Sgt. Fred Elbert, USMC, Vietnam Veteran, P.O.W. survivor, tells his story

[Music] my name is Fred Elbert originally I'm from New York I went into the surfs in New York and we moved out here to Ohio and August of 97 and I'm I'm retired you know just going to the VA my daughter went to Crestview High School and she went to Kent State for to nap years what brought you in to what made you want to join the United States Marine Corps hello my name is coming up for the draft and I tried to get into National Guard but they have list as long as your arm and I finished by enlisted in civic and you have to I'm going to be sent to me Vietnam so soon and we were Rico recruiter lied to me I was I was taking aviation mechanics and he said when I come in like you know I could go to school and be a helicopter mechanic so I went in October 66 went through eight weeks boot camp six weeks of advanced training during the advanced training they were picking guys out for Force Recon and didn't matter he just went down the line he said you you you you and you you know you're joining recon well we had to go through six weeks of advance of Institute training at Camp Lejeune North Carolina and that two weeks in they started picking out you know the guys to go go to freakin school and all they did is just go down online they just started picking people out you know they like them or they disliked them and I'm gonna do they picked up about 20 out of Mattoon of 75 I guess and when they did that after we finished advanced infantry training you know we went recon school we had to go to jump school you know map reading and [Music] mountain climbing in school we went to and that took a little over a year went to Vietnam in January 1968 but over there January 12th they had the attempt the Tet Offensive think about I was like 25th of January I was I was open way at that time with the 5th Marines and when they first struck they've they had there had to be six eight thousand or feet and meas that came through way and it took us took us a little over five months to clear than that away you know we're doing house to house and everything then therefore that we you know they just centers where they needed us we did recon missions along the Ho Chi Minh Trail both in Cambodia are in layoffs you know we're in and out of both countries a lot we did recon along the DMZ we didn't put a case on when they kept before they got hit I don't know if you want to see that picture well this is 1973 I don't know I had pictures of me bootcamp I was Bronco you know I enlisted to go to Vietnam and you know they just took take time before they sent us over there it wasn't for the wasn't for the training that we went through there was three of the guys ever catch you with me that was my VidCon team and wasn't for the training that we went through I don't think none of us food came back well we're in we're about 12 miles in two layouts we're doing a recon mission along the Ho Chi Minh Trail looking for signs of Norfolk me coming down into South Vietnam and this was the third day we were out we've got 7:30 8 o'clock in the morning we were waiting to be picked up and I forgot what every unit was I think was the Kangoo the 5 538 north-northeast every tree that came through they had they there's like five or six guys you know beating weed North Vietnamese they didn't you know we were there they just he walked up on us we do my team and another recon team about a quarter-mile away from us and we took we took out the first four or five beating these so we decided to split the two teams up so well angered us eight of us winning get captured they went they went southwest we went southeast we got we got one radio call out and be picked up at another pickup point now radio got shut out on us and that was that was like I don't know six seven miles away from where we got hit button by North Vietnamese we got we got to the hill and there's nothing but Norfolk needed all around the area so we we started going south west you know to go around to go around the Northeast we made it back into Quan tree North Vietnam and we've got about 12 15 miles away from the firebase and we ran into a Vietcong ambush they were there waiting for us there was they had to be 30 40 of them there was four of us we were low on ammo if we had seven rounds of peace you know that was a lot and was either these it was given up or you know being killed yeah they took you to another camp well they took the four of us too I guess it was a interrogation camp they kept us there for about two days then they split the four of us up they took us to different into your interrogation camps that was around I was towards the end of August I got captured August 16 the four of us got to the first peel w camp around 7th 8th of September when we got there with four of us there was uh there was 20 23 Americans at the camp between September 68 and January of 69 we we will we lost six Americans they died from no wounds when they were captured those there was a couple of you know jesh just gave up you know you just stop eating well I I helped bury but because the forest was stronger than the guys over there because some of them there for eight nine months I think there's one or two there over a year and because the four of us were the strongest we we helped very most of them now when they got you to this POWs camp what was the help that they want information from you they want to hold you for a negotiation was at the interrogation camps before we got there peel w camp you know they they try to make us talk you know we fall for was for you know torture than that when we got to the ice ice skates three times I've captured maybe day and half two days I got away for I know about 45 minutes or an hour and they caught up with me three days later I took go up again you know I'm I was only doing what we we were taught know well the first time they just threatened me they said they could just take me out in the jungle and shoot me nobody would know the second time maybe feet on me food you know well the third time I got away I thought I had it made I was gone like five hours before they caught up with me and they got me back to the interrogation camp and a couple days later when they took me to the first field double you can't they had me with the the other guys for I don't know two weeks three weeks and that two or three weeks we had to got to other Americans dying that three weeks and then it s that because I escaped they threw me into a tiger cage for almost seven months but whatever you know they got one of the other Americans died you know we Fanning it out you know helped bury them I was playing my fourth escape I don't know I would I was stubborn then I used to harass the gods you know how that was playing my thoughts escaped if you know if I got out of there and then towards the end after seven months I came down with a bad case of malaria and I kind of took the one out of me for a while if I got over that I'm now was I was still planning my next escape but they had the gods watching me whenever we went out on to go out and get firewood or manioc manioc is like a it's a it's a root it's like a potato they would you know we see man y'all can rice most the time you remove two six different camps during the time of your retirement without well from September 68 and still they wouldn't eat they moved he moved us up they walked us up to North Vietnam that had to be spring of 70 it took us took us three months because they walked us through along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Cambodia and lay us but it it took us three months to get up to North Vietnam then they had you know trucks and that weight and force they said to take us up to Hanoi I was at the plantation we were we're about five six miles away from the Hilton where the pilots and most of the officers for kept after the Paris peace talks and that I I came on March Bob Sutton in February they started sending home the sickest POWs you know and the longest ones that was that was February or March of 73 welp every 73 I came home March 16th of 73 we just well these two bring the radio into a into the warehouse rooms that they had up soon and we've reduced what most of us just propaganda the day we're supposed to leave they had had like 50 60 of us on the bus and they took us to the 108-foot we were supposed to leave like 9 o'clock that morning we got to the airport quarter after 8:00 8:30 we said on that bus from 8:30 in the morning until 1 o'clock in the afternoon they then some reason they decided to take us back to the plantation and we we stayed there for another three hours we you know we didn't think we're good you know we were going home and around 4 o'clock they took us back to the airport and after they turned us over 2 the US military that was there it you know numbers didn't believe until we actually got her onto the plane you know we were finally getting out of there we were you know we're all excited you know we you know talking about you know getting home and you know seen seen the family in that and the first thing we're gonna eat the first car we're going to buy you know they gave us Lowell dollar bills when we got into the plane you know the third passed around to the other POWs you know everybody sawing each other you you know each other bill and they took us from Hanoi to the Philippines to Manila they got us to a you know milk Navy hop Navy hospital you know they took they checked us out and everything when they wait and when they wait us I was I was 185 when I got captured one eighty five hundred eighty seven when they wait waiting me at the hospital and Manoa I was 118 but when we got to the hospital with Manila they told us what my word they took us into a auditorium that's a hospital you know they're talking to us about what was gonna happen and everything and then they told us there that uh whatever we wanted you know they would get you they had to fly it in in the first first meal I had at the hospital most of us had steak or you know fries some had hamburgers shakes we were there they kept us there for like three days you know checking us out make sure we'll be enduring any disease home that you know that could spread I got to New York I got to New York 21st of March 1 when I got to Kennedy Airport in New York there was one two there was three of us four of us you know for POWs that came from New York cause he let the officers off the plane first and we all did a little speech you know one of the officers he note that knelt down kissed the ground you know but a moke Moses did that yeah both my parents my brother like one of my sisters my other sister didn't see me till I got into the hospital I got there much I didn't get out of there mom April name had to be towards the end of June I've been there for like ten weeks well they had movies and books waiting forth you know just to let her smoke at before we got out into the public you know but uh they add movies or the when they landed on the moon I forgot about that which which one that was yeah and they had you know CDs of the music what we're gonna hear you know most of us is so rock'n'roll but you know they had some of the hard rock and stuff back then I was glad to get out of the hospital I got out of the service in October 73 and you know I was around February 74 I started doing speeches that we have to double use American Legion dip in high school and then there's three other guys I was captured with and [Music] there was three or four of a34 out of that we decided to take a vacation we we decided to go into Europe we're only supposed to be there for two weeks we ended up six months in Europe we've you know we went to Sweden Germany Ireland France Paris you know you know it was just our time we had you know we had to get away so two weeks we ended up there six months three yeah your story still was touching as it was the day that you released we've learned so much more over all these years and years sitting at this table could you explain what the importance of it is for us to know your story know about the others um this is powa mi a table later this afternoon we're gonna be doing this pheww in my aid remembrance ceremony it says as you enters through our door this day you may have noticed small table in a place of honor it is set for one this table is our way of symbolizing the fact that American servicemen on this is from our mist they are commonly called POWs or mi aid we call them brothers they are unable to be with us this day and so we remember them this table set for one is small symbolizing the frailty of one prisoner lung against his suppressed oppresses Tama cloth is white symbolizing the purity of their intention to respond to their country's call to arms the single red rose displayed in a vase reminds us of the families and loved ones of our comrades in arms we keep the faith awaiting their return the red ribbon tied so prominently on the vase is reminiscent of the red ribbon worn upon the lapel and breasts of thousands who bear witness to their unyielding determination to demand a proper accounting of our missin the candle the candle was lit symbolizing the up would reach of their unconquerable spirit the slice of lemon is on the bread plate who to remind us of their very bitter fate there is salt upon the bread plate symbolic of the families tears as they wait the glass is inverted they cannot toast thus this day chair the chair is empty they are not here what we're trying to get back into having the public know that we still have soldiers are missing from some war well you know war two one two Korea Vietnam and it it's time how government did more to bring them back I still think that the I still think there's a few Americans alive in Vietnam they had French visitors from 1954 they had been for twenty years they didn't release them until 1970 yeah 1974 and that's only because the French paid the money for him and we shouldn't we shouldn't have to ransom American soldier you served your country never taken Kappa mm-hmm all this was done was it worth serving your century yeah I did a speech out of high school when we're that Melville New York Long Island and at the end of the speech I you know let the kids ask questions and close the end one of the kids got up and they asked me if I would do it again if I had to I told them yeah as a pub house except for a few chunks I think I covered [Music] [Music]

Channel: Potter News Network

Views: 212,462

Rating: 4.7682281 out of 5

Keywords: US Marines (Armed Force), Sergeant (Military Rank), P.O.W., Fred Elbert, Interview (TV Genre), Vietnam War (Military Conflict)

Id: oCjs85LhmpY

Length: 32min 10sec (1930 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 10 2014