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 by Richard L. Dieterle "The Deacon" diete003@umn.edu |
Episodes |
| Arrival in Country (May, 1967) orientation in Oakland — flight to Cam Ranh Bay, stewardesses run the gauntlet — Pleiku — I get assigned to A 1/8 as I had once asked |
| The War Dance (May, 1967) a tent in Anh Khe — the veterans hold a wild war dance — Indian ways — the story of a stunning tragedy |
| The Great Hump (June 4, 1967) humping the An Lao mountains — blowing up giant boulders — cutting down a mountain cornfield — the exhausting march up and down the mountains — massive cramps — dozens of Montagnards show up at our perimeter, we take care of them — (photo of two Montagnards getting C-rations) — burning off the scrub (photo) |
| The White Plain (June 5, 1967) the terrain in the plain — we get serenaded by a spotter plane — stop and set up early — shade tents (photo) — Charlie-Charlie stops by (photo) — (photo of popping red smoke) |
| • Romeo and Juliet for Real (June _, 1967) we sweep a town — Archuleta, the most respected man in the company — a couple is cornered in a bunker — their fate |
| The Road to Disaster (July 4, 1967) third of July at LZ English —weapons of the dead — wild chopper ride to LZ Geronimo — funeral service — trek to the sea — the ordeal of the march — Davis looses foot — Witcher killed — war crime avoided — tanks take lead |
| The White Sand Dunes (July, 1967) the nature of the Sand Dunes — I get high — night skirmish — the "Mad 79'er" — two teenagers brought to us wounded — later murdered by chopper crew |
| Jumping Jehosaphats (July, 1967) how to break both ankles — the utility of the same — the choppers ferry us to a mountain — I have to jump from a very great height — the expert on broken ankles injures his |
| Help (late July, 1967) we are assigned a night operation — the role of the dog — whispering communication — we go around in a circle — screams from a booby trap — we ignore sniper fire — Lt. Rooney humps an entire mortar |
| The Death of Root (Aug. 21, 1967) impending election — people leave their village in our direction — Root — contact — Root killed, Gunzalaus injured — hamlet burned — tank — one killed, the rest get away — I am sent to Language School |
The Great Ambush I get a couple of special treats — pulling point — nearly swept away crossing a river — set up in old rice paddy — enemy walks right into our perimeter — one killed, the other escapes — Truck accidentally sets off his claymore — we move in the night — the return — Prof. van Tulp |
• Harry Harvil (Sept. - Dec., 1967) I meet Harry Harvil at Language School — a Moslem from Texas — his adventures during his Hajj — some of the old Ludwig Van — his language skills and his girl friend in Bong Son — I meet a Palestinian in the US Army — death of Harvil's friend in a rocket attack — my hot argument with Harvil's lieutenant — the fantasy-world "intelligence" briefing — I ignore a guard who threatens to shoot me |
Blown Up (Oct. 6, 1967) Charlie Co. war criminals assigned to us — fire put out with our own canteen water — we set up where foxholes had already been dug — hot food flown in — man blown to pieces as I watched — bits of intestine land in my food |
Almost a Friendly Murder how we set up for the night using ponchos — I settle down for a night's sleep — a machine gun opens up, and I barely escape "friendly fire" with my life |
Deacon, What's This? R.'s character and determination — picking up a booby trap — Blue Deacon with "F" Device — a nice ceremony |
| The Tet Offensive (incomplete) prepping the LZ — the CO and lieutenant get blasted — ... |
| Riding the Skids, or, An Army of One (March ?, 1968) the meaning of "riding the skids" — the sensation of flying in midair — my first experience — "Sky King" — I ignore the ban on riding the skids — the problem of a hot LZ — how I almost became an "Army of One" |
| The Lost Platoon — the Tragedy of March 25 (March 25, 1968) taking it easy on LZ Sandra — 75 NVA bodies strung out along the road — lieutenants discuss taking action against me for smoking grass — news that 2d Platoon made contact — gunner's arm almost shot off — 2d Platoon "lost", surrounded but protected by artillery FO — they cannot break out — the vast fleet of slicks that come to pick us up — I jump from a very great height — the frustration of our probe — the death of Giddings and Orwig — our chu hoi deserts — firing through a cloud of CS gas — we attack in XVIIIth century style, but told not to fire our weapons — we make contact, but have to fall back — small arms fire directed at my Gun, we fall back to next hedge row — B-40 rocket kills Witt and Schmidt — we are back at the tree line — 2d Platoon fends off the enemy — we return to where we started — I am given an anti-tank weapon — mortar attack followed by B-40 rocket — decimation of the 1st Platoon: death of Leonard and Thoman — our guys in the rear show up for us — enemy withdraws during the night — liberation of the 2d Platoon — tragic letter |
| Bravo Company's
CO Gives Advice a dopey idea — something for us to think about — I fire off a LAW |
| Homosexual Incident we search for a company moniker — one of our guys gets a dozen homosexual letters at once — he later rapes an 80 year old man — the Marines think up a company nickname for us — rapist returned to the field in the hope that he would be assassinated |
Khe Sanh Campaign (April 5, 1968) the Marines in a fix — the Guns of Korak — guns miss us — moonscape — B-52s shake the earth — the tragic fate of the 1/5 |
| Staying Awake (April 6, 1968) our positon on a spit outside Khe Sanh — enemy probe alarm — two new men flown in — how one of them stayed awake — Medevac |
A Shot in the Dark (April 8-10, 1968) the jungle in I Corps — NVA spotter walks up to our position and is shot — our FO shells enemy night convoy |
| Thompson's Hill (April 11, 1968) we run into the enemy concealed and dug in — death of Thompson — we return, enemy flees — the face of death — Thompson's body lost at Da Nang |
| R&R at China Beach my watch is stolen — atmosphere of hostility — I nearly get caught with a bag of grass — mortar attack |
| A Shâu Valley (April 26, 1968) plan to auto-gyro into A Shâu — commander of the whole division chews me out — we land without incident — tank knocked out, D Company captures a deuce and a half — digging in — walking through a minefield — the living black cloud — crash of the C-130 — a man crushed by air drop — hit with a pebble while on guard — discipline problems — sergeant has his foot blown off — we steal rear echelon's rations — a racist move against Lt. Ewing |
Trip to Da Nang (May, 1968) Mike and I chosen to go to Da Nang — looking for Thompson's body — "shortosis" — going through Phu Bai — Da Nang is like being "back in the World" — incident with Air Force personnel — the ghoul ambulance driver — we do not find Thompson's body |
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