Thoughts About War

Some of your thoughts on WWII (quote from e-mail from Ouida to class): "I often wonder about my great interest in WWII. Is it because there was so much talk and so many images around us about WWII while we lived our babyhood and early childhood? Is it because the war took from us our fathers, uncles and grandfathers for such a long time or forever? Is it because this war shaped so much the world we were born into and our parents who raised us?"

Some of my thoughts: I agree with you on all of your points about WWII. I think the WAR had a big impact on all of us as children. I remember my Mother having a big Atlas and she would try to keep up with where my Uncle was during the War. Uncle Clarence was in one of the Armored Divisions that fought during the Battle of the Bulge. As a result of studying the maps in that Atlas when I was 3 and 4 years old I always just about made an A on every Geography test I ever had at South Side Elementary.

My uncle was one of my big heroes. When he returned from the war he gave me some of his medals and patches and I showed them off to all my buddies. (I think from then on I wanted to be in the armed forces). Of course I lost the patches and wish I had them today.

My uncle did not talk much about the war but did tell me a couple of stories about the horrors of the war. One really stuck with me. He told me when the Germans fired the 88s (artillery rounds) at his half track that the hair on the back of his head stood up.

When I experienced my first artillery and mortar attacks at Dong Ha (Vietnam in 1968) my hair stood on end and my heart was in my throat. I thought I had been scared before but nothing ever came close to that! And I vividly remembered my uncle's story and knew he was flat telling the truth. This will sound corny but I thought at that time about our old "Wildcat Spirit" and no way in hell were those damn Commie punks going to scare me so I would not fight back. I pulled myself together and after surviving those first hours I was always scared but kept under control (I think my animal instincts really took over). Anyway, I was able to function and work with the team to help control numerous air strikes against the enemy who had become to me just a bunch of wild animals.

I had nightmares about my war experiences off an on for a few years before I finally got over it. However, I will never fully forget some of it and of course there is always stuff on TV about it. I really get mad when I think about the traitor Jane Fonda and how the press and Walter Cronkite and the liberal hippie punks said we lost the war when I know better. The Marines clobbered the enemy at Hue. We gave the Marines close air support on the DMZ and especially around Khe Sahn and Dong Ha. At Dong Ha (24 miles east of Khe Sahn) during that Spring Offensive we lost around 200 mostly Marines. I was told that between the Marine grunts and USAF, Marine, and Navy air strikes our forces killed an estimated 2,000 of the enemy (I think it was more, the B-52 strikes I witnessed a few miles out from us looked like the end of the world). Anyway, I know as a result Charlie (NVA) retreated across the DMZ (8 miles away) into North Vietnam.

During one day of the 1968 battle at Dong Ha, we were shocked when we heard LBJ's speech saying he would not run again. And he said that they had signed an agreement with the Commies in Paris that we would not run air strikes on the North above the 17th parallel. He added that the enemy would not shell our units on the DMZ. Well, they must have sent that message to Charlie by canoe because on that overcast day we were shelled for about 6 hours which was one of the more intensive attacks.

My experiences were bad but nothing to compare to the much greater HORROR those men on D-DAY had to endure. My final thought is that Americans can and should honor those who died for our country by supporting our troops today and to ensure the traditional core values that have made America the greatest nation on earth will endure.