I was very pleased to see the excerpt from Marc Leepson’s book, The Unlikely War Hero, in The VVA Veteran about Doug Hegdahl. It is high time that this hero got national attention for his courage and discipline, particularly as a POW in North Vietnam.

Yes, it’s an “unlikely story,” but the biggest story is that Doug is an unsung hero for his courage and cleverness as a captive and his survival in shark-infested waters as he applied many life-saving tricks that we were taught in boot camp. It was Doug who, in a Hanoi prison, taught me the now-famous tap code that Smitty Harris had introduced. I had been completely isolated and in solitary confinement for nine months before being moved into a cell next to Doug. He immediately tried to establish contact with me by tapping on the wall. When I tapped back with a random serious of taps to indicate that I did not understand him, over the next few days he laboriously taught me the code.

I then got to know this stalwart fellow and regaled in laughter as to how he had convinced our captors that he was an ignoramus. This clever guise allowed him to be let loose in the prison compound to sweep the grounds, which he did in code to our mates in nearby cells. Thus, he could easily pass camp news quickly to all of us.

Your story tells many more of his pranks which I and our mates could recite by the dozen. One of my favorites is that he used his liberty to go around the camp sweeping the grounds to gather a handful or two of dirt to put in the camp trucks’ fuel tanks.

Doug is unsung, because he has never been awarded a tangible sign of his remarkable performance in the form of a military decoration. A number of us have submitted Doug for various decorations, including the Silver Star and Bronze Star medals.

Indeed, this young sailor refused an early release even while one of his cellmates was writing poems to Ho in hopes of an early release, which he got. But as your story relates, his encyclopedic memory of hundreds of our names not only was a relief to our families but also prevented the communists from “disappearing” those of us whose names had not been released.

We, his fellow former POWs, offered Doug our strongest personal support and friendship then and up to this day. For some years he attended our wonderful reunions. Sadly, Doug has not been in touch with any of us recently in spite of many attempts to bring him back into the fold of our friendship and close-knit brotherhood.

I hope that this story will motivate many others to reach out to our friend and thank him, as we have done so many times, for his courage and honorable service.

Tom Moe
via email

Editor’s note: Retired Air Force Col. Tom Moe flew 85 combat missions in Vietnam as an F-4 Phantom II pilot. He was forced to eject over North Vietnam on January 16, 1968, eluded capture for three days, and then was held in the Hanoi Hilton until March 14, 1973, when he was released during Operation Homecoming.

Thank you, Marc Leepson, for the fascinating article on Doug Hegdahl in the last issue.

As an in-country sailor, I heard about an enlisted sailor who was at the Hanoi Hilton but never knew anything about him. Now I know.

Hank Hedden
via email

I found your book review of Geoffry Wawro’s The Vietnam War in the last issue very interesting. It looks like this book is worth reading, unlike many others on the Vietnam War.

Your article said Wawro was a professor at North Texas University. The name of the school is actually University of North Texas. It’s in Denton, Texas.

I’m a member of Chapter 920 in Denton, where UNT is located. It’s a very minor error in the name, but I thought I’d point it out.

Kurt Hyde
via email

Good to see the new monument for Marine CAP Teams mentioned in the November/December issue. Well deserved. I was an infantry platoon leader with the Americal Division along the coastal plains of Southern I Corps and interfaced with CAP teams on occasion. The CAP teams were the correct approach to Pacification, versus the Strategic Hamlet Program, which took people away from their ancestral hamlets, only to see them sneak back to their homes whenever possible.

The CAP teams ensured security for the people in the hamlets and trained local militias who were effective when working with a squad of Marines. This was the true version of winning hearts and minds.

Marine General Lew Walt, who was in charge of the I Corps tactical area, developed that approach. Too bad Westmoreland wasn’t listening. Walt believed that when the NVA came out of the mountains to attack the coastal plains, he would have them on his terms and beat the hell out of them. When Westmoreland finally left and Abrams took over, he called on the Army to follow the same process as the CAP teams (which we did), but it was too little, too late.

Dave Taylor
via email

The November/December issue features a message from President Jack McManus discussing VVA’s planned dissolution. We have been hearing about this for the last few years and now must reckon with a situation for which we only have ourselves to blame, having taken the position to limit membership to Vietnam War veterans. The new generation of veterans has not stepped up to fill the void, and now all legacy veterans organizations are seeing fewer new members.

Jack asked in his message if our legacy will be “that we did a good job turning out the lights.” To this, I say a resounding “No.”

Chapter 803 lives our legacy every day. We support veterans and our local community with contributions to food banks and kitchens. We support local charities helping families provide Christmas for their children. We work with the area Children’s Miracle Network, which helps children with severe medical issues. We have Honor and Color Guards that provide final Military Honors to veterans across our county and in Pennsylvania.

We maintain and support our own Vietnam War Museum, which was featured in The VVA Veteran last year. This is a place where Vietnam War veterans feel safe, and also is a destination for area schools to bring new generations of students to learn from those of us who served.

Dissolve if we must, but know that our legacy will live on here in Elmira, New York. We will continue to foster relationships with our community; we will continue to teach and share our knowledge with the next generation; and we will continue to give back to our country.

This is the legacy we will leave behind, not what a good job we did turning out the lights.

Larry Sherman
Elmira, New York

Larry Sherman is the president of Elmira, New York, Chapter 803

Thank you for allowing this Marine veteran the opportunity to forward something I believe should be brought up at this year’s Convention: dementia. Here’s why: Some time back, a Marine veteran from Massachusetts in his early 40’s got lost while driving a fire rig. The man next to him took over the wheel and it was later confirmed that the Marine was a two-tour Vietnam veteran who had early dementia.

Let’s hope that the VVA officers will work to get benefits for this early-on medical issue, which I believe is directly connected to duty in the Vietnam War.

Gene T. Spanos
via email

In response to the “Unfriendly Skies” letter in the September/October 2024 issue, stating no books had been written by B-52 bomber crews about the Vietnam War, I would like to mention two very good ones.

The first, The 11 Days of Christmas by Marshall L. Mitchel III, is a complete account of every night’s Operation Linebacker II missions written by the flight crews. It details every sortie from Anderson AFB in Guam and U-Tapao [Royal Thai Navy Airfield] with targets, results, number of SAMs fired, and bombers lost.

I was a Defensive Fire Control mechanic stationed at U-Tapao at the time. Up until then, the rear gun turret had never actually been used in combat against an enemy plane, but during Operation Linebacker II there were two confirmed MIG kills by B-52 gunners.

The second one happened on December 24, 1972. The gunner was Airman 1st Class Albert C. Moore, who we called a baby gunner because he was a two-striper and only 18 or 19. I de-briefed him when he returned after that night’s mission. What I remember most was how calm he was. He explained that the DFC system worked perfectly, he saw the target, the turret locked on, he fired a couple of bursts, and the target disappeared.

The other excellent book is Flying from the Black Hole, written by a B-52 black hole navigator Robert O. Harder. It was called the black hole because the navigator and bomb navigator were located in a compartment below the pilot with no windows.

Ed Albanetti
via email

In the most recent issue, Vietnam veteran Army aviator Tom Morrissey expressed wonderment at what kept his Huey in the air. The answer is very simple. It’s called the engine.

Here’s how it works: The engine in a helicopter has two functions—to make noise and to make vibrations. The earth really doesn’t like noise or vibrations. So, when the engine makes enough noise and vibrates, the earth says, “Get away from me,” and the helicopter rises into the air.

This works fine, until the engine quits. When the noise and vibrations stop, the earth says, “You can come back now,” and down it comes. It’s that simple.

Guy E. Miller
via email

In reference to your article. “A Gold Standard” on PTSD and Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories in the last issue, I could not disagree more.

I have suffered terribly in the past from PTSD, and over the years have been able to manage it by controlling where I go. I still try my best to avoid large crowds and certain people.

Having a counselor “guide this veteran in directly facing trauma-fueled memories” would cause me more sleepless nights and restless days.

Roger L. Kopf
via email

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