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2001

Letters

A SIDE TRIP HOME 

In 1985 I was in New Mexico for Boy Scout leadership training at Philmont Ranch Center. After the week-long training I was driving the scenic route back to Denver to catch a flight home. I noticed the roadside signs about the Angel Fire ski area and a small sign pointing to a white structure on a hill indicating a Vietnam memorial. As a Nam vet I decided to make a side trip and check it out. I drove up to a very impressive structure. I wandered about before deciding to go in. I felt at home and wandered a while before finally sitting and thinking about my year.

A woman approached and asked if I had served. I replied in the affirmative, and she inquired if there was anything I needed. I replied, “No, thank you,” to which she replied, “No, thank you for your service.” It was the first time in the sixteen years since my return that I had heard those words. I was deeply moved, and I think that was the day that I started on my long, ongoing road to healing.

Eric Hobson
By Email

THE HANCOCK

I am a California Vietnam veteran, and I have visited the California memorial. It is the only one I know of that documents Yankee Station on the floor map as you walk into the memorial. Yes, I was a blue water sailor. I completed 2.5 cruises on the U.S.S. Hancock (CVA-19). I received combat pay, flight deck pay, free mail, and hazardous duty pay, but I am not classified as a combat veteran. However, my ship is the only carrier in bronze at the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This makes me feel part of the brotherhood of veterans.

The Hancock was an Essex class carrier. It was the last attack carrier with a wooden flight deck and the first with steam catapults. It completed thirteen cruises from Alameda, Calif., to Vietnam. The ship was paid for by John Hancock Insurance with a bond drive during World War II.

Thank you for running the article.

Peter Benedict
By Email

DINGED VICTORY

Return visits to Vietnam by veterans can be very cathartic. But Mary Bruzzese (“Untethered: Ten Days in Vietnam”) only visited Hanoi and other northern areas. She writes that everyone in Vietnam took part in the war effort, which is as true in the South as in the North. However, unlike Civil War sites in the U.S. where everyone who fought on both sides is memorialized, in Vietnam there is no recognition at all that there was ever such an entity as South Vietnam or the ARVN. There are only references to puppet soldiers, and the monuments are only to the communist victors.

In the South, Americans—and especially American veterans—are warmly welcomed, but people will only talk about the war if no government ears can overhear.  

My trip back in 2007 was immensely rewarding, and I would go again in a heartbeat. But one must be skeptical of the communist government’s version of the war.

Dean C. Nelson
By Email

THE ONLY KIND WORDS

The article by Doug Dobransky in the May/June issue sure touched a nerve. I am not a combat vet. I was a rear echelon support troop. However, going home was still something that everyone looked forward to. Toward the end of his article Doug quoted the pilot as saying, “Gentlemen, if you look out the left side of the plane, you will see the west coast of the United States of America.” No sweeter words were ever said to a group of service personnel. I’m sure the pilot looked forward to saying that as a welcome back to the States. For many of us, those were the only kind words we heard for many years. Great article.

Dennis Greco
By Email

MORE LIKE JIM

I found John Mort’s review of James Webb’s I Heard My Country Calling inspiring and especially informative. Webb has indeed served his country well, and Mort reflects that fact admirably.

I would merely comment that the last sentence, “Would that there were more like him,” was more than a little disconcerting. It is my firm belief that there are millions upon millions who have served and are continuing to serve “imaginatively and faithfully,” a large number of whom did so to the death. Mort gives the impression that there are too few who have served as well, which is not at all the case. I believe James Webb, clearly a man to admire and emulate, would be the first to proclaim that he is just one among many thousands who deserve equal or perhaps even more praise.

R. William Pratt
Malta, Ohio  

BETRAYED IN VIETNAM

Though many things have brought me back to my time in Vietnam, the recent article, “Betrayed: Military Sexual Trauma,” touched me like nothing before. I served in Vietnam with the 25th Infantry Division, 7/11 Artillery, A Battery, 1968-69. For many years I blocked out the trauma that had occurred while I was there. Through this article and being able to speak with my family, it has all been brought to the forefront of my mind.

Toward the end of my tour I was sexually assaulted by a first lieutenant. He forced me into oral sex on several occasions. The last time he came at me and began to unbutton my fatigues, I had had enough. I pulled my .45-caliber pistol from my pillow and told him that if he touched me now or ever again, I would shoot him right where he stood.

Just before being sent home, I was supposed to be promoted to sergeant. When I was given my orders to pack up and head out for home, I inquired about the promotion. I was told the first lieutenant put a stop to it. 

When I came home I was treated as all Vietnam vets were. I was called horrible things and treated as if I was the enemy. However, I was sent to Vietnam without a choice and returned a completely changed person. I was angry, lost, and had no idea why or how to handle it.

I soon found myself at the local VA hospital in Philadelphia. I was told there was nothing they could do to help me and to go home and see my family doctor. At that point I gave up and decided to deal with it on my own. For the most part, this meant trying to pretend it never happened.

It wasn’t until the last ten or twelve years that I have again begun to seek help. Among other things, I have been diagnosed with PTSD and MST. I have been fighting the VA over compensation since 1998. They continue to ignore the trauma I went through in Vietnam. I have requested several hearings over the last ten years, and I am still waiting for one to be granted.

This is just a small part of my story. My entire life has been different since my time in Vietnam. The way I have been treated since returning by both the public and the VA—those who are supposed to help us—is horrendous. I know I am not the only one who feels this way, and I hope this encourages others to speak out as well.         

I would like to hear from any others in my unit in Vietnam who experienced the same trauma I went through with this first lieutenant. I am sure this happened to others and not just me. I was at FSB Crook, May 1968 to August 1969. Contact me at bruceiannello@gmail.com

Bruce Iannello
By Email

THE CLAIMANT’S MIND

With so many sexual trauma claims it is difficult to prove an event ever occurred, especially when there is no evidence and years have gone by before it is reported in a claim filed to the VA. What does the VBA do? They rely on the medical staff at the VA hospitals to look into the mind of the claimant. Can that claimant pull the wool over the evaluator’s eyes in making up a story or using one that has already been used by another veteran? When all is plausible, pay is the VA motto.

The system is already overwhelmed with claims. The appeal process takes much longer than it did just a few years ago. It used to take six months for a veteran to submit an appeal to the BVA; now it takes eighteen months. Add that to the time it takes for BVA make a decision, and you’re looking at 6.5 rather than 5 years.

Lenny Van Driel
Blue Eye, Missouri

LIVER CANCER MISDIAGNOSIS

“Toxic Hitchhikers” (March/April) speaks about Opisthorchis viverrini, the Southeast Asian liver fluke. Having served as a Riverine Advisor on South Vietnamese boats in the Mekong Delta and U Minh Forest, I have been concerned that several fellow River Rats have died of “liver cancer” without any postmortems to determine if this liver fluke or Clonorchis sinensis, the Chinese liver fluke, may have caused cholangiocarcinoma around the gall bladder or bile duct. The sailors I knew died quickly once diagnosed with “liver cancer.” 

These sailors are a small group and my perspective rather anecdotal; however, I wonder if we may have an unknown disease lurking within Vietnam veteran sailors and soldiers who lived on the Vietnamese economy, eating whatever was caught from rivers and canals. Internet searches and at least one radio program indicate the flukes and cholangiocarcinoma are endemic within S.E. Asia and that there is a typical 40-year life cycle between ingestion and terminal cancer diagnosis. 

Some sources indicate that cooking fish thoroughly will not destroy fluke cysts, which survive stomach acid before hatching within the small intestine and migrating to the bile duct area, where damage can cause cancer of the bile duct or gall bladder, thereby affecting the liver. 

There are indications that the incident rate of cholangiocarcinoma is on the increase in the U.S. Epidemiologists, health officials, and scientists should wonder

whether veterans brought this disease home or whether the amount of fish imported from S.E. Asia may be contributing to this cancer increase. 

The VA should have liver flukes’ relationship to cholangiocarcinoma evaluated further. Veterans deserve to know if cooking fish killed the flukes’ cysts and if eating the cooked flesh of fish in Vietnam could lead to cancer decades later. Veterans should be informed of what needs to be done—if anything can be—early on to avoid a less-than-six-month death sentence from this so-called liver disease before it becomes terminal cancer. And the public should be informed of the liver flukes and the dangers associated with eating S.E. Asian fish, cooked or not. 

It is doubtful that anything can be done now that could have been done prophylactically 40 or 50 years ago to protect Vietnam veterans. However, knowledge should increase survival rates in the struggle against such cancers as cholangiocarcinoma.

The danger from Vietnamese fish remains with us:
See www.youtube.com/embed/h1nEPzsFpc0?feature=player 

James R. “Ron” Linville
Kernersville, North Carolina

FULL AMNESTY?

Millions of Americans were drafted, served their country during the Vietnam era, and completed their tours of duty. We worked hard, performed our duties, met the service standards of conduct, did not go AWOL, did not use drugs, and were not considered lackluster in our everyday performance. Men and women received honorable discharges because of their honorable service and are now entitled to all the benefits and honor that come with an honorable discharge.

So now you want to degrade these honorable discharges by lumping their service in with others who failed to perform to standard, went AWOL, abused drugs, or were discharged with other-than-honorable discharges? Sorry, but they don’t deserve blanket amnesty. Those who feel they were unfairly targeted with other-than-honorable discharges should request consideration for correction of their military records. Every veterans service organization has trained service officers who can offer guidance and personal assistance.

PTSD is a real problem for many veterans, and they deserve quality care and compensation based on their level of impairment. But all decisions in one’s life cannot simply be excused by PTSD. 

Stanley Thornburgh
Columbia, South Carolina

CORRECTING A CORRECTION

Donald Current’s letter in the last issue stated that your article incorrectly claimed that there were HAWK missiles north of Da Nang. Sorry to disagree with you, Donald, but there most certainly were HAWKs north of Da Nang. 1st LAAM had Battery A on Hill 727, which is north of Da Nang on the road between Da Nang and Hue. The battery was located on top of the “mountain” right next to the Hai Van Pass.

I was stationed with H&S Battery, 1st LAAM in Da Nang in 1966-67 and made many trips up to A Battery. It had some beautiful scenery as you could look north toward Hue and south to the Da Nang Harbor. I worked on HAWK missiles while up there.

Keith Lindgren
Chesapeake, Virginia 

MY RETURN FLIGHT

I almost dismissed the article “Leaving on a Jet Plane” by Doug Dobransky as another Vietnam War story. Boy, was I wrong.

I thought this story must have been written by a guy on my flight home from Vietnam in September 1967. I was wrong again: The flight took place in 1968.

The story brought tears to my eyes and a lump in my throat as it was accurate down to every detail of my flight home. The pilot’s words were the same: “Leaving Vietnam air space” and “Look out the window to see the west coast of the United States.”

 The only difference in the story was that we went to Vietnam as a division by boat in 1966, but returned home on the Freedom Bird in 1967.

Paul Yeckel
Greensburg, Pennsylvania

SEAT RESERVATIONS

Please pass on to Doug Dobransky that I am one more guy who found his description of heading back home on a Freedom Bird to be an entertaining and poignant read.

I think it is possible that for many guys making those flights the sheer intensity of their in-country experiences—which they were so grateful to escape—would never be duplicated again in their lifetimes.  

Dobransky expertly captured emotions and sentiments shared by those of us at the time who felt fortunate to be able to make that trip back to The World. He brings back to life those great and happy homeward-bound memories.

He also sobers us up a bit, for we know many were denied, by a quirk of fate, the euphoria of that ride home. They were the buddies and teammates whose names never appeared on a jet plane passenger list, but instead have been engraved on another list—the list of honor found on The Wall.

This account reminds us once again that a lot of guys gave up their seat for someone like us. And that we must never forget them.

 Gary Tomczik
By Email

WORD FOR WORD

The only difference between Doug Dobransky and myself is that he left in January 1968 from Tan Son Nhut and I left that July from Bien Hoa.

His article brought back memories from forty-six years ago as if they were yesterday—word for word, sentence for sentence, paragraph for paragraph. Great article.

Ray Bianconi, Jr.
Jersey City, New Jersey

PASSING THE LADY

Thanks for “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” It’s a keeper. I had something of the same experience in 1961 and again in 1963 on troopships going to and returning from Germany.

We sailed out past the caissons of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. Eighteen months later, we passed the nearly completed bridge and the Lady once again.

There are things worth remembering.

Richard Gustafson
Ocala, Florida

DOUBTFUL BENEFIT

In his Veterans Benefits Committee Report in the March/April issue, John Margowski states: “We are asking the Secretary of each service to direct Discharge Review Boards to be compassionate and use the benefit of the doubt in favor of upgrading discharges.” 

This is a slap in the face to all veterans who served honorably, just like President Carter granting amnesty to the cowards who abandoned our country and went to Canada to avoid service. There may have been some errors in awarding a discharge, but to lower the standards for appeal to “benefit of the doubt”? Hell no: Show some concrete proof and make it an extremely rare occurrence.

I would hope any appeal would consider what the majority of servicemen and women have gone through to receive an honorable discharge and not dilute that significance by upgrading less-than-honorable discharges without solid and substantial evidence to support the change.

Milo Overstreet
By Email

THROWING THEM ASIDE

A recent AP article claimed that tens of thousands of troops were being discharged due to misconduct in the military. For more than ten years we’ve asked our volunteer armed forces to spend multiple tours in what is now known to be at least one false war due to faulty intel. Then our so-called leaders determine that they need to weed out questionable characters. After being used, these troops are being thrown to the side of the road like litter.

Multiple deployments, retaining standards, competence, and character are all mentioned in the article, but not PTSD. Why is that? It’s apparent to this veteran that those 100,000 soldiers let go under less-than-honorable discharges will not be eligible for VA benefits or post-service medical service, and therein lies the issue.

I served honorably in the USMC, and I am aware that there were some shitbirds. But is it fair and correct to discharge troops due to myriad infractions from missed appointments to DUI and drugs without taking into account the commitment, competence, and durability demonstrated by them?

Are we as a nation going to continue to expend our national treasure acting as the global sheriff or maintaining an empire?

John W. Smith
Colorado Springs, Colorado