Chapter 10: Hope For Future Peace
Chapter 10: Hope For Future Peace - More than thirty years after one bloody day on a hill in Vietnam, the men of Team 24 go on with their lives.
_________________________________________________
Written by Heidi Thiess and Kit Jarrell
"When a man who is honestly mistaken, hears the truth, he will either cease being mistaken or cease being honest." - Anonymous
The men of F/58th Long Range Patrol all went to Vietnam for a year. They fought the enemy and waited until they could be discharged and resume their lives. Through their time in Vietnam they saw and did things that only someone else who has experienced combat can understand. In the shared experiences and the bloody battles, a brotherhood was forged between these men. The strength of this fraternal bond transcends almost all else, even 37 years later.
We want to stress that this story is not about what has happened after the action nor is it about the people leveling the accusations. If you remember one thing from this story, remember Billy Walkabout carrying the broken and wounded body of his team leader into the enemy position to help him get airlifted to safety. Remember Riley Cox, defending the surviving members of Team 24 as his intestines laid in his lap. Remember the men of the reaction force who dropped everything to get on a chopper and go save their brothers when no one asked or expected them to.
It is a shame that these heroic actions of 20 November 1968 have to be relived in such a confrontational way almost four decades later. Those that fought along side these men know they are heroes as their testimonies have shown. Those that did not fight along these men have tried to tarnish their image for some other reason. Any speculation on our part is just that; speculation.
Nevertheless, through our contact with the men of F/58, we have found them to be humble, sincere and incredible heroes. Even though they will be the last people on Earth to say they even once acted heroic, the honor and courage these men possess shine through in every conversation. In doing this story, we asked them to relive perhaps the single most painful experience of their lives. More than once we sat quietly and listened to their trembling voices describe the loss of their friends.
We found their candor to be quite telling, as they were never afraid to open up on even the smallest details. To these men though, all the details mattered. As we interviewed the men for this story, each and every man told it as if they had just come back home from Vietnam; the wounds and shots still fresh in their minds and the facial expressions of their dying comrades still frozen deep in their souls. Details which they had hidden away from many other people were told to us because as we built a trust up they wanted to tell us everything that happened on the hill, even what they had eaten that day.
This was not an easy story to research or write. We were approached by the Halls with a story, and in the days that followed both of us faced a dilemma that tested not only our belief in honor, but our very friendship. Neither of us wanted to write the story that the Halls presented, and one of us refused to be a part of it at all. Nonetheless, we did take the story and began preliminary research, looking for the truth. As we started digging more and more into the story, our excitement grew and it seemed that we would not be exposing war criminals but rather telling the story of brave men who we now refer to as heroes.
We ended up in a very different place than we (or the Halls) expected, having found facts and details that directly contradicted and disproved the version of events originally told to us. The Halls relied heavily upon the Division level DA 1594 Duty Officer Logs as the only source and explanation of what happened on 20 November. But to us, even a cursory perusal of the documentation revealed obvious factual mistakes and gaping holes in the timeline of events.1 In the Halls' presentation of events those gaps had been filled in by Don Hall and his speculation of what 'probably' happened.
The men of Team 24 still carry the battle wounds, both mental and physical, from 20 November 1968 and for the last ten years have been shamed by a fellow veteran. However, each of the surviving men knows what happened and the honor of their service has been tested by fire, both in Vietnam and in the years since.
During our quest for the truth, we came to know these men in a way that many never have since Vietnam. In hearing their voices and learning their stories we came to respect not only their service, but the men themselves. We fell in love with the boys they were, and we are honored to know the men they have become. We consider them our friends, and we are proud to know them.
----------------------------
Team 24:
SGT Albert Contreros: KIA 20 Nov 1968
SGT James Venable: Died in a plane crash a few years ago.
SP4 James Bacon: Still lives in the Midwest.
SP4 Billy Walkabout: Whereabouts unknown. Revered by the people of his Native American tribe.
SP4 Riley Cox: After almost a year in the hospital and many major surgeries, Cox voluntarily returned to his unit in Vietnam for another tour. He resides with his wife Linda in Colorado, where they volunteer their time to help disabled veterans navigate the maze of the Veterans Administration.
SP4 Steve Czepurny: Still resides in the Northeast.
SP4 Art Heringhausen: KIA 20 Nov 1968
SP4 Gary Linderer: After a month in the hospital, Linderer returned to F/58th, continuing to patrol with the rest of his unit. Still resides with his wife Barbara in Missouri. Founder of Operation Homecoming USA.
SGT Michael Reiff: KIA 20 Nov 1968
SP4 Frank Souza: Still resides in the Northwest with his wife.
SGT John Sours: Lost touch after a few years.
---------------------
CPT Ken Eklund: Resides in Texas with his wife.
CPT Bill Meacham: Author of Lest We Forget
WO2 W.T. Grant: Author of Wings of the Eagle, lives in Virginia.
SP4 Tony Tercero: Still resides in Arizona.
SP4 Tim Coleman: Still resides in the Midwest.
________________________________________________
Quick Links:
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Ambush in the Ruong Ruong
Chapter 3: Nowhere To Go
Chapter 4: The Absence of All Hope
Chapter 5: To Save Our Brothers
Chapter 6: The Legacy of 20 November 1968
Chapter 7: The Accusations, Pt. 1
Chapter 8: The Accusations, Pt. 2
Chapter 9: The Present-Day War
Chapter 10: Hope For Future Peace
__________________________________________________
1 As a former Brigade level S1, I am very well-acquainted with the DA Form 1594. It is a simple hand-written (and later re-typed) form that documents activity at the Brigade HQ, including incoming reports from subordinate units. I was privately aghast that the Halls considered such documents infallible, as I knew them to be anything but! I am well aware of their generalities, and the inherently high level of inaccuracies due to the various levels of command that the reports have cycled through and the unpredictable variables of each individual clerk taking and passing along the report. Many of the veterans we spoke to, and current day service members that we consulted, compared the DA 1594 to a game of “Telephone”. In this game, a sentence is repeated through a chain of people until, at the end of the chain, the resulting story bears little resemblance to the original. - Heidi
2Linderer, Gary. Eyes Behind The Lines, p. 290
_________________________________________________
Written by Heidi Thiess and Kit Jarrell
"When a man who is honestly mistaken, hears the truth, he will either cease being mistaken or cease being honest." - Anonymous
The men of F/58th Long Range Patrol all went to Vietnam for a year. They fought the enemy and waited until they could be discharged and resume their lives. Through their time in Vietnam they saw and did things that only someone else who has experienced combat can understand. In the shared experiences and the bloody battles, a brotherhood was forged between these men. The strength of this fraternal bond transcends almost all else, even 37 years later.
We want to stress that this story is not about what has happened after the action nor is it about the people leveling the accusations. If you remember one thing from this story, remember Billy Walkabout carrying the broken and wounded body of his team leader into the enemy position to help him get airlifted to safety. Remember Riley Cox, defending the surviving members of Team 24 as his intestines laid in his lap. Remember the men of the reaction force who dropped everything to get on a chopper and go save their brothers when no one asked or expected them to.
It is a shame that these heroic actions of 20 November 1968 have to be relived in such a confrontational way almost four decades later. Those that fought along side these men know they are heroes as their testimonies have shown. Those that did not fight along these men have tried to tarnish their image for some other reason. Any speculation on our part is just that; speculation.
Nevertheless, through our contact with the men of F/58, we have found them to be humble, sincere and incredible heroes. Even though they will be the last people on Earth to say they even once acted heroic, the honor and courage these men possess shine through in every conversation. In doing this story, we asked them to relive perhaps the single most painful experience of their lives. More than once we sat quietly and listened to their trembling voices describe the loss of their friends.
We found their candor to be quite telling, as they were never afraid to open up on even the smallest details. To these men though, all the details mattered. As we interviewed the men for this story, each and every man told it as if they had just come back home from Vietnam; the wounds and shots still fresh in their minds and the facial expressions of their dying comrades still frozen deep in their souls. Details which they had hidden away from many other people were told to us because as we built a trust up they wanted to tell us everything that happened on the hill, even what they had eaten that day.
This was not an easy story to research or write. We were approached by the Halls with a story, and in the days that followed both of us faced a dilemma that tested not only our belief in honor, but our very friendship. Neither of us wanted to write the story that the Halls presented, and one of us refused to be a part of it at all. Nonetheless, we did take the story and began preliminary research, looking for the truth. As we started digging more and more into the story, our excitement grew and it seemed that we would not be exposing war criminals but rather telling the story of brave men who we now refer to as heroes.
We ended up in a very different place than we (or the Halls) expected, having found facts and details that directly contradicted and disproved the version of events originally told to us. The Halls relied heavily upon the Division level DA 1594 Duty Officer Logs as the only source and explanation of what happened on 20 November. But to us, even a cursory perusal of the documentation revealed obvious factual mistakes and gaping holes in the timeline of events.1 In the Halls' presentation of events those gaps had been filled in by Don Hall and his speculation of what 'probably' happened.
The men of Team 24 still carry the battle wounds, both mental and physical, from 20 November 1968 and for the last ten years have been shamed by a fellow veteran. However, each of the surviving men knows what happened and the honor of their service has been tested by fire, both in Vietnam and in the years since.
The memories, both good and bad, were never far away. I was proud to have served, but ashamed to have survived. I lost a lot of good friends and buddies whose faces plague me to this day - not in a haunting way, but in a way that keeps them constantly in my thoughts and in my prayers. The bonding - welded in fire, fear and blood - had lain dormant for all those years since the Nam, but its absence had left a gaping void in me that had prevented me from feeling whole again...
Together, we had loved and laughed, played and partied, fought and died. We didn't do it for America. We didn't do it for tradition. We didn't do it out of some archaic sense of patriotic duty. We did it for each other. When it all came down to the final curtain - we were all we had.2
During our quest for the truth, we came to know these men in a way that many never have since Vietnam. In hearing their voices and learning their stories we came to respect not only their service, but the men themselves. We fell in love with the boys they were, and we are honored to know the men they have become. We consider them our friends, and we are proud to know them.
----------------------------
Team 24:
SGT Albert Contreros: KIA 20 Nov 1968
- Distinguished Service Cross, Purple Heart
SGT James Venable: Died in a plane crash a few years ago.
SP4 James Bacon: Still lives in the Midwest.
SP4 Billy Walkabout: Whereabouts unknown. Revered by the people of his Native American tribe.
- Downgraded from Medal of Honor to Distinguished Service Cross, Purple Heart
SP4 Terry Clifton: KIA 20 Nov 1968
- Silver Star, Purple Heart
SP4 Riley Cox: After almost a year in the hospital and many major surgeries, Cox voluntarily returned to his unit in Vietnam for another tour. He resides with his wife Linda in Colorado, where they volunteer their time to help disabled veterans navigate the maze of the Veterans Administration.
- Downgraded from Distinguished Service Cross to Silver Star, Purple Heart. Pending for the Medal of Honor.
SP4 Steve Czepurny: Still resides in the Northeast.
SP4 Art Heringhausen: KIA 20 Nov 1968
- Silver Star, Purple Heart.
SP4 Gary Linderer: After a month in the hospital, Linderer returned to F/58th, continuing to patrol with the rest of his unit. Still resides with his wife Barbara in Missouri. Founder of Operation Homecoming USA.
- Downgraded from Distinguished Service Cross to Silver Star, 2 Purple Hearts.
SGT Michael Reiff: KIA 20 Nov 1968
- Silver Star, Purple Heart
SP4 Frank Souza: Still resides in the Northwest with his wife.
SGT John Sours: Lost touch after a few years.
---------------------
CPT Ken Eklund: Resides in Texas with his wife.
- Silver Star
CPT Bill Meacham: Author of Lest We Forget
- Distinguished Flying Cross
WO2 W.T. Grant: Author of Wings of the Eagle, lives in Virginia.
- Distinguished Flying Cross
SP4 Tony Tercero: Still resides in Arizona.
- Downgraded from Distinguished Service Cross to Bronze Star with Valor. (Resubmitted for a DSC.)
SP4 Tim Coleman: Still resides in the Midwest.
- Silver Star, Purple Heart.
________________________________________________
Quick Links:
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Ambush in the Ruong Ruong
Chapter 3: Nowhere To Go
Chapter 4: The Absence of All Hope
Chapter 5: To Save Our Brothers
Chapter 6: The Legacy of 20 November 1968
Chapter 7: The Accusations, Pt. 1
Chapter 8: The Accusations, Pt. 2
Chapter 9: The Present-Day War
Chapter 10: Hope For Future Peace
1 As a former Brigade level S1, I am very well-acquainted with the DA Form 1594. It is a simple hand-written (and later re-typed) form that documents activity at the Brigade HQ, including incoming reports from subordinate units. I was privately aghast that the Halls considered such documents infallible, as I knew them to be anything but! I am well aware of their generalities, and the inherently high level of inaccuracies due to the various levels of command that the reports have cycled through and the unpredictable variables of each individual clerk taking and passing along the report. Many of the veterans we spoke to, and current day service members that we consulted, compared the DA 1594 to a game of “Telephone”. In this game, a sentence is repeated through a chain of people until, at the end of the chain, the resulting story bears little resemblance to the original. - Heidi
2Linderer, Gary. Eyes Behind The Lines, p. 290
posted by HE!D! at 06:22
1 Comments:
Having filled out and retypted numerous DA1594s during my 21 years in the Army, I can tell you without a doubt that basing anything merely on the entries in that document is insane. They paint a very broad picture of everything that comes in over a radio or through a TOC. During slow periods, those bits of info might be accurately portrayed, but during peak traffic periods, you'd be lucky to get 75% of everything that comes over a radio net.
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