Letters

The “A Few Good Women” series was a wonderful, eye-opening revelation for this artillery guy who never saw a female soldier except when I was arriving and departing Vietnam. Since reading these great stories, I have read Home Before Morning and can appreciate what many of these women went through. It was one the most gut-wrenching books of the forty on Vietnam I have read. Thank you for bringing these stories to us.

Mike Kerber
Normal, Illinois

It was great joy to see the coverage of those women who served yet still have not received as much as they deserve. Especially seeing Lynda Van Devanter—a true hero and advocate for all veterans. Lynda was a hard charger and was never afraid to stand up for us all. 

Every time I see Glenna Goodacre’s statue I think of Lynda, Diane Evans, and Lily Adams—wonderful women who never gave up working hard to represent those who served in caring for us all. Nursing in Vietnam set the stage for all the advancements in the profession that were to come. Military nurses today stand on their shoulders and continue to offer more of themselves than anyone can ever imagine. 

Their compassion, caring, and advocating for our cause never stopped with their service. They are truly heroes and should be honored for all they gave every day of their service and even today as they mentor others to follow in their footsteps.

From her days as a nurse in Vietnam, beginning to engage women in the VVA, and then on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, until her dying day, Lynda never quit. I remember being there as they took the picture of her and others on that day on The Mall when we were all waiting to march down Pennsylvania Ave.

She never dreamed about her legacy, only focusing on what she felt was right for women who had served. Perhaps there is a current women veteran out there who will read her book, learn from her, and take up the fight to make things better for those who gave everything they could to care for us. 

Semper Fi is how they live their lives.

Dr. Ken Harbert
By Email

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about A Few Good Women in the January/February issue. I could comment on several, but let’s stick with Sara McVicker:

Sara: I say put the Vietnam Veteran sticker back on; you definitely earned it. If someone makes an error, correct them so that they think before speaking the next time. When I approach a car with a sticker, I ask who the veteran was for just the reasons that you mentioned. Having mortars land next to your hospital sounds like combat to me. If you were not in combat, then I wasn’t either (Civil Affairs unit engineer, then the admin officer for an engineer battalion at Long Binh).

Howland Davis
Akron, Ohio

Thanks for the package “A Few Good Women” in the January/February issue. I had just one problem with the stories. It was, specifically, with Cynthia Copple’s piece on Ann Bryan, which was—let’s be honest—really about Cynthia Copple herself. 

I have to object to her characterization of those media other than her own Overseas Weekly, and specifically to Stars and Stripes, as basically tools of the U.S. military. First, she incorrectly calls Stars and Stripes an Army publication; it is a DoD publication that serves members of all branches of the military equally. And she says, again incorrectly, that articles in S&S were “spoon-fed by information officers.” While Copple’s paper focused on “narrative journalism” that didn’t rely on tracking the daily progress of the war, most media were there, first, to give that daily accounting.

That doesn’t mean we were fed information but, yes, most of us were represented at the daily news briefings in Saigon. At the same time, we went beyond that. Some of the S&S reporting was so aggressive, in fact, that I remember hearing that someone in the Pentagon—I wish I knew who—referred to the paper as the Hanoi Herald. 

During my year (1968-69) in Vietnam as a reporter for Stripes, I filed stories from the Delta to I Corps, some of them about the fighting and others of human interest. Other reporters and photographers on the staff did the same. One was a young man named Paul D. Savanuck. I never met him. I wish I had. He replaced me when I left Vietnam and was killed while on an assignment for Stars and Stripes just two weeks later.

Roger Neumann
Nampa, Idaho

Thanks for publishing in the last issue three letters regarding some of the American non-combat deaths of the Vietnam War, a topic I have been researching since before 2012. As noted in the letters, DoD and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund continue to deny all requests to add to The Wall the names of Americans accidentally killed outside of the established Vietnam War combat zone. Although assigned responsibility to determine which names get engraved on The Wall, those organizations have failed the American public, veterans and non-veterans alike.

On one hand, they continue to deny the names of seventy-four sailors from the U.S.S. Frank E. Evans (DD-754) to be added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. After having served time on the gun-line up and down the coast of North Vietnam and South Vietnam during Operation Daring Rebel, the Evans was ordered to participate in Sea Spirit, a SEATO exercise in the South China Sea. In the early morning hours of June 3, 1969, while off the coast of Spratly Island, the Royal Australian Navy aircraft carrier H.M.S. Melbourne (R-21) accidentally rammed the Evans, tore off the front end of the ship, and killed seventy-four sailors.

On the other hand, these organizations approved adding the names of fifty-nine sailors and Marines who were accidentally killed on August 24, 1965, when a Marine Corps KC-130F Hercules crashed in Hong Kong Bay with a planeload of American military personnel on a return R&R flight back to the war in South Vietnam.

Both accidents occurred outside the government’s established Vietnam War combat zone, yet one group is excluded and the other included on The Wall. Why?

Helios Hernandez’s letter is on target regarding the Navy’s separation between “combat” and “operational” losses aboard ships inside and outside of the established combat zone. A perfect example is seen in Rene J. Francillon’s 1988 book, Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club: U.S. Carrier Operations off Vietnam, in which operational losses are given a less-detailed accounting than combat losses for all aircraft carrier cruises during the Vietnam War.

The accident mentioned in Hernandez’s letter aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise (CVAN-65) occurred on January 15, 1969. While operating off the coast of Hawaii in preparation for deployment to the Vietnam War, the Enterprise was being escorted by the destroyers U.S.S. Benjamin Stoddert (DDG-22) and U.S.S. Rogers (DD-876). As deck activities were focused on launching aircraft, an MK-32 Zuni rocket loaded on a parked F-4 Phantom was accidentally overheated by the exhaust from a MD3A No. 6 “huffer,” which caused the rocket to explode and instantly kill its driver, Airman John R. Webster, the first of twenty-eight who died that day.

The pressure wave from the initial explosion was felt throughout the ship. Within seconds, with more than thirty 500-pound bombs and forty Zuni rockets hanging from the wings of the parked fighter jets on the flight deck now awash in jet fuel, a series of explosions and fires created a living hell on the top deck and in the floors below. The crew—led by the ship’s skipper, Vice Adm. Kent Lee—began a fight for their lives and that of the ship. Hours later, when the fires were finally put out and the explosions silenced, 343 Navy personnel had been injured and 28 killed.

DoD reports 10,662 American military personnel accidentally killed during the Vietnam War. By my count—after almost seven years of detailed research—I’ve identified 12,079 accidental deaths, and I believe that number will increase as my research continues.

It is time and correct for the names of the men from the U.S.S. Evans, the U.S.S. Enterprise, and for all of the other non-combat deaths of the Vietnam War not yet recognized who were directly related to the war—regardless of being in or out of the established combat zone—to be added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The documentation is there to support these additions. To do so—finally—would be the proper way to bring full honor to the sacrifice of those accidentally killed during the Vietnam War, no matter the cause or location. The fact that they were clearly associated with the war should be enough to confirm adding their names to The Wall.

Joseph Montoya
Culver City, California

Letters to the Editor in the last issue brought back many memories of my time in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. I did two tours in Vietnam with the Navy. The first was onboard the U.S.S. Prichett (DD-561), a Fletcher Class Destroyer. I joined in 1966 and was discharged in 1970. For decades, few recognized the action the Navy saw during the war. Those roles are seldom mentioned or recognized, even today.

I arrived in Vietnam in time for the Tet Offensive and spent forty-eight days on the firing line during the Battle of Phan Thiet. The ship was called on eighty-nine times for various missions. For much of that time the crew worked four hours on and four hours off. As a radar man, my duty station was the Combat Room, where I often communicated with spotters and forward observers when they called for fire. The ship worked on the same map the spotters had. We used an x/y grid to assure accuracy.

The ship was equipped with four 5” gun turrets, two aft and two forward, as well as 3” guns and .55 cal. machine guns, and fired night and day during the battle. A total of 7,281 rounds of ammunition were fired. Our longest mission was on February 27-28 and lasted nearly nine hours.

We were in water for sixty-four days and all ammo replenishment was brought by helo and loaded on ship manually by all available hands. I believe every tenth round was WP. My bunk was underneath the aft 5” guns, which is the main reason I stay indoors during the 4th of July.

During the battle the Prichett supported the Third Marine Div., 1st Cav, 9th Army (Republic of Korea), 3rd Regiment, 506 Infantry, 36th Ranger Battalion, and a Navy SEAL Team. Our time spent fighting the battle was from February 20 to March 10.

The Prichett destroyed or damaged 40 bunkers, 11 fortifications, over 180 structures, 24 waterborne supply craft, piers, river barricades, VC command posts, a bridge, many meters of trails, and cultivated fields. The ship ran aground in brown water on its last tour and is on the Agent Orange exposure list. I participated in eight campaigns during my time on board.

When the ship returned to the U.S., I stayed in the area aboard a DLG, earning my E-5 stripes. During my second tour I controlled aircraft and helos for search and rescue.

Reading the letters about the U.S.S. Evans brought so much back to mind—things I seldom spoke of for the past fifty years. I am 71 now and am proud of my service in Vietnam. I know little will be mentioned in history regarding the U.S. Navy, but I know what we did.

Ted Connolly
Bayonne, New Jersey

I have just finished reading Max Hastings’ book, Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy. I read Marc Leepson’s review in the November/ December issue, but there are good things to take from Hastings’ book.

First, it is a good and thorough description of the two conflicts in Vietnam involving France and the United States from 1945-75. It is readable by the general public.

Second, the book stresses throughout what we knew but what is not set forth in many books about the Vietnam wars: Whatever we felt about the government of South Vietnam—incompetent, corrupt, etc.—the North Vietnam government was just as bad, if not worse. It was a brutal, ruthless, Soviet-style communist government that ruled for the most part by intimidation and terror. Hastings explains this clearly. Some will accept his belief that neither side deserved to win that war.

Third, because North Vietnamese documents are now available and Hastings was able to interview soldiers from North Vietnam, the NLF, South Vietnam, Australia, the U.S., and even some Russians, he gives a view into how combat veterans on both sides viewed their superiors, the operations in which they took part, and the orders they received. Hastings explains that North Vietnamese and NLF veterans were just as disaffected with their superiors and the conditions under which they fought as were the veterans of the U.S. and South Vietnam. He gives insight into how all the combatants viewed their situations. Thus we know, as all veterans must already know, that the savagery and danger of war are inflicted upon all veterans no matter on which side they fought. Perhaps that explains the interest in VVA’s Veterans Initiative.

Finally, I have a personal reason for finding this book engaging. Hastings describes an incident that occurred in April 1967 involving two planes off the carrier U.S.S. Ticonderoga. My brother, Leonard F. DeNardo, CDR, USNR, Ret., was the young LTJG navigator on the KA-3 airborne tanker described in that incident.

Do not disregard this book just because it does not accurately describe the danger and effects of Agent Orange or does not appreciate the living conditions under which base camp personnel like myself operated. I was an Assistant Staff Judge Advocate with the Fourth Infantry Division in Pleiku and An Khe from May 1969-70.

James P. DeNardo
Evanston, Illinois

I read “The Dangers of Choice” by Pete Peterson and staff with great interest. I have been exposed to these dangers several times, and each time VA staff appeared to be a part of the scam.

I recently received my 100 percent disability rating and became eligible for VA dental care. On my first visit to the VA in Cape Coral, Florida, I was given an X-ray, and then told that I had to have all my teeth extracted and implants put in. When I asked why, I was told that I had old fillings in most of my teeth. I said I only wanted the wisdom tooth on the lower left side taken out since it was deteriorating and causing me discomfort.

I was referred to the Choice Program and sent to an oral surgery clinic. I got into an argument with the staff at this clinic when I refused to let them take out more than the one tooth. They actually followed me to my car and said that if I changed my mind, it was already approved and the VA would pay for it.

For this to happen, there had to be collusion between VA staff and these clinics, and I am sure some kind of kickback. Greed in humans is a weakness since the beginning of time.

Richard L. Repasky
Cape Coral, Florida

Since the Choice Program was enacted I have always received the most competent care. The concerns, of course, are quality of care and the loss of VA facilities. The individual veteran must determine whether the care was adequate.

Additionally, what distance must be traveled for a veteran to receive care? In my region of the country I would travel at least three hours to receive care at a VA hospital. Summer travel is bad enough, but winter travel can be much worse.

Many things must be considered over time; this will not happen overnight. What is important is that the veteran is receiving the proper care.

Some claim Congress sooner or later will find the cost unsustainable. Maybe we should quit serving and going to war. That would provide a cure for veterans needing to see VA doctors. Congress finds the money for the most mundane programs. They should not stop funding programs for veterans.

My care through my CBOC and the Choice Program has been outstanding.

Paul M. Wandrie, Sr.
St. Ignace, Michigan

I have wondered over the last couple decades if the government will in any way recognize the veterans who served from 1983-85. In 1983 more than 250 were killed by a suicide truck bomber at the Marine Barracks in Beirut. In December 1985 nearly 250 soldiers died in a plane crash while returning from peace-keeping duty in the Sinai.

All of these service members died in service to their country. Each was a true American who stepped up and raised a right hand to defend the U.S.A.

Isn’t it about time that service members of that period be honored with something other than a Cold War Certificate? They should be honored with the National Defense Service Medal and be recognized as veterans, not just peacetime service members.

Larry E. Burke
Rosharon, Texas