They Marched Into Sunlight

by David Maraniss

  It was such a soothing afternoon, with a refreshing breeze. A Vietnamese boy in a hang glider soared and looped silently, like an angel, above our heads. I sat on a bench at the edge of the mountain, the statue rising behind me, and looked down past two old French cannons to the arc of white sand and blue-green sea far below, and thought about the USNS Pope, and how once, long ago, it came to a stop right at that spot, and the young soldiers of C Packet—George, Grady, Landon, Troyer, Sena, Farrell, Griego, Colburn, Cron, Nagy, Garcia, Reece, McMeel, Warner, Tallent, Miller, Taylor, McGath, and Schroder—clambered down the Jacob’s ladders, rolled in on the landing craft, made their way ashore, and marched into sunlight.

  Notes

  THE NARRATIVE of this book is based on primary sources: hundreds of letters and journal entries, thousands of archival documents, and interviews with 180 people. Many subjects were interviewed several times; they are usually listed by date of the first interview. The vast majority of documents were found at ten exceptional archives:

  National Archives at College Park, Md. (NARA)

  U.S. Army Center of Military History, Fort McNair, Washington, D.C. (CMH)

  U.S. Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Carlisle, Pa. (MHI)

  University of Wisconsin–Madison Archives Oral History Project, Steenbock Memorial Library, Madison (UW)

  State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison (SHSW)

  LBJ Presidential Library, Austin, Tex. (LBJ)

  First Division Museum at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ill. (FDM)

  National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, Mo. (NPRC)

  University of Texas at El Paso Library Special Collections Department (UTEP)

  Post Street Archives, Midland, Mich. (PSA)

  Chapter 1: Sailing to Vung Tau

  No one at the military base: Ints. Jim George, May 27, 2001; Tom Grady, March 5, 2000.

  When they could, the bored: Ints. Greg Landon, June 19, 2002; Mike Troyer, August 21, 2002; Peter Miller, August 27, 2002.

  “Morale of the men”: Greg Landon letters to parents, June 8–30, 1967.

  Schroder was a quiet: Int. with Eleanor Schroder Clark, January 3, 2001.

  “Was woke up this morning”: Journal of Pvt. Jack Schroder, July 5, 1967.

  That evening a posse of privates: Michael Taylor letter to parents, July 5, 1967.

  at their own private going-away: Int. Tom Grady, March 5, 2000.

  It was the USNS General John Pope: Dictionary of American Fighting Ships, Department of the Navy, Washington, D.C.

  When sunlight hit: Ints. Tom Grady, March 27, 2002; Faustin Sena, October 18, 2002.

  Not long after they shoved off: Schroder journal; ints. Faustin Sena, October 18, 2002; Michael Taylor, October 19, 2002; Santiago Griego, October 19, 2002; Bill McGath, October 19, 2002.

  The only good part of the voyage: Int. Tom Grady, March 5, 2000.

  Private Landon, who also kept a diary: Greg Landon shipboard journal, July 5–28, 1967.

  News from the outside world: Pope Pourri, editions of July 15–20, 1967. The front page of the shipboard newspaper on the 15th featured an illustration of a bikini-clad woman wearing a USNS Pope float around her middle. Each day’s edition included a position report. On the 15th they were at 30 06 N latitude and 175 06 W longitude. The Pope had steamed 3,007 miles and had 3,063 to go. Also ints. Santiago Griego, October 18, 2002; Mike Taylor, October 19, 2002; Greg Landon, June 19, 2002.

  That last sigh of relief: Int. Jim George, May 27, 2001. Also George letters to wife Jackie, July 7–28, 1967.

  Thoughts of killing also raced: Ints. Mike Troyer, August 21, 2002; Peter Miller, August 27, 2002; Bill McGath, October 19, 2002; also letters of Mike Taylor from USNS Pope to parents, July 8–27, 1967.

  Whether it was mass dyslexia: Jack Schroder journal, July 5–28, 1967. Also ints. Faustin Sena, May 27, 2001; Santiago Griego, October 18, 2002.

  They reached Okinawa at nine: Jack Schroder journal, July 22, 1967; Greg Landon journal, July 22, 1967; int. Mike Troyer, August 21, 2002.

  The troops who scrambled off: Ints. Tom Grady, March 27, 2002; Jim George, May 27, 2001; Jack Schroder journal, July 5–28, 1967.

  The morning sunrise was soothing: Mike Troyer letter to parents, July 24, 1967. Ints. Jim George, May 27, 2001; Peter Miller, August 27, 2002.

  Soldiers line the deck: NARA military film archive, October 7 landing by 1st Infantry cameraman Bigley. Carland, Stemming the Tide, 66.

  The four-star general and the ao dai wisps: Int. Doug Tallent, October 19, 2002.

  modern-day Don Quixote and Sancho Panza: Ints. Clark Welch, January 28–February 8, 2002; Clarence Barrow, October 16, 2000.

  It was raining when they arrived: Ints. Greg Landon, June 19, 2002; Mike Troyer, August 20, 2002; Jim George, May 27, 2001; Tom Grady, March 27, 2002.

  Chapter 2: Triet’s March South

  He was a southerner, the sixth son: Descriptions of Triet’s early life, experiences marching south down the Truong Son range in 1961, and service with the 1st Regiment based on author interviews with Vo Minh Triet in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, January 30, 31, February 7, 2002, Kyle Horst translator.

  Nguyen Dinh Chieu, the great blind poet: “Funeral Oration for the Partisans of Can Giuoc, Nguyen Dinh Chieu,” Vietnamese Literature, Hanoi, 1980.

  It was to be a temporary separation: Documents Related to the Implementation of the Geneva Agreements Concerning Vietnam, 181–83; United States Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Background Information Relating to Southeast Asia and Vietnam, 1967.

  In the official military history: Su Doan 9, People’s Army Publishing House, Hanoi, translated by Foreign Broadcast Information Service, 8.

  knew much about these arriving Americans: James G. Zumwalt ints. with 9th Division Col. Ta Minh Kham, 1995, and Nguyen Song, political commissar for 2nd regiment, 9th Division. Zumwalt, a Marine Corps Vietnam veteran and son of the late Admiral Elmo Zumwalt Sr., spent several years interviewing former Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army veterans. His interest began after the death of his brother, Elmo Zumwalt Jr., another Vietnam veteran who served in heavily defoliated areas and whose cancer was believed to have been caused by exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange. James Zumwalt and his father helped pressure the U.S. government to recognize health problems related to Agent Orange. During his many trips to Vietnam, James Zumwalt became curious about the daily lives of people fighting on the other side. His fascinating but as yet unpublished manuscript, Bare Feet, Iron Will, is based on the almost 200 interviews he conducted from 1994 to 2000.

  Chapter 3: Lai Khe, South Vietnam

  Before a massive repair job: “Thunder Road,” Danger Forward, the magazine of the Big Red One, Vietnam, September 1967.

  There was no one comparable: Descriptions of Clark Welch based on letters from Welch to his wife Lacy, June–October 1967; documents of the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam, NARA; and author interviews with Welch, January 28–February 8, 2002.

  He would go nowhere without the new first sergeant: Ints. Clark Welch, January 28–February 8, 2002; Clarence Barrow, October 16, 2000, October 18, 2002.

  “We are called the Black Lions”: Jack Schroder letter to wife Eleanor, August 3, 1967.

  Mike Troyer wrote home: Mike Troyer letter to parents, July 30, 1967.

  A more subdued account: Greg Landon letter to parents, July 31, 1967.

  Sometimes the truth stretching: Clark Welch letter to wife Lacy, August 9, 1967. In this letter, along with the story of the Walter Mittyish soldier, Welch related the psychological aspects of being a company commander. “I’ve got all the personnel problems of 175 men!” he wrote. “So far this has involved sending 2 back to the States and counseling 7 others…. I was a little bit concerned about all the counseling I’ve had to do until I heard what the other new Delta company here has had. They’ve got 5 AWOL and many, many other assorted things going on.”

  “We had a beer party last night”: Jack Schroder letter to wife Eleanor, August 1
0, 1967.

  Mere days in country: Letters from Greg Landon, Mike Troyer, Clark Welch, August 1–12, 1967.

  There were always fucking new guys: Ints. Tom Hinger, March 12, 2000; Joe Costello, November 3, 2000; Michael Arias, March 1, 2001; Steve Goodman, November 20, 2000.

  Danny Sikorski was another gunner: Ints. Diane Sikorski Kramer, July 28, 2001; Edmund Sikorski, August 5, 2000; scrapbooks of Danny Sikorski and Diane Sikorski.

  When Clark Welch took command of Delta: Ints. Tom Grady, March 27, 2002; Jim George, May 27, 2001; Clark Welch letter to wife Lacy, August 5, 1967.

  Chapter 4: El Paso, Texas

  El Paso, on the verge of a boom: Fort Bliss–Past and Present, Fort Bliss Visitors Bureau, January 1968. Ints. Consuelo Allen, February 2, 2001; Albert Schwartz, February 2, 2001, Jonathan and Pat Rogers, February 4, 2001.

  In from the above-ninety heat: Ints. Bill and Genevieve (Bebe) Coonly, February 2, 2001.

  “My dear Sonny”: Maj. Gen. Terry de la Mesa Allen Sr. letter to son, Terry Allen Jr., December 8, 1942, UTEP. The father signed off that letter, “A very merry Xmas, Old Top Pops.”

  The soldier’s life went back: “Allen and His Men,” Time, August 9, 1943, 32–36.

  Ernie Pyle occasionally slept in his tent: Ernie Pyle, Here is Your War, America’s Favorite Correspondent Tells the Story of Our Soldiers’ First Big Campaign, 187–88.

  General Omar Bradley yanked Allen from command: Terry Allen Sr. letters, 1943, UTEP; Michael D. Pearlman, To Make America Safe for Democracy, 249; “Allen and Huebner: Contrast in Command,” Col. Bryce F. Denno, Army, 1984.

  Terry Allen Sr. was a skilled polo player: Ints. Consuelo Allen, February 2, 2001; Albert Schwartz, February 4, 2001; El Paso Times Sunday Magazine, February 21, 1965; “Cavalryman versus Cowboy,” True West, September–October 1965. The True West article repeated an incident from the race first reported in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of December 21, 1922: “The Major had stopped in a restaurant for breakfast and had ordered bacon and eggs. While waiting for the cook to fill the order, the old gentleman proprietor of the restaurant stopped at the Major’s table and remarked that the race between a soldier and a cowboy was surely on the lips of half the country. ‘’Course,’ he drawled, ‘Major Allen don’t have a chance to beat Key Dunne. That cowboy will wear out the Army officer; he’s too strong for him. That Army horse hasn’t a chance to stick it out with a mustang in a 300-mile race.’

  “‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Major Allen replied. ‘I can’t say as to the outcome of the race yet, but I’m Major Allen and I’m out in front at the present time and still in good condition. Up to the present, the joke is on you, so hurry on with the ham and eggs.’

  “‘The joke is not only on me,’ replied the restaurant owner, with a chuckle, ‘but the ham and eggs as well.’”

  From the war zone in Europe in 1945: Terry Allen Sr. letter to Charles Meurisse and Co., Chicago, April 4, 1945, UTEP.

  “I have avoided seeking political influence”: Terry Allen Sr. letter to Capt. Reese Cleveland, September 17, 1944, UTEP; letter to Alfred P. Wechsler, October 4, 1944, UTEP.

  As a cadet in Company H-1: Howitzer yearbook, 1952; Assembly, December 1975; Red Blaik letter to Mrs. Terry Allen, January 21, 1949, Allen family papers.

  Terry Sr. was watching his son’s progress: John C. Schuller letter to Terry Allen Sr., December 20, 1955, UTEP.

  and then was sent west to Colorado Springs: Ints. Bebe and Bill Coonly, February 2, 2001.

  General Allen and Mary Fran lived: Ints. Conseulo Allen, February 2, 2001; Bebe and Bill Coonly, February 2, 2001; Jean Ponder Allen Soto, February 3, 2001; El Paso Times, February 2, 1965.

  Always on the lookout to help his son: Terry Allen Sr. letter to Major Gen. R. W. Porter, September 1965, Allen family papers; El Paso Times, October 1, 3, 8, 1961.

  After a honeymoon on the Riviera: Int. Jean Ponder Allen Soto, February 3, 2001; Jean Allen letter to Mary Frances Allen, September 12, 1962, Allen family papers.

  “Your considered counsel has always been”: Terry Allen Jr. letter to father, September 3, 1963, Allen family papers.

  Out of whimsy and desperation: Int. Jean Ponder Allen Soto, February 3, 2001.

  Holding on dearly to reminders: Ints. Consuelo Allen, February 2, 2001; Jean Ponder Allen Soto, February 3, 2001; Albert Schwartz, February 3, 2001.

  “I was thrilled to receive three letters”: Terry Allen Jr. letter to wife Jean, March 25, 1967, Allen family papers.

  How different that world: Int. Jean Ponder Allen Soto, February 3, 2001.

  “This is for all the women”: Int. Consuelo Allen, February 2, 2001.

  “A very special place”: The Officer’s Guide, 1967–68 edition, 104.

  She struck up a relationship: Int. Jean Ponder Allen Soto, February 3, 2001.

  He drove over to 5014 Timberwolf: Ints. Bebe and Bill Coonly, February 2, 2001; Consuelo Allen, February 2, 2001; Jean Ponder Allen Soto, February 3, 2001.

  Tad Smith was not a divorce lawyer: Int. Tad Smith, December 12, 2001.

  “You can’t leave!”: Ints. Consuelo Allen, February 2, 2001; Jean Ponder Allen Soto, February 3, 2001.

  Chapter 5: Song of Napalm

  On the Sunday morning of March 12, 1967: Int. E. N. Brandt, April 12, 2001; internal Dow document from W. H. Coffey to Dr. A. P. Beutel, “Napalm Meeting with Department of Defense Officials,” March 9, 1967, PSA.

  Dow Chemical was not one of the big boys: Department of Defense contractors list, 1967; ints. E. N. Brandt, April 12, 2001; Herbert Doan, April 12, 2001; Dave Coslett, April 26, 2001; Bill Seward, April 27, 2001; Ray Rolf, May 1, 2001; name file, Dow Chemical Co., LBJ. “Dear Jimmy, I have on the handsome tie you sent me,” Johnson aide Walter W. Jenkins wrote to Dow’s Jimmy Phillips. “I want you to know how proud I am of it. Many thanks, my friend, for thinking of me.”

  Napalm was cheap and easy to make: E. N. Brandt, Growth Company (Michigan State University Presss, 1967), 351–70; ints. Herbert Doan, April 12, 2001; E. N. Brandt, April 12, 2001.

  Dow in turn became the most visible target: Dow internal document, 1967 list of campus protests, PSA; Brandt, Public Relations Journal, July 1968.

  “the ‘Merchants of Death’ label”: J. J. Boddie internal memorandum, December 12, 1966, PSA.

  Before then, as Brandt once explained: Brandt, Public Relations Journal, July 1968. Also NYT, March 11, 1967, 17.

  The Ramparts piece: Pepper, “The Children of Vietnam,” Ramparts, January 1967. The preface was written by Dr. Benjamin Spock.

  Pepper’s base number of 415,000 civilian deaths: Langguth, Our Vietnam, 622. “Civilian casualties were impossible to estimate,” Langguth wrote, describing the situation at the time of the Paris Peace Talks in 1973. “They may have run to a million men, women and children.” Also Summers, Vietnam War Almanac, 112: “Further estimates are that some 300,000 South Vietnamese civilians died in the war. Additionally, North Vietnamese civilian deaths from American bombing totaled some 65,000. These statistics on civilian casualties are a matter of considerable controversy and the true numbers will probably never be known.” Impact of the Vietnam War, United States Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, 1971. In the introduction, the report states that “the survey spells out the casualty figures…over a million civilian casualties in South Vietnam”; CBS Evening News interview, May 12, 1967, with physician members of Committee of Responsibility.

  veteran War correspondent Martha Gellhorn: Ladies’ Home Journal, January 1967, republished in Reporting Vietnam, Part One, 1998.

  When Ned Brandt and two associates: Int. E. N. Brandt, April 12, 13, 2001.

  “Dear Mr. Doan”: Letter written for Robert S. McNamara by Dow public relations department, published in newspapers in December 1967, PSA.

  Chapter 6: Madison, Wisconsin

  The 1967 fall term: Daily Cardinal, October 4, 1967; Wisconsin State Journal, October 5, 1967; Letters of Betty Menacher, September–October 1967; Capital Times, October 1–15, 1967.r />
  There were 5,385 freshmen: Characteristics of 1967 Freshman Class, UW Registrar records; Wisconsin Alumnus magazine, vol. 69, December 1967.

  “Our image, Arlie”: Harrington letter to Mucks, March 6, 1967, UW, box 57.

  Otto Festge, Madison’s liberal mayor: Int. Otto Festge, July 6, 2001.

  On the night of May 15, 1935: Scotton Report on the Anti-Dow Protests, December 1967: Journalist James W. Scotton was commissioned by the University of Wisconsin News and Publication Service to answer questions raised by the Dow demonstration. His report, a model of evenhandedness, placed the 1967 protest in the context of dissent on campus, going back to the 1930s.

  Jane Brotman, after graduating: Ints. Jane Brotman, January 24, 2001, April 9, 2002.

  her father, a lumber salesman: Ints. Betty Menacher, April 27, 2001, April 8, 2002.

  “We ended up lost in Chinatown”: Menacher letter to Mary Mahaney, June 23, 1967.

  “Lately everyone has been stealing food”: Menacher letters to Mary Mahaney, August 16–20, 1967.

  Betty was Catholic but: Ints. Betty Menacher, April 27, 2001, April 8, 2002.

  “Do you ever have panty raids?”: Menacher letter to Mary Mahaney, October 7, 1967.

  Jane Beth Brotman followed a well-worn path: Ints. Jane Brotman, January 24, 2001, April 9, 2002.

  Chapter 7: Soglin’s Thrill

  The lead editorial: Daily Cardinal, September 28, 1967. Soglin’s career as a columnist lasted less than a year.