10 A
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13. 1983
MEDFOHD MAIL! TRIBUNE. MEDFCRD. OREGON
Dramatic Viet Mam War Unreal .to
Peip!
e Back Nome
By NEIL SHEEHAN
Uniied Pren Inttrnitional
Saigon iUPD The young
west Point captain stood in
the shade of a palm tree and
watched the Vietnamese
troops splash through the
muck and glistening black
water of the flooded rice field
"Sometimes I think people
back home don't know there
is a war on in Viet Nam," he
said. "My wife's neighbors
don't even know where Viet
Nam is."
The comment was typical of
the lonely, often frustrating
and always intensely personal
kind of war which U. S. fight
ing men are waging in South'
east Asia.
Even the sharply contrast
ing landscape of this ancient
and violent land lends a dra
matic and haunting quality to
the daily ritual of killing and
dying. .
Into this drama, the ulti
mate stakes of which are per
haps all of Southeast Asia
have moved thousands of
Americans whose background
and education are as varied as
their ages and places of birth
But they have two things in
common - the same uniform
and the same code of profes
sional dedication.
Contact Enemy Daily
There are now some 12,000
soldiers, sailors and airmen in
Viet Nam. About 4,000 of
thesc-ficld advisers, helicop
ter and airplane crews, pilots
ana special forces teams-have
almost daily contact with the
enemy.
As in any war, many men
are based at headquarters in
Saigon, once called "the Paris
of the Orient," and do the
countless routine and unhcro-
ic jobs that must be done to
keep an army on the move
Some use typewriters, purify
waler, operate radios, publish
native language newspapers,
cook and serve food and all
the other essential chores of a
military operation in a foreign
land.
26 Killed in Action
The 4,000 men who risk
their lives in combat range
from the young private who
mans a machine gun in a heli
copter to the tough, hard
driving paratroop and infan
try colonels who run the field
advisory detachments.
As of the end of January, '26
Fob. 27, 28
Mir. 1, 2 7 I
I
of these young Americans had
been killed in direct action
with the guerrillas and 21
others died in what have been
called "combat-associated" ac
cidents. Another seven died in
ordinary accidents.
Their widows and families
receive purple hearts, but no
major medals such as the sil
ver star of Congressional Med
al of Honor, because the U. S
Congress has not yet approved
such awards for this war.
The men who died, and
those who will die before it is
over, received no extra com
bat pay. The families of those
who enlisted too late to take
advantage of the govern
merit's Korean War Insurance
program will receive only six
months pay and the costs of
the funeral.
Leary Charged
Special Forces 1st Lt. Paul
E. Leary, 27, Abilene, Texas,
could tell the folks back home
what the war is- like in Vict
Nam. Early in January a 57-
millimcter recoillcss rifle
round ripped between his legs
as he was taking off his boots,
and a mob of screaming Viet
Cong charged into his camp
hurling grenades and firing
submachine guns. Leary and
the small group with him
fought off the attack.
But for some of the Amcrl
cans, Vict Nam was their first
and last war.
Young Paratroop Clpa. Don
J. York, 21), Nashville, North
Carolina, was driving along a
road just north of Saigon last
summer when the nearby jun
gle suddenly erupted with
gunfire. York died fighting
under a hail of Vict Cong bullets.
Lt. William Train III, 25,
Carlisle Barracks, Pennsyl
vania, was killed a month
earlier on the same road in
another ambush a few miles
farther south.
Train, the son of a general,
was carrying on a family tra
dition of soldiering common
to many of the officers here.
One who served his tour of
duty and returned safely
home was Col. Frank Clay,
son of Gen. Lucius D. Clay
and the scion of a distin
guished military family.
Some Veterans
But all those who serve in
Viet Nam are not green re
cruits or fresh military acad
emy graduates. There arc the
veteran sergeants and colonels
who have seen ruRged duly in
world Win- 11 and Korea. For
them, Vict Nam is a new kind
of war and a new challenge.
Lt. Col, John Vann, 42, El
Paso, lexas, commanded a
ranger company in Korea.
Vann, one of America's most
highly regarded field advisers
in Vict Nam, is a tireless offi
cer with driving energy.
Ramrod Officer
Vann spends days plunging
through the slinking filth of
the paddies or supervising
the helicopter evaluation of
wounded under Viet Cong
fire. Nights are spent writing
those endless reports for the
commanding officers in Sai
gon, or helping his Vietnam
ese counterpart plan the next
day's operation.
Paratroop Col. Wilber E.
Wilson, 53, Norman, Okla
homa, is a ramrod straight of
ficer referred to affectionate
ly by his subordinates-but not
in his presence-as "Coalbin
Willie."
For Wilson, one of the most
brilliant and capable senior
officers in Vict Nam, the army
is his life, his home and a de
manding taskmaster which
consumes all of his time and
energy.
According to legend, Wil
son, who is a bachelor, once
said jokingly to a homesick
young lieutenant "Son, if the
army wanted you to have a
wife, they'd issue you one."
Special Services Sgt. Mar
vin Compton Jr., 36, Louis
ville, Kentucky, is a stocky
muscular man who speaks in
a soft deliberate voice. His
balding head betrays his years
of military service.
Compton put It simply: "I'm
here because this is what I
was trained to do, and it's my
job."
Dedicated Soldiers
These battle scarred veter
ans are dedicated profession
al soldiers. They know what
they are doing and why they
arc here.
But being advisers is not
easy for men who have been
trained to be leaders. End
less hours are spent trying
to get ideas across diplomati
cally to their Vietnamese
counterparts who frequently
listen, and then reject, their
American comrades' advice
4,49 Offenses
Reported in City
Medford police investigated
a total of 4,479 offenses dur
ing January, according to
report by Chief of Police
Charles P. Champlin.
Of the total, 82 of the cisos
involved major offenses, a de
crease of 6 over the number
reported for the same month
last year. Thirty of the cases
were closed, for a 36.6 per
centage, the report showed.
Ten of the major offenses
were burglaries, four less
than January, 10(52. Only one
of the burglary cases was
closed.
Forty-eight ot the cases re
ported involved thefts un-.lur
$50. Twenty-three of tnose
cases were cleared.
A total of 220 tickets for
traffic violations were issued
(o Medford drivers last
month, a marked incrcjsc
over the 65 issued during the
same month lust year. The
report showed that 3,8113
parking tickets were issued.
Eighty vehicle accidents oc
curred in the city last month.
Eighteen persons were injur
ed in the mishaps, according
to the report, but there were
no fatalities. This compares
with 51) accidents last Janu
ary, with 10 persons Injured
and one fatality, according to
the report.
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The job becomes an ago
nizing emotional torment
when men die and battles are
lost because of mistakes which
the American can see happen
ing, but which he is power
less to correct.
New Kind of War
Perhaps it is because of
these frustrations and blind
alleys that (hese Americans
have thrown themselves so
enthusiastically and forceful
ly into the struggle.
For one thing, it is a new
kind of war. American offi
cers, trained to move tanks
and armored battalions or in
fantry regiments in sweeping
formations, have never before
experienced this kind of hit-and-run
war.
It is- a type of warfare wag
ed on terrain which nature
seems to have designed espe
cially for guerrilla fighting.
The Viet Cong guerrilla is
a fanatical and ruthless foe.
He is very patient and self
critical, and seldom makes
the same mistake twice: He
is willing to pay almost any
price in blood to achieve the
ends he has set for himself.
Surprise Attacks
When the Viet Cong at
tacks on any scale, it is usu
ally with overwhelming force
and the clement of surprise.
For the U.S. advisor assigned
to a lonely outpost somewhere
in the mountains to lh.- north,
or the swamps in the south,
it is a process of endlo.-s pa
trolling and uneasy waiting.
Kri -,Wf?-iS -tsJk-
0
r cr-
H
7 t .
At n Mwfe
TROOPS PROTECT PATROL Vietnamr.'iR rit-o imririips fnr Virl (-.nnv pimrrillas riiirinK
I troops in manned-armored vphirlns nivp nrn- nnpmlifin "Mnmirtir St:ir' nt fZaiann lITPH
leclive cover as three-man patrol searches
tjm. mi rhJk
ifei--? "VtiLn tr5efV'fl ' i
One night - if he is lucky -the
dogs bark in the village
near the delense post to give
a few seconds warning. A
stray shot rings out. Perhaps
a mine thuds dully, and then
the black-clad enemy comes
boiling and screaming out of
the darkness.
Or perhaps it will happen
on some jungle trail or delta
road. The birds suddmly stop
singing and the chirpi.ig of
the insects ceases. The mor
tars boom in over the tree
tops and the machine gun
begins its ugly death rattle
up ahead.
Determined Foa
The Communist guerrilla in
this part of what as once
French Indo-China is one of
the most determined foes the
American soldier has ever had
to fight. Across the havoc and
agony of this civil var, the
Viet Cong has won the re
spect of the professional fight
ing men from across the seas.
But with this respect comes
an awareness of the brutality
of the enemy, and a deter
mination to trap and destroy
him.
It is not hatred. It is just
the calm determination of the
professional soldier to do the
job he was hired to do.
As one American special
forces sergeant put it. "I used
to lcel kind of sorry for the
Viet Cong, the way they live
and fight in such miserable
conditions and die of their
wounds because they don't
have much medical care. But
when 1 saw how they ambush
with the odds all on their
side, butcher these little guys
I've trained, kill my buddies,
burn villages and all the rest
ot it, then I knew they were
my enemy, loo. I still don't
hate them, but I'll kill every
one of them that gets in my
way."
Gamble With Death
Back home in the Uniied
Slates, the war in Viet Nam
may be on the front pages or
flash across the television
screen once in a while. To
the Americans stationed here,
however, it is a daily gamble
with death.
There are no medals and
no extra pay. One helicopter
pilot said there are no heroes
here, eilher.
"We're doin;; the same
Ihing here we'd be doing in
any war." he said. "We lake
Hie troops into bailie and we
get shot at."
II is "a dirly lillle war,"
as one American general de
scribed it, but it is a war
into which the Uniied States
has plunged some of its finest
young men.
When they fall in battle
here, the flags do not come
to half staff in Washington.
There are no solemn funeral
processions down Pennsyl
vania avenue with a mourn
ful nation paying tribute.
No Tribute Paid
There is a simple ceremony
at the Saigon airport. The
roar of engines on the busy
airstrip and the sounds of
a nation at war drown out
the chaplains' prayers.
Buddies and friends stand
at attention in their starched
khakis. The hands snap up
smartly in a final salutj - a
soldiers' farewell - as the flag
draped coffin is carried slow
ly aboard a waiting transport
plane for that final trip home
across the wide stretches of
the Pacific.
When Viet Nam was part
of the great French empira
in Asia, France poured mil
lions of francs and the blood
of her finest sons into tha
futile struggle to hold onto
this faraway place.
There is a French military
cemetery just outside Saigon.
A single tricolor ripples gent
ly in the breeze, keeping si
lent vigil over the white head
stones set row upon row in
the reddish brown soil. One
corner of the cemetery Is
empty.
According to legend, tha
French say it was left for tha
Americans who would some
day die in Viet Nam.
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