As a relatively new life member of VVA, I was looking forward to my first copy of The VVA Veteran. When the January/February issue arrived, I read it cover to cover. Much to my surprise and delight, the “Parting Shot” pictured an unidentified and recently returned POW in February 1973 looking to buy some chocolates for his sweetheart.

That POW was U.S. Navy Lt. Roger G. Lerseth, a bombardier/navigator assigned to Attack Squadron Seventy-Five (VA-75) flying an A-6 Intruder embarked on the U.S.S. Saratoga. Roger and his pilot, Lt. Cmdr. Donald F. Lindland, were shot down by a surface-to-air missile on September 6, 1972, during a large, coordinated strike on North Vietnam. Roger was repatriated from the Hanoi Hilton on February 13, 1973, and after an extensive rehabilitation process, returned to flying the Intruder. After several more operational tours, he completed his career at the Naval War College. He retired in 1994. The remains of Don Lindland were returned for burial in 1983.

Roger was a terrific naval officer—whip smart, with a keen sense of humor and a smile for all. I was privileged to know Roger and Don, and to serve in VA-75 on that Western Pacific cruise. There was a book written about that cruise by Carol Reardon, Launch the Intruders: A Naval Attack Squadron in the Vietnam War, 1972.

Thank you for featuring Roger in the magazine.

Bill Martin
via email

Editor's Note: We’re grateful to Bill Martin for identifying Roger Lerseth. We have learned that he died on March 27, 2004, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His wife of 23 years, U.S. Navy Capt. Christine Anne Picchi, died on April 2, 2015, and is buried next to him at Arlington.

Gary Lee Wilson, the son of a decorated Vietnam War veteran who died in 2008, has lived with spina bifida due to his dad’s exposure to Agent Orange in the war. Disabled at a level III with spina bifida, Gary, who is in his fifties, contacted VVA for help. Even though he was denied multiple times, Gary kept the faith and stayed the course.

In August, due to VVA’s continuous and steady advocacy on his behalf, and the persistence, patience, and blessing of President Jack McManus and the VVA Board of Directors for approving our continued travel to Denver to advocate on Gary’s behalf, we prevailed and won this 14-plus-year-old case.

We based the claim on the fact that the VA is obligated to pay a monthly allowance to, or for, a child born with spina bifida who is the natural child of an in-country Vietnam War veteran, a veteran with service in the eligible offshore waters of Vietnam, or a veteran with covered service in Korea or Thailand.

I explained to Gary that just because we were able to hold the VBA accountable for the past denials, the case isn’t over. He is entitled to being paid retroactively for all his healthcare back to his effective date.

I offer a job well done to the great and persistent team of VVA Government Relations staffers, Service Officers, Board members, Officers, and attorneys who made this happen.

Marc McCabe
via email

As always, it seems, I read the current Veteran the day it arrives. It has been a great publication over the years and much appreciated. When I was working, I taught several university literature classes devoted to the works that emerged from the war from both sides. So, I was very appreciative of the letters in the last issue.

Tom Crowley and Dale Anderson’s assessments of the novel The Women are spot-on. It is a soap opera that happens to be set during the war. And their recommendation of Lynda Van Devanter’s Home Before Morning is also spot-on. I would also like to recommend a documentary from 1993 about women in the war that never failed to catch my students: Elizabeth Bouiss’ No Time for Tears.

I also should say that the reviews in The Veteran have helped me immensely over the years to locate new works worth sharing with students, so thank you, Marc Leepson. And as an added recommendation, your review of Against All Tides about the race riot on the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk in 1972 was a good assessment of the first book to do an accurate reading of the event. I was in VF-213 on the ship that year. It was quite a ride.

Finally, I look forward to the series on Vietnam in media. Just to tease a closer reading, though, I’ll note that at the end of The Green Berets, the Duke and his tiny Tonto seem to be watching the sun set in the east, perhaps a critique of the whole film, and Willard is going upriver, not down, in Coppola’s film, making it echo Conrad’s novel. It’s always easy to nitpick, I know.

John Purdy
via email

In his article in the July/August issue, Trevor Strunk wrote that The Green Berets was the only American movie made during the Vietnam War.

On the contrary, in 1964, Marshall Thompson’s production company, Kingman Productions, produced A Yank in Viet-Nam, released February 5, 1964, filmed entirely in Vietnam. It was directed by and starred Marshall Thompson as a Marine Corps Major shot down over the jungle and how he returns to his lines.

I saw this about October 1968 at RTR Parris Island. I guess Marshall Thompson was ahead of his time.

CD Chamberlin
via email

I look forward to reading Professor VanDeMark’s book, Kent State, reviewed in the July/August issue. I remember May 4, 1970, not only because of Kent State, but also because it was the day that I, a draftee, raised my right hand and joined the U.S. Army. A bunch of us got onto Cleveland’s Rapid Transit light rail and headed off to the airport en route to Fort Campbell. The airport was a madhouse with escaping Kent State students trying to get home.

We, the veterans of the Vietnam War generation, have lessons to share from those days:

There needs to be a fair, universal draft—both men and women should have the opportunity to serve this great nation. The National Guard and Reserves need to be serious contingency forces—not a poorly trained refuge for those with family influence. Keep politics and politicians far away from the military.

Carl Singer
Passaic, New Jersey

In the May/June issue you had a review of the biography of our National Chaplain, Fr. Phil Salois. I immediately bought a copy and read it. What a life he has lived.

I can’t thank Fr. Phil enough for all he’s done for VVA and for all veterans he’s served over the years. He lives our founding principle, “Never Again Will One Generation of Veterans Abandon Another.”

Chaplain Terry D. Moné
via email

I am a retired Air Force veteran with over 70 combat missions in B-52s during my two tours in Southeast Asia. Many crew dogs had in excess of 300 missions. I have yet to read any histories of the air war in Vietnam that credit the bomber crews for their role in bringing an end to the war and the return of our POWs. I would love to read a true story of the bomber crews’ contributions to the war that wasn’t written from a fighter jock’s dismissive perspective.

At the time of the Linebacker II missions (December 18-31, 1972), North Vietnam had walked away from the Paris Peace Talks. During the 12 days of bombing, we went from flying into numerous SAMs and fighters to complete control of the skies. The cost was high, with the loss of 13 bombers in one night due to the planners’ incompetence and the North’s saturation of the skies over Hanoi with hundreds of SAMs. Hanoi was the most heavily protected city in the world at this time.

The North hadn’t experienced the wrath of a full-scale aerial bombardment. They returned to Paris to sue for peace in January 1973, with our POWs being returned the next month.

None of my comments should be construed as denigrating the courage of the Navy fighter pilots or any other participant in these missions. Everyone who was there or supported the missions has every right to be proud of their part in ending the war and bringing our boys home.

Richard Kimbler
via email

I enjoy reading my copy of The VVA Veteran. The articles are well-written and thought-provoking. My issue is with the items offered for sale. They seem to be aimed at the men and women who were boots on the ground. This is as it should be.

That being said, there are veterans who were stationed in other theaters. Uncle Sam sent me to Ramstein Air Base, West Germany. There are very few items that commemorate us vets and our service. We are just as proud to have served this great country, and had we been dealt another hand, we could have been there in Vietnam.

I realize The VVA Veteran probably has little influence when it comes to the sale of these items. However, those companies that supply these items—are you listening?

I thank you and please keep up the good work for all of us veterans.

Richard Hensley
Hendersonville, N.C.

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