Photo by Ross Martin
No Tickertape Parades
The Vietnam War was in many ways
a different kind of war for America.
BY CURTIS CONDON
It has been 17 years since Lily Hill
Stubbs last saw her son, Bill. In 1969,
she was told only that he was missing in
action. Four years later she was given a
map of Southeast Asia showing where
Bill, a staff sergeant with a unit of the
Green Berets, was last seen and she
was told the story of how his patrol was
ambushed on Oct. 19, 1969, in Laos.
The men had stopped on the trail
Bill Stubbs was the point man. an ex
posed position 15 yards ahead of the
rest of the patrol He cautiously stood
up to survey the terrain when, sudden
ly, automatic weapons opened up not
more than seven or eight feet away
from him He fell to the ground severe
ly wounded
During the ensuing firelight the small
group, made up of two Americans and
a handful of South Vietnamese Kit
Carson scouts', suffered more
casualties and the decision to withdraw
was made An evacuation helicopter
was called and everyone was ex
traded, except Bill Stubbs During the
skirmish he was seen being dragged in
to the bush by the enemy He was
never seen again
"At that time there was a $50 reward
Curtis Condon is the editor of Spectrum
magazine His previous experience includes two
years as the editor of a small'city magazine and
as a freelance writer for various Northwest
magazines and newspapers
to those guys for any Green Beret they
brought back,” Lily Hill Stubbs says
“He didn’t have his beret on because
he was wearing a helmet at the time,
but they knew
She sat back in her favorite chair, a
slight woman who has endured much
She seems frustrated with her weaken
ing legs and the need for a cane, after
serving such an active life as a nurse
At her feet was a stack of photo
albums filled with pictures and momen
tos of her lost son One album is filled
with pictures of the White House recep
tion given during the dedication
ceremonies of the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial in Washington, D C The in
vitation from the White House occupies
its own separate page There are pic
tures of ‘the Wall', and snapshots of
President Reagan addressing the
gathering on the White House lawn
Another album has clippings pertain
ing to the war, photographs of her son
overseas and a polaroid of him posing
with his father, who is a retired Army
major — both men are in their
uniforms
“He was out on a hush hush deal,”
she confides. “That's why they couldn't
tell us anything at the time
"A young man, very confused, came
to the door," she remembers “I think it
was the first time he ever had to meet a
family and tell them, ‘your son is miss
ing.' He wasn't in proper uniform I
mean, he didn't have his hat on and he
was shaky We almost felt more sorry
for him then we did for ourselves."
After so much and so many years,
Lily Hill Stubbs is no less "proud of my
Bill" and the other veterans who fought
in Vietnam
There is nothing new about men be
ing killed or wounded in war Officers
appearing on the doorstep of the family
of a serviceman killed or missing in ac
tion is a scene that has been repeated
many thousands of times in America
And there's certainly nothing new
about Americans having pride in the
men and women who go off to war
However, few people would deny
there was something different,
something tragically wrong with the
Vietnam War What made it wrong' is
the subject of an intense debate which
goes on even today The question of
how it was different from previous
American wars is more easily
answered, but no less complex
"A big difference was on the home
front,’’ says Gerry Kamp, a Vietnam
veteran "Participation in the war effort
was greater in World War II because of
j the cause ana Decause ot ine
magnitude of the war, and that didn’t
happen during Vietnam There wasn't
the social involvement that brought
Americans together in World War II
Kamp enlisted in the Navy in 1968
“to avoid the draft so I wouldn't have to
go to Vietnam," he remembers with a
laugh He was at the teletype when his
orders to go to Vietnam came over the
wire, and he was assigned to a river
assault group in the Mekong Delta in
South Vietnam
"It was a time during the war when
we rarely fired back We had aircraft
coverage the Seawolves and Black
Ponies — but for the most part they
were calling a lot of zones passified
zones’ and we had to have permission
to fire back Sometimes by the time we
got permission to fire back it was all
over anyway," Kamp recalls
He now spends most of his time run
ning the Book Station, a combination
gas station and bookstore he owns in
Eugene Kamp also teaches courses on
America’s involvement in Southeast
Asia at the University, and he is cur
rently teaching a course in the literature
of Vietnam
"Another difference is there wasn't a
well defined time period of when the
war started and when it ended," he
continues "In Vietnam we kind of slid
in and the fighting slowly escalated
America got involved in Vietnam
and Southeast Asia shortly after World
War II, but the presence of a significant
number of American troops didn’t exist
until 1965 when a brigade of US.
Marines landed near DaNang in South
Vietnam By the end of that year there
were 181,000 American troops in the
country
The number of Americans in Viet
nam progressed from 23,(MX) advisers
in January, 1965 to a peak troop
strength of over 549.5(H) in 1969 A
gradual withdrawal of troops began the
same year
A third difference between Vietnam
and other American wars, Kamp points
out. Is that there were no well defined,
major battles "What you had was
everyone involved in circular