in detail about three Marines who participated in the action, Joseph Hargrove, Gary Hall and Danny Marshall, were left behind due to fog of war and were never recovered. Eventually they were declared KIA and joined the dozen or so Marines killed on the island as they fought for a captured ship and crew that had already been safely recovered by American forces.

It is a shame that Marines had to die on a "fool's errand," but it hurts even more when we discover the government apparently covered up its failure to get those three remaining brave Marines out of the battle. Their crime was they were providing cover fire as their fellow Marines got on the last helicopter that left without them.

Their story on the podcast will grip your heart.

James Frick is another outstanding representative of the great Vietnam Veteran Generation. He is a 66-year-old Army veteran and a 1972 West Point graduate. He is doing something noteworthy for the Fisher House Foundation. He lives in Tampa but there was a story about him and his project in The Fort Hood Herald website kdhnews.com Titled: Army vet to lift 200 tons to raise money for Fisher House that was submitted by  David A. Bryant of the Fort Hood Herald.

He plans to attempt to break a world weight lifting record on March 4, 2017. The purpose of his mission is to raise awareness and donations for the Fisher House Foundation. The primary goal of the Foundation is to make sure family members and loved ones of injured veterans undergoing treatment at VA hospitals can be by the side of the veteran during the recovery process. They do this by providing housing at no cost for injured veterans and their families. At the present time the Fisher House Foundation operates 71 guest homes nationally.

Frick said this about his motivation for the project: “As a civilian, from 2010 to 2012, I flew (often) to San Antonio or Washington, D.C. Every trip I saw wounded military personnel traveling to and from military and VA hospitals. It was heartbreaking to see so many young Americans missing limbs or suffering other forms of physical or mental injury.”

During his training in the military Frick said it was drilled into him that you never leave anyone behind. He feels that helping the Fisher House is an excellent to make sure wounded veterans are not left behind.

The Fisher House does wonderful things for our veterans. Everyone is encouraged to follow James Frick's 200 ton lift record attempt. CLICK HERE for his 200 Tons For Veterans website. More importantly all are urged to make a contribution to the Fisher House Foundation. You can easily do it at his website.

Marsh Carter was a Vietnam Veteran who served two years in Vietnam and went on to excel in the financial industry as CEO of State Street Bank and Trust Company and later as chairman of the New York Stock Exchange Group. He was a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point but he served his military duty in the US Marine Corps. He recently wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times titled: At Quang Nam, a Raid and a Reckoning. In that piece he described what it was like to serve in the infantry as they chased the opposing forces and participated in activities helping locals build a nation. He ends his piece by succinctly explaining the situation in Vietnam and why the Vietnamese of the North prevailed over the ones in the South.

Carter served as a company commander with Company C, First Battalion, First Regiment, First Marine Division. He begins his piece by describing the daily life of a Marine infantry company as it carried out its responsibility of securing a ten square mile area in Quang Nam Province. The primary mission was to locate and destroy VC and NVA units but they were also tasked with other ancillary jobs such as providing medical care to villagers and backing up the local Vietnamese militia, police and regular military forces.

He described one particular mission that cost his unit five dead and thirty two wounded and failed in its objective. In was a raid on the village of Ban Lanh. Papers found on a dead VC courier indicated there would be a meeting of 100 VC leaders. Carter moved in on the village area with a force of 176 Marines on twelve helicopters to capture and or eliminate the VC leaders. The enemy was ready for them but despite that, the Marines fought their way into the village where the meeting was supposed to be taking place only to find all the leaders had managed to escape into the countryside.

After the raid Carter took a little time to think strategically and came up with this conclusion: "We could defeat the guerrillas and the North Vietnamese Army units. But it was also apparent that not enough was being done by the government of South Vietnam to remove the causes of the insurgency or the conditions that had driven so many Vietnamese to want to live under Communism."