Gerald Maclennon's Blog - Posts Tagged "vietnam-war"
Sailors to the End: The Deadly Fire on the USS Forrestal and the Heroes Who Fought It
the book is written by Gregory A. Freeman
On that July morning in 1967, nobody but God knew that by sunset 134 sailors and navy aviators would be dead with just as many injured, some terribly burnt. Our carrier, USS Oriskany CVA-34, steamed over to aid and assist the Forrestal during the emergency. Supplies and sailors were transported between the two ships via Sikorsky choppers. I volunteered to assist during the terrible overload down in sickbay. I did everything from mopping up puke to extracting bomb shrapnel from the bleeding bodies of 18-year-old enlisted men... and of course, just comforting them in whatever manner I could while they awaited treatment. Naturally, the wounded were triaged, taking the worst first. I wrote about the Forrestal incident in my book, "God, Bombs & Viet Nam" but I must admit Gregory Freeman has done a much better job. He is an excellent and prolific writer. I wish I could be half as skilled.
On that July morning in 1967, nobody but God knew that by sunset 134 sailors and navy aviators would be dead with just as many injured, some terribly burnt. Our carrier, USS Oriskany CVA-34, steamed over to aid and assist the Forrestal during the emergency. Supplies and sailors were transported between the two ships via Sikorsky choppers. I volunteered to assist during the terrible overload down in sickbay. I did everything from mopping up puke to extracting bomb shrapnel from the bleeding bodies of 18-year-old enlisted men... and of course, just comforting them in whatever manner I could while they awaited treatment. Naturally, the wounded were triaged, taking the worst first. I wrote about the Forrestal incident in my book, "God, Bombs & Viet Nam" but I must admit Gregory Freeman has done a much better job. He is an excellent and prolific writer. I wish I could be half as skilled.
Bloody Sixteen, a book by CDR Peter Fey, USN-retired
Bloody Sixteen: The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 during the Vietnam War
The "Bloody Sixteenth" was my air wing (CVW-16) onboard the carrier USS Oriskany. My squadron was VFP-63 or Photo Reconnaissance Squadron-63. Now, thanks to retired naval aviator, Commander Peter Fey, I have a totally new understanding of that of which I was a part... and a newfound respect for the officers and pilots I rubbed shoulders with on a daily basis. I had no idea Operation Rolling Thunder and CVW-16 on CVA-34 were so historically significant - maybe no one at the time actually did. Maybe 50 years had to expire before military historians, such as Fey, could look back and see the big picture without the 'fog of war' obstructing the view.
Fey recalls that many of the pilots, same as many of the enlisted ranks, didn't talk much to others about their Vietnam experience once they rejoined civilian life. Older Americans of the mid-twentieth-century -- those that had hailed victories in Europe and the Western Pacific during World War II -- did not want to admit our nation could be defeated anywhere on the world stage.. but it was. To his credit author Peter Fey is quick to point out that our losses in Vietnam were due to no weakness of the men and women fighting the war; their strength and resolve remained true to the bitter end.
I thank you, Mister Fey, sir, for allowing me a privileged seat today on the tower of history. Up here, I can better see the entire sprawling vista. Because of Bloody Sixteen this old guy, who was a 20-year-old Petty Officer 3rd Class in 1967, has been allowed an eagle's eye view to events that influenced my entire life after Vietnam; and greatly influenced our nation's future decisions based on what we learned in the Vietnam War.
I think I first heard this bromide in a Filipino bar while chugging San Miguel beers with a shipmate... it goes like this: "The old war veterans talk about the glory of it. The politicians talk about the necessity of it. But, the soldiers and sailors living it... they just want to go home."
At 72, I now qualify as an old veteran but I still see very little glory in that war. I kept a daily diary throughout my 1967-68 cruise to Yankee Station, Gulf of Tonkin because I wanted to remember not only the glory... but all the disappointments too. And there's even more of that than I thought. Peter Fey details the sloppy mismanagement of the war by high-level military leaders; even more so by US President Lyndon Johnson, Secretary McNamara and the other "whiz kids" left over from JFK's administration. They met every Tuesday noon for lunch at the White House where strategy and targets were determined for the upcoming week without any Pentagon officers present. LBJ wanted to run the war without generals and admirals getting in the way.
Primary focus of Bloody Sixteen is on Commissioned Flight Officers of the US Navy, an elite brotherhood of aviation professionals. The book is a tactical analysis of their missions in the Vietnam War, individually and overall. The non-commissioned and enlisted men are generally relegated to their subservient status. As for the North Vietnamese, during the three years of Operation Rolling Thunder, it is estimated non-combatants (men, women, children) were killed at a rate of 1,000 per month. These human beings, mostly farmers, were generally seen as statistical consequences of war - 'collateral damage' in military parlance. To me that seems coldhearted. But then again, war is not about hugs and warm fuzzies.
In this story, passion, empathy, sympathy and tugs of the heart are reserved for naval aviators, their missions, their downings by AAA or SAM's, their status as KIA, MIA or POW and their US Naval Aviation legacies. If that's what you want in a book, then this is the book you want. Better than any video game, kids, this is war in the raw.
Bloody Sixteen is destined to become one of the best military histories of the Vietnam War. I wholeheartedly agree with naval aviator and best-selling author Stephen Coonts when he called Peter Fey's work, "Magnificent, superbly researched."
The "Bloody Sixteenth" was my air wing (CVW-16) onboard the carrier USS Oriskany. My squadron was VFP-63 or Photo Reconnaissance Squadron-63. Now, thanks to retired naval aviator, Commander Peter Fey, I have a totally new understanding of that of which I was a part... and a newfound respect for the officers and pilots I rubbed shoulders with on a daily basis. I had no idea Operation Rolling Thunder and CVW-16 on CVA-34 were so historically significant - maybe no one at the time actually did. Maybe 50 years had to expire before military historians, such as Fey, could look back and see the big picture without the 'fog of war' obstructing the view.
Fey recalls that many of the pilots, same as many of the enlisted ranks, didn't talk much to others about their Vietnam experience once they rejoined civilian life. Older Americans of the mid-twentieth-century -- those that had hailed victories in Europe and the Western Pacific during World War II -- did not want to admit our nation could be defeated anywhere on the world stage.. but it was. To his credit author Peter Fey is quick to point out that our losses in Vietnam were due to no weakness of the men and women fighting the war; their strength and resolve remained true to the bitter end.
I thank you, Mister Fey, sir, for allowing me a privileged seat today on the tower of history. Up here, I can better see the entire sprawling vista. Because of Bloody Sixteen this old guy, who was a 20-year-old Petty Officer 3rd Class in 1967, has been allowed an eagle's eye view to events that influenced my entire life after Vietnam; and greatly influenced our nation's future decisions based on what we learned in the Vietnam War.
I think I first heard this bromide in a Filipino bar while chugging San Miguel beers with a shipmate... it goes like this: "The old war veterans talk about the glory of it. The politicians talk about the necessity of it. But, the soldiers and sailors living it... they just want to go home."
At 72, I now qualify as an old veteran but I still see very little glory in that war. I kept a daily diary throughout my 1967-68 cruise to Yankee Station, Gulf of Tonkin because I wanted to remember not only the glory... but all the disappointments too. And there's even more of that than I thought. Peter Fey details the sloppy mismanagement of the war by high-level military leaders; even more so by US President Lyndon Johnson, Secretary McNamara and the other "whiz kids" left over from JFK's administration. They met every Tuesday noon for lunch at the White House where strategy and targets were determined for the upcoming week without any Pentagon officers present. LBJ wanted to run the war without generals and admirals getting in the way.
Primary focus of Bloody Sixteen is on Commissioned Flight Officers of the US Navy, an elite brotherhood of aviation professionals. The book is a tactical analysis of their missions in the Vietnam War, individually and overall. The non-commissioned and enlisted men are generally relegated to their subservient status. As for the North Vietnamese, during the three years of Operation Rolling Thunder, it is estimated non-combatants (men, women, children) were killed at a rate of 1,000 per month. These human beings, mostly farmers, were generally seen as statistical consequences of war - 'collateral damage' in military parlance. To me that seems coldhearted. But then again, war is not about hugs and warm fuzzies.
In this story, passion, empathy, sympathy and tugs of the heart are reserved for naval aviators, their missions, their downings by AAA or SAM's, their status as KIA, MIA or POW and their US Naval Aviation legacies. If that's what you want in a book, then this is the book you want. Better than any video game, kids, this is war in the raw.
Bloody Sixteen is destined to become one of the best military histories of the Vietnam War. I wholeheartedly agree with naval aviator and best-selling author Stephen Coonts when he called Peter Fey's work, "Magnificent, superbly researched."
Woodstock: Cultural Contrasts of the Summer of 1969
The cultural contrasts of the summer of '69 blew my mind, to use an idiom of the time. The Vietnam War was still raging, still escalating, young men still being drafted into the army - many against their will and conscience. At the same time NASA succeeded in fulfilling the late slain president's imperative to put a man on the moon. It was cause for celebration in some quarters but seemed ill-suited for the spirit of the time.
The champions of young idealists, RFK & MLK had been murdered the previous year. LBJ had tried in vain to create The Great Society as racial & political unrest dominated the headlines. He resigned and Dick "Watergate" Nixon was elected president and commander-in-chief.
And in the midst of all that, we got "3 Days of Peace, Love & Music" in upstate New York at Woodstock. I think Country Joe & the Fish summed up the whole mess in one satirical song, "I-Feel-Like-I'm-A-Fixin-to-Die Rag".
As a Vietnam Veteran in 1969, I think the X-rated biting sarcasm of the song perfectly captured the mood of young Americans that pivotal summer. I'm not allowed to put a YouTube link here in this blog but I'll repeat the lyrics as text only... be advised it is copyrighted by Joe McDonald:
Well, come on all of you, big strong men
Uncle Sam needs your help again
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun
(Chorus) And it's one, two, three
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn
Next stop is Vietnam
And it's five, six, seven
Open up the pearly gates
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die
Well, come on generals, let's move fast
Your big chance has come at last
Now you can go out and get those reds
'Cause the only good commie is the one that's dead
And you know that peace can only be won
When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come
(Chorus)
Come on Wall Street, don't be slow
Why man, this is war au-go-go
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of trade
Just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb
They drop it on the Viet Cong
(Chorus)
Come on mothers throughout the land
Pack your boys off to Vietnam
Come on fathers, and don't hesitate
Send your sons off before it's too late
Be the first ones in your block
To have your boy come home in a box
(Chorus)
The champions of young idealists, RFK & MLK had been murdered the previous year. LBJ had tried in vain to create The Great Society as racial & political unrest dominated the headlines. He resigned and Dick "Watergate" Nixon was elected president and commander-in-chief.
And in the midst of all that, we got "3 Days of Peace, Love & Music" in upstate New York at Woodstock. I think Country Joe & the Fish summed up the whole mess in one satirical song, "I-Feel-Like-I'm-A-Fixin-to-Die Rag".
As a Vietnam Veteran in 1969, I think the X-rated biting sarcasm of the song perfectly captured the mood of young Americans that pivotal summer. I'm not allowed to put a YouTube link here in this blog but I'll repeat the lyrics as text only... be advised it is copyrighted by Joe McDonald:
Well, come on all of you, big strong men
Uncle Sam needs your help again
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun
(Chorus) And it's one, two, three
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn
Next stop is Vietnam
And it's five, six, seven
Open up the pearly gates
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die
Well, come on generals, let's move fast
Your big chance has come at last
Now you can go out and get those reds
'Cause the only good commie is the one that's dead
And you know that peace can only be won
When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come
(Chorus)
Come on Wall Street, don't be slow
Why man, this is war au-go-go
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of trade
Just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb
They drop it on the Viet Cong
(Chorus)
Come on mothers throughout the land
Pack your boys off to Vietnam
Come on fathers, and don't hesitate
Send your sons off before it's too late
Be the first ones in your block
To have your boy come home in a box
(Chorus)
The Hà Nội Reconciliation Banquet of Vietnam war pilots
Depending on which source you reference, about 2/3rd of Vietnam's American Veterans are still living in 2019... self included (though the grim reaper is standing behind my right shoulder). And even though 50 years have passed, the images of the war, and the losses suffered, are still vivid in my mind. And... communism is still the enemy.
It's just peachy that some American participants can now kiss and make up, as those at the Hà Nội reconciliation banquet did. Bless their hearts. Seriously. Don't get me wrong... I don't hate the North Vietnamese... I never did. I hate war and the political and philosophical differences that drive humans into such bloody conflicts.
At this juncture, I would suggest pilot hero Col. Nguyễn Văn Bảy was only alive until 2019 because LBJ & McNamara made all North Vietnamese MiG airfields and barracks off limits to USN & USAF bombers. The White House was afraid Russia might enter the war directly if we killed Russian pilots and trainers and aircraft. That particular fear (of China, too) cost the lives of many American aviators... and caused the torture of our POWs*, some unto death.**
In "Dragon's Jaw" by Stephan Coonts & Barrett Tillman, in the final chapter (page 266) the authors state: "Fifty eight thousand Americans lost their lives in Southeast Asia during that war. Their deaths in a cause the nation ultimately abandoned still rankles. Veterans came home to a nation that blamed them for the whole mess."
The word 'rankles', in this context, means 'continues to be painful.' In today's geopolitical scenario, rules and attitudes have changed. I know. But, I'm 72 and - as you can probably tell - for me that war, and everything I've learned about it through memoirs and histories (such as Bloody Sixteen by CDR Peter Fey USN-ret) continues to perplex and rankle me.
*Yes, I am aware that Nixon gave the "go ahead" for bombing MiG airfields during Operation Linebacker.
**causing the torture of our POWs, including pilot from my aircraft carrier, LCDR John S. McCain III for five and a half years
Dragon's Jaw: An Epic Story of Courage and Tenacity in Vietnam
Bloody Sixteen: The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 during the Vietnam War
It's just peachy that some American participants can now kiss and make up, as those at the Hà Nội reconciliation banquet did. Bless their hearts. Seriously. Don't get me wrong... I don't hate the North Vietnamese... I never did. I hate war and the political and philosophical differences that drive humans into such bloody conflicts.
At this juncture, I would suggest pilot hero Col. Nguyễn Văn Bảy was only alive until 2019 because LBJ & McNamara made all North Vietnamese MiG airfields and barracks off limits to USN & USAF bombers. The White House was afraid Russia might enter the war directly if we killed Russian pilots and trainers and aircraft. That particular fear (of China, too) cost the lives of many American aviators... and caused the torture of our POWs*, some unto death.**
In "Dragon's Jaw" by Stephan Coonts & Barrett Tillman, in the final chapter (page 266) the authors state: "Fifty eight thousand Americans lost their lives in Southeast Asia during that war. Their deaths in a cause the nation ultimately abandoned still rankles. Veterans came home to a nation that blamed them for the whole mess."
The word 'rankles', in this context, means 'continues to be painful.' In today's geopolitical scenario, rules and attitudes have changed. I know. But, I'm 72 and - as you can probably tell - for me that war, and everything I've learned about it through memoirs and histories (such as Bloody Sixteen by CDR Peter Fey USN-ret) continues to perplex and rankle me.
*Yes, I am aware that Nixon gave the "go ahead" for bombing MiG airfields during Operation Linebacker.
**causing the torture of our POWs, including pilot from my aircraft carrier, LCDR John S. McCain III for five and a half years
Dragon's Jaw: An Epic Story of Courage and Tenacity in Vietnam
Bloody Sixteen: The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 during the Vietnam War
