Vietnam Voices: "And now I look back, 'Why didn't it bother me?'"

hello this is Darryl Erlich with the Billings Gazette and I am here with ivory Robinson Jr and this is the Vietnam Voices series a project of the Billings Gazette and sponsored by master lube and I'm I'm very happy to have ivorie here today ivory though it cannot be seen on camera ivories father ivory robinson senior who was a World War 2 Navy veteran is here in studio two and I just want to say welcome to both of you but we're here to talk about the Vietnam experiences of the junior of the two Robinson's and so thanks so much for being a part of this you're welcome let's talk a little bit I start everybody at the beginning which is let's go before 1966 you were in the US Marine Corps from 66 to 68 but what were you doing before that working on a ranch on automail stone stem fed ranch okay and I decided I volunteered for the draft okay and I went to Butte okay and got down there and ready to go into service and there were 74 of us forward going in the Marines 70 were going in the army I was waiting for the one of the Marines did you have a choice or did they just say they said you're a marine that's right what did you why did you decide to volunteer I would decide to want to do something different and I wasn't ready for college and you know I just been ranching all my life my dad and I you know we'd run ranches and different things and I wasn't really ready to do much else at the time and said this time to go into service actually I got out before I was 21 really so you you went in at 19 or were you 18 I was just I was 18 okay they were you neuron mean 1966 so we know where Vietnam is the opposition the large opposition hadn't happened but there's still a war going on did that scare you no I actually never thought about it really yeah yeah I started right actually I started right to DMZ which is where it's separated that's where I went in at okay so you went to Butte and then where did you do basic San Diego yep and so you went through boot camp and then did you do AIT I at the Pendleton then that was went to Camp Lejeune North Carolina which was by mistake I only went there 30 days okay so then I came home then I went to Vietnam way back so you got your orders what were you trained in them or are you where you're trained as a rifleman or 311 okay yeah I've heard a lot yeah that's all draftees were doing right right just so you come home for 30 days what'd you do for that 30 days well I had a girlfriend man okay doctor actually you know and so then that's about all I did I don't do I don't know even if I've worked in but actually wasn't thirty days because I came home the first time fifteen days I went back then I came home again after I came back from Camp Lejeune and then I went back because you know I saw it had to split it up right right so you got your orders for Vietnam you you were pretty much expecting if you're drafted west back yeah so let's talk about leaving the US where'd you do that and I came out of El Toro California came then we went to Japan and we went to Okinawa the Marshall Islands the Philippines then right into Vietnam hey where'd you land in Vietnam today Danang okay let's talk about what what's your first impression of landing that's a long flight there are a lot of stops yeah I had to be long yeah it was yeah let's talk about when you step off or you get off and what's Danang like and what are your impressions as a Montana ranch okay well actually it wasn't Danang where I step you know I stepped off there and I had to get on another plane right away head into Dong Ha okay and that's right at the DMZ yeah that's that's some pretty intense for that's a pretty sowhat's Dong Ha look like like just very today I don't remember a lot about these David yeah you know we have just dumped right you know they were great and I got there and about two days I was back on the China Sea okay we owe that to what I've read first assignment was the China Sea okay and where did you not because they had bladders there and they were taken fuel off the ship and putting him in these bladders then we're taking him up the river okay Dong Ha okay and then you know I did that for about a month and I mean rain rain and rain and the fact one day I seen a couple come in two guys been on the outpost that's the last time we ever seen him because it dropped in a hole went out the ocean which you know cuz we're close the ocean but I still remember that it was I bet it rained 70 inches in that month Wow Wow we've never seen in Montana growing up on our ranch you do not see rain like that no we did yeah yeah so you're running ships bladder ships oh well actually I was just dying we were standing security around the bladder ships okay yeah because of the PT Navy would come in with the fuel and put it in our bladders then other ships a PT Cruiser to come in and put and load it up and take it up like the different places dong on things like that Fuu by continent Derek you know Chi lie and stuff like that was that dangerous that bladder work or was that pretty boy it was not dangerous there you know could have been but we never got hit there it was the only thing it was bad there just water so much rain yeah yeah so it kind of made it miserable yeah what were your quarters what we sue you were you on land or on ship I was on land okay what are we just whatever you had a pond to and that's what you slept in Wow you know I mean you're always wet day and night right and was it warm rain or was it cold uh that I don't remember I didn't really care then I just tried to live the cool just really wet it was your wet all the time and I mean you had your feet your bands are real bad right so then what after after the bladder then I went up to Dong Ha okay and then I stayed there for a bit at a time then we moved in to Conte and for a little bit for that for about three months and then we move around down south a little bit to Cambodia and then you know because I all we we never went in inside to barracks this stuff we had to eat oh you know we always had sea rations never went at all I've heard tell about sea rations are they as bad as is that's what you had to live on that's what you ate yeah for this one example I you know I'm kind of a picky eater and they had boiled eggs you know he's gonna bring a hot meal out okay and it was Easter and they brought a hot meal out with boiled eggs and I remember throwing a hot boiled egg up against three cuz I hate boiled eggs that was my op Wow happy Easter happy Easter but then you know what's well you got to go I went in the dong-ha or not not dong huh excuse me de neige every so often you know let's say I go in there three days I went to China beat which kind of an R&R then we go back out and then we after period time we became a floating battalion okay tell me about that we went from there they flew us to Okinawa okay and we went through training there ten days okay and just we regroup we had a hundred percent we were totally complete in our numbers okay you know otherwise you lose a lot of numbers and stuff like that and anyway there were then we went through the Philippines got on a ship at the Philippines we were there in Philippines about five-day just did basically nothing and then we got on the Iwo Jima and we headed to Vietnam and we got to Vietnam and we were going to burn do anything for 30 days okay and I went in by helicopter to helicopter I still remember this - helicopters went out and there pretty soon they said incoming wounded nice I still remember this I look downstairs and I think maybe I ought to walk back down the stair but I didn't yeah you know and I got it and then we I never got hurt but so we got that and I mean we burned and burnt everything killed everything right and we did that we lost a lot I think I have a a little a little booklet on it to where we did they made that up and I think that time we had probably we lost probably 150 in three days Wow three months 30 days excuse me 150 and so you are how many how many of there's about 2,000 of us all okay so 2,000 and your job was just to go up and and take take land take land burn them I mean you couldn't smell at night because has burned so much burning so you're just burning everything down killing everything is this before Agent Orange or jury they using this or they just I honestly don't know when Agent Orange was okay because I I do get a disability from Agent Orange okay I don't know remember because you know you never tell you nothing right so you're just burning stuff to the burnin stuff to the ground and what are you burning is it forces it Jung anything okay you know I don't even know how they knew the difference between North and South Vietnam we burned everything okay Wow and you're on the DMZ so you just actually at that time we were on the near the ocean okay when we were on the you know that time we were just right near the ocean because then we move in then after we were done that we regrouped and then we went through the DMZ that's when we built the DMZ okay I was there when they built it was the Seabees ability with the cats all he did is basically maybe 50 yards wide okay and but they the cats did all the work okay and we stood security around the Seabees and we did that you know and then we moved around a little bit and then we stuck in conte in for a while and then we knew we were lost some guys and then we they were bringing in two battalions of a North Vietnam and they North Vietnamese like marijuana right you know and they lived on that stuff and we could see like know it like we'd look out we'd see a lot of Russian tanks okay you know cuz they they had yeah they they were back and yeah that's correct and but anyway so we knew they were coming and there wasn't much we could do about it so we did best we had Conti and heavy all the way around and then they hit us at night okay and actually I was back away from them and they came in not right they just pushed us out they over ran they over ran us okay and but I was in another squad and believe this or not I had a guy that been in the service eight years and all of a sudden they called up another squad and this my squad leader went with the other squad he he didn't even know where he was but anyway so I never got up there to the line at first okay so they then we stayed back next morning we went in okay and and it's not bike on is this bike on 20 in all this content okay and then we started looking around and we lost I think 50 or six you guys that Wow and I had a friend that was from Chicago and he had his own pistol he was a gung-ho guy and I mean had scope and he had 12 gooks around him when he died and no and I didn't he know I I was lucky I never have and they just threw their dead bodies on the consi and walked over the top of them so then we had then we had the C beats come in dug a hole in the ground we buried 150 North Vietnamese right there and I could walk back today and show you where they were buried Wow what was that light I mean 150 it's one thing to read about this stuff in a war but what's 115 dead enemy time it didn't bother me I just did something that and I look back why didn't bother me and they didn't because it was NAR body to start with right and you'd been fighting yeah we've been fighting and I we just there was I think about six of us throwing the bodies in the hole okay then when we're done the Seabees just come in and put dirt on the hole and that's where the body stayed okay that's where they'd be today okay and so they and so when it was overrun did you did you think you were gonna get overrun I mean were you prepared for hey we're on about paired yes okay at the time I was I didn't actually have a rifle I added m79 okay that's a grenade launcher yeah that's a little grenade launcher that's what I carried in a pistol okay but I actually never got at that point I didn't shoot that because that we were too close yeah and I mean we happened to be outside the perimeter when they did and there's you know so I wasn't totally involved in that you know till we started airing the bodies okay now I had a friend he is lives in New Mexico I've seen him a couple years ago and he is up for the middle of honor but the trouble is there's a lieutenant colonel that was going to put him up for it and they were flying back and he got killed in a helicopter hmm so he still hadn't gotten it but he captured a bunch of North Vietnamese big shots because they were out there trying to use this stuff and so he captured her and brought him back in but he hasn't done anything like that since huh so then you know then we went to Cambodia you know wrong the layout we moved around up and down on that and you know just you kind of you got to move around sometimes yeah then when the to lie they build a little airstrip I went in there for a little bit because they you know just to show security around cuz dong Hall was getting hit all he's so bad they put bringing airplanes into there it was so close to the border right and it was taking so much fire yeah what was uh so when you're in someone when you're in in those fights like in Contin is it and it's at night how do you even tell what's going on because is it dark is it tell me we have a lot of flares going up okay they got the parachute flares yeah parachute flares and actually I was down below a hill okay I mean and so I I squat once our squad later left they never wanted us come up okay and then we found he come back the next day and he said well I think yes I went with the wrong school and so were you worried that you were gonna have to either go hand to hand with them or you know if they were over running you what were you worried about that actually I wasn't worried but I don't know you don't worry about stuff yeah whatever it's gonna you have to do you're gonna do yeah to stay alive that's what I was worried about I'm going to stay alive yeah yeah so I don't know what things that didn't enter that mind you know I knew what I had to do if I had to do it yep yep and so you got a lot of did in content did you take a lot of casualties in I mean you hundred and fifty Vietnamese but whatever we bury 150 we write very about 300 Vietnamese killed okay 300 and everybody about 150 of us killed okay I think now that's what they tell me yeah yeah is it so that night must be pretty loud if that much why things going on see this is supposed to be the second deadliest attack in Vietnam Con Thien was that's why I read this now right you know at the time you don't know or don't care really yeah yeah looking back how does that make you feel I mean you you witnessed literally history did it feel yeah you know and again I we didn't know what day it was or anything right day you're just to get back home right that's my main thing so I can go back home yeah you know and I mean I this for example there's a hundred we Marine Corps transferred you ever thirteen months right on the spot we flew into Okinawa we didn't ready to go home there was 180 or four of us went over there's four it was coming back and I was the only one only one that never got wounded hmm so I felt very portion that you know yeah yeah you were out there yeah every day every day and every day getting shot at no no okay you don't get ever I doubt if you got shot more than us it's at two or three times a month okay you know you go out at night you know you take go out at night and do all these scouting and stuff like that and you go in the in the villages then you coach like the night you're going to village you see a lot of these mercenaries in there okay then they got played good money to go in there and I don't know pay them but they were in there and they were fighting on each side it paid them Wow so you don't know if their friend or enemy they were mostly French right did they and you're mostly fighting up north you're fighting the NVA so you're fighting you're fighting regularly train army that's correct how did they fight how you're a soldier they're a soldier how would you rate them as soldiers just smoked a little marijuana and get on with it okay that's about all I ever seen I mean no I didn't see you know you they stayed until they really would come all attack okay they sneak out during the night they'd stick in about eight a night or something down the DMZ or some you know but I didn't they they're made a lot of them going inside in and then they build hospitals and stuff underneath the ground in the jungles you can't we found a lot of those oh yeah see now up north we never had a lot of booby traps and stuff see if it's too new can take down and runs down Saigon and stuff where they they were had a lot of that stuff right we didn't have that right right yeah did and so when you are when you were let's go back to it to just kind of burning everything down your goal is just to burn it down so that you could kind of see or what what was the reason for just a is it taking land so that and also getting it so we're you had control of it is that is that kind of I never asked okay you know private you know yeah tell you math and they get in there and go to it now they're just to make sure it was clean I'd saying there was a lot of inspiration for North Vietnamese that there and that's why because you never knew who the difference was south or north yeah they could change overnight right and often did often did yeah because they looked they were strictly looking for food like the South Vietnamese because that you know they had no food you know and there was a lot of that you know and you just of course see ration was good enough for them they loved it Wow you know so right that hot that hard-boiled air or that warm boiled egg that might have been real bad been a treat for them yeah so when you're burning stuff that's a lot of fire you want a fire so you can what's that look like you me give me is everything fire yeah because it's that you know that's real light like old banana trees and stuff like that you know jungle there I mean it's a lot of place you can see the Sun okay you know I'm not actually when you get close that post we were you can because if you got to go in where it's real jungle okay and but now you also had a lot of leeches I heard I've heard tell tell me about that you just when you got water you had to watch yourself okay I mean because boy those leeches they'd suck and then you use a mosquito repellent to get the leeches off okay you know just straight it with and they would drop off okay you get maybe one night if you went to a lot of rice paddies you go five or six seven of them you know and on your bodies and yeah it depends yet watch where you they were at - yeah cuz they could get dangerous yeah and then you know there some snakes I know we never ran into many snakes okay well I would say they did but I never seen a lot of snakes yeah yeah but a lot of just bugs and a lot of malaria and I never got malaria okay so you took the malaria pills I think so I don't remember right I could care less about that time a lot of them took you know water I still remember this they had pills for water because water bad and I didn't take the pills because it made it taste terrible right so I you know and then the only time you drink water is that night when it cooled off otherwise it's boiling yeah you know when you go ahead no one wants to drink hot water no and you go about two o'clock in the morning to get water okay because we had you know we all up all night we're on hour and a half on hour and a half off watches okay you know and of course there's sometimes we we did bunker in you know make monks and stuff like that different places is it hard sleeping out there not really just sleep on the ground all right you got a poncho you bring it you know you got your sleep or your bag in the back and you just lay that as a pillow and that's where you go to sleep right so it's not hard are you worried about taking fire at night or being or getting attacked at night well I I always worry about a little bit but you know you then never not really are you going up are you so far north and or do you have to do night ambushes and patrol we did a lot of that ambushes and patrols okay so what were those like tell me about those let's go out there and see if you can find anybody kill them get rid of them and you know if you run into them we go out with a dog okay you know and see if we that did that work hit some whatnot great all right because it's jungle it's pretty dense - that was dark a couple times we get out there we lose a couple guys okay you know because they wouldn't pay attention and pretty soon they're way back or gone or some we'd find them and hopefully in the morning okay you don't they were scared a little bit by their yeah cuz if you get lost it's dark right cuz it's a can of dirt so how do you know when how do you know when you've found somebody in in a jungle at night just open up and take care of it okay you know you were because that your first instinct you know it's just there's a lot of things we did over there probably shutting it down you know I mean if are some of these guys were there too today they couldn't get away with it right I mean we did some things that yeah they would today they'd just like you know what you watch on TV where these guys are urinating on the bodies or something like that you know yeah today that you know then they never had that right because we didn't have the cameras or anything and we were too far north anyway so yeah yeah did on night so on ambushes you would catch people there would be NBA coming down yeah and basically around condi an okay that was what so Con Thien was a pretty active place act as it's right along the border yeah see the dmz i think it was 17 miles long yep it was very short because that's where it really narrows down okay you know and that's why you know there was other people down towards Dong Ha that were you know because we only had about two miles we took care of yeah so let's talk about when you were over there would you miss most about home you're in pretty primitive condition well at the time I I had a girlfriend okay and I probably missed her the most okay you know and that's all you thought about sure but somehow I got home and she wasn't there okay that's tough somebody else would move dodd-frank you seen a lot of that over there yeah yeah a lot a lot of guys move on and you know girls just that's 13 months and that's a long time moved without him yeah yeah what did you you know I've heard a lot of soldiers talk about they talked about the real world when they got when they were gonna get like when they get back to the real world yeah they were going to do X Y & Z what were you going to do when you got back just get out of the service it wasn't sure oh right well you know they kept white you realist and I was gonna reenlist yeah you know I were you'd come back and become a sergeant in about time and this need chewier you know cuz you knew that you'd only be there one assignment for about a year then you had to go back to Vietnam again and I wasn't going back that's enough for me yeah one tour was fine yeah a lot of guys want to go back though why why do you think they loved the assignment they you'd have to there's a lot of guys did a lot of things that they got him excited yeah you know they love to you know do things that they shouldn't have done right right and I wasn't one of those guys I just you did what you had I did what I had to do and you know and but not everybody there's a very small percentage that did things wrong yeah was it wizard an adrenaline rush I mean was it kind of that big I didn't have a good adrenaline rush like they did they got I mean you guys some of the stuff that this is true you can find this guy what this guy was out of Baker Oregon night and I this is the honest God's truth he cut ears off and he had strings to his hand and then there were about 18 inches long full of ears and anyway he said him in the Berkeley Free Press and boy that went right to the top yeah they were gonna really court mushroom and everything right because he had pictures of it and stuff then his neighbor was a state senator out of Oregon so he calls his senator his friend at state senator you know US senator Brandt should say and he said I'll take care of it then nothing ever came of that was all we ever heard he went home and I went home not yeah yeah yeah well changes the person I imagine I mean yeah so were there times that you thought you know that you weren't gonna get out of there I mean no what I thought about trying to get an easy wound right you know there's a lot of guys got any easy wounds and got out of there yeah like shoot their self in the foot or see rats and when the rounds come in and they cut themselves you know we wrap know like shrapnel hit him or something yeah so there was some of that yeah so it was just so you'll you would take intermittent fire it wouldn't be like everyday button every day no okay what was the when you when you went to somewhere like Dong Ha or the other besides Conte and what were those places like well it depends how if you went but they were better if you went into the main places where their runs were and everything like that you did get in some hot meals and you had hutches there they'd built and and those were a little better they were a lot better yeah then he had they did of course I you know they did have cold beer later tonight you know that's the only beer I do I hated that hot beer and stuff yeah did you have any good beer in Vietnam I I don't think so today I was the real big beer Gregor's right but I did you know they did have that so if you were in the back in the parameters and stuff it was a lot easier okay and so when you were out what what percentage of time would you say you were out in kind of in the field in the jungle probably 85% of the time okay did you have any correspondence or any communication with home yeah we wrote letters every day okay what did you how did I say you wrote letters every day and what did you tell family and friends back home that you had a father who fought yeah world war two so you dad didn't my mother did all the writing okay yeah that's all my mom just tell me what was going on and I you know and I didn't say much what was going on Vietnam right you know and so basically my mother and my girlfriend at the time did most of the writing okay and then I got there the only thing bother me then I get to LA you know you have a lot of these Moony people mm-hmm you know word sacks these they're just you know don't believe in anything and they're telling you you need a lot of uniform on then I get to hear the billions and there's nobody that waiting for me you can't win for a loser I guess they forgot me Wow did they finally pick you up I hope I had a guy named Dean Newman did okay listen Rondo you know but he it was there so he drove me home so what's the UM let's talk about when you're over there what are the sights or smells what still stick with you today as far as sights or smells fish really all that face dunk okay I went to Lisbon oh probably 25 years ago on a trip okay and I mean I got downtown Lisbon and it's well a Portugal of course but anyway it smell like Vietnam here we're that stinking fish now ate fish right and I mean that's all they're dinkum fish I'm back in Vietnam Wow so it's a fish yeah yeah and these jungles are hot they're humid they're there oh it's unbelievable yeah my bugs all over you know leeches in the water colitas were there yeah I've heard it's not snakes it's not anything else no leeches were the most things I ever because I mean they suck the blood out of ya hmm you know and but actually I was pretty lucky as far as I got back I had a little problem as far as my stomach in my digestive system because of the over the filth but otherwise that only thing I ever had bad and that's pretty amazing because you guys saw a lot of Marines that far north always saw we yeah we didn't have the you know we went back and watched and read papers at night really like that right what was nighttime like besides you do I have to do guard duty but but after you were done kind of out traipsing around in the jungle then what was the what was just the atmosphere are you all tired can you even talk without giving up your position or whisper hour on hour and a half on hour and a half off okay every all night long okay so I mean then you've done with that and then hey what you got used to it I guess when I was younger then I needed much sleep today I would never even started you couldn't do it how do you keep how do you deal with I mean you're seeing guys get either killed or injured pretty badly or on a routine basis how do you how do you deal with that well I just at the time I didn't you know just that's way it is that's more that's war you know what I mean I've seen a lot no there was a lot of we kill or hurt a lot of guys ourselves okay tell me who pitted II you know I mean you know there are or all not North Vietnamese caused right we goof up we shoot a guy you know accidentally here right you know or grenade doesn't put a strike in and it comes over and chop these fingers this guy's had a radio out for example chopped all these fingers off you know in lucky he didn't chop him off but right Wow you know I mean we did of course it still happening right because it's it's a dangerous that's yes I mean you knew whatever you do don't do it always right yeah and so I guess that I never you know go out at night and then come back and we just then we had to clean our rifles and stuff like that okay you know I just see rash were there any I've heard among people who ate C rations it that different soldiers had different ones that they could stomach or would like or even trade for did that happen for dads happens okay what did you what what see ration did you love which one did you hate I actually I don't remember okay you know the bread you put water and then you heat it up they had these tablets you eat you know make it hot okay yeah you know and then you do that you kind of learned how to cook them all right I didn't have like the eggs I shouldn't even add this egg tough I didn't eat that okay that lima beans was good and they had this ham was you know and that was alright but then they had gum in there and that a piece of candy for you three cigarettes then you know at that time everybody smoked right yeah and so we had that that was our sea rats right and we had her opener and you know it was but I guess basically like during the day it was tough because it's so hot and miserable yeah you know and you had to have your flight jacket on your or you know I call the flight you know you know I'm buckled up and stuff need to have your helmet on and that got hot that got hot yeah did you most guys I know who especially who are doing that everyday grunts humping a pack in and my dump the m30 and then they had to renew that I know my getting a lottery only is like an m79 every Sam 79 yeah it's not like the grenade launchers that they have that mortars go in right that's heavier right so did you lose weight in Vietnam 155 pounds okay I weighed 175 going in okay so I you know I was I've gained a little bit sense and so but just a little that's me too what's the UM what was a bad day in Vietnam like what do you remember as a bad probably bad days when we got all these guys killed that's worse day I do remember that yeah I remember that and that was tough you know and there's a couple other incidents that we have but most of all it just kind of evened out mm-hmm you know and you see a lot of you know they all wanted food they come in and want food a Vietnamese people were there nothing around nothing around was what were the the people of Vietnam and I'm like did you get much chance to interact with them well they always had a sister for sale hmm you know they always did you know that was normal right yeah so you know what we need never goofed around like that right yes that was serious yeah well and you could get all I believe yes so but they that's about these men no girls will be outside you know and then the kids know the guys never came in they were always and hopefully they were fighting for the country right so so and but very poverty I mean if they already yeah Oh terrible that you going into the villages you know just terrible there were very religious people though you go they had a lot of stuff around you know did you when you were over there at night time how do you how do you even know where to fire at nighttime well you got you put claymores out front okay yeah and you shoot in flares in the sky okay all right you know what claymores yeah but yeah and we did that and but so they're shooting flamers all night long okay this way we know if they're coming in we got Constantina wire all the way around if we were in a perimeter if we're out on a squad we didn't we had to watch ourselves all night long because you had no you couldn't put the old lights up in the air because they know where you're at and stuff like that so that was a little different but usually if you got out there then also you had every night if you had a perimeter you go out three or four people and go out and watch make sure nobody's coming in that was your job if there was anybody come in and you radioed in tell them we got people approaching okay and that's how you know because you were out there and just checking make sure the perimeter is safe okay and that's basically how we watched all of it was that spooky when you get when you're on guard duty and watching the perimeter outside - yeah you better be wait for sure you can't goes off yeah if it was it hard staying awake uh kind of yeah okay I had a guy that just for example he was out of Bayonne New Jersey and we were together and I I had to wake him up 20 minutes before my hour and a half was off because he wouldn't wake up so and then I'd have to start hitting me Wow well they're kind of funny how he got out he he had a choice of going to prison or going into the Marines or the service not Marines he just you know he's drafty so he went on in instead of going into the into prison yeah Wow it's quite it you know that which hasn't wasn't that bad I don't think yeah the only state they grew up and mate and went on with their lives in yeah yeah it was it was the Marine Corps good for you was it a good experience do you think yeah I think is very good spirits why for you well I I was well-trained I mean and then I they made sure you ready to if you had to you put a mood down okay you know back down okay and I always bled that I had that I don't know if I'd come out alive have I been another branch mm-hm you know and there's you know you always wonder but I thought it was good right you know I do just did the only thing that bothers me ever there's one thing that does bother me okay when McNamara said we lost the war okay we didn't lose that war they just let it go yeah and that's what you know that's always bothers me because we tried our best and I mean I lost so many friends over there you know I can look at the Vietnam Wall there's a lot of people out there yeah how do you after something like in container just losing just losing a couple even in a fight or how do you just keep on going that would seem to be a huge blow if you're working with these guys day in day out and yeah you'll lose them that I mean that's man that's got to be tough well see sometimes actually another situation that helped me as far as I'm concerned rotating you rotate these guys in and out you know one year thirteen months they're gone you know so you a lot of these guys you when you went in we're getting ready to level 12 Kate out you know and sometimes you go to different squads so you never really got too friendly with them okay which I think was good like now they they're just live together they have a friend go down I mean they've been together all the time you aren't quite as close with these guys as you are now with you know that's my feelings yeah yeah yeah so that makes sense you know still it's tough I imagine yeah I don't want to yeah no it's still tough but that you know and I look back on that maybe it wasn't quite as tough for me as it would be these guys cuz they've got so much closer you know and you do have you do regret a lot of you know some of these guys go out on excursions at night or something with home don't come back and they're not in your squad mm-hmm so they don't come back and yeah you know that gotta bother ya yeah do you when you're out and something happens do you have any kind of reinforcements do do you have a gun ships or anything that come out or are you too close for that no we have you know a lot of Puff the Magic Dragon helicopter you know they'll shoot a football field and quick they had that then napalm mm-hmm we had those you better be make sure how you call them in yeah cuz if you get the wrong coordinates you're all toast too yep we're all those they're there someone got drunk coordinates but we had those tonight you don't get a mini anyway so you don't it's during the day right that comes so when people are injured or killed how do they get out I mean you're in the jungle tell me about how you get them out uh helicopter okay a lot of times you had to wait a couple days all to really well because the fog and stuff when it would get foggy and he couldn't know we're getting hit bad he couldn't come in right you know and you did you have to walk him to a landing zone or at least clear Nelson like Fort Conde yet we had to go outside the landing zone get him out because you couldn't dare bring it in so you'd go out a quarter of a mile half mile and bring him in out the helicopter in there and then they take him out Wow well you had a medic with your with your just for example I didn't realize it till I went down but when that when we had the burn deal where we just hit the aisle or the country and burned everything and killed everything we had eight medics killed in that one - Wow so that you know I mean I didn't I was talking to a medic and he looked at the book and he said there was eight medics killing this - you know you don't look at it yeah yeah that's that's pretty tough what was that I mean were there good times in Vietnam and if so what was a no good no good times in Vietnam there was a good times in the other countries right you know like I went to Taiwan yep for an R&R yeah that would get nice and you went to the Philippines for the Philippines and I went - yeah I went to Philippines twice and you know - actually wasn't R&R actually you got 70 I was in Taiwan seven days okay that was nice right but in Vietnam the only time I went to like that you went to trying to be true which was that Danang okay that was real nice too okay on the ocean there and what we're are in ours like because I've heard a lot about them but well that's got a kept secret there too okay you know I was fair enough maybe that's why I haven't heard a lot about it a lot about it okay yeah a lot of fun yeah so so you do get is it hard going back after an R&R the ideas but well the only run anything not hard about I was broke I had to go back right and and so you've got 13 months in country yeah and let's talk about leaving Vietnam what was that like how'd you leave Vietnam and tell me about that well I left Vietnam but and out of that denied okay and then we hit the Okinawa then we had I don't know what they call it a hurricane or typhoon or whatever it is we had to stay there three extra days that probably seems like is that a hard thing to do or is it easy okay cuz you want to get back home yep and so we got there and then we went actually pan-american was in business and we went from there to United States and Pan American a commercial airlines which was nice okay there was 160 of us on their nerves for what stewardess so they were busy right right and you hadn't seen stewardesses for a while good-looking so everybody had to flirt yeah flirt yeah did you um when you were leaving it was it when you were leaving the country yeah did you about the people I left there yeah yeah you do yeah it was that hard did it make it harder I knew I had left a lot of people there I knew that Donald it was it did it did it feel like when you were leaving did you wait til that that plane got air airborne I mean before you was in the back of your mind it's still that actually I think that when I got on the plane is when I started feeling relieved okay and I had it did you know it was a I don't know what kind of plane it was but it was a marine you know chip you know cooped carrier and tell okinawan but it did feel nice you know of course now one thing I did do for it but I went back to dong-ha Arden a week before I was supposed to okay because I said I think I'll go back okay so you thought you might be pushing your luck right you got short I got short not wanting to go back I ain't gonna get out of your net dead one week left I'm going to go back did you see a lot of guys who got short who would get kid I mean killed or injured with was that a comment no that what they did and they try to put you back yeah they probably did the same thing I did you know just you go in and do a little things and you know that's about it and so you put in to leave five days early and let me go back then I thought well I think it's time for just in case something happens here I want to get out of here so how do you know it's time to leave do they tell you or do you know I kind of watch that dad when you get short you kind of watch you know otherwise you never know the day or months most the time okay in there cuz every day's like that and every day is another day yeah you know and except when you get very close to RN R okay you know that's coming they tell you okay then they tell you when you're getting ready to go get close to going back to the States okay but it was it's the spirits you'll never have and then never won again all right you know and I had a lot of good people there but it's glad it's behind me yeah so you came home and no one was here at this airport to pick yeah I was in Hospice okay because of the stomach yeah yeah so is there any you were you do have some Agent Orange what's the long-term what was long-term physically what toll did Vietnam take on you I mean far as do you have agent Warnock's yeah I do I get disability because of age Orange okay and I get I get some other disability I get ninety percent disabled okay is that largely due to Agent Orange exposure I guess so yeah you know and they don't you don't have to yeah i you know and i don't know when i got it either so I have diabetes pretty bad okay that's what you know causes that right did you coming back was it hard to get back adjusted back into daily life read I knew I had to go back make some money because I couldn't no I went home and got a job and started you know I always worked all my life yeah I knew I had to work and so that's what I did and I just never looked back I was kind of a weird guy you know as far as that it just I had to look forward okay so you didn't really look back no I had enough problems at home okay when you're gone a year a little over a year and you have a girlfriend that's all you're thinking about that was the toughest thing on me yeah she dumped me and you know and that's yeah yeah I mean now you don't that's what you think about over there yeah to get you through yep and what you had thought about to get you through was no longer here over there that's tough yeah yeah and I that happened a lot I had a friend that was it with me and he'd been in Mediterranean and he'd been there about 13 months and his wife had a baby girl okay and he had been home at least 13 months so he said he went home and got it handled and they worked it out and then he absorbed Vietnam and me and he'd been there I think well 12 months or say for example she had a baby boy this time he says I really think it's time to call it quits I am at any joint all this right these two children so yeah but that happened I mean there's so many divorces and stuff because of that yeah cuz that's just a long time that's a lot to ask for for back home huh I did get to call home one time okay what was that like it was nice it costs a lot of money but I was saved up a little bit and I think the folks emailed me I think it 150 bucks at that time is terrible Wow and I did call my girlfriend from the pen Lapine's I think I talked to the folks too at the same time huh that's the only time I ever called home yeah we're you were Marines you were did they ever worry about I mean worried about what you were doing or did they just not know what was going on oh you mean yeah your family were they they didn't care okay they don't care what family they yeah so they so you went over there and did that you came back and and started working did you have any besides the physical stuff did you ever did those those memories come back in the form of PTSD or anything like you get PSD disability - okay I did some yeah yeah what was hard for you about that uh I actually at the time I remember so the guys I knew and they're all they were killed and some of you know the different dirty things had happened yeah yeah let's talk about have you been back to Vietnam since you never go back okay I never want to go back now if I went back I'd want to go over there where those bodies are buried I could go right back to it today why why I just remember where it is okay yeah you know you think about that you know where the hole is I mean I could just walk right up to that hole right yeah you know and that's a lot of bodies in you know if I had a son I wouldn't want him in that hole yeah yeah no that's absolutely right you've been no prisoners Yeah right and was that was that hard too because one of the things that I've heard a lot about Marines especially in the fighting is is one of them the Marines told me yesterday the last bullet or the last grenade was for me I would not I don't want to be captured I don't want to is that kind of the mentality that you wouldn't I never had that okay yeah have you been back you said you saw you know a lot of the names on the wall have you seen the wall I have seen no actually I went back to waste in DC and seen it okay how was that experience like very tough yeah I imagine so I didn't stay long yeah is it hard it's probably difficult seeing those names you know one yeah ideas dane difficult that's where it bothered me okay you know you see it remembered a lot of the names and it's been you know let's see I got out and well I came home at 60 November 67 was like when they came home okay so I've been I was home alone a long time did people think you had changed no I don't think so I just had a little I did have a little wild time when I got home okay well that's okay I mean that works instruction and they played hard to yeah yeah do you think your time in Vietnam you said you never look back did your time in Vietnam help you in the future no I went to college they helped the GI Bill I can't see a dentist that helped me a lot okay I who was able to afford to go to college that wouldn't window when I was nice after I got high school anyways okay where did you go and what did you have northern Kent and what did you study was a teacher okay did you what did you teach Industrial Arts okay call Roberts Montana I know Roberts well that's okay what about in wrought did any of your students ever know that you'd been to Vietnam never talked about it no actually I haven't talked about let's bless five years okay whatwhat's change for you so that you came time yeah would uh let's talk about now that you mean it's almost been fifty years I don't want to be fifty years next year in the service since I've been in the service okay I'm and I'm not trying to make it so every time I say that they say well thanks for doing the math it is what it is what as you look back 50 years from you know with that kind of time in perspective what do you think about Vietnam now what's your perspective on Vietnam looking back I wish we wouldn't get so friendly I look at it and I hate to think I mean Liza Lee lost their and now they're all big buddies but I guess that has to do with time you know that what bothered me we these guys went over there and got killed and lost their lives and we met nothing yeah yeah so what does a life mean that's what I wonder it's a great question especially in the context of war I mean it's basically yeah that's what doesn't lie you know and but I I don't have no regrets as far as going over there I would fight for my country not now okay good now like I caught them all I'm done what did you um when you part of the reason we're doing this series is so that people can look back and and hear about folks from Montana who fought in Vietnam wouldn't you hope they remember about Vietnam what do you want them to remember as a guy who served there that we did serve our country we went there as wholeheartedly serve our country we were asked to I never you know and I felt I was my duty you know our whole family's been in the service mm-hmm my dad's in their Navy my brother I was in the Marines my brother brother was in the army and my youngest brother was in the Air Force so we you know you got them all though you got all the bases covered so do you even talk about which branches because you come to a stale it's not that big a deal right dad probably talks more about the Navy you know but it was you know something that I would never regret doing yeah well you know I've did it for my country and that may not been right but that's what you're there for and so you better be ready to fight yeah course you learn that in the Marine Corps - yeah was that a heart was that because I imagine in growing up on a ranch you're a tough kid but it's not you're not learned to do you better be over there to kill a fight was that a hard thing to learn they they not really learn they don't have it they teach it to you as a period as progression okay you know you don't really know you're doing this they just keep hollering that is screaming at in you know I'm trying to get you tricked you know on things like that right right so it was a it was graduated and say okay we're gonna change your mind about this today yeah imagine there wasn't a lot of mind machine out there you know that's what they kind of want and they and they want to do that kind of swagger or confidence I guess is that is that right yeah yeah yeah did you is it hard to come back from a place like Vietnam and have that confidence because you can't necessarily take the same approach in civilian life as you did over in the jungle I had somehow I just I just DISA bandar the whole thing okay you were ready to get back I was ready to come back and get on with my life yeah yeah yeah I wanna can I ask your father a question yes yeah and I got a question for you dad what did you think of his service and were you worried about him yeah yeah oh yeah yeah and did you what did you think when he came home proud of his service yeah oh yeah were you upset that he didn't go Navy were you upset that he didn't go into the Navy no you know he did okay as long as I went long as I served my country that's yeah dad yeah yeah and you've got three sons who served right that's all he's got two brother that and so that was that just a family was that sir was was military experience part of the expectation growing up or do we don't know no just that we felt that's why we were brought up dad you know and do it right I can you know what I think a lot of guys well I haven't talked to anybody I mean a couple of guys well I can't say that they you know it crosses your mind when you when you see what's going on on the news but no one followed through no I never we never even crossed our minds okay no chance to come along with it right yeah he was bleeder yeah yeah and so you were worried about his health yeah yeah yeah yeah so did how did that did that weigh on your mind your health it was my mind it was over that okay you were just you're just there to survive yeah I was there to survive no and I didn't think about that yeah you know I just you do what you got to do and move on and it was a experience I'd never want to do again with friends I glad did it yeah you had I've heard you know it's funny I've heard a lot of guys say I'm glad I did it but I wouldn't I wouldn't do it yeah that coming back and Riaan listening they said no no way did that dull yeah I mean this guy I mean I could you know what they were ready they were and I wasn't that type of person right it's all I thought about it putting the white guy away yeah yeah that's not that just not me yeah they never drilled it that far in my head they were drilled in me that I had to stay alive you know you know right but there's so many stories that you could talk about this stuff forever yeah you know what happened over there time you know under in weird things and yeah what was the weirdest thing you saw over there I really would be tough to tell you it was something unbelievable it's the nastiest thing you'd ever see okay guys did a lot of nasty things okay sure enough you know I mean it's I still think about that yeah that's kind of hard well and it probably I imagine you see what somebody killed and what he did to a person or a woman yeah you know so it's tough is it yeah I imagine that you see when you're over there and in that kind of combat you see exactly what war does to be exactly what war and some I often wanted some of them were born with the ability to kill mm-hmm a lot more easier than other people right and some of these guys they just live to kill yeah I mean they just they're mine tality with just only out of this world right go after yeah kill them cut their throat do anything you can to get rid of him he didn't care who they were right they might beat South Vietnam all you put them away yeah so it's it's just that mentality yeah that that's a pretty tough mentality that has far as I was concerned yeah and that's not you know you know my mind was just totally my I had too big art you know yeah yeah did you uh when you came home what would what seemed different to you or what seemed even better than you had remembered is that that's hard to say too because I was thinking about something else at the time okay you know yeah true you know I'm more worried then that's when I got on some friends there you know and was it hard to reconnect with friends no actually I got new friends you know a Mel stone you don't you it's so small reconnect no and I went back to one of my best friend's died he lived out of Shepard and we ever knew him till I come home and we really got close but no I had a lot of friends and we ran around we drank a little bit and did you appreciate things differently having been to Vietnam I don't know if I appreciate it different I just knew what I had to do with my life and yeah I went right to work and went construction I did heavy equipment you know and stuff like that and then I drank a lot yeah now on weekends right he didn't when it worked to work it's time to work I get that you know no my brother drank a little harder but you know not bad but you know that it was I I think probably with what I never thought about as much just because my problem when I my heart was saying right you know and I think that was a good thing yeah yeah yeah absolutely well what you know one of the things that's hard about these interviews if you're taking this big long expanse of their lifetime 13 months or even 50 years and saying okay I'm gonna shrink it down into one interview probably a foolish thing but what if I have I missed anything that you that are that's important to your story that I should get actually not I you know I most I've ever told you know it's far right out right and I they're you know things will keep the rest of my life going when I go yeah you know they're just like you know they've seen but no I think that's I've had a good life and you know yeah I we've lived in Phoenix now 18 years and probably I'll be there they'll put me in the vietname Morial a cemetery there in Phoenix and okay yeah well I want to say two things I want to say thanks for sharing these stories yeah I couldn't do this without you thank you for volunteering to serve also I every thank you for your service it's it's been quite frankly it's a real honor to have a father and son here who had that kind of experience and I just appreciate you doing this

Channel: Billings Gazette

Views: 63,034

Rating: 4.7734203 out of 5

Keywords: Vietnam War (Military Conflict)

Id: VzKqn1FlxmM

Length: 59min 4sec (3544 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 30 2015