Medal of Honor Rescue Mission Green Beret Drew Dix Vietnam War Tet Offensive Combat Vet Interview

who takes away we all set okay then I'll give you a chance you know right so for the other if you would state your name the rank at which you retired and where you serve my name is drew Dix and retired as a major in Special Forces retired after 20 years with Special Forces in the Army you where I mean I twenty years there's a lot of places I I served in served in the Army and I served mostly out of Fort Bragg North Carolina with two tours in Vietnam and one tour in in Alaska where I retired in 1982 I was born in West Point New York I really don't know where that is I mean I I grew up in Pueblo Colorado and I graduated from high school there in 1962 and enjoying the army when I was seventeen and a half I enlisted in the army because my father had been in the Army I was one of these individuals that went to ROTC in high school there was a active duty sergeant that was on the ROTC Kadri that I learned to respect and had a lot of respect for him and I knew that between my influence my father and this sergeant that I was going to go in the army what I am I was not aware of Vietnam when I enlisted I enlisted in 1962 Vietnam was was going on at that time since 1959 but I enlisted in the army to go in the Special Forces and found out I had to be 21 years old before they would take me in those days and so I went to the 82nd cooling my heels there a bit until I became 21 and and in 1965 I went to the Dominican Republic with the 82nd Airborne Division they had a small conflict down there that lasted a few days and that was my I guess the first chance I get first time I got shot at but then soon after that I went into Special Forces and at that time when we were in the Dominican Republic in 1965 was when the first major units went to Vietnam and that's when Vietnam became more aware to all of us when the 1st Cav went over and some of the first 173rd when you were did you feel you were trained for that my first engagement to combat I was a young paratrooper in the 82nd I was highly motivated like the rest of us we were anxious and that's what young soldiers do you know we were anxious to get involved in something I felt I was trained to to get in to get into combat when I I was shipped off to Vietnam in 1967 and I said that I had to wait till I was 21 well to get to be trained in Special Forces takes quite a bit of time the war was going hot and heavy when I got into Special Forces and I thought it was just going to pass me up but I but I went to Special Forces the training was something just about a year long and I started language school and that was almost well I was six months and in 1967 I just knew that the war was going to be over at least for Special Forces and and I was somewhat concerned because I was ready that's what all my instructors the older sergeants were talking about I wanted to be a part of it and I went over to be on a Special Forces a team in Vietnam in October of 67 my main objectives to go to Vietnam was to be on an 18 as 12 man a-team is the ultimate combat unit and Special Forces at the time and when I got to Vietnam I was somewhat disappointed because in when I arrived at camera on Bay I was singled out and pulled off of the normal rotation cycle to the Special Forces headquarters in the Trang and I knew then that I wasn't going to see action with Special Forces I was going to be sent off to Saigon to some support unit or something and after two days I waiting I did get a call and they sent a plane up and took me to Saigon and I started getting briefings on a special project working for civilian agency in the fourth core region southern part of Vietnam this was yes I was working for the CIA a program that was a counter-intel a counter-terrorist program initially to organize train and lead indigenous troops to go after communist or Vietcong infrastructure that was my mission after I got reassigned in Vietnam with the the initial mission that I was on just prior to the Medal of Honor action I'll have to just just explain a little bit I was in the intelligence gathering business intelligence and I was in an armed intelligence unit which means I collected the intelligence and I acted on my own intelligence so and to capture individuals was my primary mission in 1968 was the new year the Chinese New Year was fast coming and at that time of the war the US government and allies and the end of the the Communists were trying to find every reason to have a ceasefire we for political reasons to back out a little bit I think and the Communists to give him more time to ceasefire to get organized and do more what they were going to do so when the word came down that there would be a ceasefire for I believe three days I don't remember I knew that that something wasn't right my business was intelligence I knew the area of where we were operating and so I had just come back from a patrol and there was a complete absence of enemy action along the Cambodian border and in Cambodian so I knew something was up and I I talked to my boss at the time and I said you know I've got to go back out and see what's going on the ceasefire disturbed me and I was working kind of unilaterally on my own I could do what I needed to do I didn't wasn't going to violate the ceasefire but I could go out and conduct a reconnaissance and at the time a Navy SEAL batoon was in that came into our area looking for some action and they hadn't had a lot and they heard that we were given some action and so they volunteered and went with me to the border to see if what was going to go on and so we put together a patrol and went up near the border and got into a minor skirmish just when we were trying to determine where our support was going to come from if we got into a heavy heavy battle I got on the radio and found out that Chau doc was was under attack so we headed back to see what we could do to help relieve that pressure it was clear then that the enemy were already where they wanted to be is why I wasn't seeing any they they they performed a magnificent clever infiltration in all these these cities that was their best shot at the time up to that they were going to win the war at that time I and around the country you know we responded so well the allies and just just just foiled her attempt and really hit him hard and I think at that time is when the war was clearly could have been one was in child Doc four months before the action I was very familiar with the city in the four months that I was there I was familiar with the countryside I felt like I really knew where I was and the structure of the enemy as well as the the local indigenous troops to get the the proper perspective that part of Vietnam didn't have any American troops other than a few Special Forces units we were totally relying on the the army of the Republic of Vietnam and there weren't that many of them down there in that Delta you were working with how many people I was working I had a unit that had about a hundred and if I recall hundred and thirty seven men in it our mission was to cover the entire province of Chau doc five districts and I did that with with troop spread out all over in little cells gathering information and then I would act on the information that they would collect and because of that I didn't have 137 people with me and on the patrol that I was on I only had if I recall four or five four four and then the Navy SEALs platoon and because there was a ceasefire even my troops and the arvin troops were enjoying the ceasefire they were in town doing or on holiday visiting whoever the family girlfriends whatever they were they were doing at the time so I didn't have control or access to all of my troops I felt good about because there was a large I had a nine nine member of shield platoon well the the nave when we received word that we were under attack we went to the river and we'd called the the Navy PBRs riverboats the US Navy and they picked us up and took us right to towards Chau doc Chau doc city was located on the confluence of river system and we were trying to I was trying to get information I knew the the province I knew the structure of the the indigenous trying to figure out what was going on I was I had got ahold of my boss on the radio at the Embassy house and found out that things were really bad they were worse than I thought it would be and that some civilians had been killed or captured and Maggie Frank OTT heard her name at the time was was possibly killed and he was very concerned about her had been in communication with her and then all sudden it stopped and I was told that she was probably killed or captured as well as some other Americans that was the first thing we needed to do was find out what the other Americans were and most of the most all of them that we were concerned with her volunteers civilian volunteers they they were some on the payroll maybe some not even on a payroll but of sorts but they were volunteer dedicated to their help and what was they have a war effort and the locals and so I kind of felt like we need to take care of them I mean they're they're Americans and most of them and they needed we need to find out what was what was going on what happened to him we we approach the city and a rapidly trying to figure out and the seals at that time relinquished the command of that to me clearly because I knew my way around they didn't know the city at all at the time and so I I made the decision to land in the center of downtown rather than go to the embassy house which was also on the river we could have done that but I I wanted to be able to relieve the embassy house not become a part of that if they were surrounded and it was better to fight our way in than just a beach right on there then that we would be held up just like they would have been isolated so we landed on the on the beach and we got quite a bit of fire the enemy at that time it was clear that they had totally infiltrated the city before they had initiated their attack I think they thought they were gonna fight their way in but it was far easier than they thought I mean everybody was celebrating this holiday even the first fireworks were probably or the the firefights people thought they might have been fireworks if you can imagine that that scenario but once we got into the the city the Tactical Operations Center wasn't far from where we landed the riverboats and we made it there and found out that the city was totally under control and the VC the local Vietnamese were demoralized because they were caught off guard the acting province chief was was who I think a thought of and think very highly up to this day was very demoralized because his he was told his wife and children were probably killed and his best friend and bodyguard was killed and turned out that he had been and then next order business was goaded to the embassy house get some equipment that we needed vehicles to move around town and that's where I linked up with my boss Jim Monroe were you not I wasn't picking up any troops I had what we came in with because the the town that the troops were totally what the troops were in the city were totally holed up in - in different buildings and in residences there was no leadership because they were all on holiday there were there was no organization of leadership so we made it to the embassy house get a couple of vehicles and that's when I found out that and we went took the vehicles back to the Tactical Operations Center the Vietnamese headquarter and found out that Maggie the nurse was hadn't been heard from for a while her house was not that far from our compound and I said we need to go check out and see what was happened to Maggie and that was the beginning of the taking back child we went to look for Maggie at her house right away because we were told that's where she was and there were two vehicles two jeeps and we literally raced through the gates that the Tactical Operations Center went directly to her house and was receiving quite a bit of fire along the way from the enemy that were positioned in the tops the roofs or the upper storey building windows and I when I first started out I said these guys we're not going to make it through there without sustaining heavy injury because they were in fixed positions and windows and we weren't able to stop and engage him because if we did we'd get bogged down we just kept running through there positions and pulled up to Maggie's house and it didn't look good because she had a an international scout with her issued vehicle and there there could have been a thousand bullet holes in it the tires were flat the windows were out it just kind of sitting there all like it did it taken a brunt of this on an assault and there were some trees in front of the her little compound of there was a wall compound very low wall and about half the leaves were on the on this the ground on the patio and that was from the concussion from rounds had been hit the building and in the in the yard and they just didn't look good and the way the the building it was an older stipe type French structure and there was an iron gate across the door that you see in a lot of different countries that they have these and maybe in the United States and it was locked and couldn't get in and I thought well you shoot the lock off but that didn't work it we didn't try but it wouldn't work and the enemy had when I we approached the building Jim Monroe and I approached the the building the gate was closed but the door was open and we saw some enemy run out the back room there was a front room and in a kitchen and in the back wall was kind of just blown out where they had done that in order so that they could move from block to block without going down roads they it's a very common tactic I first saw in the Dominican Republic where you can stay off the roads by going through the buildings the wall and so these two - I believe ran out the back door there might have been more and I went to the side of the building to make sure they didn't run out we're coming back on the wall and they hadn't we left a couple of the Navy SEALs and and some of the indigenous troops are with me on the vehicles and they were suppressing fire and they were just on the vehicles making good targets in themselves and I knew that when I turned around it somebody was gonna be hit but fortunately they weren't so I'm talking to you Jim yelling back and forth it was a little bit it was loud there and we're standing right there together at this gate frustrated we can't get in I'm thinking about going around but there were some enemy back there I know and and so I called out I said to Maggie you know and and nothing at first and then I heard somebody said yeah it's me and there was a room in the back of the you know the corner of the living room was a door and I guess that that's where her bedroom was and she she was in their building somewhere at that time I didn't know exactly where and said Maggie just come out you know and she did and she ran up there and it couldn't get the door open because it was locked and I remember at the time saying we'll get the key in and when I looked through there was a the building was totally in shambles like they had empty drawers and throw them on the middle of the floor looking for things or I don't know but it was just total shambles and she turned around and picked up the key in there WA and unlocked it and then we got her out but very very fortunate very lucky it was kind of felt like things are gonna turn out because she wasn't killed I mean it was we really thought she was killed had been killed and took her back to the Tactical Operations Center well after after we secured Maggie and got her the Tactical Operations Center and then laid her down to the embassy house and the Navy boats that were there got her on that boat we were still I was still concerned about the other civilians first order of business we got to find out were the other eight or ten civilians were and their situation so I took some of the Navy SEALs and we got back in those vehicles we organized that we said we got to defend this embassy house so Jim Monroe stayed at the Embassy house because it was the only piece of real estate we knew we we owned and and we could come back to and operate from if we didn't get cut off that we could get resupplied or have radio communications to the outside world we didn't know at the time that the entire country was under attack we did make some calls and Jim had told me that that he couldn't get through to Kanto our next headquarters or Saigon and that they were under some kind of attack but we didn't have the details but we didn't think about that too long and we just went back to the compound where the civilians were last known to have been and went went to get down were they there when we we took the two vehicles to go back to find the other civilians we headed to their compound and the we were receiving quite a bit of fire from rocket-propelled grenades and they were you could see the corner of your eye there screwing on top of the buildings where they're trying to get a position on it and we just we just kept going and pulled up to the front of their compound where there were two trailers that that most of them were living in maybe all in all the ones were living in there one was totally destroyed and it didn't look good and I so I left everybody there are small group the two vehicles and a few people to secure those vehicle eight we had to have those vehicles secured or we weren't going to get out or we'd be like everybody else and I ran in the compound to make a quick survey the situation ran by the one building that was destroyed and towards another one that wasn't so badly damaged nobody in there and then I was hollering and and I there were two enemy that had veered over the wall and we had exchanged some gunfire and they left or fell down back down in the wall I'm not sure I didn't one concern and there was a bunker there and voice came out of there and said it's we're here you know and I said well let's go and one of the guys I didn't know him well I just knew that they were there and one of the guys the agriculture adviser I don't remember his full name I think it was James and he stuck his head out dark dark face you know stuck his head out saw me and I said let's let's go and there's no there's BC everywhere out there I said they're gone or coming back and and when he heard that coming back he yelled back into the bunker I didn't know who was in there with him he said drew says are coming back and he wants us to go now and so they all dashed out of there and followed me and they and then we started heading back to the vehicles and they started feeling like they'd been rescued and and they were they started walking and then talking I said let's let's go this place isn't secure and we took a couple rounds and got into the vehicles and and we were just heavily loaded I put them all on one so and it was it was almost comical I'll have a heavily loaded it was but I needed the maneuverability of the other one and we we got them back and really started feeling good about that and I and I just to this day wonder how that slow-moving vehicle heavily loaded was able to get through there without how many of anybody hit that they should go back is it what is it that tells you I mean you obviously could have stayed at the compound secured it and not going back out into the streets in to put yourself into harm's way a lot of people asked me why why we went back in why I went back in and and I guess we started getting a momentum I started feeling good about what we were accomplishing it was clear there was a lot of enemy there and and we knew the area I knew the area there were still other people after we got the other civilians out there were still some more that that were - Filipinos that were last heard that we're in an enemy control and and it didn't it didn't dawn on me that we were just going to leave them there so I wanted to get back in and then some things kind of got bad and one of the seals was killed yeah I said well we're gonna keep moving and and we got the seal back he didn't die right away but he he died soon and they were ordered not to go back into the city for I don't know what it what the reasons were something about it we're gonna lose all the seals for two snipers which was not what they wanted to happen there commander so I went back in with a small group of like provincial reconnaissance unit and started to to have some success we started then once we the seals were no longer with us and we had already made enough trips in the town that we got a good feel for where the enemy will wanted to be and where we needed to be and then we started having some success getting the some off-duty of Vietnamese soldiers and a few of mine had seen us and they started coming out and joining the fight and we really started feeling good I mean when you have six me and six indigenous troops and all of a sudden you're up to maybe 14 or 15 you feel really good when when there's at that time we we thought there were two enemy battalions and there was about 600 enemy in this little town started having some successes and and the indigenous troops that were going to holiday started joining us falling in behind us we had to be careful because you know they jumped out of a door or window and they'll all look the same especially when they were not dressed in their military uniform they started joining us and and that's when that we knew I knew the enemy had just ki strong points of the city the high buildings the big compounds and they were holed up in in those each time we we took one of those over by having a few of the others that joined us I was able to leave somebody there because if you didn't do that then as soon as you you have the firefight and you take it over and you leave they're gonna come right back it's kind of like they were fighting the whole Vietnam War you know you take a piece of ground and you left they came back and by then we I knew kind of that strategy and I think we're not going to fall for that trap so I left one or a two or three the indigenous troops at every one of those key intersections some of them had been wounded and weren't that useful so we just left them there I mean things were bad I mean we had to use the wounded we weren't getting anybody out the last time we made it successful evacuation was to get this mortally wounded seal out and we just couldn't afford that anymore every time we made a trip through the the main comp at the main highway not highway the main street between the hospital and the boss sac river we just knew they're going to have an ambush for us because we had set up a pattern something I don't like to do well they had to hear that Jeep screaming around the streets but you know somebody asked me one time why we were so successful and I said well a lot a lot and we had more to shoot at so did you have any idea you know there are more troops okay we were about halfway through the the battle to take back child up when I realized that we weren't going to get any backup initially I kept thinking we're going to get some relief there was a an advisory unit outside of town in a outside of Chau doc in a place called tin bin they tried to get to us tin bin was the only district that wasn't really hit and they tried to get to us the enemy had blown the bridges there was two roads into Chau doc than the river system but they had mined the road to the south and the one to Qin been they had blown the bridge and the American advisor that was trying to to rescue us he knew of us in fact I had given him a 50-pound caliber machine gun I I saw a glimpse of his vehicle and they were ambushed trying to come in when he got around the blown-out bridge that he was killed so other than that I didn't think we were going to get any reinforcements because by then Jim had been on the radio and said then that it appears that there's a major offensive in every capital the 44 capitals in venture capitals in Vietnam and so there were no no hope for reinforcements we did need ammunition resupply we got some airdrop of a caribou Air America airdrop some supplies to us so our only reinforcement was was kind of meager attempt but we're talking about a siege and you know once you decide you aren't going to get anybody to help you're gonna do what you have to do with what you have and when we pursued the indigenous and I and my troops pursued taking over some of the key places we ran into we were able to capture I capture 20 prisoners and one of them was very high-ranking individual that was designated to be in translation to present in a child dog city or province and we didn't know that he just kind of looked importantly got him back to the embassy house and that's when he was identified by one of my one of our our people our indigenous people that we had captured earlier who was a high-ranking individual and recognized it at that time I'm thinking well if there's a major offensive we'll call in transportation to get him out if we've got somebody equivalent to be a general officer we'll find out what the major objective was for the entire country so Jim called to our next higher headquarters and told him we had somebody we believe was general level officer and they sent a Air America Pilatus Porter and landed on the road south of the child duct and sent him out to interrogate we knew then that it was a major offensive no help was coming and not until after about 50 some hours did when canto itself had was successful in defeating the enemy down there did they send a an Arvin unit up and start to clear the few pockets of enemy that remained in the city after we had taken a PAC there really weren't many BC left they had weird child Rock was only a few hundred meters from the Cambodian border and so while we we were able to eliminate an awful lot of them that decide to stay and fight a lot of them were able to escape and cross back into the border when the Arvin unit came up and they they started clearing the town like a classic conventional operation they just called in airstrikes and everything and helicopters and that's when a lot of the damage to the city occurred was when fire started and from there close air support I don't consider myself a hero at all I was a professional soldier and you do what you have to do and I believe that and I've seen it many times individuals doing doing what is what is necessary you know an American soldier is they own I've been around the world in a lot of places and without exception American soldier or America puts together somebody that's willing to make sacrifices for those on their left and the right and you you're willing to do that because you know they're doing it for you and so you don't consider yourself special you just did a job that had to be done we were just very successful very lucky and just doing what we had to do when did you first hear that you I first heard that I might be receiving some an award when some of the Navy SEALs were writing affidavits and in that sort of thing which was a little unusual because the project I was in we didn't get any awards because there was no no structure for that I was working with the Central Intelligence Agency quite frankly I was the only American on the things that I did before so there's no witnesses no American eyewitnesses if it hadn't been for the seals and some of the other Americans nobody would have probably recognized what I what I was able to accomplish when when I first I didn't know that I was going to receive a medal of honor I thought it was some other decoration possibly there was some talk about a medal of honor but because there was some lot of little different actions there was talk about different awards for the different actions but then somebody I guess decided to to investigate further and they sent a general officer a retired general officer to to collect information I was aware that I didn't stop what I was doing I kept going out on patrols and stuff I came back to Fort Bragg in a Special Forces and I was in my first day of Arabic language school when the first the first briefing of what the class was going to be about the door opened in the back of our little classroom and I recognized two of my teammates that weren't in the class and they had come to tell the instructor that I had meeting with the route commander and then he's the one that's told me I'd be going to Washington in about three days very short notice to receive the Medal of Honor and that was I have to admit I was quite a shock about that initially I wasn't sure what it was for you know what what action it was for there was when another operation I was on some American captain said he was going to put me in for something he just did that as I put him on a letter going up to the helicopter I'd ran into him on I was on with my troops and he was an advising some arvin units and gotten a bad situation I was able to get him out and he said something about it and I didn't know so went to Washington in three days and I couldn't put together I could even have some of my friends there it was because it was the last thing that President Johnson was gonna do before he left office in two days they wanted it to be he wanted to do it and so we didn't have a lot of time you know the Medal of Honor ceremony was just something incredible you can imagine a staff sergeant very very I was a young staff sergeant extremely proud to be in Special Forces that I totally admired the noncommissioned officers that taught me everything I knew and so I was very humiliated to be recognized by being something special when I thought I put all those people up here you know and the ceremony was an incredible ceremony because it was the last one of President Johnson it was a joint ceremony they had an Army Navy Air Force and Marine the other three were aviators ceremony there were about 400 people in the East Room of the White House all the chairmen and general westmoreland all the the chief of staff so the respective services were there my family was there it would been nice to know where Maggie was and gentleman robe at the time but it was such short notice it just no no way to get anybody together and because of the joint ceremony they limited how many people we could have there because of the four services being represented President Johnson interesting individual I was in the restroom just before the East Room getting ready to go in and came in so we talked briefly I don't I just briefly about what guys talked about you know they were the interesting guy and and then he walked out and it's secret his Secret Service were with him and then and then because of the others individuals were aviators there were three officers and and I was a staff sergeant so you do it in order to rank right so I was the last one and so they read the citation and he leaned over and whispered something in my my ear and I won't repeat it but it was very personal and it was very it's almost like he knew what it would have been like and but he in fact there's a photograph of him leaning over and whispered something there in the milk in the middle of this ceremony and I first thing I thought of I wonder if everybody could hear that so I won't repeat it the Medal of Honor is a very very special special has a very special meaning to me you can imagine what it's like to be a young young person wanting to do a good job and being recognized by your service your country and then to to receive that recognition and to go home and receive acknowledgement from your hometown it's just it's just something that you can't really explain but those of us that wear the Medal of Honor know that that there are so many other soldiers airmen Marines that have done acts that that just weren't recognized that because there were no witnesses left so I'm very proud to be able to wear the Medal of Honor for all those that that perform deeds far greater than I did that that no one no human being knows what they did they survived and they didn't let their buddy down on the left and the right and that is that's an honor that I'll have until I no longer wearing metal honor has changed over my life it like everyone that has the Medal of Honor it does it to say it doesn't is it would be foolish as a staff sergeant first of all I got a direct Commission as an officer I'm a staff sergeant and I wanted to be a Special Forces soldier and then I'm asked to speak at different events and do things and he asked me about world politics world situation I mean I'm the same person I was before and what makes me an expert on any of those it was tough to stay in Special Forces because people knew who I was and there was some missions I couldn't go on or train for I resented that a lot they though I wanted to go on the Sante raid but because of the secrecy of it I end when they were interview and I knew it was some guy who told later that's why they didn't let me get on it to train for it that's an example so you can't do think because they said well what if you get killed or captured and I'm thinking yeah what if anybody gets killed or captured and then then I'm back in the United States and Vietnam war is just ongoing I'm now a commissioned officer infantry officer as one mission and that's the lead American soldiers in battle that there's a war and so everybody asked me what it's like to to lead American soldiers well I didn't first of all that indigenous soldiers second of all I'm a captain there's a war going on so I went to this general officer I know that has a lot of power in new general westmoreland and he they allowed me to go back I went back to Vietnam as a company commander and hunted first I found out later that the troops had heard about me the young troops are draft deezen are worried that I'm going to get them all killed because of you know we're going into you know aggressive or whatever and so I had to overcome that and then and then I find out in the middle of the night after I'm there about two or three weeks we're on combat operations little uh night I hear somebody on a radio and in my command you know or Michael I can't command centers just clearing in the in the jungle but I hear my radio operator on and I crawl over them and you're talking to he wouldn't answer me well in the middle of night I got a little irate I thought I'm thinking maybe he's a spy or whatever he's talking on the radio and then finally he says well I just had to call headquarters to let him know that you're okay and I'm thinking what and he says yeah I've had to do this every day and so first of all you're you're telling your soldiers that the only one anybody's concerned about with is their company commander I said from this day on you're not making a phone call and I called the battalion commander got me off the so called watch list and so that's that's how it effected it was hard to do the job after receiving this I speak to groups fairly often about character about patriotism about what it's what their duty is that they need to serve not necessarily the military but serve the country it's not a free ride and and I talked to them about once a month somewhere what I say to the the young people the the students that that there isn't nothing's free you've got to earn it you've got to do what's right and I kind of relate myself to them because I'm old to them I mean you know 50s in her 50s to someone that's in maybe 8 10 12 15 16 17 years old is is they're gonna listen here's an old guy doesn't know anything but but I tell them that I went in the army at 17 and I tell him why I went in that I had people I respected that I felt an obligation I never tell them in a way that that I'm better than they are that this is just the way it was there was no reason for it I didn't no one told me I needed to do it I just wanted to do it and I tell them that that in anything they do whether it's in the military and you have a military commitment or whether it's in the private sector or in school you can't let you don't let your your buddies on the left and the right down you just do what's right and they'll do it for you and that's what makes this country so great hopefully if I can leave a thought with just one of them every time I do it it's worth it and I and I feel like I do because I get letters back from people and I'm gonna speak to an Eagle Scout banquet in Juneau Alaska next month and the theme is character counts and I want to talk about character because everybody has character whether it's good or bad it's not what you judge your characters or how other people judge you and I'm very careful not to say you have to be like me because you don't want to come across that way you need to say because they're there in being influenced by family or whoever they're around now and you just need to say this is how it was this is my good times with my bad times and I'm doing okay now and you can do okay to leadership there are leaders there are people that are assigned to be a leader by virtue of the rank of their position whether the military or civilian and then there's a situation that allows you to to be the leader it may not be that no one else knows what to do it's just that they know that at the time you you know what to do at this particular time when I was putting people together for this mission and to take back child ock well nobody knew what rank I was anyway I was a civilian yeah I guess that little bit of heartburn that they found I was a staff sergeant and there was an officer two officers there one of them in command the other one but they relinquished it to me but they thought I would outrank them so but I clearly knew where to go and I felt like I knew knew the enemy after all I wasn't in charge of that indigenous unit you're talking about the faction leadership at the time is a sense that everyone gets I'm sure in a certain situation especially a bad one and if and if you feel that you can do it you're going to do it because in war especially the outcome you're that close to dying or you're your unit is is that close to failure and you've got to move the enemy has leaders yep - and you hope they make their leaders make some mistakes and you don't want to make any before they do is there anything that I should have asked you that I don't I guess the only thing I wanted to get across is that the indigenous troops did did a superb job you know and and I probably should say something about that my job in Vietnam was to lead train organize an indigenous you know I had some of the finest soldiers indigenous soldiers that you could imagine they were they would do anything for me I felt they were there for the long haul I was there probably for a year I tried to stay longer but it wouldn't let me and I should have known that maybe I had a date at the White House or something but I didn't know I thought I did a good job they wouldn't let me stay but my soldiers were I felt like I let him down after being gone just for being there just for a year because they were going to be there till the war was won or lost and when they when I was we were in that battle and things didn't look real good and they risked their lives for me and they know I'm going in a year and they're gonna be there until they die or the war's over that was a good that was a turning point in my my feelings for them we were very close and I feel that the indigenous troops in Vietnam never got the fair shake a lot of the criticisms about the Vietnam War was directed to the leadership the Vietnamese leadership if their leadership went bad it was probably because we let the world go on so long gave them opportunities to do whatever they were doing not do it but the soldiers the ones that were drafted re recruited young soldiers they were superb they would do anything and they did for me and they deserve an awful lot of credit and if they weren't around if they hadn't been around then I wouldn't be sitting here right now that's not ought to do it

Channel: History Is Back

Views: 128,923

Keywords: Drew, Dix, MOH, Medal of Honor, Winner, Hero, Vietnam, Special Forces, SF, Navy, Seals, Rescue, Chou, Duc, Marcinko, Recipient, Full, Interview, War, Badass, Army, Honor, Medal, CIA, Tet, Offensive, 82nd, Airborne, MACVSOG, SOG

Id: XkhxLlEJJeg

Length: 59min 52sec (3592 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 03 2018