Interview with Andre St. Laurent a Vietnam Veteran. CCSU VHP

the Marine Corps I never became sergeant Stryker what did you end up during the Marine Corps uh what did you end up doing the Marine Corps I ended up I was artillery I started off the Marine Corps I wanted to go to Korea because that's what the war was that's where the cannons were going and when I got into the Marine Corps here they seized seventeen-years-old it put me on KP for 30 days of course that wasn't to my liking but it was close to Tijuana so I was able to dabble in other Thanks so anyway after 30 days there is send me to I advanced infantry in the Marine Corps and then from there there's four nine columns California where I joined an artillery organization don't remember all the outfits I belong to that chain I moved around a lot but this is 105 howitzer getting my training there after two years there my brother's happened to come back from Okinawa he told me says that if you reenlist for 3 more to take a short discharge and Riaan this for a short discharge you can give 3 more years and go to Okinawa with me it sounds like it nothing else going so i reenlist it for three more years took me a short discharge and then after that I went to Okinawa for a couple of years and I was in Japan for a year then I came back from there I was very good I was the tibias training was terrific I went to Manila Philippines I would all that was great in Korea and we had joint operations and all that when I came back to the state my brother told me city going to join me and I will see so I went through the Marine Corps recruiter and I told him I wanted to go into the Germany they told me you can go but the only way you go as in the sea duty guard and I told him that's not enough Gary Cooper and don't like garrison at all so I got out of the Marine Corps it broke my heart that the recored good and then I went into the Army in the Army I requested duty and Germany at that time that was the Cold War going pretty strong more cannon shots over there so I went over there for what three years what Berta for one year start with I met my brother and all that they built this in 1962 and then they they informed me that I will be staying there are two more years duration of my enlistment so I stayed there for two more years which was good I'd like to meet all that and you were available if you were needed that's all it can be and then I went back to the United States and got out nothing else happening and then Castro started going to missile strikes another sound of cannons when I was in Germany we went to the Emerald dump in wild flavor and then these guy little green hats and that's just look cool man I think that's real cool so Isis I I didn't think much of it then but when I went back to reinvest I thought about that's okay that's not a mist for Special Forces now how do you apply to the Special Forces program you have to go through commander and have the floor mats and all that at that time I don't know today and so I put through my commander fly for it and all that stuff and so I was at Fort Sill it took me a good six seven months before I got an answer and Special Force representative came down and seeing me he says look you know take tests first you got a volunteer for Airborne School no one way around that's it okay so five battery testers so what kind of tests decibel faster were kids it was nothing nothing you could put your finger on because it's uh it's all see how you would respond or react or how you do different things and if they tell you something what do you see so it's like a psychological profile collage your profile Yeah right see how you respond to all that stuff so to me is very confusing dish but that's nothing the best I can stall I can do it look like it worked out pretty good I was accepted it might be a little touch that's why but it worked out pretty good then I was given orders to go to Fort Benning jump school I went there didn't what Fort Bragg and I started my Special Forces training and what was that like weird it was it was a dead dead guy there's a lot of fun but they call it the operation clandestine operation but they had guerilla tactics counter guerilla tactics all those drills and kind of drilled us and how do you how you wheel around conventional forces and then you had all the sudden turning yet go through month climbing halo all that there's a lot of them over over two years of training that word and not only a weapons man but they gave you a small arm the world in one big book well but it works out depending on how you take it how you proceed how do you work with it so does each trooper trooper receive a specific task within the unit you said to your special team as weapons no I'm not specific general test Oliver we weren't doing any tests while we were doing the training training for all kinds of activities and stuff there's that thing if they give us a little labor because we build up Vietnam they were getting ready for something and then they have what they call that Gabriel demonstration area now Special Forces had to sell itself at that stage of the game we weren't really accepted at that time because of our warfare we were guerrilla warfare and at that time an officer came to our organization he was take another his next step was out so we had a demonstration area they put a 12-man team on line and each one had a spiel to give and he finished his spiel with a foreign language mine was French so everything look pretty good there and uh I was with the Sikh group and then all of a sudden I heard the fifth group was going to Vietnam this is a 65 yes whoa the cannons so I found on tier 4 and at that time this is not what they get their live a full regiment okay they didn't say nothin right away I kept my trainings going and then all of a sudden they start looking for replacements I guess faster we thought so area they sent me over there as a replacement now the reason to sitting on a site which is our our big call as far as Special Forces of this were there to train help the people of that country all that independent date the people so I went on they site we trained him and all that it was training and taking him out taking that they were dawnolivia to me that I dealt with her or not all that on top of everything so so were you training the Arvind or the LTP at this point baby and became say for the camera look long dog yet then they're more I don't know I don't know if they learned it from the Americans or what they do they'd like the black market real bad so I have challenged with that and I overcame those challenges like everything else now where was this compound the a-site yes I can't connect to court area as a to camp two two two can't connect that's my first day team I started my team sergeant was charted massager twily great we already lost him to cancer unfortunately but he was a good man and then of course he lost he left the camp before I had opportunities but I didn't know why he left me going all of a sudden didn't confide in the little guys they just wanted to keep us our weapons clean and I'm orders ready so after a while the common man came up to me he says you know they look for volunteers so volunteer for what Delta project what's Delta project no no they're looking for volunteers looks like good thing I don't know that's but I'll see what I can get out there you know this is humdrum work so I went there and volunteer that don't like a matter of volunteer nurses captain cure you to do his job he had people and everything else so yeah go ahead ha I went to Delta project wait there was this logo here this is 66 the first part of C and when I got there I didn't get no warm reception at all I said I thought that guys one volunteered and everybody cold-shoulder just out of me you know a lot of more out an operation right now they come back to the top that's not us could I get a passes yeah don't go through that certain place because of softness okay so I found out that places yeah where were you trying to keep you away from a house of ill-repute I see but I've been out on these site now for a long time anyway I went down there to kind of trouble I can get into and I got in trouble these came in there surrounded the place and I surrounded the MP but there were Americans I don't want to do not no harm anybody so I let go of they brought me back to camp my commander says you wait the guys came back from the woods ourselves okay I probably never make Delta now dorsal that's it so when they came back I had to go through a Kangoo before my peers or zero one or they called team leaders or recon team leaders have to ask me questions and all that and find out why I wanted to go there begin with them I didn't even know anything about this they just have built the projects I see how though I don't know what you gotta do and I'm nuts about this place this is okay so they briefing me and everything up then they'd ask me two questions so there was a very top secret organization not let no information now were they under control of the armory of the CIA at that point alright now were they taking orders from the army or the CIA and now they were still with does Special Forces okay they only had a few commanders there I got to hold history on that in that book one guy volunteered to take me out of my first mission now when you talk about the kangaroo courts what kind of what wouldn't need to occur before they would let you out into the field of these teams oh well you're talking about your kangaroo courts yeah what would need to be resolved what would need to be proven before you could go out with yeah I get sponsored right okay now what I didn't know was that my team sergeant not a camp connected was also team size you can dump the project I didn't know that's where he went from your net 15 that's very good while dad can't connect I got in a little it's great my counterpart and I got my head being duck with shrapnel oh can you tell us that story please oh yeah we were out there I'm not fishing can't connect and we're looking for intelligence information and just Mountain yard girl was down we've got pretty far out look it's right I'm still pretty good shape and all that but I start running out there just before I got her an episode of your night round last slammed in the ground right in front of me be strapless hit me in the forehead and flipping back a couple of times kill the girl and shook my head little bit didn't knock me out that's pretty hard-headed and shook my head a little gonna seen blood and I saw yeah so I start walking back there and the one that hang around see me at all so anyway then that's Reebok for me the team Joe Alderman hardcore professional he's only a corporal that's good because I'm going out every three years to go to college then come back in they've gone through here to another college come back in that that's the big no rank but he got educated and he got done he was skilled very skilled so he took me out of my first operation what type of mission not you guys I still was yeah I remember all of it because so far back but I know most of our missions are until there's no direct action because all with all they want is intermission if we happen to find something big and clustered then we call them airstrike on it miss precise but just for our average missions intelligence only what type of Southeast Asia [Music] yeah what it was the new team sergeant which is a recon team siren and I did not see I know there's something I knew that he didn't know and that couldn't put it on the radio but he he's trying to know what he was trying to do I guess he's trying to grease his own grease is on the pencil I don't know but you do that to me again you might as well get out now I went to see see see I see that in your shirt you explain what that is huh I see the the letters on your shirt see see see now yes they got the shirt what it is the unit got this what they call a Presidential Unit Citation not long ago about four or five years ago and when they got this they let us all know that they had it and that if we wanted to buy a shirt you provide the shirt no yeah give me one I told my little CCC and all that so what exactly is si si si si si si ders central control actually is Mac deep trying to control they were giving that control to different organizations which was GCM si si si si si yes so north central yeah off themselves sniffle control for South for middle back to central central control and what were your duties like in si si si hi what were your duties in the CCC Patrick Tuohey leader what does a hatchet team a hatchet team is going out there and accumulating information and maybe few hits and whatever came first so is that because they had no they were having challenges I'm the Ho Chi Minh Trail killer and they were getting kicked out the guy I have taken out took misplaces just got shot up and so they maybe change them out Naaman guards and I went down there with the mountain yarders right in life but there was a lot of activity on the Ho Chi Minh Trail so me out of there where were you wounded where were you wounded in the upper part of my thigh very close and and so I got minute back to the camera on Bay there I would Hospital God from hell so what was the like working with indigenous troops what what was it like working with indigenous troops Kim very challenging the biggest thing on that I found that this communication now they give you tried to give you interpreters and all that stuff you can't trust interpreters you can't trust what they repeat or what they say and everything else I was working with some mountain guards and they were taught by a Canadian Canadian priest so were you able to communicate with em in friendship direct because they were they understood the Canadian French and I would talk to them and then I try to get the interpret interpret for them but everything he was saying was with muggles in other words they were in saying nothing like that not got their number and not top of that you thought I found that a lot of people don't trust interest no they don't no weirder from who they are now we might trust them but not everybody trusts so I was able to make that rate contact with the mouth guard I got a lot of information for them very useful great so interpreters are all right if you could do it yourself much much better now how would these troops be recruited and equipped the way who little proof these troops Mountain yards what's wrong how would they be able crude it how would you end up working with the hell their truth for our troops that when you hire a mountain yard the whole family goes with that's it life children everybody you know just to hire one person you hire the whole family that's it and we put aside we used to put them on our burn that's security my families were there with them oh yeah one time we were good enough there were a rainy season we lost child you don't think we had was back is like a spam that's all we had for the whole for about a month and yards they don't be all kinds of stuff coming you guys get this they show us a little short crossbows maybe shooting birds good meat let's think the chicken you can get so free bird boom like that holy you guys better not in so now how would they be paid without it they picked I don't know everything about it I just know that they go to certain villages and they can they volunteer most of it depending on what they got going to and if there's Charlie scaring them that's coming past but Charlie bothered them then without cause you know that a reason why they do things there I encountered one one time and you think they're very resourceful I got a one time and we used to give them like old old weapons to read with like carbines grease guns stuff like that and but we try to teach them how to clean and all that they don't do so much you know there's not really strong on it so I had this one guy with a grease gun ever magazine that long for that grease gun yeah but he's been there for a long time and 45 caliber ammunition compresses or Springs bringing in all the springs from so anyway we made we got in the firefight you got a magazine that's it so he just flipped upside down grab to be fitted together quick thank you huh that's quick thinking quick thinking it you know I never expected them to do anything like that but he understood gravity so when you're working with them would they be mixed in among one of your teams one of your a teams network we had dirt with the team now they will have three of them and two of us always two Americans together no colleagues but you have three of depending on the area you're in we try to find the people who are indigenous to that area like in the Hills Mountaineers lowland you get these and think that nature size you work with indigenous people dude the area you're going in because we're more familiar with it so now is remember the Special Forces did you receive any special equipment and he specialized equipment for your duties we experiment with some off-the-wall stuff we experiment General Electric came in there and they wanted to try out this new compact would blow up on my back I didn't know till just lately not too long ago a couple years at that thing with GPS enlarged form because they thought they were talking about it'll identify your position wherever you're at at all times some kind of satellite guidance all right so that's what it was and I didn't know I never even heard of GPS so not too long ago they started coming out strong that's what the look we were playing with it at that time maybe it went into a greater feel that I don't know no so at that time was that they're gonna 67 was transition going from cotton the night line and that's what we were doing they were take giving us different rucksack try them out and see how they work all that so we were experimenting with a lot of new stuff but no within the limitation they even had this guy was Errol Flynn Errol Flynn the actor did his son was a photographer huh he was a photographer in Vietnam he never came back from getting out he tried to come in with our team and that we said no again but you in with our team he says well why not mrs. you're not trained enough for that every depinna every one of us and every one of us works out all right he must have went in with somebody else never came back they never recovered his body I heard us but we we have to take care of the team first and our mission that was priorities yeah how often would you perform these missions how often would you perform these missions when you're in country at the permission I'd say we we go out we've got to an F will be what they call a field operation things there from there we would run missions it depends on our a Oh what they call our area of operation okay now we have to check out this whole area and so they would trim it out for each individual team until we get it all checked out it depends how big the areas and how many teams that took to get in there now so they took the team would stay in there for at least a week or so and then get that little section another team another team like that that South once that area was cleaned out or checked out then this is more for a conventional organization that wanted to make an infiltration force infiltration there and that that one they want to live over there reporting the win that's what it is that's what we did so how would your team be infiltrated how is your team infiltrated how did you my hello my chopper all depending on the LZ with all that lovely landing zone if it was too much up right in there we probably go in there by repel or we just not get high off the ground and jump in we've done that a lot of times because all that extra recruitment just gets in your way but you can take a good different follow no problem let you roll PMF what they call a peerless parachute landing for learner do you learn how you build up to all this stuff here mostly originally going through your body at that time infiltrations the most as this point of that old issue but you can get in there my childhood spotting you you're doing good but if he spots you and you start running you can run for weeks yeah be on your tail dogs everything else we carry the electric pepper dogs love it so did that ever happen to you no but I did get caught in the monsoon and the water raining and they couldn't come and get me and Charlie was on my back tail took me while good ten days we ran out of child and what will we do to sleep we go on the side I real steep side of a hill and we take our military bevel soften hook it up to a branch a small branch and that's how we sleep this way we're not at the bottom did Charlie can't understand that get up before first light move on so how was it just you or reality I'm sure during this situation how many of you were out there running away huh how many of you were out there during that mission wasn't that mission only one team sport it was like yeah for it 48 before a indigenous to America's always to Americans where most of your operation is one we're going to Americans at least two Americans that off that long merica at least to America the reason for this is just some types of those troops you can repress them so far there's do not Americans do not brothers so to speak they're there as for the state they come they might move it out and if they do say they decided to cut out on you good clarify the inside I'm finding out about it the Americans all they do is they let them go then we hide so that they make all the racket and get chased using a deep voice why not then I'm gonna stay here and fight it'll be a decoy but that's what it is but mostly at they used to running all team all-american teams they found that just get the little D be involved they start getting some good ll DB at the end there no they started to shape up and they were would they call it right down to the muscle they're doing good jobs how do you think they motivated them by getting the work training the training in that spot I saw the only thing to do is motivated by training get them good get equipment training stuff like that and tell them how would you keep them informed take him into your fold but there's always the little reservations for you and another American you don't completely trained it Oh training as far as you can trust them but you always got something all back for two murders oh don't need the sense you have get out there that's it now if you need an emergency extraction how quickly could the army come and pick you up calling for the fact that aircraft for their controlled air force and you let him know that you need an emergency out and they say okay with your LLC they said we'll give you a light give you a flare we had different signals we use we have mirrors we have flare pistols and you don't want to use too much smoke that gives you away third charlie - so you don't know depending on the situation you're in we can't find the opening it's ok what do you want give us a couple of McGwire's depending on the people right you say you're gonna be able to take care of them over there so okay that's okay we've got a couple of trees with their knocked down when you come are you gonna knock them down play more small-arms you could shoot a tree down automatic fire right across like that just like cut down yeah and then the Claymore of course a big bang but tree does go and so not go down they throw down the ropes look up Wow very fast but you don't do nothing until they're within sight right down the line very professional now do you have any particularly memorable experiences probably particularly a combat-related experience combat-related yeah yeah I had a few problems there but do you remember the bad ones more than due to goodness because they stay closer in your mind and me as I lost a few good friends one of them we were are not Patrick team that wasn't in charge of that one it and another sergeant in charge and what we didn't uh come on a bunker and didn't even know the bunker with their food we're all in high grass and we come up there all sudden this machine doesn't come out and my point man was the medic medic Tevas he was there boom he got it right away and so one of the guys over there and all that more automatic fire opened up and it just so happened that I was behind the big anthill these anthill is about five feet high thick and we all went down when we went down about this far from the ground all the little leaves were cut off stems of this elephant grass all you see the little stalks and you see right through it all the way down to the right there I got a perfect firing range and I've never seen anything like that before and they had that set up big time and I was solid gases unreal so my buddy burning human he said I'll take care of there but he took us he took AWP grenade tied it out to clean work you know play more and he put it in front of the anthill and he blew it now you're blowing all that WP onto there on to third there and all that stuff gonna go it's gotta burn so that's one way he was trying to break contact everybody in that operation got wounded the team Tiger got hit in the head it was you would be uncontrollable anymore because you couldn't even think so I took charge of it I wanted to carve it up nature that deepens bodies out there first pulled them back and then after that we started getting the men together I got on the radio got a hold of fast mover smokey and that's all small people over at what kind of fix we were in that he come down he said okay I'm gonna shoot WP tell me where from from that and he did and from there I says I gave the coordinates and everything and big fast mover started coming down nice and now we need some ships everybody's wounded and he's Jewish everybody hears wounded okay on the way yeah that's the boat rights organization everything was right there all of that and they came it was uh a you we take this all up then they went back in there for another operation that was a major headquarters for Charlie for an organization that Charlie had and they had all kinds of documents everything there they've got enough information out of that to find out everything in three four I was right of it it just hitted by chance that was the biggest I've ever ever remembered but it didn't start good experience oh forget it now you're talking about intelligence-gathering most when you're gathering intelligence yeah besides finding these communications bunkers how else would you be able to eavesdrop or find out what the enemy is planning to do you take their comm along yeah what you do you put you get the recorders and just don't hang around there just cover it all up then we come back next day pick up all the recordings all that and you don't want to you don't want to give yourself away on that unless you got a common little guy coming down and of course you might use them as appeal with them but you get your reporting service priority they do come down to check they didn't come down they didn't check the time the lines up make sure it's really if you want to draw one out but you do you take a little pin and push the copper wire have to wire they're wrapped like this you take a pin and you go right through both of them at one time and that blocks that missed them right up so this come out and check out their wire it works now how would you evacuate a prisoner once you taken well you put a sack over their head for a thing like I love stripping down you don't think chance would have bet on that the chopper comes hidden one man gets on first to make sure then whatever it could fit on there whatever it can we get the next chopper but getting them out of there is no problem you always have a chopper yeah you have a pre-designated LZ anyway our landing zone that we know where to go to and all that Dorothy is but you get to it you got to make sure you look around it make sure nothing there waiting for you they think you're in the area they look for all these open spots and that's what you gotta watch out just like that setting up a booby trap with a stick hooked up to the pin did you ever have any difficult reasons all right did you ever ever have any difficult explorations oh yes thump the ship you were all shot up we had some of the guys didn't quite make it to it yeah brave chopper pilots I mean great to come down and get us and we had the guys from 281st my life depended on them all the time and they were superior they they excelled in all their work they would never leave us behind never they get shot up we lost a few planes out there that was our lifeline as far as getting out when you could rely on people like that you can go a little bit further doing a little bit more that's what we worked out good well together the thumbs we're not scared of each other we protect each other cover each other's back it works now I'm sure did you ever perform any missions where you help to recover aircrew or bring aircrew out of well there's one I did it up but I didn't go after them as a matter of fact I felt I got my chopper shot out from under Julie and what happened it was a long day parrot speak Messiah detained in area B 36 had a picnic going excuse me we used to call these encounters picnics but we had a picnic going and we were dancing with the bear and so when that happens they need some supplies and stuff so just so happened I just come back from a mission and that was back in the base camp so they told me chopper in give us a involved what kind of 5.56 or whatever it took you know but every day wanders ok coming so I got the chocolate no sooner I did I get all that stuff with chopper coming in boom boom you load it up that way I don't have half my field gear on me all out of my harness my weapon enamel we went out there yeah they were shooting they had him across the river that the Saigon had him cross the river - hadn't their they haven't nailed down pretty good the big organization and the dad am on their knees pretty much they were for ammunition big picnic and so that's all ok let's go down over here with drop word whatever do you want the Ambo you know it's I told him we got a communication I thought where do you want to just over there okay so I start to bring the chopper there and bang also there's yeah hmm you come right down I don't know what they hit or what happened move it right now so we got out pretty good I didn't want to hang around in there but I had get all that animal out of there I don't want to lose it so I got all that my after that I want to see the pilot the copilot all them guys are you guys alright yes yeah we're all right I don't know about the bird I had no worry about killgrave by ourselves today so I got in touch with somebody else never the helicopter looking get some of your people here who need them out of here they're not they're not fit for this type of work yeah we know we know so they would they come pick them up and then they were flying away I showed that I showed them one tracer tracer and I would like that in my guns not cleared at the chopper blow it Oh he said we'll come back later and pick it up that's okay so I went back to see my buddies they're like that did you feel I'm during the war that you were well-equipped they had enough supplies had enough ammunition well let's just put it this way whatever equipment that he gave me was sufficient all extra our special equipment I created for me or somebody else did so they could never possibly furnish us with the same equipment we need like the conventional force these conventional forces there's a different kind of warfare they had what they needed me like that m79 that's cut down for your reason I used that with the break contact and I'm not a continuous defensive weapon it could be I have to but the only reason I had to break contact that's why I modified it for that purpose now everybody has some type of weapon they modified or worked with and you'd be surprised the stuff that came out with us these guys had an imagination you wouldn't believe but they made it do they make do with what the gun would give us we improvised the modified of course we could gone jail for destroying government property but it worked would you wear body armor in the field no we didn't even wear helmets we blended with the indigenous thing Barelvis we didn't wellness and they were too heavy anyway well the point emissions was almost in a way not to engage in combat right I was mostly mostly intelligence-gathering if the mission went well yes yeah mostly yes that's what the depending on the mission like I said most the missions were intelligence gathering that's what we want the information from that area to pass that on to somebody else so they can use it according to what they want and that's basically what we had as far as Delta project with now when i was was beat 36 we had what you call hatchet teams now these hatchet teams were not already intelligence-gathering but they were filled then were you snatched also so just a whole new different type of mission you know if they needed some information from somebody and they if they laughed us it's go get some feeling devil use we're not a really good appeal Debbie with you know but that's what they depended on us to do that so we gear up we find out what roles are easily mostly used marked everything else you gotta watch out it might be a point now you catch Peter here and Here Come Peters buddies a true story huh that sounds like a true story yeah that's why you gotta be alert you got to make sure whenever you catch him here you guys to know it's somebody fired up down there good let's see what they got but you never know which side they're gonna come from so you you're spreading your team out at this time ruff were you ever on missions looking for American prisoners of war now not American prisoners they volunteered to go when they went that big went up north yeah now they already had a team set up but I was volunteered for a body recovery which was thinking that the Americans behind that Charlie was not a very pleasant experience they talked about torture they've got to know how to do it they tortured our Americans what the media will never tell you about that too busy telling is telling everybody how Americans torture them but we caught we found one field that be or not feel their body yet both his hands and his feet cut off and you could tell he crawled until he died covered that body then another look with a bag over his head and looked like somebody shoved the rat up there so the rat had the deeps way out through the neck - and we went into the wet my hands wet land big lizards chomping down on burden body was nobody volunteer for that do you and you said that don't think that they become related with that and of course we told each others we're not gonna be appealed regardless we were all defended on that my only big fear when I was running on recon hey we took this notion tablets C be constipated [Laughter] we had another story involving that o with Brinson Colonel Bob rice yeah yeah the colonel and I we were up in the plane dad we were talking he liked me as a recon man yeah yeah lot of faith didn't mean all that we were going there officer the chopper came down we got shot out chopper came down me he looked at me kind of worried look he says just check it out and see well you know you have to find out what's wrong before you addictive so he took this gay bar he slices ass out of his pants out so he could see the moon and all I see was brown stuff come out of it your pants oh good speaking he's a good commander I don't give anyway they said about him while he was gonna get time while I was serving under him colonel both rice one of the best commanders and he protected you took care of you and give you whatever you needed to do job that's my that's my work there after that I can't say nothing for that period strong do you have any other funny scores a little gory I don't know if you could take the glory one McCrory mom yeah let me hear okay we had a doc with medic name was Ed Markey right and he was a little more he's more of an animal type person you know he get along with everybody and he did weird stuff you know and so we were ready to say I gotta fire one died just seven drinking he was he felt mellow even one that would be bothering you know he just like the drink so it's mamasan behind the bars si you bought my parakeet you bought my therapy mama son get away from me I don't wanna hear hear you buy my Harry get them bugging them you know also she got a phone call so she turned around started talking about her phone back now click on the bar all word Pericles laid right out with no heads ties in the next one Oh what were some of the pranks that you pull but some pranks that you and your fellow soldiers would would pull you know pranks practical jokes what like a prank like a practical joke pranks yeah yeah well I got one specially against an officer well what is this we come back from an operation we were out there for a couple of months and all that you come back in tons out for a beer some and we get to the club and all of a sudden they see all we have a 55-gallon drums outside full of ice and beer why can't we go in the club and drink you know it's cool bouncing oh we're renovating your club you're renovating our club so we can't go in there and drink that's right that's the way it is all right so we wouldn't see the option bottles - sir this is not right they shouldn't be doing that while we're on stand down like this they do never brought the woods and all that stuff not while we're back here he says that's the way it is coming in from baked quarters all right so at that night the officer's club had a couple of brown guys having a great time we weren't happy about it so we put a couple of CS Renate on their air conditioner he was too safe before tonight was out we had a lot of company up there by the barrels yes CS gets on the walls ain't coming off they definitely tried hard to find out they interrogated all of us well your unit so would you find that that would often be a point of conflicts relationships between officers now listed not just wonders - stuff like that most y'all she's pretty good this there's always a few who try to excel and our expense you know in all that stuff the senior NCOs there you find that top and they got a lot of what some huafei and they don't take so much and after that that Citadel doesn't even inform the officers but this is enough I think with this we shouldn't go any further with this and yes the officers update that person it's this time for Selena they're gonna have to pay the price for it you know because do you only the only thing the only way an officer can get anything done is buying this co-directing it or controlling and the officer can do it you get out there talk to the men they don't know the men you don't know how they function into somebody thing they don't know about and mr. Mendes sound real and most the end as far as special force those most of the sto of our senior conceals so if you like to tell the camera some of your special duties involving butter bars wouldn't they usually they would attach you the young lieutenants like how would this you you would usually end up putting these men through the motions with this with fresh lieutenants you know straight at us all shaking with dinners yep oh that's Colonel boat rides together got a guy there you give me give his heart to you but play he take it out in trade later you were to sign young lieutenants to me and we call them butter bar all that the end that no experience no no nothing you know there but they had good training as far as book goes and all that and the kurma would telling us look didn't you're assigned to that sergeant until that soccer tell something you're ready to leave you just listen to him let him take charge and you watch him work together you know and that colonel always that he had more lieutenants come out to me to take care of me I felt I had causa them to my armpits put them under your armpit to carry the but after a while they get hurt but you get enough of them enough of them that's something that wasn't even got a kilt competed didn't pay attention the rolling up a rope ladder but even nothing look ladder wrong he had a backpack with a radio on and he went up like this you don't go or a rope ladder on a helicopter straight out like that you hit it on the sides this way it doesn't kick out and all the waste not on your arms and that way there you're going up sideways and it's much easier than going like that with your legs kicking out if yes somebody only gets one thing you don't always have what you want yeah a lot of calluses on my things but yes I got a lot of through then they were good they were good officers it just needed something to get them introduced to it that's something let them know that their their book is nothing it's not the Bible is a guide you that only as a guy you can assist for the rest so was there anything special you did for good luck while you're in Vietnam yeah well I was there I have st. Christopher middle I worked at a long time I come back a little girl my granddaughter the youngest one oh that dawned on me right there i OE bored I'll put it this way thank you if you promise to keep this but you've got to keep it can't give it away it's my lucky lucky charm okay now what did you do for entertainment when you weren't on mission time huh what should you for entertainment when you weren't on missions Oh sand down and out it was a good conversational pieces not well we've got the club never once in a while we were going to be there for a little while they did some shows on for us maybe the Australians or some Korean or something some kind of a show it like a USO show you know and they've come out there one year one time they had Australian came down there was a woman was a snake charmer she ran around with that snake you know that the band played all that special music and all that you know one of the guys in the back says take it out oh no I don't pick it off you did in the officer's club [Laughter] played too many games though they Street the club it's a couple of guys I wouldn't know their names then of course they had a big thing on lutherie the club who street the big interrogation that's holy crap then the hacker sounds like the world war tutor trying to get all these yeah pretty good that like mostly you know we had all this insane and stuff like that then why then the DEP unless we got involved that's what make the whole thing going it's so long did this handle all these events to keep you guys was did the schedule all these events all this entertainment to keep you guys busy when you were in the field I don't know we don't know what happened a lot around the woods isolated from headquarters they had dug through communication there but it's part of what we knew nothing happened you know it might have we don't know they might have used our club against them you know ya know the guys here they call it the MIS Association got good we were on that what I call the rations are yeah we were getting paid for our fashions though to miss association took over and they started making elaborate moves and stuff like that they never went out the would never seen a wild tree but they were they're functional at the club and they're the one that decided to transfer change our club around anymore because they call them disassociation this still alive so the entertainment on bass did you ever have to go on leave while you're in country yes whenever we kind of feel at that view they give us R&R the country of our choice depending on how valuable the pow2 was right most times I got to Taiwan Taipei I even with the Bangkok a couple of times Special Forces Hannibal at a hotel they're all lined up all the time we just went there got that gear we're always welcome there and they were unconventional like us [Laughter] because we had one Colonels kid come over there at the time that was two P you know long-haired hippy then all that and the Colonel's kid come over they want to use the food and well the sergeant's look them you need a haircut boy how come you get all that bad mouth on you my father the colonel I don't know you know one of those members yeah what about it you just pull the kid down the chain is hit he went back home his father Baba oh yeah needless to say he never was swimming there again that Taiwan didn't have no special place in Taiwan but I like Taiwan I got a few souvenirs from the pretty good you talk to how you talk to a girl behind the bar all the time and she worked behind the bar to her in English and that's what she was doing but she played no hanky-panky with the guy so the guys didn't really bother with her new much you know I thought was interesting you know I said the girls trying to get something going and all that so I don't mind I think education to go that's it so I talked to her a lot she was happy take a dude so did speaking of Education did you ever use the GI Bill yes I did but if I could use the GI Bill I have to get a GED I got that when I was in the service and I needed that just to get in the green for race so I didn't get that I would've never made oh you bet with that then when that came out I hit the GI Bill to get a new tree I wouldn't have 17 years old the only one that would hire me after I come out with the mafia I wasn't really up to that you can't trust those guys so I knew I need a new skill and all that so I went out welding and we're not a well I worked on the Navy ships submarines stuff like that and then I came to Connecticut we've got a job over and sheet metal shopping Cromwell and they told me this is what will help you with your education get your skill and your certificate so I got that and I got I used up four years of my my self in it after that I started increasing on my income pretty good for me whatever I had so has your service influence your thinking about war or about the military in general after service they've influenced me at all the services just like a spoon but don't do nothing for you but the one that handles the spoon that influences that's what it is that's you've got to be the NCOs and you get the good commanders that's what you get that that influences you and your purpose in life now I believe in peace most peace but I also believe in fighting for what I got for peace not just let somebody else go out do it or expect everybody that ok let everybody think peace and that would be it it doesn't work that way what happens always somebody trying to get a piece of your peace it's a hain't coming out of that so speaking of that did you ever have any negative experiences with your peace movement in the United States when you came home from the Army no that's all it was negative I came back in 64 my final knocking back before that came back yet 6g8 69 I was asked for I was requested to leave Vietnam because of my unacceptable behavior anyway I came back got some training but as I came off the plane had all these mop heads and all the lass homes out there to my English all those jerks out there that they were throwing stuff that he stopped the war this madness and he got no choice in the matter I'll do my duty my country and they kept on throwing stuff spitting at me and everything else I was really angry and one lieutenant still be suspended get enough and there's a change in uniform get out of uniform ain't no way I'm gonna get out my uniform I fight too hard for this uniform so I didn't get out of my uniform so that would be my first trip a second trip when I left for good in 1972 72 a different but I had the intelligence and knowledge from my previous trip there so I got me a handful of darts and I stuck them into the undesirable stuff then when I got off that plane dear all their along that the chain-link fence I just started throwing my cards across none of them hit the fence so those who were my experience after that I got into the airplane go there Airport and I was going down there and had a couple of kids are two or three the hippies following me they're talking their stuff and everything else so I try to bypass but get away from them I went down Nelson woman turn around deadhead let's turn around the leaves again they were all through them they're laughing and all kind of stuff you know and I looked behind it was two cops that were following him also there's two cops turn around they're seeing I was I was cornered and then go choice looked at me looked at them they just turn around and walked away so I had my picnic [Laughter] same kind I didn't take my uniform off determine those are the same picnic that the same term used in Vietnam and you had a picnic now from your service were you awarded any medals or citations I see one on your shirt already I got a whole bunch well let's say the first one was Silver Star the highest one Silver Star and that one there it was give it to me one not team's best shot then machine gun ambushed and all that I saved the rest of the team and that's why he gave me the Silver Star the Bronze Star one of them was when I was over my house when I got shot up there - give me the brown start or the B then Delta project gave me a brown start for recovering team's stuff like that I got in the way four times so they got four purple cars National Defense I got in Korea I mean for Vietnam and our accommodation another one for meritorious service I guess at Good Conduct for from the Army that skill he didn't catch me one time all that recon paid off I had one of those then I had what the gap from the ones I got of course got CIB combat attrition in fact I got my master jump wings I got my Air Medal halo badge I'll do parachutist I got a lot of automatic weapons a lot of patches and I got a lot of friends now um you said you were wounded a few times if you do you still suffer from any of those injuries you said you were wounded four times do you ever do you still suffer from those injuries yeah don't go away something to someday travels too many don't go away my leg doesn't function like you I would airborne after justice fight nobody's gonna say no but I did that would airborne after that with that many but there's ways of compensating for different falls do pls forward so you just and now how about some you know more unseen wounds post-traumatic stress do you feel like you suffer from that that happens because of my buddies Stephen is one of them they got a name of Pete box and he was a camp engineer shelter project and we went to training group together and he insisted I go to recon I told him you got the whole camp you take care of them all that you got to talk to me from same because they needed some kind of a sponsor to get into the Recon part and I told him that not my my bag could do this you know don't be biting me and but yeah that guy come over at night middle night on my case observer finally persuaded me it's okay just get him off my ass and when we lost them that state would be a lot of nice light blue a lot of nights I go in the hole - finally there that's all you keeping them alive in your memory and instead of keeping them alive in your memory hey art Oh oh great like Fran she knows something's wrong he's quiet so did you join any veterans organizations speaking of the Brotherhood speaking of that friendship I'm a veteran debate which means that a lot of veterans come see me for a different help a lot of Korea better need help did indeed help that because a lot of them had their records when they came back in Korea sent to the archives and they got burnt right they ain't got proof one of what happened not one they can't find it and instead of trying to help them they just push them aside I got one right now I'm working on it's crazy and did gather those advocates I got I going to the American Legion the VFW that's ten special forces ordered as they shouldn't Heart Association I belong to all those organizations and I'm not always an active member and all but the ones that can work but I work with because they needed Anita and it keeps me on my toes no not that but that does keep me like totally lost the other the French organization water very here the one that was that the CCS you long did it this st. James here Frank Cold War Veterans Association so I want a lot of work I think we have to get involved because not too many people are good they all want a hand they all have a hand out but they don't have a hand up some kinds of activities or sponsorships do these groups offer to veterans all right what kind of sponsorships or scholarships do all these groups yeah we would tell you time that that first group there did they give out that every year they get some scholarship to the students well they don't have to be big famous names and all that or really on top of their class like the peak and all that but they have to be patriotic now while you overseas I know you have quite a few photographs did you keep a personal diary and not a personal diary no I've moved around so many times I got shot up took my stuff I don't have nothing the only thing I have is some of the pictures here that I had but we've got special ops pictures something most damaged some of the guys gave me except for that one big folder that's all of my awards and decorations paperwork and a few pictures in there as far as pictures I got pictures but this is all most of what I got somebody else I try to keep my portfolio and stuff dude it was moving plus I lived with my mother when I left my sister later yeah so how often do you keep in contact with your former special-forces where you use every day every day we got a website dump the project website that I have there were mostly email I got one Lakeland Florida like they're all over the place I keep in touch with all of them all that I know of I got this - good good good man out there without them we wouldn't be where we are today they they truly late that way they made them job that much and they were forced to do anything to do anything just like JFK said the sponsor of the green bar is very appropriate now are there any stories or anything else you'd like to add to the interview that that comes to mind that we haven't discussed so far well I'll put it this way that was pretty much the combat stuff and all that stuff today now the way we are like you say you know the by keeping in contact yes we have two conventions every year that we we call it confessions their reunion is more than anything else and one this year is going to be at Florida it's from June September we happen every year over in Vegas and it's good because you know we look at our our list of people who are leaving us we got that book you have out there that tells you you're going fast they're not young anymore mid 70s upper 80s or mid 80s our tournament that's why I'm glad you the opportunity to interview me so before my time comes the pleasure is online and may I add that thank you very much for your service it's a very appreciated I did selfish manner well you couldn't be President well you couldn't be President yeah so you figured you yeah me Brett too much headaches well thank you again mr. Sanger and I really do appreciate your service always a pleasure I like to talk to young men I learn more from them than they realize

Channel: ccsuvhp

Views: 5,959

Rating: 4.7142859 out of 5

Keywords: Andre, StLaurent, Interview (TV Genre), Veteran (Profession), Vietnam Veteran (Literature Subject), Army, War (Quotation Subject)

Id: BqjfjSqyBqs

Length: 84min 1sec (5041 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 20 2015