On this day before Veteran’s Day, our meeting began as meaningfully as it ended.  Peter Mack honored us with a video he recently took of the Raising of the Flag over the U.S. Naval Observatory, accompanying it with National Anthem.  A quick detour to announcements and then we returned to honoring our veterans. 

 

In John’s absence, President Elect Randy facilitated our meeting today. 

 

           

 

 

 

Randy joined the military immediately after graduating high school.  He arrived to sign up with the Navy and was asked if he wanted to be a Naval corpsman.  After it was explained to him that he could be treating wounded soldiers in a hospital in Japan or Spain, surrounded by nurses, Randy eagerly signed up.  I believe the words were, “Heck, yah.”  After Randy completed boot camp, he was transferred from the Navy to Camp Pendleton to serve with the Marines.  Randy experienced his first, short-lived, singing career while at Pendleton.  His commanding officer recognized his voice from his many times passing Randy singing Motown outside of the barracks.  Randy was “invited” (commanded) to sing in the Marine Corp choir, where he performed a solo in the Christmas program.  As quickly as it came, his career ended, until decades later.

 

Randy was sent from Camp Pendleton back to the Navy for hospital corpsman training where he received additional specialized training in neuropsychiatry.  Following he was sent back to the Marines for Field Medical School.  After serving  3 of his 4 year commitment without deployment, Randy received his orders to Vietnam and departed with the 1^st Marine Division in November of 1967. 

 

Once in country, Randy stood in a line for his assignment.  Randy had proven to be a soldier who tended to follow his own set of rules.  Young men/boys, 19 years and younger, were sent to the front because of their eagerness and recklessness.  To his commanding officer’s disappointment, Randy, at 21, fell outside the age cutoff, and was instead assigned to the 1^st Medical Battalion in Danang. 

 

Danang was a bustling military city.  Randy was sent to serve outside of Danang in a full service hospital where he worked in Trauma.  This was Randy’s first experience with the sheer overwhelm of the endless quantity of wounded, types of wounds, severity of wounds, and the body parts and fluids involved.

 

From Danang the 1^st Medical Battalion was sent to Phu Bai to work in a smaller, satellite unit.  From Phu Bai, Randy was sent with an infantry unit to Hue City. 

 

800 American soldiers were sent to ‘clear out’ 800 North Vietnamese soldiers (NVAs) at Hue City.  As the soldiers engaged in battle outside the city gates, the NVAs eased up their fire, allowing our soldiers to enter the citadel.  Immediately our soldiers were surrounded not by 800 but by 8000 VMAs.  The Battle for Hue City was a horrific battle that lasted 28 days.  70% to 80% of American soldiers were wounded or killed.  The USS New Jersey wouldn’t initially intervene because of cultural treasures housed in the citadel.  However, at length, it had to intervene as there was no other hope of our troops survival much less success.  Randy reported, “We won (the battle) but no one wins.”  As Randy shared this story, he revealed that he’s not done so before.  

 

After Hue, Randy spent 8 more months in the bush, finally returning home in November 1968.

 

Randy’s War Heroes were the helicopter pilots who came to evacuate and transport the injured and dead.  Easy targets, a pilot would come, get shot down, and another would replace him again and again, until the task was completed. One of Randy’s biggest thrills was, when being transported by helicopter, jumping out of the hovering craft and running into bush.

 

Randy “came home a mess.”  He drank a lot and was violent when provoked.  Randy was a middle weight boxing champ and engaged those skills.  He was spit on, called a ‘baby killer’ and ‘scum’, and was beaten up in a bar for being military.  He, and other Vietnam soldiers, suffered two traumas: “the war itself and coming home to hatred.”  Randy treated his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder unorthodoxly but successfully.  He has a love for veterans, knowing they have pledged a commitment to pay any price, including their lives, to protect us and our country. 

 

We are grateful to Randy for allowing us to even slightly comprehend his war experience.  We also thank Laura for such a thoughtful exercise.  Both brought us closer to comprehending the sacrifices demanded by democracy and freedom. We are indebted to all who have served and to the families of those who have and are serving.

 

Submitted by Mary Straus,