George Consuegra's interview for the Veterans History Project at Atlanta History Center

today's June 14 2014 were at the Atlanta History Center in Atlanta Georgia my name is Joe Bruckner I'm a volunteer with the Atlanta History Center and with me today is Toni Hilliard who is also a volunteer with the Atlanta History Center and zu Suvarov who is the senior archivist with the History Center we're honored today to have with us mr. George Consuegra a veteran of the US Army and a veteran of the war in Vietnam who has agreed to come in here and tell us his story in connection with the Library of Congress veterans history project and we're particularly honored to have George's wife cookie here and we appreciate you coming and glad you're going to be part of this I could call mr. Consuegra George because we were classmates in college so it's a sort of a special honor for me to have you here and be able to talk to you about your experiences could you give us your full name and your date of birth sure Joe but before I get into that I first want to thank give you my appreciation for all that the than a city of a lot of the history museum has done to put together this veterans legacy project it means a lot to me and I want to thank sue for for being a part of it Joe yourself for being a volunteer and Tony for what you do all the time you put into it and I really appreciate I really appreciate it it's an honor to be here and a privilege I I sincerely wish that my father who was a World War two veteran infantry was here could have done this and that's my regret because he had a lot of stories to tell well we appreciate those comments and this program would be nothing without the people like you who come and tell their stories but George Consuegra I was born in Havana Cuba and night October 6 1944 ok came to Miami Florida and I guess when I was about 3 or 4 years old and I was raised in Miami Florida okay what is your current address my current address is 4470 Glengarry drive and atlanta 303 for to tell us a little bit more about your upbringing I was blessed I moved to Miami when I was 3 or 4 years old we I was raising a large loving Cuban family they were gosh there were three boys all younger than myself one girl and two strays my parents loved kids they loved raising the family there was a typical Cuban family clannish they just loved they lived for their family the love just permeated neighborhood wise I was I was near the Orange Bowl and frankly we lived in a middle-income to lower-income type neighborhood and frankly we were we were poor but we didn't realize it because the love permeated the family and just their love for the family and I was very fortunate because I was raised in a Cuban household where we always my parents were very sociable we had relatives from her friends from Cuba or relatives from Cuba Colombia Venezuela different countries in South America so I had the Cuban culture inside the house learning to speak and write to Spanish fluently then when I went outside the house I was a gringo I was American I was American but I was very fortunate my father loved the family he's very patriotic because I mentioned he's a World War two veteran and several times I would be riding along in the car and we have some guests with us I'll never forget these experiences several times I'd be in the backseat my father be driving somewhere Miami Beach or what have you then sometimes he's Hispanic whatever country it was when we would criticize the United States well several times he would just pull the car over the side of the road stop the car and look at the individual eyeball-to-eyeball and just chewed their tail up and down if you don't like it here so and so you think it's better in Cuba Venezuela Colombia go back silence and they didn't go back well I remember that and and I was also very fortunate and I went to the same elementary school for six years the same junior high school for three years the same high school for three years same address we didn't move a very client issue and my up criminy bringing up I started working some 11 years old when I was 11 years old starting as a newspaper carrier for the Miami News the the afternoon newspaper graduated about 450 new strip papers by the time I was a senior in high school and then between the summers would have more time I would work as a bag dollar as a bag boy winn-dixie a quick check and also to place go laser lumber made a lot of money for a teenager didn't realize it at the time but one thing that I remember about my father was a guy patriarch the more I think about it the more I realized that he was really a neat person he raised our family and then he raised a family of my of my uncle three other kids they were divorced he raised both families and I always remember him he was always helping other people but the thing that was fascinating was he would gather there like a little barn in the living room there and even have a drink drinks a little insane Shane tree with other World War two veterans and I was fascinated by his tales about where he was and Italy and Anzio and one think I've seen on what he did he talked about the German 88's now yet they were really precise and everything I was fascinated by that I know he was he'd landed in North Africa and then he went to Italy it was a de beachhead there lanzi oh I don't know if he participated in Monte Cassino or not but I know he was in that area in the end in Rome I think On June 6 along with General Clark so my high school years they just want to blur just like everybody else's that played varsity track varsity football that's what kept me out of trouble between that and working there just flew by it's why not very happy up breaking never went hungry always well always closed I wouldn't say well clothed but we had to close my bags and what did you do after Hasker after high school I went in this little interesting story I keep it short I was mentored by Murray Evans class of 59 to Sybil he was my newspaper manager at the Miami Herald I delivered newspapers for him at the district and he encouraged me to go to the citadel only school that I applied to and then Murray Evans helped me to get a loan because we were didn't have the money he encouraged me to get get alone I did get the loan and what intrigued me about the civil was it enabled me to go either way either in the military or as a civilian said well you know I don't know what I'm going to do everything but it sounds challenging and it's a big challenge to me so that's why I decided to go and then I assume you went into the service as an officer out of the Citadel yes my journey to Vietnam starts at this interval it was a tough freshman year just like anybody else but you absolutely right Joe I was I entered the civil and in my junior year I accepted a contract accepted a contract did you win the US Army and I thought that was the greatest thing in the world it's $40 a month that's a lot of money so I was happy but I remember you and I remember either my sophomore junior year we started hearing echo taps before we supposed to retire and go to bed and everything every time you heard that comm taps it would be a sitter or graduate to it then ki a and Vietnam so the war came closer and closer and if the echo taps increased throughout the years and so forth that I was there and then I was very fortunate because at the sideral or junior year we would go out to Fort we've got a Fort Jackson with military officers are tactical officers most of them had returned from Vietnam they were young aggressive and they're I think they're most of her career persons and career people and they always managed to pick the the worst weekends in March weather-wise it was cold it was gloomy rainy so they take us up there teaches the basic infantry tactics of orienteering map reading patrolling setting up ambushes and so forth those basic basic infantry training the other thing that we didn't do we didn't we didn't have live firing it on those weekends but we'd come back to the barracks pecten social tired is they they sleep deprivation was a people that was always a constant did that for several times in several weekends it was always in March the worst month to give up the booties and then I think my junior year we did some of that I didn't go to summer camp my junior year I went to my after my senior year my junior I worked and my senior year my senior year I graduated and I I went to summer camp at Fort Bragg North Carolina and what I remember about Fort Bragg North Carolina both my roommate and I went attended that summer camp it was hot as all get-out and it was against sleep came at a premium we had a nice six or a seven puerto ricans sergeant and he was a stickler for keeping the barracks clean and I'm saying Here I am at Fort Bragg I'm probably gonna get off the war I've already know how to do that cleaning the barracks and so forth I mean he's a stickler for it what if I do and here with this guy I don't need to learn this I want to go out in the field to shoot we did that anyway but the guy was your typical barracks soldier I mean if I thought we got there with the barracks and everything else we did get any sleep it was that way and I remember one time we were in a 35-foot tower and he was scared to jump off the tower so somebody threw him off the tower I loved it I loved it anyway I remember that we definitely we take off on the weekends to to get some sleep you know hotel I get some sleep but that's where I went I'd like to back up a minute though because I'm getting ahead of myself I come from a distinguished military family and this is I just want to bring this out because it means a lot to me my father was a World War two veteran Combat Infantryman I told you about his background he was with one out one on 35th Infantry Division which was part of the fifth Army which which was led by by General Mark Clark it just so happens that at the Civil he was president for my first three years my freshman my freshman sophomore and junior years and he signed my diploma well he was also the commander of the fifth army so my father served under him that was strictly coincidence my next of course I went to Vietnam my next brother al Consuegra he was in he was a navigator in the Navy he flew the s3 which was a submarine chaser and ten years active duty was married so forth I think its last two years even as you know plum assignment instructor at at Coronado Coronado California great assignment he loved it and then my my next brother Eddie he was a captain or a major in the Air Force and my youngest brother was in the Air Force also he was a sergeant now to bring it fast forward what happened was my nephew Chris Consuegra what's this little graduated in 1997 and became an Air Force pilot active duty ten years flew the c-17 most of his missions were into Iraq and Afghanistan very proud of him and he would we would exchange more tales and so forth but the fifth thing that I'm about Chris was that his toughest Duty was picking up the wounded soldiers in either Iraq or Afghanistan and taking them taking the soldiers to the hospital and he always mentioned to his hate that duty but the only ones and then he didn't complain about the wounds was with the Marines said towards the Marines never complained so I remember that so we've got two World War two heroes two war heroes my family my father serial Consuegra and my nephew Chris good sweet so did you go into the army immediately upon graduation for the Citadel it was a streamlined process job worried about a job really buddy let me get a drink of water here yeah talk about your your training and just your active duty in the military and well I graduated we graduate from the civil and like I said I'm we went to summer summer camp at Fort Bragg North Carolina hate that place took a month off and then I was assigned to go to officers basics artillery officers basic course at Fort Sill Oklahoma so I took a month off my parents were sent hyeri goofed off bought a car I bought a baby blue VW the you know let's keep the bug okay first car I ever owned $1,800 up played it up with with a bug and I had 30 days I don't know what I did I don't remember so here I am I'm going from Miami Florida to Fort Sill Oklahoma which is in Lawton now the Lord works in different ways but my brother Albert was a football star at Miami senior high school he wound up he had a scholarship to go to northeastern Oklahoma and northeastern Oklahoma junior college to play junior college football so what I did I sent that planter and I drove from Miami Florida all the way to Miami Oklahoma up and down the hills and everything in my bug spent a few days with him when he was going through football practice lives and dormitories with the guys and the football team loved it and then from there drove I think about three more hours to Lawton Oklahoma where where I reported for duty to take the artillery basics course so it worked out well that was a long drive in that and that VW long drive baby blue and then from there I started officer basic artillery officer school and I remember you know I was in heaven I was this gosh compared to civil it was easy all I had to do was go to class and the instructors were excellent I had we had experienced young officers returning from Vietnam that had just returned from Vietnam they knew their stuff and I learned first of all the six hundred mil capability where we were turning the howit's was around 360 degrees we did the registrations the laying of the battery the Asmus is so forth we did everything it was practical did a lot of observation and so affordable servers bringing in artillery fire but we use the binoculars for the artillery fire the only thing that they didn't teach is really you have to learn this in combat is bringing in artillery fire very close without the binoculars that's where it starts to get hairy but I had a good time Fort Sill was probably my best duty post and from there I barely made it out because what happened was I teamed up with some Marines and some of the civil graduates that were there there were 32 Marines going to the course 30 were going to Vietnam no reason aren't known for staying in the barracks at night settler grants aren't known for spending in the barracks tonight so with those well that kind of a kind of his bad cuff it hit that company to be in school we partied a lot gotta get done barely made a nap barely made it out my fault but I learned my stuff that was very proud to go through Fort Sill that was excellent training where did you go next I my next duty station Joe was was Fort Hood Texas let me interject well I'm before I start that I was very fortunate as my my brother Albert was at Miami Oklahoma and on certain weekends I would take off stay with in Miami Oklahoma and watch his football games I loved it I'd go up there on the weekends come back to report to class on Monday and then I also went one time to Tyler Texas which was on the other side of the world for Lawton Oklahoma cousin crow of them asleep but I was very fortunate to catch him in his football game because I wasn't able to catch his games when I was at the Civil so reported Fort Hood Texas I was really excited I said my gosh Here I am I've got my own car I'm making lots of money getting paid no didn't no dependents I was on top of the world I knew it all I was a brand new second lieutenant all I want to do is just was just shoot go out there and learn do everything I everything I learned and are in Fort Sill got there it was strange I was assigned to 2nd Armored Division be battery first the 14th artillery commanding officer the general was Colonel William M bleep went in there I have saluted before it's their attention so there's your word for do lieutenant get swagger reporting for duty sir I don't like colonel I've even looked up even I don't think even looked up at me lieutenant Consuegra I understand you're a civil graduate and I said yes sir proud of it he started chewing my butt this lieutenant Consuegra our mission here is to train young American citizens to become soldiers and go to war you will make sure that these American citizens we get properly fed properly clothed and get at least seven hours of sleep at night do you understand that lieutenant yes sir my heart sank I said my gosh I did that for three years at the Sentinel I don't want to Crane basic combat training through the recycle of about three months and just babysit these guys I don't I've done been there done that why I was so disillusioned you know ready to go and everything so it was long hours jo-ann would you out of the field with them let me back up a minute I when I reported for then I reported to the battery commander lieutenant Dewey and then he was a battery commander he was I don't know where he was coming from but we nicknamed him screwy doing that was that's what he was Matt Millen bark was my mentor as executive officer I became very close to him and it was the first sergeant Felton he was a african-american heavyset he knew his stuff he was I think it's a World War two veteran he took no nonsense from the firing battery or the chief of smokers so forth there was no nonsense there so I reported them and the duty was just it was long hours I went out in the field every day teaching these guys has just been I've been back from civilian life from three days before I got there so all kinds of people mostly draftees all walks of life it was it was an eye-opening experience PT marching inspections Barrett's inspections but mostly out in the field or infantry so they had taken the whole artillery NCOs officers and we were converted into an infantry training outfit which is fine I'd already had the infantry training encompassed everything and compass live-fire mm grenade throwing borders and so forth and gosh I don't we would get out there at 6 o'clock or 7 o'clock in the morning just either wall either March out there and run out to the field or go in the trucks and so forth and then I get back to the barracks I was at the BOQ at the time I go back to the BOK probably and I would I would either I'd catch a bite to eat at the O club and then my time I got back to my my room I'll had time for was the shine my boots getting ready for the next day and I remember on these fatigues that we were that we were they used to had a spray starch and little iron in my room so I used to spray starch and iron and that's what I did I was just a work machine well we did that for about at least five and I think but Sunday's we were off but five and a half hour five and a half days a week no Sunday's were off when we even worked half days on Saturday and and I hated the three day bivouac at the end that's where you have these company exercises unit exercises and stuff it was cold I mean it was I was miserable the whole three days I was out there not since I was a junior officer I had to get up and put the cold of the stove and everything that officer Tenten everything he's not from Miami for crying out loud sounds miserable so everything to talk about misery it was lieutenant Consuegra being miserable but I had good I met some good solid people there that want to do their jobs and so forth and even make sure these draftees just wanted to do their jobs you know they must I'm gonna do a job so a lot of couldn't hack it they flunked out and so forth it was sad but and I'm glad we were able to siphon off the ones that wouldn't make it but there was a there was a a silver lining on this cloud when they graduated we were able to pick the right guys the right guys for our artillery battery we call them the gun buddies we knew who and if this lot - figured how many there were but I think those whole company or something of BCTs that we were putting through we were able to pick out the right guys for the artillery battery to fire the guns and so forth and since I was in charge of fire Direction center I was able to pick the sharpest guys for my fire Direction Center and I said thank goodness something because now's when that's when I started getting challenging now he asked what happened to the other guys the other guys went to the infantry at Fort Polk and all I've ever heard about four-pole cause it's bad so they wind up in the infantry but we were able to pick and choose a people that we wanted did you head to Vietnam after you finished there well here's what happened we we started training at Fort Hood it's still the 2nd Armored Division B battery first the 14th Artillery we had 8-inch what self-propelled 8-inch guns and we were we were training we went out on training exercises I was able to to start from the ground up teaching my five or six guys FTC procedures and so forth just drilling and really and really and we got the point where we were pretty good I mean they knew their stuff they were sharp I knew my stuff and thought about everything and around March I think it was March of 67 or April of 67 I received orders to go to the 11th armored CAV regiment to Vietnam so Joe I said well I'm gonna deliver Homer Camp Regiment you know I didn't have I had mixed feelings about it at that point you know we're all young and mortal invincible and all this other stuff I said that's fine you know well I was scheduled to go and then it I think shortly thereafter Colonel remedy comes I go to his office and he informs me lieutenant we've resented your orders we've resented your orders to go to the limit armored CAV Regiment we're going over as a unit we're going to be part of the 198th we're going to be part of the American Americal division the 198th infantry gate and we're going to train as a unit this summer for preparation to go to Vietnam and August and September now I was very happy it was a positive because gosh this is great I've trained my guys I know I'm going to war with I trust these guys I know what they can do in do the officers rest we all we trust that each others up for screwy Dewey I'm very concerned about him we but we all work and we trained all summer in the field with the infantry 198th Infantry Brigade and we were always out in the field during the summer we're out six days a week now the 40th the summers in Killeen Texas Fort Hood were brutal it wasn't any fun and we were constantly doing artillery firing and so forth live-fire and I remember the we would do the so-called hip shoots we've gotten really good at the hip shoots worth fire missions called in and you're able to go ahead and and turn the guns get off the road turn the gun and put the guns in position and start firing away kind of certain time to do that in I mean it's less than five minutes of them but it was quick and then we also had the time on target exercise where he would line up the guys and all guns would what fire say within five minutes at the same time and start Ilya Berlin is this so forth we got we got quite good at it and of course the infantry was in front of us so it was the it was live-fire exercises and the summer it was so hot during the day I remember the hot bulb I think they called it the weather the wet bulb of reading where when I got to the certain point 90 or 100 degrees you just had to stop take a break and let the troops rest except for it was too hot to keep on going it was dangerous so we had that and we prided ourselves because dude all that training we got very proficient you got to know who we were supporting and so forth and we were issued three m16s and new equipment supplies and everything so we were ready to go we're ready to go so that's that was what I did it for that it was an extended stay over there when did you ship out to Vietnam we the way that that we shipped out Joe was was really unusual the advance party went in either early August or early September the rest of us were the gods everything else we shipped out in October we flew from from we convoyed to Austin Texas and from there we flew to Oakland California we boarded a a merchant marine ship for the converted Merchant Marine ship they converted to a church to a troop ship the name was the Gordon u.s. Gordon or something it was a whole Merchant Marine ship and I was we got there and I remember I went on board the next day was my birthday and I said well I'll just go on board put my gear down and come back and go out and have some fun in Oakland and report for duty just before I'm supposed to report for the ship well once we got on board they wouldn't let us they wouldn't let us come off the ship though Gordon because some guys had gotten off the ship the couple of days before and they'd gotten in trouble with the civilians so they everybody got no we restrict him he restricted so I was mad so October 6 of 1967 my 23rd birthday sailed on the Gordon for about 15 days bound for Vietnam I will never forget you one of the Golden Gate and all this other stuff and I was never free yet I was reading the Stars and Stripes the military newspaper and there was five hundred thousand demonstrators in Washington DC and I said later my short haircut going to war I just couldn't reconcile nothing these people should be cheering for us not Phillips so we went out about two or three days later we had a cook of all things I cook committed suicide he he jumped overboard a cook I got to be in combat I said we get overrun or something so anyway we circled for about 3-4 hours couldn't couldn't didn't find a guy and from the and then I remember it was six officers in a state room I had I think it was Austin blood was with me what am i one year ahead of me at this end I think we were in the same state room there were six officers to a state room I mean it was very close quarters but the enlisted person enlisted men they were down below they they weren't very comfortable well nobody was comfortable so well then well when I remember is we had smooth weather going over for 15 days or so very smooth we were very fortunate and I read a lot of Hemingway's books so that persuaded me to have one canteen full of vermouth at all times which I did and then I get this little book on the learning of Vietnamese language I said well when going off foreign country I might as well learn to speak Vietnamese you never know some of his self teaching myself how to speak Vietnamese and I did that and I'm a major was in charge of the ship the troops Edition the major would have meetings at least two or three times a day the major topic was when to have the next meeting that's sorry that was not eventful when we went to Subic Bay refuel there they let us off the boat we tore up a couple of clubs and they dragged us back into the Gordon and we sailed into Chu Lai you had mentioned you might want to take a break after about 30 minutes would you like to or we can I'd love to yeah let me do that it's like a break okay okay you've just arrived in Vietnam and just tell us about your experiences during your tour there just whatever you would like to get on the record and just anything you want to say about your service there yeah well be happy to and one things that I did when I got on the Gordon as I kept a diary it's amazing I kept the diary I brought them with I brought it with me the diary and I can't see it on the screen there turn the pages towards us get the detailed diary and for some reason something within me said someday you're gonna use this guess what and I'm bearish to say my handwriting was was clear and legible in those days I can't even read my own handwriting these days I have to print but it was a day a day account written at all times of the day or night mostly at night in the wee hours and it went all the way from the time that I that we boarded the Gordon also expressing where I just this is why but they wouldn't let me off the Gordon I get this and I uh there's two parts of it fairly complete now I wasn't day by day but when I missed a day I would acknowledge you know too busy to do anything for the last three days and I would break but I would I would I would catch up here does lieutenant Consuegra and I this was in my basement well I what I thought I'd lost the thing I'm some kind of didn't because no I had surgery back and back at the end of July and I made it a point to go down to the basement pick it up so I could read it and I read it from cover to cover for the first time well I was recovering from my spinal surgery no it's amazing I mean I think I'd seen I said God I got to find those books so here I am and that's how I feel like I'm fairly little detailed about telling my story now get off the coast of Chile colonel Wembley comes with his entourage it comes in with these large binders plastic binders gives one to every officer on the on the ship the artillery officers and all it had was artillery incidents and he gave us an hour to go through the artillery I think an hour or so to read the artillery I said that was the scariest thing there was so many friendly fire killings and short rounds and explosions with the battery at the battery level it was downright scary and to this day I meant to say the American public never knew about the friendly fire incident in Vietnam by their artillery I said oh my gosh this is gonna get worse than I thought they made a big impression on me those thick binders they made a point to sit down and read this and it was good that he did because we weren't aware of this until we disembarked then then he took all the officers everybody in that battery was reassigned well guess what lieutenant can swing her losses FDC I was shattered I said I've trained these guys I want to go on and the warm with him I know what they can do then you know it was just a rapport there I'm gonna sauce it my gosh so we landed what a way to start right it gets worse first two weeks I was assigned to something called the talk the brigade tactical operation centers where I worked all night I guess monitoring artillery fire it was the worst job in the world I just didn't do nothing don't do anything just bought out to the fire and so forth and make some comments and so if I did that for two weeks and what I'm gonna do is kind of my story really is a put away to talk different if not beggars lawful like my story evolves I was blessed I became a forward observer my first duty assignment with the infantry and we were assigned to the hill 6090 company first in the 46th infantry a company and then I'll progress in my in my in my presentation here my discussion to the two artillery batteries were almost assigned later on after serving with the infantry so I was elated that I was going to serve with the infantry but I didn't know what I was doing hadn't I deserved fire and ages so I learned really quick it was with the hill 69 and I met the company commander monty wolf now this was the brown shoe army these these folks wanted to get the job done they were raised by the book trained by the book and all they want to do is accomplish the mission kill a lot of the enemy come back alive basically that's what it was and um Monty wolf was 32 years old little guy a little wiry guy and he was a he rose to the ranks he rose to e6 became with the OCS then he came range or airborne really a good solid leader always placed the men ahead of himself and then I had a very motley my real my my my team my recon team was consist of three people it was lieutenant Consuegra the know-it-all thought he knew at all and then sergeant Kiraly now he was with the hunted first first airborne for his first tour now this guy loved war he was back for a second tour he was my recon sergeant when he was 16 years old he was a hot and hungry blowing up Russian tanks that's his background he was learning it when the second turf tour in Vietnam and I think his wife was trying to get him back to the States but he'd want to go about interstates he didn't want to miss the show so he was very experienced and I leaned on him and learned a lot kind of crazy to life and then we had spec for Sherman I he was classic 18 19 years old from from New Jersey and just you know he was there but he was company and you had a man the radio and so forth but my comments about the infantry and thang-thang it as I joined infantry because by being with the infantry I've got the confidence that I needed to go back to the artillery level because that way when I went back to the artillery battery I knew what were the infantry was going through I knew what we were doing I felt confident feeling good I felt people after I went to the learning experience with the infantry but I want to share my overall thoughts and then I talk about the artillery aspect of it first of all in browning army the enlisted men eight first officers an NCO eight last Bob Hope tour and Christmas Bob Hope and ad Morgan captain Monte wolf gathered all the officers and NCOs together said we're gonna need eight enlisted people as his chopper coming you're gonna pick up eight and listed people they go the Bob Hope and Margaret show no officers no NCOs well you know it was the right thing to do so they went in chopper picked them up after the show was over bought him back a list of people that's the kind of guy he was captain wolf and along with his platoon leaders when we did these search and destroys when we went up into helicopters and so forth his his helicopter was the first one to land and my team was with him every time I teamed with him in the first one the land last one to leave that's infantry that's the way they're trained you know that's you got to know what's going on on the ground Weaver my recon team was with him the assuming I soon learned that the infantry guys loved artillery they loved our teeth we could do no wrong me I'm a spirit that a yellow streak running down my back I'm scared the whole time I was there I'll be truthful the infantry chow was awful I just was attacking child I don't know what it was but the worst she fled the infantry guys the hunt the happier they were and I was used to artillery chow I mean I'd try to go back to the battery B battery first the forties artillery by home they eat do different two different cuisines I guess the helicopter search and destroys now that was eerie we'd go up on a company-wide mission or a platoon wide efficient of course I mean if the company went out I was always involved in platoon if the platoon went out I was always involved we were I said who is me and my recon team and I remember going up and the helicopter took forever to get to the landing zone that would look down I would look down and it said gosh this is a beautiful country all the greenery and everything else we'd get to the landing zone everything it was just all hell would break loose at the landing zone I mean you get to captain wolf was arguing with a with the helicopter pilot says put me down over here and a helicopter pilot Nam and command of the ship I mean I mean it was a knock-down finally we got out and so forth because these there was two machine guns on them on the helicopter I forget ever the 50 caliber or 60 caliber machine guns and just before you got there just soft up the zone they had machine guns from the helicopters an opening fire oh oh it was just it was deafening deafening fire and the most vulnerable point of course is when you jumping down the helicopters because your that's when you start start the fighting itself or service had some hairy moments lots of sniper fire constantly whenever you went I just got sniper fire that's not a sniper fire and I remember my RTO will inspect for Sherman he froze on me a couple times when we were just about the land I had to throw him out of the helicopter to get he found just froze on me and that happens you know guys scared I was scared now I was very lucky before calling in the artillery fire I would always I would always ask for a smoke round we called it Willie Peter white phosphorus and everything happened so fast I was so well trained I was on the phone on the radio Sherman was on the radio Kiraly was doing his thing and so forth and fortunately most of the time I could see the the woolly Peter come out and hit in front of us thank goodness because I didn't want to hit he got short rounds you kill people and so forth so I was very fortunate there and as I as I as I went along I could bring the fire in closer and closer and closer without the binoculars and there's something that you can't teach at class you just have to learn how to do it sounds very fortunate we got into several firefights men kill wounded and so forth I remember one particular firefight I was so busy that I don't know how it happened happened so quickly but our medic company medic got into one of those hooches were the Vietnamese weren't he delivered a baby in the middle of a fire I mean it's the herd I wasn't let's see that was done they did it the fighting developed quickly we took our casualties they took theirs and so forth but I I was well-trained and just just react he just known what to do and I learned the more I did it the more I got better at it and also I I remember this I went hungry there's about two or three times that I went hungry in my whole life and that was while I was this little my freshman year I went hungry we couldn't bring to resupply choppers it was too dangerous to bring him in so I thought about that especially when we couldn't when we weren't able to be resupplied I was spoiled I was with the artillery good training for this anyway I learned to like sea rations all except for the scrambled eggs and ham and so forth but I love the food cocktail and the hot chocolate I love that and thank goodness I thanked the Lord for this I think I was praying before I asked for the artillery I didn't bring in any short rounds I was just I don't need to kill my own guys I did not bring any short rounds I'm proud of that fact and we had a lot of cash we took a lot of casualties it was kind of gruesome I won't go into the nitty-gritty but that was part of war I was remember bringing in but couldn't evacuate our wounded after some firefights we had to evacuate him at night so we would bring in these medevac brave chopper pilots they'd come in at night we'd bring him in with with flashlights you called him they were there they were just brave my might I'm so proud of them they just did it we would go out for 3-5 days at a time I was out with the infantry 12 days at times that was my biggest term was time out in the field was 12 days at a time and at the end of the day all of the officers would gather around captain Monte wolf and crack a few jokes and so forth lighten up lighten the heaviness of the day and so forth he always had a bottle of whiskey Monte would always pull out a bottle of whiskey we'll also take a big big sip of the whiskey and that's how we ended the day of course I would before me inning and ending the day you never your day never ended but before nightfall I would coordinate with captain wolf and the platoon leaders when they wanted my perimeter fire my crewmen artillery fire the coordinates I could call in to the battery so we got attacked at night I could say actually called in the fire into this coordinator this coordinate so I did that I think that was part of my my dude so I did that I remember one night it rained on my many nights of rain all night we had to evacuate sergeant Kiraly of all people because he was having these severe stomach problems Ohama how long was out but he wound up in chula in the hospital and came back and then later on while he was with me he got wounded so had to evacuate him again while you're at a break give us a perspective on where you were in relation to the DMZ it was north well I mean weren't you Jude I course south of the DMZ yeah we were we were a nikkor we were between Chu Lai and tan Key West and the caisson Valley there not spelled qu e s o H n not to be confused with the case on where the Marines took a lot of losses the other case on this is the caisson valley we would do it between chu line tamp key out of western the boonies okay he could continue I just want to get though that's where we were good point now another point about the infantry I remember it was Christmas it was Christmas and we were back at the battalion battalion Hill 69 and for the Christmas dinner we brought in a I don't know who brought him in brought in a bunch of Vietnamese orphans and we made sure that they were fed before we were and then the men ate for Christmas and I don't know who was responsible for it but that's that's what happened with Chris tonight and then we had a lot of the same lines when when I get a little bit ahead of myself but when I was with the artillery battery there was a village on highway 1 that was fairly close to the battery we had several times it was something called a med cap a med camp and medical personnel doctors would come to the Vietnamese village and treat the villagers that impressed me a lot so several times I was done at a medic mid count while I was at Hill 69 I remember reading about and the stars of stripes the military newspaper army newspaper my brother Albert Consuegra it was the second year at any AOA and M junior college and it was a junior college powerhouse football powerhouse well they played Ferrum junior college in Savannah for the junior college national chain bishop he was the leading ground gainer and Emmas football that junior college ball well that wasn't a stars and stripes makes bigger write-up in the sports section cut the stars gosh Albert and missed his old sophomore season that's his sophomore season I was there for his freshman season he was here in the paper isn't it guy at the infantry guys went crazy - that was a memorable moment on Hill 69 anyway it was this super people with the infantry I mean they were dedicated their professional and lieutenant Momo's Brook was one of the platoon leaders and he taller guy good look and he looked like a movie star well he got shot up and I went to see him and shoot alive several times and he came back and got shot up went to Japan monty wolf when I was with artillery he got shot I think they had to evacuate him Kiraly he wound up he wound up a long-range recon patrols [Laughter] throw a matter of behind enemy lines on their own and take him up two or three weeks later he that's that was him the fitting that's a cache I guess his wife couldn't get away brother-in-law Ray's recon Patrol true story um well from there I went to I was assigned to be battery third of the 18th artillery on LZ Ross it was 8-inch guns and this was this was late this was late January late yeah late they January before the Tet Offensive 68 of 68 correct they January of 68 and again God was looking out for me got there and I was scheduled to either go to Australia for R&R about two months down the road or or the other one Singapore I think what I was scheduled about two or three months down the road to go on R&R well here I am I'm Haggard I got I'm starting getting shot at I was tired of all the action and it was very timely I got off the helicopter and my fatigues and everything all dirty and everything first auger comes up to me and what comes welcome aboard lieutenant and we're glad to have you by the way you can either select two you can either go to Bangkok within a week or so or you can go through Australia what have you originally scheduled what would you like to go lieutenant I didn't hesitate I want to get out of here I chose Bangkok probably saved my life so I became the fire direction officer tend enough FDC at a battery third of the 18th artillery and went the Bangkok I was the last what the Cam'ron Bay I was in the last R&R airplane headed to Bangkok before the Tet Offensive started I mean I just unbelievable so you know somebody has to do it with them I've watched the Tet Offensive from Bangkok but it didn't turn me from having a great time so I was there just as lock in the draw don't ask me why but I didn't hesitate I'm glad I didn't had a great time watched it on TV just kind of you know needed it I really needed it came back and I remember going up Highway one to go back to LZ Ross the VC were stacked up like cordwood on the side of the road I mean they were just there was a lot of killing going on I remember we stopped for some some wooded VC were there on the side of the road and one guy had his foot all messed up barely wounded all he was doing was cursing LBJ one complain about was he was just cursing LBJ made a big impression on me I returned to the battery area it turns out that our perimeter had been breached sappers had gotten in blew up a couple of guns where I was where I was and then we're the hooch where I was or that was all riddled with gunfire and so forth FTC was badly damaged and so forth anyway it was not pretty for the battery there and I the full impact hit me this is the guiding country so that happened and I wanna get mentioned that I was very highly respected well greeted by the artillery artillery folks when I got back dude am i my experience I I exude it self-confidence because I knew what was going on most of them didn't know but I knew what's going on then I was assigned and March this was after after the Tet Offensive I was assigned to a battery third of the 18th Artillery Hill 54 now this was an interesting battery because we were north part of the battery was north of Chile the other half of the battery was south of Chile this was on LZ Dottie we were on Hill 54 and we had six guns we had two one five five to eight inch SP and two one seven two five the long time the big was the big ones and from the time that we had to 105 so we had to facing in every direction for the 6 400 mil capability the battery commander captain Evans was basically South we called him four Niner but he was @lz dotty so it was a split battery and I went in as fire Direction officer in charge of FTC for a while and I became I became the within several weeks I became the executive officer there because the other executive officer was transferring back to United States so I was in I was in charge of the artillery battery and then and FDC and everything else there on Hill 54 which is a tremendous responsibility for a young man and but but then again I was very confident I knew what I was doing over the world friend captain Evans was a West Point graduate real good guys and then loved him and you know he would he would give me these jobs to do and everything we got along well it was a while we knocked heads but overall it was a pleasure to work with and I remember it was very hot very hot in my diary allude to the fact that just about every first first my words were very very hot hot day and so forth and we would fire we would shoot fire missions during today and then we fire these H and i's harassment and ended up to interdictor e fires primarily with the one-seven-five they had a they had a range of about 30 kilometres 25 miles and so forth they weren't very accurate but you know just just the harass the enemy I don't know how effective we are I mean the big thing was them was the so-called kill count or something the kill ratio or whatever was rotting out body count that's the number you the body count so what I did I was just busy as all get-out because I we were short on officers it was me and I think one other officer for a while there and he was an FDC I was the executive officer and I had to spell him an FDC and the Steep was precious and vice versa so we did that way and captain Evans knew what we were we were up against and so forth oh I ain't much better with artillery I remembers our battery the witch was 30 18th artillery a battery and in May of 1968 we we saved a village village from getting overrun the village chief and and a major major Gavin came over and complimented us we had 46 ka 60 ki a and we supported them most of the day with 46 rounds and so forth and he expressed his gratitude and gave us the VC fire the VC flag and we hung it up in the mess hall and so forth but we were busy we're always either firing fire missions illumination missions with the infantry and every night we would fire we would fire the H and I introductory harassment fire and so forth so we were busy we were fairly close to Chile and highway 1 chul I was getting mortared and rocketed frequently and we would get our share of it also we were very fortunate but Chu Lai was it was a big marine base that you lie prime target you couldn't miss it and that's when they were zeroing in on now one of the problems that we had there was a village on highway 1 and some some of the men would run off would would go to that village and get in trouble just like GIS do and we had to get him out 1 times a firefight that erupted in the village and some of the minimum we're wound didn't had to be evacuated so forth so the village became became restricted and I would have to go down to the village everyone small to check and see that some of my men worked there of course part of my FDC went down there one time and they got in all kinds of trouble you know you tell Americans what they can't do and they're gonna do it anyway so that was another problem and the other problem the major problem that had at the artillery battery besides the village situation was that these young 18 19 year olds would receive Dear John letters from the wives and what was sad is they would get married have a have a baby before they got here and then they would get the theater the wife saying I read off another man so you know they you couldn't do that with me I did let him go home and then attended their personal affairs and come back it was just it was sad I'd it's a big problem and then the other time I caught some guys smoking pot on the perimeter because I was always I was always out of cautious after what happens on that perimeter so I caught him they never knew when to expect me because we had to be alert and I caught some of the guys that were regarding their artillery pieces there's there's supposed to be supposed to be a man awake at all times at that artillery piece I would catch some of the guys didn't he were sleeping you know that's not yet that's my guess so corrected that action but overall we had some professional soldiers that we just want to get the job done most of our draftees 18 to 19 years old well captain Evans captain Evans would come see us every few days with a First Sergeant and he was delightful the life of to work with a man first sergeant would come also but it just so happened that every time that he spent the night with us we'd get mortar to rocket it and sometimes I said oh yeah spend that I'm getting bored of rockets that can matter we did do it and what I did what I did is I when I was in base camp at the infantry this is one of the things I learned from the infantry I would wear my Bush hat this was what I wore at base camp of course I didn't wear this out in the field I wore my steel pot and I wore my steel pot and even when I went to the artillery this was my trademark well soon thereafter captain Evans in the first object guess what they're wearing my bush hat not mine I kept mine so that was my trademark so this has come a long way and I managed to pick it up just for this presentation means a lot to me good relationship with captain Evans there was a in a sad to see me go very sad to see him go we threw a big party for him and so forth we gave a big send-off and we did really well really on all the battery tests and everything else the gunnery tested everything I was called back to division for a for a course for a week and I got a 92 on that which I'd forgotten about but I was proud of it I just reinforced my confidence I was doing and then this was a left in June and early July a captain Ellis became the battery commander well well well captain Ellis with the end was the opposite of captain Emma's Eva's nitpicking he was jittery he was nervous but he was intelligent a make a long story short he was hated by the battery hated by the first sergeant he was just a hateful guy and we didn't get along too well but he was in command he was battery commander in the south I was up north and I went to Chu Lai I went to Chu Lai and went to Chu Lai several times and then from there I was able I wanted to do army aviation I learned that they did reduce the visual requirements or lower divisional requirements I said enough fly helicopters I'll fly fixed-wing whatever I wanted to do it well to make a long story short I was approved for fly school I don't know how my eyes were bad but I did it I was a pre for flight school at the same time said we go ahead and read this you know reaffirm another year making captain stay here but that's another story but I was approved for fly school and what happened was a captain Ellis I mean it's just very he was not the right person but he in period of time that he was there I developed this rash a little levity I developed a rash on my legs and I went don't you like it doctors looked at it they gave me a lotion to apply on my legs and said you're gonna have to work cut off fatigues for the next several weeks so here I am a lieutenant in charge the battery north I'm running around with cutoff fatigues sometimes a steel pot sometimes my my hat and we had a lot of visiting dignitaries always checking up on us the colonel medals were always coming around the artillery battalion commander and every time I dignitary came up I'm a a higher ranking officer came up where is your permit to go around like this within it so I just whip it out two weeks true story i that right and it it was I guess it was a delayed jungle rot from the infantry when I was out there in the swamp and stuff like that so now on July 3rd on July 3rd we were hit pretty hard and we got a rocket and mortar attack and we had rockets I guess it was a rocket I was hit our our powder storage area blew it up caused heavy damage on the number three gun pit I was up on the ami it was it was I think it's like 11 o'clock at night and I was on the ami circle now the ami circle had to be up high there was a ladder leading to it must have been 20 or 25 feet high and climb up the ladder given a platform because that way you can sign in on the on the gun sights of the other guns and so forth keep them keep them coordinated with the guns and the FTC and so forth I love my job make sure they recorded and I remember scampering down that I saw it blow up oh hell just broke loose eight guys were hurt their quarters was just blown up they were medevac and for some reason it was just instinct I climbed into the a ditch gun that was there started driving it out along with the chief of smoke the firing battery chief sergeant Hamill and Hutch you know I just backed it out but I couldn't get the Spade out in the back I'm a huge Spade and I said darn on space and I moved to finally we got to move and I'm back the thing up the gun out and he saved the gun everything else was medevacs came in and and yata our guys took him some guys with the two lies and guys what does Japan and so forth but there was a pretty heavy rocket attack that hit us and I was exhausted I finally we got got into my cot around 2:30 in the morning the next day Colonel Meadows was Convery complimented we were heroes and we're just doing our jobs and so forth and the captain Ellis came up and he just part of the part of the job and it's ironic the person that I detested the most forced me to write up write up my own citation and that's how I received the the Bronze Star with the valor and device okay that's how I receive this you should be very proud of that yeah I'm very proud of it and I didn't want to write it up he forced me but I got it I mean it's amazing how things work so that isn't on July July third Bronze Star with V device and then I wrote up the Purple Heart citations for the eight men and then also somewhere somewhere along my tour I'd received the Bronze Star just for duty courageous duty throughout my term in Vietnam now I don't know who issued this for me or who who wrote the site who wrote it up the decoration but I'm very proud of it that's why I brought it with me so that's what happened so July 3rd when it happened we were heroes I was approved to go to flight school oh I went the buntao for about three days I was so happy got away from captain Ellis I'll be truthful came back and I'll all the battery in the first sergeant they were just complaining about captain Ellis and so forth but towards the end of July we were preparing for a visit from Secretary of the army Harry Reiser Reiser or reason I don't forget what a Secretary of the army a reader and a general Geddes who was commander of the American division so you know what happens with dignitaries come to a battery or any unit he spit and polished everything else in a combat area and we got ready for him so they were it's about an hour and a half and it was hot as all blazes I mean it was hot and general Geddes was was overweight he was the heavy individual and they staggered they stagger up to the FDC bunker and there we just showed of what we did and we passed with flying colors I mean what an inspection every just visiting they were very impressed and but they don't want to get on it I thought they'd go around all the guns and check it we're ready for him because we were sprack general Geddes could have made it that he was just awful it was awful and I happened to see his helicopter and you can imagine this the helicopter carried him around had a big water jug right there in the middle of the back seat there yeah that's the way a general travels with a big water drew stars just like you said the water finds that big a water jug there see so that went very well they're very impressed than the in August I moved I think it was either two or three guns north went to LZ let me back up a minute before I thought about moving the battery but a part of the battery we had a firing direction and Excel when I first got to the to be battery to the xxx artillery on Hill 54 his name was lieutenant Knight well they called him they called him the black the the troops labeled him it wasn't it was Captain midnite they called him Captain midnite because he would he was definitely afraid mortar fire and so forth so he would actually sleep and FDC at night I mean he just just stared so that was a little levity so I when he left I took over his ex over there and let's see in August of 68 I moved the battery north it was either two or three three guns and we went to the LZ young now that was a precarious position a lot of the enemy was around although we had the infantry protecting us and so forth it was another battery there so we augmented that battery we moved the battery that was either two or three guns and let the rest of the guns back where they were by that time the other batter the battery at LZ Dottie had moved north to where we are so we were together and got there and we must have worked from sunup to sundown just preparing a gun in place but preparing FDC getting ready and so forth and it was just hard work and we a lot of action going on but I do remember captain Ellis stayed behind and then one day he came to visit us within a bubble helicopter and it was him and sergeant Puryear the motor sergeant career soldier also and of course the helicopter pilot was the bubble and Sergeant Pete Puryear was not well life with the trips either and he complimented us on the work that we had done the minute really worked hard to get us and placed at everything and what happened was and there's a sad story but true the bubble took off enemy fire shot the bubble down so I crashed right in front I was down there in the slope down there of course the helicopter pilot had to be medevacked I think he wined up in Japan sergeant Puryear broke his pelvis he went to Japan also miraculously miraculously captain Ellis survived with a few bumps and bruises but what happened was when that bubble went down simultaneously the troops were clapping it was really a sad moment I said bizarre I mean they were they handed the guy that mush so the troops were actually clapping that the helicopter went down and on a true story that's what happened so what I'd like to do now is talk about the humorous events that I had to do out my tournament dove and Vietnam I want to bring some levity to this let's take a break a little levity here when when I wasn't with when I was with the infantry then remember the tunnel rats with long guns we go down two tunnels and so forth well one to tell rat bought the company commanders forty five went down a tunnel brave guys but he broke the handle off of it and he he was just Sierra to death of Monty wolf the abettors vote to handle if it's 45 Monty was rightly very upset but it is humorous we good and then I remember stuffing c-ration cans and our socks to go out on his operation and these big black socks long socks and stuff the c-ration cans in there and that was a field artillery officer but I was not the right fit political science major okay and math spoke Spanish fluently spoke mayonnaise straight A's in French I wanted to go into military intelligence it was the right fit but I my last choice but my dream sheet was military intelligence first was just be great second was Armour I'm glad I finally wound up as a tanker and third Field Artillery I don't know how I wound up I did a good job I remember one time Colonel Meadows but battalion commander chewed out captain Evans because a sergeant and the battery was in quinion he was caught stealing a generator he chewed out captain Evans that you get there and right now I think was duct four so I'm go down and write down and straighten out that message captain Evans just hot-footed it out and then of course of course we were issued new m 60s but no cleaning equipment no feed gets everybody this year reduce m16 at the battery and I was I was John Wayne back in those days I was invincible and portable and so forth I did not wear my my earplugs never wore the airplanes carry them around with me never put them on too lazy to do so well guess what hearing loss so it's this date hot speak and alright we flew out of chulai it was a great event I think it's back it was I think it was September sometimes September right I gave you I mean ultimatum let me have my flight orders right now and I'll stay and stand and so forth I want to fly it didn't come so I like the army I'd like the army I like them but this position that we were able to rather precarious we should we were getting mortared regularly and I didn't like the position to begin with this was not a good position so I got back and went to the Seattle Slew I think the Seattle of course they told me there lieutenant you'll never make it in civilian life it's tough there why don't you stay I tried civilian life I'll try my chances so I stayed for two weeks in San Francisco with a buddy of mine from Miami it was not pretty did a lot of heavy drinking and so forth and they got tired of me at the end of two weeks like I I moved to Marietta Georgia with my parents because they had moved Miami well from there I started my my first job with siennas Bank and banking and I've ever since then I've been in banking and finance in one way shape or form or the other and I took early retirement in early 2012 and made the best decision one of the best decisions I ever made my life is of Mary my lovely wife cookie who is here with me today we have one son Phillip who was a graduate of Villanova University and he's in Philadelphia as a director of development for Penn Charter School he also teaches a history course and I became very active in community affairs and I'm a member of Christ the King the Cathedral of Christ the King in Buckhead where I became a saint Vista Paul volunteer I'm active and former director a member of the Atlanta Vietnam veterans Business Association and that's probably things that happened to me because when I returned from Vietnam I kept a low key that I was a Vietnam War veteran if you weren't there you couldn't relate so I just didn't bring it up and even when I when I did bring it up even when it was brought up speaking to Viet - the Vietnam War veterans I could tell who had seen combat and who wasn't because we want to learn from what I understand was four hundred thousand and support one hundred thousand on the frontlines I want to talk to those hundred thousand that were on the frontlines it sounds very little key but when I got to the amount of Vietnam veterans Business Association that was the first time that I was able to speak to other guys that had seen combat and you just talk about those tales and everything I guess it all leads up to this it's been very rewarding for me volunteering at the USO active volunteer fundraiser at the USO for the last ten years and I was also well at her teaching I thought while I was working at the bank I thought in business course at the Georgia Perimeter College for about almost two years in the evenings on Tuesdays and Thursday nights it was a tough schedule because on Fridays I'd come home I couldn't figure out why I was so tired working full-time and then teaching in the evenings but took up a lot of time that warden's kind of worried wore me out and now I'm teaching up three different high schools as a substitute teacher which is very rewarding and I'm also an active volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House it's a something that I had to do because one of my brother's kids was at a Ronald McDonald House so I'm one of the Ronald McDonald House over near the remedy hospitals that's very rewarding other than that I continue to be blessed I thank the Lord my prayers every morning that I was brought back safe and sound from Vietnam others weren't and you always wonder you know why did I return unscathed and others didn't I had some good friends of mine that were not only Kilburg but we're wounded one of my good friends and a football player on my team lost both legs and an arm distinguished himself they've given rocket attack or it could have been me rather than him and you always wonder about that so you know the God puts us here for a purpose and that's the only way I can reconcile it but overall I've led a good life I've been blessed thanks to my wife cooked me the people and associated with my family my friends Atlanta has been good to us and I just I think I mentioned saying this in the fall it's been very rewarding teaching school at night that was very very rewarding also and it's been a good life it's been a good life before we finish I want to be sure that neither cookie sue or Tony how many questions did coming up well I can't tell you how glad we are that you agreed to come in and do this interview I mean it's obvious you had a great family background and a strong foundation that probably helped you get through a lot of what you went through between your parents and your family and obviously go to the Citadel health but you were in the line of fire where you were over Vietnam without a doubt I mean you you were very brave and you I'm sure we're responsible for saving a lot of men's lives with with your skills with the artillery and you you did a great job of telling the story and we really appreciate you coming in again and I want to thank you for your service Joe thank you I want to add one more thing that I forgot that I would receive care packages from my father once a month of Vietnam wow that's a special special you know share it with my friends there that's important once a month it's great well thank you very much for doing this and thank you for your service

Channel: Atlanta History Center

Views: 6,261

Rating: 4.3846154 out of 5

Keywords: Veteran (Profession), Atlanta History Center (Museum), Library of Congress Veterans History Project

Id: nyjER4Si_QI

Length: 83min 10sec (4990 seconds)

Published: Sat May 11 2019