Vietnam Voices: 'That was probably the scariest part of my life'

hello this is darl erlick and this is the Vietnam voices a series of the Billings Gazette sponsored by Master L today is February 17 2016 and I am in Studio today with Jose RI Ras excuse me and uh he was with the United States Marine Corps from 1966 to 1970 I'm really excited to talk with him too because before the cameras turned on we found out that that our families and and we he had known my my father and my grandfather and so it's a this is part of the Great thing about this series is I get to talk to people who are from this area who were in Vietnam and it's been a real honor and Jose thank you for coming in and thank you for um he he's had family members who have said you should tell your story and he's going to help tell his story today and and and I'm just I'm thrilled so let's begin what were you doing before the Marine Corps before 1966 tell me tell me what life was like before then well well I was uh 17 my my brother and I friend friend of mine and I went to uh California go see what was going on in California in February colder and heck here and we spent uh so it was it was 50 years ago this month February of 196 my goodness I sure was yeah okay great this is I love it when that happens it it suits my purpose perfectly yes we went to California and my uncle lived in Sanger we went to work for uh pruning and just doing all the migrant workers they were doing over there okay and uh well FLW in Spanish and we just went to work there and my my uncle wouldn't tell I told him not to tell the boss that I was his nephew I didn't want no special privileges I didn't want to see what was going on on the other side and uh we worked till it was over the then they want us to continue to work they want us to drive tractors and everything after they found out that we knew what we were doing boys from from Laurel anyway and but it was in May and we had to come home for Mother's Day okay I was just about home all the time for my mom's day so so we showed up on Mother's Day then I turned 18 on the 15th of May okay and then I got pulled over by the policeman Chief lard in Laurel he's a good policeman and he told me he said you a pretty good kid he said but he said if uh you don't straighten up you're going to be end up in the big house so he said I'd suggest you do something and do about it as quick as you can H guys you know he said I've been I was in trouble just about every other day I was you know getting in trouble drinking driving do H works and so I said well okay and then my older brother was in the Marine Corp and so I went in in August they joined the Marine Corp in August and the buddy and I he uh him and I went in buddy plant into the r car yep well they didn't take him cuz he was color blind H so he went to the Army the Army took him I don't know what happened there anyway and they then I I went into the into boot camp and uh was boot boot camp was everything did you was it in San Diego it was yeah in San Diego it was really well um being the shortest of the of the whole platoon now it was it was on me I had to do my own thing right well I I did pretty good I I made PFC out of boot camp and that was pretty darn hard to do at those times to come out was a rank y out of boot camp and I was in physical condition when I when I went in there that's what that's what made it did did all that work that summer yes yes hard hard labor did that to you yes all the hard labor I did all my life was it just brought up right there in boot camping I did pretty good I come by me and this uh siman he maxed it for 500 I had $499 so he got the dress blues and the PFC and I got PFC out of it that's still pretty good 499 out of 500 I would take that well I you know I was the smartest man in the world but it's still from a lot of common sense the questions were all common sense and the physical thing was all common sense right we did that that's how we did it so when you joined in 1966 it was now we've I just talked to a vet the probably the one that we did right before this he was before a judge in bildings and the judge told him you can go to to jail or you can go to the recruiters office and he chose recruiters you weren't quite at that point but you you you took the advice of a policeman who said you're were seeing you a little too much around Amen to that used to take my keys away from me and should come back in the office in the morning and pick them it was a different time you going to stay there right so were you worried about I mean you had an older brother in the Marine Corp were you worried about joining the Marine Corps no nope I wanted to okay I always want to be the vest sh in the world yeah so you go to boot camp you go through then did you do Advanced infantry no I went went straight from ITR I went straight to CHP Point South Carolina now I'm a wieman my MOS is 25 11 radio man the telephone wire and all this stuff they sent me to CH Point North Carolina that is airwing what the airwing got to do with me is beyond me okay I was there three months two three months and I met this guy and he was his wife his wife was going to have a baby in a couple of days there just about a week or so and he got papers to go to Vietnam so I said I'll take your papers so I went to the commant there and they sent me sent me home they he sent me to Vietnam I landed April 1st 1967 okay and uh so you took some other guy so he could stay yeah he and say and and at least meet his child and have yeah and then he was over later but not the same spot but I found out he was in there but I was flying like like I told my brother I said when he got out of the Marine Cor in August of 67 I Jo I landed in Vietnam in April of 67 so I said we cross airplanes and we comeing through right the freedom so when you were so you were trained as a radio man and a wian is that how you're trained so what what what is a what are you trained to run uh the radio on the field or is it how does that work okay well the radio man is a a a guy carries a radio man carries a radio and it goes anywhere your convoy goes I trans I moved a lot of convoys a lot of people took a lot of troops up and down from uh dang to kesan and back I it was the radio man I was a uh Convoy Commander's radio man okay I drive the Jeep listen to him listen to people over the all seven radios having in the back of the Jeep and you called in their strikes call in tank strikes you call in medic Medicare Medicare whatever you got to call in you call them in I was I was their man okay so let's talk about so you you take that other person's papers were you worried about going to Vietnam no I I wanted to go I really did it just was it was that's what I joined the Marine Corps for right so you go let's talk about flying over to uh was the flight over and then what what was your impression of when you landed when when I when I flew over I landed in Hawaii they said you could you know we we got land in Hawaii for a minute and I could feel the different kind of temperature different kind of weather you already knew something was going to happen now we landed in a April 1st April Fool's Day and I tell you there been like that over since they were having a a firefight across the the airport when we landed okay the airplane took back off and then he landed finally they finally cleared the so when they originally when they originally landed they were they were we were under Fire you were under Fire so they took off again big old airplane one of these big old things they landed and uh he took off again cuz it was the fire we were getting bullets what what what did you think of on that plane I mean here there a way to start what a way to start a deal you know and you can't jump off the airplane till the damn thing stops right that's pretty good advice my old brother always told me just use common sense you will make it longer better if you use common sense anything you can think don't get you're going to panic everybody's panics right but just as soon as you P you trigger that down and figure out what the hell you have to do right quick see right right just think so slow it down that was so that was good advice yes very much I followed his all the way through and then when we landed in denan we all rushed out of the airplane I mean you know all the doors open and inner tubes come out and all that [ __ ] you know right and uh we jump in the bunkers the fire had been over for firefight had been over 20 minutes right and we still in the bunkers and they say call us okay guys get out you know right and the guys that we're all brand new boots just brand new recruits you got shiny shoes on everything is looking green you're eff you're fngs aren't you and my goodness they they they look another new set of troops coming in oh man so we had to go and they got a designated spot to go and then they tell you where to go to get to get to your flights and all this [ __ ] but I I got there and I found where I was supposed to go and I they called they were supposed to come pick me up but nobody come pick me up was in there for a week at the airport huh when they finally come out I was in front of the com of of first B of Transport main the first day first week I was in trouble already cuz it's thought was a aw I said no I said I've been sitting at the airport right and I I waited for motor transport trucks nothing nobody they said always we s them every day they didn't send nothing over there for me I saw a lot of boxing matches that I hadn't watched in a long time but right cuz that was the only thing thatfor so you finally arrived yeah and they sent me in to meet my my my wire Chief the wi man okay what do you know and I I said oh boot camp stuff and all this he said okay so I started working with him and show me the route had to go I had lay line telephone line and uh telephones in the bunkers and I had to put um sound detectors out in the middle of the field around around our our Battalion area and then he said you know anything about radio I said well I do I do know a lot about the radio so so I took it apart and put it back together again cuz you didn't know it wouldn't work I took I fixed it put it B all right so you want to be a radio man I said why not let's go let's go do something you know I mean I maybe I was a little goofy but I I was there to go to Vietnam to see what it was all about what it was going to be it was the weather was nasty in a in April it was just starting the monsoon scene just starting to come through and you know and so it it's a lot wetter than in Montana than in Laur yeah you you've heard that expression on the Flat Rock that's what it was all the time over there but uh no and then the first radio first radio I went on as a convoy went to oh my goodness just about 30 miles out of dang and I was pretty darn good with it I was on a front lead truck and I was calling checkpoints they said they give me a a routine map of what your checkpoints and you call in and then the guy in the middle calls then I said then yourway Commander is listening to it all the time see what's going on make sure that the Convoy is moving through the checkpoints and everything right yeah and then gun fire anything like that you know but that then he said you doing pretty good he said you know how to drive a Jeep I said well yeah yes sir I do I said you I'm pretty darn good driver so I was just coming not uh the Jeep drive for him you know you go 40 m hour with those big trucks and you drive them past them with the little Jeep they can run over here just as quick as anything else can you know right one guy calls in front you got to go up to the front find out what's going on on a guy in the back you got to go back there and stop turn your Jeep around go back find out what's going on over there and just left and right but you got he he's talking to you you got seven radios you're listening to in the back and you're talking to the man you're talking to your a striker man your control and you're talking to the Jeep the Comon out at the same time it takes a little bit of time to get it together but my did all right so it's it's so what you're saying is you got to be kind of listening to all of them and and kind of good at and for them all yeah and multitasking same yeah and and and paying attention to what someone's saying and then blocking out what you don't need right yeah yeah so you're doing this and it's it's right what does it what does it look like up there in dang what's what does the the country look like the geography was it was about 8 miles out of dang little botanary was it there ah it was it was quite filthy I I thought it was quite fil in what way and uh a lot of the the Vietnamese they they don't they don't have outdoor johns or anything they just do their thing right there right down in the middle of the street out in the yard whatever you know and all you do is find white papers scattered through the whole damn country and it was quite filthy right right was it kind of shocking did you did you expect that or what did you think when you you got there that that really really didn't shock me but the the the the people what shocked me was they were so skinny MH and some didn't have no teeth at all most of them didn't have any teeth and it was it was just I don't know it was just kind of f the country was to me wasn't the greatest country I've ever seen in my life right right uh so then so you're transporting people uh back is it is this troop transport what are you supplies or what are you transport troops I carrying we carried the most we had is 300 troops okay and we go to a certain area pick the PE drop them off and pick up the guys and come back out okay and uh the wounded we trans to the to the airport to the airfields okay and uh then we so these were people who didn't need necessarily meta H metac or these were people who could go on a litter and then come back yeah or get them out as quick as you can before you can get so the helicopter come park somewhere to get the helicopter to get there to us now you're you're up fairly you're North are you in iore are you in the iore that's what I thought so this is almost all Marines right are you just transporting Mar we transported some Army some Army okay that's what I thought they they they'd come behind us and and our radio operator in the back would holler say we got some Army we have to turn around go back and find who what and where and keep on going you know right so was it uh so you were doing transport is it every day is that was that kind of your job running radio and D every not every day yeah about every two or 3 days we we got another Movement we we right before way city right before 10 offense that we we were moving the troops into into kesan okay and that's that was a scary part there yeah so tell me about that because that because you were this was as I as we've had other people tell and maybe I'm wrong on this everybody thought something was going on no no one quite knew what was that it was it was too too I was it too Pleasant okay you know you know law before the storm you know we we was transporting troops from dang and we took them into way City before that was before the T offensive and then we the other guys were they heading back they headed home so we're taking the transfer of the guys home and everybody saying there's something going on you know we you could you could feel it it was the the static in the air was just a little bit too strong for anything going on you know and uh well right before before 10 offensive right right before the way where they hit on 10 offensive right before they hit I we had to transfer 26 Marines I'm trying I'm trying to think that that was a unit 26 Marines had we had to take oh 160 170 troops in there we was in there when the 10 offensive hit in way City okay and that was uh probably the most scariest part of my life there okay why will tell me set that up you you have everybody shooting every everybody and everything and you don't know what the hell you're shooting at you understand chaos yes it was because we didn't know nothing we we pulled in for the night we were behind some big bum bunkers houses uh Ro uh buildings we all parked in there next year knew everything lit up like so night time so yeah so it lit up like the Fourth of July and it was just just this people this everything shooting and so you need a radio man here you need a radio man there need to read I seen a lot of pictures on my niece keep trying to find me in one of those I said I never rolled my sleeves up everybody always had their sleeves rolled up on their with their utility jackets I always I always kept them long I I didn't like mosquito bites those are nastiest things you ever find over there like they say sometimes they fueled up a couple of them before they found out they were they were mosquitoes they fill a lot of they with some big ass mosquitoes over there and uh well uh it's we got shot at we were getting shot at my my my whip antenna have whip antenna stands about 10 foot tall off my off my radio and that guy that got a bullet through it so that was that was not no plinking that was a sniper shooting at the shooting at the radio man right and uh that was that's the scariest I ever been yeah so were you behind a bunker or behind behind the wall so they were shooting down at you he would have been up to to do that but it was it was but like I said like I said my brother told me said you get shot at you you you know there coming at you you know you know you've been shot at right just settle down just a little bit relax suck up a little bit and just relax a little bit and then use your common sense you get away with it so what did you do how did you do that at that moment well you just stop and you get down they're trying to talk to you the radio is down now right so you need to do an antenna no I have to go back to my tee so running and I hear my brother saying hey slow down take your time I'm going to meander down to my Jeep getting my new antenna put that darn thing back on my Lieutenant's hauling at me what are you doing I said I need to get your antenna you know and and he looked at me what's the matter you shot I said no what am I bleeding yeah no he said no he you're something's wrong no there nothing wrong so I went back over there started communicating with with our AOS had little AOS out there I just a little metal a little aluminum tank they call the AOS had three barrels on each side 105 hollers on it and uh we were talking with him and he we were pointing where we getting gun shots from and he take them all down but I I calmed down it just my heart slowed down my mind quit rattling sit there and listen to your radio the the your the helicopters and your artillerymen and your Tang man they had my atttention nothing else I can't hear nothing except these people talking to me on my phone and what was what was so you're in way when this starts happening in the city and what does the I my question I can't imagine what does the radio sound like with all that action going on what are you hearing on the radio what I'm hearing is gunfire okay I'm hearing gunfire the the loudest ones was the Jets okay you could hear the jet the jet the radio radio man in in the jet those command the whole darn thing they they take over the whole the whole system under radio system there you listen to them they you could be you could be talking to somebody right beside you the the radio man in in the jet flies over in keys he shuts those people off and that's all you can hear right cuz and you want to listen to them because they're going to drop the the heavy stuff right they're they're listening to me one of them for a while they're you my name is as soon as I come over to soon as I come over he already knew who I was but I don't know I don't remember what his name was but he just okay I got you covered he said first motor transports doing it again huh yeah I guess so soon that ke mik said something he knew who I was that's kind of be uh so you're you're in here you're getting shot at and then you hear a familiar voice voice it calms you down a little more yeah you know you know we called it a lot of air strikes right so it starts lighting up and this is at night did they see it did they start the the fight at night is this that early morning okay well you know everybody all Americans sleep at 1:00 okay guaranteed everybody in way city was asleep except the guards y well they took the guards I'm surprised too they they I swear they they beat us up for a little bit then we finally started taking back over but they beat us up they surprised us they scared us and yeah when we come back up so you'd felt that static did you kind of feel like when it started like oh this is what it's this is what it this where we at y this is what it's all about yep Tie Your Boots up and let's get it going so was it uh was it nerve-wracking uh when even though you were calmed down is it still nerve-wracking because it's it's got a there's what are you seeing from where you're at are you watching firefights are you watching fights I'm calling in and then I'm I'm talking to the guys that I'm with I got I with seven guys from the C the Convoy there they're designed to protect me I have the radio I have their they I have their their full blooded attention they they just surrounded me so I'm cuz I got their I got their butt in my hand was the radio if I get shot there a no more there you know right but I uh they were they I they were scared quite scared I was scared I was I mean you can't say I was scared but but I was calm scared I knew exactly what I had to do yep and then the next day following day it the it went down we moved them we moved them probably about a half a block up we moved them some more and we we started Gathering the the shot the troops that have been shot they you couldn't bring a helicopter in there we had to take them out it's too hot right and the mail call come in I mean the helicopter was mail come in for us so I'll never forget this every they call my name out and they grab my lce who the hell from so opened the letter there's a draft notice in it from the Army I'm in way City in 1968 with the Ted offensive T offensive and you get mail call I'm drafted so I I run over to my my officer he he him and I we when we was together was everybody were yes sir no sir but right and then when we were by ourselves we were doing Jose and hell you know right I said sir I kept hollering what is this he said I said I got to go home emergency I said yeah I said they been drafted in the Army he said get your ass back over there but you know you know you had to do something into it a sense of humor you got to break you got to blow off the steam what was the uh when when you were over there uh and you had the radio do you have a lieutenant with you calling in and and so he's calling in he's telling me what to call in okay right uh was he nervous during very he he hadn't been in any kind of comeback at all okay and we had to settle him down we had to make sure that he knew that he was in charge I mean right sometime okay R you take over I said no you're you're in charge I'll do what I have to do but if I see something you need correct enough I'll tell you but I you know you in charge you have to do your think right couple of them couple of them we when we took to anoa we got firefight there and he hid behind the radio one of them anyway I took him back in and threw him in front of a commanding officer I just about got corn rall for that but man I had troops I had to take care of and he was just hiding behind the radio uh I could have shot him right there know would have been i' have been all i' have been yeah been all right right but you know they s him to the front line the next day and I don't know what ever happened to him but yeah you know it was there was no call for that I mean I know you're scared I I'm scared Jeep full of holes I'm scared but you can't do that you can't let them 170 troops by theirselves you're they waiting on your command that's all the to yeah yeah you have to you do that you you got to you got to face up to that what's the um so how did you so after a couple of days how long did you spend in way we spend uh four days wow and then we went then we went back to uh Pai yeah Pai and then uh then we started transfering people to Quan as quick as close we get to Quan because was under they were under siege right away you know they were under siege there we had to go up and get troops bring them back take them up a lot of there a lot of people that got killed in that darn thing and just just on a road yeah so was what was the road like well it was a a to uh like a Freddy's Road okay looked like a Freddy's Road some some was pretty good some you know but you would get would you get sniper fire or yeah we had the telling about the Army Manu we had a uh four five six six trucks behind us and they joined up and they had quad 50s mhm and uh we were getting fired upon from from The Ridges oh they were about quarter mile out okay you can see where they're shooting from cuz they you could see the tracers yeah and shoo mortors they trying to hit the convoys was you know and we talked to the one of the Quad 50 guys he said we can't we can't shoot unless uh we get permission from our Command officer I jumped I I looked at my lieutenant Lieutenant just took off with the Jeep I jumped in took over took over the the 50 caliber and shot the ridge out for a while there I took over command I said you guys can't do this this is not right but they were they were all in gri but they didn't want to get in trouble sure well get in trouble or get killed which one do you want to do cuz that's what's going to happen they're going to they hit one truck one of my trucks I lost 36 guys in that truck they put a motor right in the middle of the back of the truck lost 36 guys wow no that's that's got to be hard to see MH I mean 36 cuz are these guys that you knew yeah yeah that's got to be hard because that's not a the you saw what war was about yeah yeah was it um was what was when you were taking load of troops I mean these are Marines they're trained as they're trained as as soldiers and Fighters they know what they're going to but are they nervous when you take yeah everybody's everybody's nervous everybody's you know quiet okay everybody's checking their weapons I mean six or seven times right cuz what else you do right yeah and then when they com back they're hollering and screaming man could care less if you can shot at them or not they already they weren't green anymore they were right they were well and they were probably blowing off some steam they that they made it right I mean we're out of some of the guys would come in they look so ragged my good like they've been out there for a month and only two weeks you know huh it's ugly ugly ugly that's terrible what's the um uh so you're taking them and and dring the uh and then you have to take you have to go back up to quesan is it kesan or was ano Under Siege K kesan was under siege was it was it um uh and so the idea was to get as much as many troops up there as fast as closer you K right how close were you able to get well I got in before the siege we got in we was in there three times okay but when when we start started going up after Ted offensive as the Ted offensive was going we wasn't we couldn't get anywhere we in 10ed miles or the upcase on there was too many NBAA too many NBA was that shocking because up until that time I mean not that there was an NVA up in north but there was a lot of them all of a sudden was that shocking to you well it was wasn't it was scary because those could they I mean we're talking battalions we're talking hundreds and hundreds of these people and they got the best weapons in the world from the Russians and the Chinese and you know they they could take the Convoy out right that's so when we get on a convoy your thing is you keep it to the floor and let's keep on going you don't stop for nothing unless it's absolutely necessary right and you try not to stop you know so if they hit the when they hit that um that that truck with 36 soldiers do you stop for that or do you keep going we had to stop we had to stop and we we stopped the half the combo kept going okay and the other half circled it got around it and got all the people's names and everything like that and then we turned it around the truck was still running the driver got killed the coold driver was killed and the rest of the people were in there so none ago we just put the driver and the coold driver and back and then one of one of the truckers turned it around and went back took it back yeah that's tough oh yeah that would be a hell of a drive yeah what was the um so uh so after something like that or after we and someone shot at you shot your antenna off and stuff you said you calmed down what did you after the experience after four days of that did you did your outlook on Vietnam or did did anything change cuz I would imagine after I get shot at or after I spend four days in a firefight my my my perspective might change a bit to yours the thing of it is a lot of people that that went there they went they went there because they didn't volunteer or they they were drafted or something like that you know well I I went I went in there because it was a the it was the job that I thought it was the job I went in there as a job I didn't go in there as uh I have to do this or I I went in there cuz I joined the Marine encourage I was fighting for America and it's my job to do it yep I didn't take nothing personal I didn't that's that's interesting so so someone shooting at you you didn't take it I think a lot of people would probably did take it personally they did all the thing that I always know T man you can walk over there and get shot you can get around get run over a truck or you have a heart attack your numers number with your number's up this numberers up you could be the nicest guy in the world yeah so a no wor about when you're going to get you won't feel it when you're dead anyway so what the hell yeah yeah did you um what did you miss most I mean obviously you're over there and you're like it's maybe not the best country as as you said what did you miss most about Montana and home my Moss cooking yeah oh man what what most of all my tortillas mom used i' make some salsa she do that stuff oh man when day we went everything settled down a little bit and everything I wrote my mom told me I need some salsa so she sent me 24 little baby food jars salsa you know oh wow 16 of them made it anyway was I was i' go over there and have some breakfast and then put on my eggs you know yeah now and then we had this this big guy just mean mean man mean mean mean Marine stood about 6'4 65 oh 260 big old wow that's a big bad ass dude he was he was anyway we uh he would ask for nothing my put it on his food and just walk off wouldn't see it say no thank you or nothing I said okay so I went out to the Village they had little green little Peppers real little round little Peppers hottest things I've ever seen the hottest things you've ever I got five or six of those and ground those up real fine and put it in that salsa and mixed it up you know the next morning I grab new jar put it on my food put the other jar with a spoon on that there the one that didn't melt the spoon you know that's so hot and uh he ate some they sent him home I blistered his lips I blistered his tongue I blistered his throat he couldn't breathe I blistered everything on him that'll teach him touch food doesn't belong to him that's that is one of my favorite stories I've heard in the whole time I I should have got a he should have sent me a letter for thank you for sending him home God damn it right did he uh uh so what was uh when when you weren't moving troops or when you weren't getting fire what was daily life like in the camp or in the headquarters it was oh this kind of boring okay but you always you always doing the radios always doing the wire walk through walk wired always somebody's always cutting wires or they're digging holes and it cut your wires up or wind blowing I got we had the typhoon best hit a big old typhoon hit D in that area there my had God why I had I did some wiring for there and uh wire for telephone telephone Communications the wind blew so hard that it blew everybody's wire except mine out 7com the biggest Communications division in Southeast Asia come to my come to our unit to use our phones that was I got that that's a that's a compliment yeah that was it was it was pretty darn good there was it nerve-wracking going out setting up listening posts because you're outside you'd go outside the perimeter and like I said I had seven guys take care of me all the time radio man I the radio man has got preference I was uh they treated me like I treated them and they were in my right hand I'm their right hand man they I would be watched they' be all over the place I'd be laying I could tell you how fast somebody's walking how many people are walking how fast the car is running what direction it's coming from right as as much as I was in that area that you at night that's when you listen to it all the time and and so I could tell you EXA about what was going on what was nighttime like in Vietnam by the way oh beautiful Skies yeah beautiful Skies you know but uh but then every once you see a rocket fly over the top and ruin the whole thing yeah well that during that that t offensive there we we were we slept in in the bunkers for 30 days after the 10 offensive and uh I swear them guys were shooting Rockets from the other side of the fence into dang and they feel like they're going on right on your lap when they going right over fine and you want to get up and go in the bunker if it would have supposed to pick you up if you if it was meant for you you wouldn't have got in the bunker any right what what's the um uh at night time are you a Target are they are they trying to get you guys to well at night at night sometimes they they try to crawl into the fence see they try to get into your fence and try and get mostly is Communications okay mostly is medical supplies you know okay Y and uh no no we I come home I come home on uh 30-day leave and uh I went back our Barber we had a Vietnamese Barber they found him hanging in the fence he was a VC but just how many times he had his knife that that straight razor around your throat always gives me children every time I think about that so he was a by day he was your friend right by night he was trying to come back in yeah you know that you know it's the scary part of it yeah you know I used to come home and I come home I come home two times and I come home and I and I say with Mom watch watch the news and watch the deal from over there and all the news on and see if I could see my unit never could see it but you know but you'd still watch oh yeah yeah was I went on six different rnrs okay rest rip Corporation right uh Bangkok Sydney Australia quore Malaysia Singapore Malaysia two times in Singapore it was just how were the was that kind beautiful beautiful beautiful yeah there the nicest cleanest country H if you got out of the The Zone then it wasn't as clean but but but still nice country oh beautiful country I got to see the China wall huh there was a hill right outside of aan or they had their bunkers up I was up on top there I could see the China wall way way down there huh and I said well I said I swear I seen it you get up there and I I keep everybody say you couldn't have seen I said damn it I saw it I know I saw it huh it just a big old line this right right and that gave you an idea of where you were in the country or in the world very close to China right was it um I get the sense that the morale among the troops there was pretty good though well yes you had to there was we had a lot of Uso shows come in mhm but the guys sometimes they you know you they need a event they had to do something you can't just keep them in a little corner and say okay stay there until it till we need you you know right so they they send us on different trips different modes going like going going towards go Chuli we never made it to Chai I was s there one time with the troops never made it to Chai had to turn around and come back why well right about 8 miles out of uh dang there were M streping okay remind s in the roads a Bus full of 130 people on the bus passes in about 2 minutes into the passing they blew up they had mined the road 27 miles from from where we where they stopped US 27 miles all mines wow and that every Everybody in the everybody in their bus got blown away their pigs you chickens they're holding all gone wow you just we had come back and now mines cuz you were a driver mines were a real concern back there right so you were taught taught how were you taught to avoid mines while driving well the thing if you're okay you have the Marine sweep there are the Mind sweepers they're damn those God sent people to they sweep their roads and they you know there but you never get off the road you stay in the center of the road anything coming from the other side has to stop and wait for you to go by you never get off the road I'm just killing you right there you know and you see different things different your use your imagination what somebody could do you know and that's what we do find one where my first the my first shot at the at a VC we had stopped the Convoy had to stop and I was tacos the driver looked in the rice Patty you see a hair look like a hair stretched all the way across the rice Patty and I'm looking I said I can't see that's you know kept looking again and one saw the the wind would blow it and and the the rice Patty would open up you can see the line wire going through wow so I I called the Convoy commander and what is it I said I think I see a mine line uh a line what do you mean look at he couldn't he couldn't see it I couldn't I grabbed a rifle and shot oh okay I see it there wow then they see a little bit the me sck out running across I'm about 100 yards away well I shot him and anyway and that that that didn't didn't affect me for about 3 hours we were got into we got into fub got into fub and wow there was a 300 lb bomb underneath the underneath the in front of the truck about 20 yards in front of the truck where the wire went we were parked here and the the right there wow wow then it hit me and I started shaking I said my you goodness slow down had to figure it out something then that settle down and did all right then yeah but it's kind of it doesn't hit you till afterwards I've heard that several times that then you get to thinking about it and that could have been yeah that could have been me yeah was it hard uh uh did did did shooting back I mean it's one thing to get shot at did returning fire was that a hard thing to do no no yeah because once you did you just go into automatic mode yeah what's the uh when when you're over there uh are you so you get mail from your your mom family are do you write letters back yes what do you tell them about Vietnam tell nothing I don't tell them what's going on oh just tell them Miss Miss home and Miss uh miss everybody and yeah we I was home to have some good food one of these days you know tell them you know we're going to get home have good food sit down and so what was food like in Vietnam what did you was it all sea R we got 1948 sea R were two sea R we were eating and then and then they had the toow for the toow hall there was it any good yeah the food it was enough to keep you keep you alive that's all you could say right you know but no I don't know some of the sea rash was better than the food in the kitchen but you know what was the um uh was the the area around now you're up north what was the what did the area look like was it hilly was it mountains was it jungle was it mostly Plains okay but but it had some hills all probably 8 nine miles away that's where the VC would get up and shoot shoot the Rocks into dang it was 15 miles to dang they shoot on there and they had that big old airport behind us the the airport the main airport there then that would didn't had the we had a a military airport back there the b52s at land in there one blew up one time my goodness we were on guard that night we had a we had a road block that was in a tank be to try to take off right at the base of the of the flight that it blew up it lit up the sky for about 9 hours every bomb in the world that was in it blew up it was just terrible wow so it it didn't make it it just it just blew up bad it was they don't know what what brought it down might have might a a bomb might have rolled and blew up or something but they just didn't make it Off The Runway wow and holes all over the place we had it we had it back away it was just miserable huh wow so you also saw those kind of casualties too you know what was it like what were the Jets now you were calling in Jets what what what was what was it like getting Firepower from the Jets well nothing it's uh when you when you call In These Guys these guys uh you throw green smoke and they know where where they had to put it at and it takes these guys are good they they were uh they were my heroes mhm they knew what they were doing yeah we counter it yeah were they was it nerve-wracking to call them in because they had to be precise because they could no well I I had all the confidence in the world other the guys I always did I I had all the confidence in the world that they were they knew where we were at right they might have not but I had all confidence they did right and then we had the uh puff I don't know if you heard the Puff Dragon yeah uh I called in them they were about 100 yards away from for me I called it in huh and they put it every square inch of in that area everything was gone you know every square inches of bullet hits shooting a 308 y so it's you know it's just a a red mark coming down the sky and there and every other I've heard that just like a Cascade of fire every other one is is a tracer and all I see is red coming down yeah it's unbelievable what was um uh uh when you when you were over there uh so you you missed food from home and then I know a lot of guys talked about when they get back to the world they were going to do that what what were you going to do when you got back to the world sit in a river for a while yeah in the Yellowstone just set that's all I want to do just sit in the Yellowstone in the Yellowstone River that was my River you know it wet wild and damn free and that's what it was all about my goodness you know the those the the the swamps the the rice patties the the the lagoons we'd see my good goodness I wouldn't stick a stick in there my my damn stick might bite you you know it was just ugly something would grow on that damn thing let me tell you it was just just like I said filthy to me it was a filthy country yeah but h i get in the yell just sit there in yellow I did did I come home I did you did yeah yeah I when I got home and let me see see oh come on I got a August I come in January I got home in January I went my brother and I went broke ice and in the room and stuck my hands in her I had to just had to get feel yeah oh that's a be that's a great story just to come home and do that what was like uh so uh when you were ever over there was it way whether it was in way or somewhere else did you ever think I might not be able to stick my hands back in Yellowstone no no no sir okay I I I had great confidence in me and a man yeah not a problem huh what what about uh so let's talk about when did you uh when did you catch that freedom bird home when when let's talk about Le um okay yeah I got from during August of 69 I think it was and uh we landed El Toro I'll never forget that why had people jaring us throwing [ __ ] at us throwing water balloons with filled his urine calling us names and uh were you surprised by that I seen it before the first time I come home okay but I figured somebody just wake up and said it isn't our fault we had we would we did it for the government we did it for you guys and that they were doing that to us that must have been hard especially after you saw guys not come back right yeah and they doing that stuff yeah that wasn't any good that that's why them that's why I didn't want to tell my story cuz nobody give the D before why did they now yep yep do you think people's attitudes have changed I don't know okay I don't know couldn't tell you what was the reception bike then did you fly from El Toro to Montana or I mean what was the reception was there a similar reception in Montana no no no there wasn't my mom you know they could have been I don't know I remember my mom mhm they my brothers and sisters and your brother had already been your brother was back yeah yeah so he did he he understood oh yeah yeah what about your M did you get that home cooking oh man yeah whole bunch whole bunch oh yeah yeah every morning every morning every afternoon she'd well every want eat and I tell her and she'd make it up right quick I was it was the way it was supposed to be right but like I said when we come home I who cares what everybody else thought my parents and my parents and brother and sisters are there and my mom's there my dad's there that's all it counts so you haven't really told your story a whole lot no do you uh now let's also talk I I I'm asking a question I know the answer to but that's part of what my job is go ahead let's talk about uh did you come back home uh you didn't come back home injured did you have no no but let's talk about long-term effects oh well I for 30 years huh was that work I was drunk for 30 years well you're drunk for is that was that running away from anything was that I figured I figured that's what it was after about eight nine years ago I figured that's why I was drunk life time all the time had to use a crutch yeah you know and it worked oh yeah call a good crutch I made a lot of trouble got it to two DUIs I mean you know a lot of trouble but then I realize what what I what what's causing it you know I've slowed down a whole bunch considerably yeah and uh now I got I got uh diagnosed with I got AG orange got heart disease and uh sugar diabetes I'm 80% disabled okay I can't work can't do a d thing then had a heart attack eight nine years ago they opened me up the here I am still alive making noise but well you are but it's it's I we've talked to several other veterans here who have talked about agan orange and so they thought they were getting out of Vietnam unscathed they weren't going home in a in in a coffin so they they considered themselves lucky but then they learned later on that what they were exposed to over there may may be coming back to get him is that tough or how do you how do you how does a guy who's dealing with that look at it now well I I look at it now that uh my brother passed away too he he had uh uh asan nor he had cancer he come home with that then he passed away three years ago something like that and uh I I never I never asked a g for anything never in my life I never asked for anything but everybody kept my my niece especially she kept tell Wendy yeah yeah she kept telling me you get in there and just get this paperwork done so I finally sent some papers in and they they denied me and I tore him by the halfway and half I said yeah I just hold on to it and I showed him to her and she says and then she wrote a letter and I got the response send us your medical records so I go to St Vincent's and I said I need a medical record okay you want a disc or paper I figured out how disc you know you know I said I'll take paper are you sure yeah week later I went down and got 500 sheets I had to sent to you know that's a lot of paper that's a lot of paper now now put i s in the disc you know just one but but but this has a good effect yeah 500 sheets of that DN thing they sent it to him okay I got 13 stance in me now wow and uh but then they come back 218 days after they they got the payor they they said okay then you you have heart disease and uh and the heart disease causes the diabe MH that's where I'm at right now I'm riding it I don't know how long it's going to last you know it's right what is it uh is it are you angry about it the agent orange I have no idea I don't know I can't well I can't do what I used to but I'm old enough to say well I shouldn't have done that anyway but no I don't know I'm angry yes in a way you know yeah but I can't you can't do nothing else about it you can cuss and scream and holler and tear a piece of paper up punch the wall what's they going to do is just hurt your hand that's that's a good way of putting it what was um uh when when you got back did you I mean you said you did drinking and stuff but did did you just get back to life or how did people treat you different or how did that work when you got back I I I I don't know okay I the first year when I was home I didn't do nothing I drew my unemployment check is $54 a week okay I didn't do nothing I didn't work well I do a little ranch work did mostly fishing and drinking mhm for a whole year I could not tell you what what happened I don't know I know brother and I used to go through town and everybody step aside you know but other than that I don't remember the first Year and may you know I don't know I thought maybe everybody else did the same thing you know right right but you didn't talk about it no one wanted to hear the stor is that right no no no and then well like there was four of us that were were in the service uh two brothers in the Army and two of us in the Marine Corps you know wow and two of them were in Germany during the Vietnam conflict and brother and I in Vietnam but you know we was uh we were made my proud that's what it really counted yeah did did your brother and you ever talk about Vietnam your experiences did he have some of the same same experience he had worse he was in one of one of uh um one of the first Marine divisions that landed in chulai offshore they they yeah he was one of the marine third Marine uh Second Marine Division thir Balian fifth Marines uh and anyway he was in there he his first short first short Battalion okay he he landed helicopters in and the whole works and he's seen a lot of stuff he he a lot of guys he went in with a lot of guys into the back country and only him and 13 or 14 other guys come back out so wow he was he was he was he he come home as a pts real bad and every night he'd call me and I go talk to him we go sit and talk every every other night you have a couple more beers where he see something that he'd pick up from behind and then have to give his wife would call me can you come down yeah be right there there yeah it just never left him no no did did you have those same kind of memories no he took it personal I did not take it personal I took it as a job but you were never a so he gave you the best advice but you couldn't give him that that you couldn't say hey don't take it personally because it did it's already penetrated he couldn't get it out of him it was that was hard that must have been hard to see cuz you knew what he was going through but yet you it wasn't the same yeah I couldn't I all I could do is help it listen yeah and sit and drink with him and listen you know right share bull sh share share lies with each other till we got you know right no that that couldn't be the that couldn't be right but we we sit there and talk for hours hours and hours and he was older than you couple years older yeah yeah what what was um uh when when you came back did people think you had changed or did did people say much about it no they asked me where I've been okay so they didn't necessarily know I I I don't know if they did or not well they realized they did after a while but uh a lot of people didn't didn't know where I was they thought I I was in jail or something right no right well it could have happened I suppose what was you know you talked about some you know Vietnam was tough on you not only kind of mentally and physically I get that were there good things that Vietnam taught you uh how to shoot a rifle how how to talk on a radio no I don't know you're responsible for what you do okay there is nothing else you're responsible for what you do and that's what it's all about yeah you know you you can't take it back right would you do it again yes in a heartbe okay what about so Looking Back Now I because I did the math I should have 50 years ago this month is when you started this right how do you see Vietnam now older with more life experience and has it changed over the years how how's it change well they you're just here what a we can go to trying to they're going to have a summit with the the Asian countries now MH I I really don't care what they do right makes that remind of me right if we're going to do it I guess we're going to do it you can't tell anybody no right can't tell the government no because I don't believe they should no they they're going to do it already did like that so did you uh how do you view the Vietnam War now do you do view it any differently or no how how does it how does it look 50 years well I I I still say we they should have let us go and keep going instead of Y just taking taking and then letting them have back and then we have to go take it again you know there was a lot of those like lot of battles like that they like he 8 88 we we took we took it two or three times and then we just gave it right back to them and they get back up there and we had to go take it again would now when you were doing that did did was there any conversation with the troops like what the heck are we doing here or did you talk about that or how did how did that manifest itself in the day when this was happening they their D I had you know there they they started coming out with a Chico power and the black power and white power and all this you know all this stuff there but that was just I think the way they way were doing is to get their mind up what actually was happening H you know and then it was it just started to get so stupid my goodness I couldn't believe it yeah well to take somewhere and then to give it back up and have to take it again that must have been it it was devastating it was my goodness what the hell we lost all these people now we got to go back and lose some more because the government says you have to take it again for what it wasn't strategic there wasn't nothing no gold up there no oil or anything in that at least I didn't think there was anyway but you know yeah it just like you know fill the bathtub up and drain it and then fill it up again that's a great analogy you know yeah yeah what about I I was going to ask when you were um uh when you were over there uh and and and you were in these battles and and and firefights um did did you did you talk about what what is our goal what are we fighting for is there any of was there any talk like that like what well the guys and I we we we was uh together we it was our convo our trucks our our our bodies in those in those there in those trucks okay and that's what we were responsible for mhm is our trucks our people in the trucks mhm we have to get them back to this situation back to this country this area there was nothing else nothing looking forward to anything else except keeping our boys on our trucks away from everybody else okay that's all that's that was our personal that was your you had a very narrow this was your slice right yeah yeah well what do you uh when when you you know one of the reasons we're doing this one of the reasons that I'm doing this is I want people to be able to remember what it was what Vietnam was like I want them and not just not that there's anything wrong with history books or not that there's anything wrong with with with histories from a military perspective or that but I want them to hear from people who were in Montana who lived here and know the same places so what do you hope that people when they look back after you and I are gone uh what do you hope uh they remember about Vietnam or what do you want them to remember about Vietnam from a guy who's over there the thing is we lost 58 and we don't want them to be for guts yep yep is that why you're doing this today I sense that yeah well I I think that that's uh you know we've I think that that's a really important uh point that so many of our folks uh of our veterans have have uh have have talked about and I I appreciate that what else we've talked a lot have what have what about your story Jose have I missed I got I listened to the moon landing when I was at the Air Force I mean can you tell me okay I want to that is something that we haven't I've had people talk about what it was like with Kent State yeah I've had people talk about uh uh watching the riots in 68 but I haven't heard about moonlanding I want to hear that it was so cool it was it was uh I'm trying to think what time what it was we was at the em Club it was Thursday or Friday night new beard said then come over to radio they were going to land on the moon any second so we all ran to the m Club we're watching it and uh the announcer on the American forces he just turned it over to Houston and they were listening to the Houston do man it was just so awesome you know and then the guy land there I don't know if it was a Simo C or it was real but there were we watching the the capsule kind of see all the dirt flying all that stuff watching that my goodness look at this guys this somebody landing on the moon I mean you know go outside look over there somebody's landing on that damn thing you know you know just look at that it was just totally unbelievable and you here you were half a world away from America and yet it must have been a great feeling and an amazing kind of it was it was just so awesome and then when a man comes out and says certain steps and all this stuff man and then the when you you get a shoot a red flare in the area that means you're being overrun viam all the all the troops had red flares with you know right and when they landed and when they landed on the moon the whole country was red every fire red for FL that was it was just unbelievable that that was just I can say I saw that damn thing you know huh yeah and ah and you remember where you were yes yes I was was a guy was that a morale booster yes it was it it just it did it kick it for about a month two months yeah looking good everybody pointing up in the sky you know yeah yeah when you weren't busy what were you doing to pass the time in Vietnam learn learn uh how to throw a knife throw axe uh mechanic mechanic yeah yeah so there was ways to keep bus oh yeah there was there was and then then there were times when you knew you would you didn't have nothing to do for a couple three four days so go sit in the EM club and have beer two yeah well not just two or so but it was just quite a bit was there any good beer over in Vietnam uh there was Carling Black Label okay and then PS okay so you get a PBR yeah yeah yeah yeah but Carling Black Label I tell you even in been in the heat for 3 or 4 weeks in a in a in a can a in a big old box car then they bring it to you throw a bit of ice let it cool down just till the middle is cold and drink that damn thing that's how it worked that worked that work that work that worked well that that is um that's great what else what else of your story I I anything else that I've missed I uh no you've been actually you just settle me down a little bit to kind of I thought was going to start you know getting stupid I get you you haven't got well I want to say um you know uh one of the reasons I do this wanted to do this is because of uh of these stories and you Jose have had amazing Stories and I want to thank you for your service and I want to say thank you for sharing because I you know you can think of I'm a journalist I can plan projects all day long but I couldn't have done this project without you coming in and sharing your story and so I thank you well thank you for having me and thank you for your service um it's it's honestly been a a great honor for me to sit here and hear your story and thank you for being willing to share I know it's not easy I know that these memories aren't easy but um uh I'm darn proud of your service and I'm darn proud of your story and I'm I'm honored to be the one to help get to share it so this has been darl Erick I have been with Jose rias he was in the US Mar Corp from 1966 to 1970 uh and it's been an honor for me to be here thank you for listening thank you for tuning in good day

Channel: Billings Gazette

Views: 100,466

Keywords: vietnam war

Id: bxniaal_XMo

Length: 66min 33sec (3993 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 19 2016