Poll Everywhere Survey Question
Do You Believe that Sending Americans to Vietnam was a Mistake? Wonder how others answer this questions? This Poll Everywhere live-results survey addresses both questions
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My Vietnam Experience Blog
I was born in 1949 and raised on a farm in Western Iowa.
After graduating from Schleswig High School in 1967, I was drafted into the US Army in 1969 and did a thirteen-month tour in Vietnam. While in Nam, I served with C Troop 1/9, 1st Air Cav Division, which was a recon unit for the 1st Cav.
I was discharged from the Army in April of 1971. I landed a job as an electrician shortly after in Denison, Iowa and in 1976, I started Struck Electric in Carroll, Iowa. We were a small electrical contracting company which specialized in residential and small commercial wiring. In 1992 I closed my business down and moved to Kennewick, WA where I currently work for an electrical contractor as a project manager/estimator.
I married my high school sweetheart (Rebecca) in 2004, and together we have seven children and twelve granddaughters…
To learn more about my experience in Vietnam, go to:
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Video clip (1:02) describe how vandals, in June of 2016, defaced the Venice Beach Vietnam War Memorial
Drawings of Man Who was NBS Free Lance Illustrator During My Lai Courts-Martial Trial
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Works of Leo Hershfield |
PBS video clip (2:37) telling the story of the My Lai Massacre
Map Showing Locations Mentioned Elsewhere in this Blog
Anna Pearson Visits Vietnam Memorial (Venice Beach, CA)
My name is Anna Pearson and in June of 2016, I visited the Vietnam Memorial in Venice Beach.
My name is Anna Pearson and in June of 2016, I visited the Vietnam Memorial in Venice Beach.
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Bad Judgement, Mistakes, and Professional Survival
San Marino resident Dan Clark describes in the space below a harrowing story, one that took place in the years shortly after the end of the Vietnam War.
It was a warm summer evening when the flight of three Navy C-1 Traders launched from Jacksonville, Florida heading due East for the USS Roosevelt, a 1950's era Naval Aircraft Carrier. Their mission comprised "trapping" aboard the Roosevelt, steam on down to the Caribbean, and then launch from the Ship to the Naval Air Station Puerto Rico to begin a month-long support of several US Carriers conducting sea trials in the area.
As the three C-1 Traders "trapped" aboard the Roosevelt the three aircrews, comprising an Aircraft Commander, a Co-pilot, and an Air crewman looked forward to the five-day trip down the vicinity of Puerto Rico. This would be a "laid back" cruise because Carrier Onboard Delivery (COD) pilots had little to do on board the Carriers they serviced, merely hanging out and taking in the fresh air and the sea.
That was the plan; steaming at the old boat's 20-knot cruising speed until close enough to safely fly to NAS Puerto Rico. The aircrews as always looked forward to spending time in Puerto Rico, a very exotic place to work in. I, LT Dan Clarke, was one of the co-pilots in this operation. I too looked forward to Puerto Rico, as I'd never experienced it. What followed though was a series of bad judgments, mistakes, and heroic survival against odds that still have me shuddering at the possible outcome.
On the evening of the third day of steaming our Commanding Officer (one of the Aircraft Commanders and our CO) promptly announced that we would be launching that evening for Puerto Rico. The sun was setting and we were several hundred miles from PR!
"Why are we launching now, sir?" asked the rest of the aircrews. "Night is falling and we're still many miles away; let's wait til we're closer!"
"Ah no", replied the CO. "Gotta go tonight; start your engines!"
Now it was later revealed that our Commanding Office had an urgent reason to get to Puerto Rico that evening, in the form of a dalliance with a certain young lady. This was the first of several bad judgments rearing their ugly heads in our faces! So all the aircrews reluctantly "started their engines" and taxied to the Ship's catapult mechanisms.
Now a word about the Aircraft Carrier catapult mechanism. An aircraft carrier catapult is a device used to launch aircraft from ships, most commonly used on aircraft carriers, as a form of assisted take off. It consists of a track built into the flight deck, below which is a large piston or shuttle that is attached through the track to the nose gear of the aircraft. So, when the catapult mechanism is engaged, the airplane will be accelerated to about 180 miles an hour in about 200 feet. WOW, what a ride!
This is important information to know because of its effect on older aircraft sustaining this sort of acceleration in a short distance. Specifically: besides the "cat shot" caging the pilot's eyeballs, the onboard physical gyros that provide the directional information for the aircraft are also disrupted, and have to be reset to the onboard "wet" compass so the directional information is accurate. If not, well, you're not flying the right direction!
So our first aircraft with our Commanding Officer proceeded to launch ; our second aircraft followed shortly, with my aircraft following third. We would continue as a "flight of three" for the 2.5 hour trip to Puerto Rico, which was close to the service limit of the C-1 Trader. As an added feature our C-1's had an independent radio frequency that aircrews could communicate with each other on. So, as usual, we started chattering to each other, speaking the usual nonsense of what "liberty" in San Juan would be like. This went on for at least an hour. However, it soon became apparent to us that the radio reception from the other aircraft was rapidly fading. I checked the set frequency and the condition of the radio; all looked in order. It appeared that our fellow aircraft had distanced themselves from up..........why?
It was my habit to check the gyro compass against the "wet" compass every half hour to ensure its accuracy. To my shock and amazement, I realized I hadn't done this the whole flight! I quickly looked up at the gyro compass which had us flying correctly southeast towards Puerto Rico. But to my horror the wet compass (which is always correct) had us flying due east.
In other words, we had been flying for the last hour and a half into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean!
I meekly announced this to my Aircraft Commander who (rightfully) let out a short scream. "Turn, turn", he shouted to me, which I did. We were now headed in the right direction but so far off course that we didn't have enough gas to reach either the Florida mainland or Puerto Rico.
So now finally this aircrew started to pick up the pieces and professionally survive. Failure was not an option. Ditching at sea in the middle of the night would be hazardous and most likely fatal.
As I was instructed in flight school, an emergency is rarely solved right away; it is rather a series of calculations and actions that will get you slowly to your goal of survival. So our first challenge was to find a field that was within our range. Remember this was the day of analog maps and navigation; no digital direction finders and global satellite coverage. Our eyes poured over our navigational chart with not much to offer. We finally spotted a small airfield on one of the Grand Cayman islands, approximately one hour of flight time away. This would put us over that field with nearly empty gas tanks. So we dialed in our navigation direction finder and plotted a course to this lonely field. There was good news and bad. The good news was that this field had a 24-hour beacon operating so we could (hopefully) spot it from a distance. The bad news was that the field closed at 10:00pm. We'd be arriving at a dark and closed airport! Oh well, "any port in a storm," they say.
So, on we flew heading towards the Grand Cayman island. I whispered in the aircrew man's ear to study up on his ditching at sea procedures. We might just have to do that! During this time I went over these procedures myself. It was not helpful that we had passengers aboard, all of whom we were directly responsible for. Any deaths or injuries would be directly accountable to us! So we all had to be ready for anything.
After a long wait, we were within 50 miles of the Grand Cayman airfield. All three aircrew eyeballs were glued to the windshield looking for the beacon. Our aircrew man, being the youngest, had the best pair of eyeballs; he pointed his finger and shouted, "There it is!". We saw faintly in the distance a rotating beacon. Never a light looked so sweet! We proceeded directly and were soon over the island. The airfield was, as expected, dark and closed. We passed over the airfield to check it out. We were not looking forward to making a "dark" landing, but that's what it looked like we were about to do. Thankfully there was a near full moon so we had some light to operate with. I checked the gas tank gauges; about 10 minutes left!
Flying over the field produced another startling discovery. It appeared in the moonlight that the airfield itself was actually fluid and moving. We passed once more at a lower altitude; the field was literally covered with sheep!! So now we had another hazard to deal with. We tried another low pass to hopefully scare the sheep, no avail! They were not giving up their territory. So around we flew into the final landing pattern expecting to encounter a wall of sheep when we touched down. I muttered a silent prayer and let the landing gear down. We were turning on final when (EUREKA) the airport lights turned on! This was too much for the sheep and they bolted the field. Apparently the noise from our engines had woken the field manager. In we came with a picture perfect landing. I checked both of our gas gauges, both were red empty!
So that ends this tale of bad judgment, mistakes, and professional survival. That evening I ordered the biggest steak dinner at the field club which was thankfully still open. A very large beer accompanied this dinner, a dinner saluting an aircrew with the cool fortitude and decision making that allowed me to be enjoying this end of tale feast.
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There is a lot of information about his life during the war and after the war. Many of the moments he shared with us, expresses a lot of imagery. This blog is certainly a very interesting thing to read and learn about the Vietnam war.
ReplyDeleteIt was great to learn about how you restocked your division with c-rations, and resuplying yourself with plenty of 5.56 cart ridges for your m16-A1. It was also interesting to read about exactly what was supplied in the C-rations, and how the LRP-rations were more desirable. Finally, I enjoyed learning about your time in the 1st Air Cavalry Division, which i find one of the most interesting divisions of the vietnam war, and the importance of the use of gunship, cargo, and reconnaissance helicopters during the war.
ReplyDeleteAs a current high school student I do not know how I would react to getting draft papers at such a young age. It must have been hard to grasp the idea that you no longer have a choice on career after high school and were being forced into the Army regardless if you wanted to fight or not.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this blog knowing that you were a high school student getting drafted into the war. I was very intrigued having found out that you have seven children ans twelve grandchildren. It must have been terrifying knowing in the war that you could have been killed at anytime. But, you made it back and started to work for an electrical contractor.
ReplyDeleteI liked this blog and on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, I would give this a 8 out of 10. This blog was very interesting and gave a real insight to what the soldiers had to go through. For instance, the blog post on September 10, 2015,the author wrote about how the soldiers including him debated whether or not to help save the lives of the South Vietnamese. Helping the South Vietnamese escape, risked the US soldiers from treason because it was going against White House orders of just evacuating US citizens. Also when transporting them, sailors had to push helicopters off the landing platform of the U.S.S Kirk to clear more room for more refugees. Overall, I really enjoyed this blog and would recommend this to others.
ReplyDeleteI think this blog is certainly a very interesting thing to read and learn about the Vietnam war. Many of the moments he shared with us, expresses a lot of imagery. When he writes, "A moment later the elephant grass came alive with small arms automatic weapons fire – it was everywhere!", he uses personification to display the guns shooting towards them. There is a lot of information about his life during the war and after the war.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this blog and would definitely recommend it to not only my fellow students but just anyone that is interested in the Vietnam War, or even just looking for some perspective on life. I think that it's great that the blog author was able to land a job and go back to living his/her life after returning from the war. I'm sure that, despite the relief of being home, it wasn't easy to just go back to living a "normal" life after seeing the things he/she inevitably saw during his/her time in Vietnam. Something that was extremely powerful from this blog was the message from Larry L Donaldson. It really shows the dedication of these men to each other, and the effect the war had on their relationships and as individuals.
ReplyDeleteIt was great to learn about how you restocked your division with c-rations, and resuplying yourself with plenty of 5.56 cart ridges for your m16-A1. It was also interesting to read about exactly what was supplied in the C-rations, and how the LRP-rations were more desirable. Finally, I enjoyed learning about your time in the 1st Air Cavalry Division, which i find one of the most interesting divisions of the vietnam war, and the importance of the use of gunship, cargo, and reconnaissance helicopters during the war.
ReplyDeleteThe content of the blog is straightforward and thought-provoking. I'd give it a rating of 9/10 in terms of allure. The writer is able to link his experiences in Vietnam to his present-day experiences, for instance coming across current owners of military vehicles or pointing out what has happened to hardware left behind in Vietnam. One post from 2013 struck me as especially fascinating -- the writer describes his journey to Saigon on a helicopter and includes images of craters in the terrain, the aftermath of the multitude of bombs dropped in that area:
ReplyDelete"As our choppers headed toward Saigon, I looked down and could see many craters in the terrain caused by bombs dropped over the course of the war. Quite often the Blues were inserted to assess the damage and detonate unexploded bombs inflicted by B-52 strikes."
image: https://usastruck.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/1513861_662004290537482_1023384316_n.jpg
I did not enjoy reading this blog. I do not like reading about war and the experiences of it. Even though this blog is slightly boring, it is very informative. There are insights of war that I did not know before. For example, I had no idea that some soldiers wear medals that are not rightfully earned. It is considered a federal crime today.
ReplyDeleteThe blog seems very interesting and has many good stories in it. The author talks about many experiences he had, from Vietcong underground bases to new technology the US used. I was most intrigued by his story on when he was invading a POW camp to rescue his comrades, but the night before his invasion the Vietcong moved the prisoners. I enjoyed reading about all the preparation they did for it, yet their plan still was somehow discovered by Northern Vietnam. Besides that, I thought that it was also funny how a bunch of his letters he wrote to his girlfriend were never received, since the army always censored most of them. I would recommend this blog for others to use as a reference, or to learn more about the war.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading through the articles in this blog, and would definitely recommend it to those interested in the Vietnam War. I would give it a 9/10, where 10 is very good. The author reveals a very strong and compelling image of the panic and anger the soldiers felt in Vietnam. It was very interesting to see how frustrated the author was with the war as it ended, believing that the U.S. military had won the war, but the politicians had lost it. I find it hard to imagine the anger one would feel towards their own country, for losing a war that was already finished, and knowing that their brothers had died in vain.
ReplyDelete"I recall how I felt when South Vietnam fell four years later in April of 1975. Those feelings rekindled as I watched the documentary “Last Days in Vietnam”.
The truth is that our military won the war, but our politicians lost it. The Communists in North Vietnam signed a peace treaty, effectively surrendering. But the U.S. Congress didn’t hold up its end of the bargain."
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ReplyDeleteAnna, it's so cool that you were able to find this memorial and visit it. It's also very cool that you were able to find your own last name on the wall! Nice photos.
ReplyDeleteAnna, all the pictures you took were great. My favorite picture was the last one of the pole with the flag taped onto it. Great job with the pictures!
ReplyDeleteHi Anna, I´ve been to Venice a couple of times but I´ve never seen that memorial. Great photos!
ReplyDeleteThe Vietnam Memorial Wall sounds like a great place to see if you're ever in Venice Beach. Although the vandalism of the wall is sad, it will still be prominent in the neighborhood for a long time. Hopefully some day a nicer wall, like a marble wall, will be built to honor those who gave there lives in the Vietnam War.
ReplyDeleteWow very interesting Anna. I have never been to the memorial but I hear that it is hard to find. Also great pictures.
ReplyDeleteNice photographs Anna! It is very tragic that the memorial was vandalised. I hope the city will restore it soon.
ReplyDeleteAnna, these pictures are so cool! I have family that lives in Venice but I have never been to The Vietnam Memorial Wall before! I will definitely be visiting it this summer.
ReplyDeleteThough the memorial wall was not what I was expecting, it was very interesting to view it up close and made my experience learning about the Vietnam War come to life. Fortunately, it is not necessary to visit more than once because my father will not be taking me anytime in the near future.
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