Vietnam Veteran News with Mack Payne

In this episode we will take a look at a new book that lays out the story of how the CIA ran a "secret war" in Laos and in the process became a more prominent and permanent member of the US foreign policy apparatus, and ushered in the destruction of a neutral country. The book is titled: A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA. It was authored by Joshua Kurlantzick and released by Simon & Schuster. An interview with the author about his book appeared on the Southeast Asia Globe website and was titled: New book exposes inner workings of the US’ ‘secret war’ in Laos.

The article begins with a few opening comments about the book and then gets into a few questions to the author about the book. Kurlantzick based his book on information and insights he received from a slew of interviews he conducted with former CIA personnel. He also relied heavily on recently declassified documents relating to the secret war in Laos. All this shines new light on this forgotten war and the CIA mission known as Operation Momentum. Currently Kurlantzick is a senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.

In the Southeast Asia Globe article questions were asked about the following aspects of the book and the situation in Laos back during the Vietnam War Era and today:

The motivation for investigating the origins of the CIA in Laos and writing the book along with the most interesting things discovered in the process.

Background about the four major characters in the book and how they were accessed.

The scope of the secret war in Laos and how it played a role in the war in Vietnam .

How the CIA's actions in the secret war in Laos changed its role to this day in the "shadow wars" the United States is engaging in across the world.

The status of Laos today.

Kurlantzick's answers to those inquiries are in this podcast episode.

It is highly recommended you read a copy of A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA to get a better understanding of one of the more disturbing chapters of our history.

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If someone asked you to pin down to the day when the Vietnam War started this podcast episode will provide you with the answer to that question. Most times when you ask someone the question, when did the Vietnam War start, you get rather fuzzy answers. Some will say 1966 when we began to send over large numbers of military personnel. Others with say it started with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution or when the French were defeated at Bien Den Phu. Some will go back to World War II and say it started with Ho Chi Minh fighting as our ally against the Japanese who had occupied the former French Colony.

It is not widely known that during World War II, Ho Chi Minh was closely allied with the US fighting against the Japanese. The relationship was so favorable the US promised Ho he could be the leader of an independent Vietnam after the war. Ho was so impressed with the Americans he used wording from the US Declaration when he declared to the world he intended to be leading an independent Vietnam. When the WW II ended things appeared to be on schedule for Ho and the new country until the French returned demanding their old colony of Indo-China be returned to French colony status.

Unfortunately for Ho Chi Minh we decided to side with the French in the matter in return for their support against the USSR in Europe. This led to fighting in the area until 1979 when the smaller Vietnam bloodied the nose of its northern neighbor Communist China.

The US became involved in the area when it decided to throw its weight behind the new country of South Vietnam. That involvement eventually led to a conflagration in Vietnam that led to a memorial monument in Washington DC with more than 53,000 American names etched on its face.

John Reichley wrote a piece for the Leavenworth Times that sheds light on the subject of when the war started for this country. He tells how on January 22, 1964 Operational Plan (OPLAN) 34 was approved. That led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and that led to a memorial with 58,286 names of fallen Americans.

This country has a new Commander-in-Chief. Donald J. Trump has taken the oath of office and is now our new president. On the campaign trail he made a lot of promises as most politicians do. Donald Trump is not your garden variety politician. He has never held elective office but he has reached great heights of achievement in the business world. He has built lots of big buildings usually on schedule and under budget.

Vietnam Veterans should have much interest in his promise to make the VA more user friendly for veterans. The writer of this does not fully understand the problem with the VA. It seems simple. The Government has a solemn obligation to take care of its veterans who go out and risk life and limb for the country. The VA is the governmental agency designated with the responsibility of fulfilling the country's commitment to its veterans. The country is responsible for supplying the means to the VA to accomplish its mission.

Why does the VA in some cases exhibit an apparent reluctance to carry out the sacred mission assigned to it? Many speculate on the reasons why but there doesn't seem to be an upfront explanation rising to the top for identification and resolution. The new president has a golden opportunity to fulfill his campaign promise of making the VA more attuned to the needs of veterans.

A story in the Virginian-Pilot website pilotonline.com titled: Pilot and ProPublica sue VA to get Agent Orange correspondence that was submitted by Robin Fields of ProPublica describes a situation where the new president can "show us what he has" in his willingness to improve the VA situation.

In the story, Fields tells about two lawsuits filed by The Virginian-Pilot newspaper and ProPublica accusing the agency of stonewalling requests for documents under the Freedom of Information Act. Back in May and September 2015 the two cooperating agencies asked for correspondence about Agent Orange, an herbicide used to kill vegetation during the Vietnam War. The documents sought include those sent to and received by Dr. David Shulkin, the VA’s undersecretary for health. Shulkin has been nominated to be VA secretary.

The lawsuit points out that the VA has utterly disregarded the FOIA request for 618 days and 506 days. Makes you wonder. All they are asking for are a few letters about Agent Orange policy. It wasn't anything that would even be of interest to Wikileaks. It is actions like this that make one feel the VA does not have the  welfare of veterans as its top interest.

How the new president handles situations as described in this story will quickly show "what he has" in respect to improving the VA and how it serves the veterans.

This podcast comes to you on inauguration day of 2017 for the USA. That has only happened 45 times in our history and it is a remarkable thing that a large nation like ours can transfer its presidency to a new person, the most powerful job in the world, in a peaceful process.

As a Vietnam Veteran I truly believe we were fighting in that war to make sure that amazing process was allowed to continue in freedom. Some may disagree but I guarantee Toby Keith and Lee Greenwood agree with me in that we have to stand up and fight for our precious freedoms.

Sometimes our bone head leaders may screw up in the process but the ends are worth the effort.

We are a great nation made up of great people and we will overcome a few bumps in the road as long as we remember what our founders had in mind when they set up this great nation way back on July 4, 1776.

One of the great things about this country is the first amendment to our constitution. It establishes our rights to free speech and free expression.

That means even a few dolts have the right to speak out and say bad things about the new man assuming the office of the presidency today.

You might not agree with them but it is such an amazing thing that they can freely do that because of our wonderful constitution.

The good thing about it is that the vast majority of Americans are decent law abiding people and their good citizenship will drown out the jelly bean behavior of the dissidents.

Something recently happened in Anderson, South Carolina that illustrates that truth.

It seems a misguided young person who will remain nameless, had the audacity to deface the Anderson County Vietnam War memorial.

The dirt bag spray painted the monument.

When that happens anywhere, it is a slap in the face to all Vietnam Veterans.

Well you can wash out your mind with this refreshing development:

As soon as it happened, a good citizen by the name of Don Gurley, owner of A World of Difference Carpet Cleaning Company in Anderson, South Carolina stepped forward and cleaned up the mess at no cost.

That's what I am talking about - the goodness of Americans.

There was a story in the local newspaper, The Independent Mail of Anderson, South Carolina titled: Anderson teen charged with vandalizing Vietnam War memorial that described the event.

CLICK HERE for the link to Don Gurley's cleaning company. If you live in the Anderson area you are advised to give Don's company a call the next time you need carpet cleaning.

If you live outside his area of operations, why don't you send him an email and thank him for cleaning the Vietnam War Memorial monument.

The ladies of the Major Francis Grice Chapter, NSDAR in Wichita Falls, Texas are doing a wonderful thing for Vietnam Veterans in that area of the country. Their project was chronicled in a story from KAUZ Channel 6 TV in Wichita Falls, Texas. It was titled: Daughters of the American Revolution hope to bring Vietnam War monument to Lake Wichita and was submitted by Samantha Forester, a reporter for KAUZ.

Forester reported that the DAR chapter is spear-heading the project to build a large monument honoring those who fought in the Vietnam War. Sonja Gandy and Kimberly Florsheim, both leaders with DAR, are shepherding the effort to get the monument into the realm of reality. The project was kicked off in the summer of 2016 and already they have raised $137,000 of the $170,000 needed for the memorial.

The plans are for the monument to be a bronze sculpture that will stand 11 feet 3 inches tall and include a 3-foot base. Florsheim adds they also have plans to build a memorial plaza around the monument. Initially the monument was proposed to be located at the Memorial Auditorium but later the site was changed to Lake Wichita because there are four other monuments already at the auditorium. It was decided by community leaders to relocate the Vietnam Veterans Monument to the Lake Wichita park to make it a more accessible and tranquil option for those wanting to pay their respects.

The monument was designed by local DAR member Shirley King. It is going to have a serviceman standing next to a nurse holding a folded service flag. Both are looking down, possibly at a fallen comrade's grave.

If you would like to make a contribution to help finish off the remaining $38,000 balance for completion and you don't have to be a resident of the Wichita Falls area to help out. If you want to help honor Vietnam Veterans this is an excellent way to do so.

Send your donation to the Major Francis Grice Chapter, NSDAR at 1714 Ridgemont Dr. Wichita Falls, TX  76309.

The Con Thien operation in Vietnam was a miserable example the myopic American leadership that cost many US Marines their lives for meager results. Don North who was a war correspondent for ABC in Vietnam took the occasion of the 2016 Memorial Day celebrations to recall the operation that took place nearly half a century earlier. He wrote an article about Con Thien that appeared in The Common Dreams website titled: Tragic Valor of Marines at Con Thien that was submitted by Don North. North's article is featured in this episode of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast.

Con Thien was known to local missionaries as “the Hill of Angels.” To the Marines fighting at that location will did not equate it to anything near angels. It was located only two miles south of the DMZ and designated as the west end of the “McNamara Line.” It was envisioned to be a 600-meter-wide “barrier” ordered by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. The plan was to have the Marines clear it and then load it up with seismic and acoustic sensors and minefields. The Line was to stretch 10 miles from Con Thien to Firebase Gio Linh.

Military planners believed the plan had several fatal flaws that doomed it to failure. First , it only would cover ten miles of the northern border of South Vietnam. The enemy could easily bypass the line and move further into the south. Another big challenge for the Marines building the line was the fact that they were in range of NVA artillery entrenched just north of the border and could fire on the Marines at anytime with impunity due to American policies that prevented any retaliation where it would do the most good.

Ultimately the McNamara Line was abandoned, Secretary of Defense McNamara resigned and became president of the World Bank and 1,400 Marines from the 3rd Marine Division were killed trying to build it.

Hope our leaders have learned a lesson from the sacrifice of so many good young Marines.

This podcast on numerous occasions has talked about some of the darker legacies of the Vietnam War. Two of the more detestable are PTSD and Agent Orange. Both of those have resulted in the premature demise of thousands of Vietnam Veterans. One, PTSD, causes psychological challenges and the other, Agent Orange, ravages the body with a whole series of terrible illnesses.

On this episode we will be talking with Denise Caldon Sorkness whose life has been terribly disrupted by both the above mentioned dark legacies of the Vietnam War. She lost a husband who had served in the US Navy during the war. He died from an Agent Orange induced cancer. As he was dying from the cancer he was suffering from PTSD which made life unbearable for the family that included three young children.

Denise's husband died twenty years ago and that was only the opening salvo in a story of despair and disappointment. She has been fighting the bureaucracy at the Veterans Administration ever since in attempt to receive the benefits that are supposed to be given to the families of our fallen veterans. The more she tried to get her rightful benefits the more obstacles she encountered.

Her outrage at the intransigence of the VA has led her to start speaking out about the outrageous treatment she and many others are receiving. Her appeals to her elected representatives have been fruitless.

She has written a book that chronicles her challenges and battles titled: "Stall, Deny and Hope They Die" - The VA's Unwritten Policy: ...The Story of One Widow's 19-Year Battle with the VA. It is highly recommended you get a copy to not only help support his mission to tell her story but to discover for yourself what our government is doing to the widows of our Vietnam Veterans.

Listen to the podcast and hear Denise tell her story in her own words.

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This episode was published on Martin Luther King Day of 2017. That great American will be honored on this episode. We will be looking at an aspect of his work not nearly as well known as his work in the civil rights field. Many are not aware of his stand on the Vietnam War and what it did to him and his cause. His take on that war was featured in a story found in The Los Angeles Times titled: 50 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. turned his activism against the Vietnam War, and lost allies as a result that was submitted by Matt Pearce.

Pearce tells how King had a revelation about the Vietnam War while on a sabbatical from his civil rights work. He was in Jamaica pursuing the mission of finishing his book “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” While there, by chance, he flipped through a copy of Ramparts, a leftist literary and political magazine that went into bankruptcy in 1968. That issue just happened to highlight the Vietnam War with a 28-page photographic essay documenting children who had been burned by napalm attacks in Vietnam.

That happenstance incident resulted in King opening a new chapter of his life. He began agitating against the war in Vietnam. It took a great deal of courage for him to do this because it ran afoul of one of his biggest backers in his fight for civil rights in the country. That happened to be President Lyndon B. Johnson who was the primary backer of our involvement in the war. There would by not more invitations to visit the president in the Oval Office.

Going against all his advisors he insisted on speaking out about what he viewed as an immoral war before opposition to it became the "in" thing. That willingness to stand up for what is right is what confirms Martin Luther King, Jr.'s greatness.

In this episode we are going to take a look at a bona fide hero. They are few and far between. Retired US Army Colonel Joe Marm definitely fits the description of a real hero. Recently he was honored in Pueblo, Colorado where the Center for American Values unveiled a Portrait of Valor in his honor. There was a story about the event in The Pueblo Chieftain titled: Medal of Honor recipient speaks of ‘what America’s all about’ by Zach Hillstrom.

Marm was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 for an action that took place in Nov. 14, 1965. The recipient of the award was serving at the time as a platoon leader in the 1st Cavalry Division. LTC Hal Moore's 1/7 Cav Battalion had become heavily engaged in the first battle of the Vietnam War involving large units at the Ia Drang Valley, hence the name Battle of the Ia Drang Valley.

Marm was ordered to move his platoon toward Moore's location to provide support. Unfortunately, for numerous North Vietnamese Army soldiers Marm and his platoon encountered them while en-route to assist their embattled compatriots.

With his unit under heavy fire, he decided to take control of the situation and do it himself. With several hand grenades he charged 30 yards across an open field and then neutralized several enemy positions. This was after he dispatched four of the NVA with his M-16. After he used up all his hand grenades he broke up the enemy assault with his M-16 and rallied his and moved on to accomplish the mission.

Marm told the audience “Don’t ever ask your men to do anything you wouldn’t do.”  His message to the young people in the audience was “you have to work and do your best and try to improve yourself every day. Study hard and lead by example.”

Hear the rest of his story on the podcast, episode 809.

In this episode a special tribute will be made to Gary Lane, a US Marine Corps Vietnam Veteran. He was recently honored as the January 2017 Veteran of the Month by the Sons of the American Legion, Squadron 32, of the Myron H. Beals American Legion Post 32 in Livonia, Michigan. A story about the event appeared in The Hometown Life of Livonia, Michigan titled: Livonia resident honored as Veteran of the Month.

Gary Lane is another outstanding representative of the great Vietnam Veteran Generation, a generation as great as any that ever heeded the call of duty from its country. Gary served his country as a Marine in Vietnam and then came home and continued serving his country as an employee of the Ford Motor Company for a forty year career. He and others like him help make and keep America great.

In Vietnam Gary was one of those unsung heroes who performed one of the most important and more dangerous jobs in the war. He was a truck driver at DaNang. Without truck drivers like Gary, the infantrymen would have no ammunition to carry on battle with the enemy in the jungles, the helicopters would have no fuel to fly, the doctors would have no medicine for the wounded, the artillery would have no rounds to fire, there would be no food for the troops, there would be no replacement supplies and the military personnel would have done much more walking.

Gary was born in Arkansas and he moved to Livonia in 1961. He graduated from Livonia Franklin High School in 1966. With the Vietnam War and the draft looming on the horizon he decided to take control of his own destiny. He did not go across the nearby Detroit River into Canada to avoid service to his country. In 1967 joined the US Marines and the rest his history in Livonia, Michigan.

He received his recognition at the meeting along with many accolades from the members for his service to our country in time of war. A plaque with his picture and service information was presented to Gary from Livonia Trophy.

Livonia Trophy & Screen-printing should be thanked and patronized for there generosity in presenting Gary with such a beautiful memento of the recognition.

CLICK HERE for Livonia Trophy & Screen-printing