Memories Of Former Wars

Articles

Memories Of Former Wars

By Brooks A. Mick, M.D.
Dec. 21, 2004

In WW2, the families of killed soldiers received only the dreaded yellow telegram from Western Union informing them of the death of their loved one.

In Vietnam, it began nearly the same way, but then some officers and their wives began making personal visits. The commander of the dead troop would write a personal letter of condolence. I do not believe that any Secretary of Defense ever wrote a letter before Rumsfeld, but perhaps it did happen. I was lucky, in that my year as medical platoon commander in the 5/16th Artillery Battalion, 1/22nd Infantry Battalion, and 1/14th Infantry Battalion did not see any of my medics killed. I never had to try to write the words that might comfort some unknown family.

It is the military custom to send an officer to the funeral of any current or past military member. My units in the Army Reserves often had this responsibility. My young officers took this charge seriously and would render proper military respect and would carefully fold and present the flag that draped the coffin.

Now the Secretary of the Army is chastised for not hand-signing the letters he has composed and sent to family members. I think this a petty grievance, but one that his critics will stoop to in their zeal to attack Bush through his surrogate or to exercise their power in Washington, or simply to gain the approval of the cognoscenti inside The Beltway. Whether Rumsfeld's letters were signed by hand or a mechanical signature machine (NOT "a stamp!) is not significant. I would prefer he were working to prevent more deaths than taking the time to sign letters that could be signed just as well by a signature machine.

And as for armor, people who have visited Kuwait and Iraq have never seen anyone scrounging for armor for HMMVEEs. It might have happened, but not to the unit that the soldier who questioned Rumsfeld served in. His unit had, indeed, received all their armored vehicles that day or the next. His unit went to the field with armored vehicles as was the plan before he recited his setup remark.

In Vietnam, we had no armored jeeps or trucks despite the mines and ambushes that were a constant hazard. The young troop who picked up and delivered my mail every day for 3 months ran over a mine in his jeep one day and was killed on a mail run. Using ingenuity, we filled sand bags with Vietnam dirt and used these to completely cover the floor of our jeeps and trucks, which cut down on carrying capacity and foot room, most assuredly, but made a reasonably effective barrier against the smaller mines. I don't recall that any of us wrote the Secretary of Defense and asked why we couldn't have armored jeeps. Jeeps then and HMMVees now have lightweight canvas doors. All but those in Iraq, which are now armored, thanks to Rumsfeld and others.

A young medic arrived in Vietnam and was assigned to the 1/14th Infantry Battalion in the Central Highlands very close to the time I was leaving the unit and leaving Vietnam. Shortly thereafter, while treating many wounded and undoubtedly saving many lives, he was wounded and then killed. He received the nation's highest honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor, posthumously. His name is on the list of such honorees at Ft. Sam Houston where he trained. The name of the young medic was Thomas Bennett. His story can be found at:

http://www.mishalov.com/Bennett_Thomas.html

Also at Ft. Sam is a monument of a Huey helicopter on a pedestal with a red cross on the side, and a plaque below which says, "The pilot's last words before he was shot and killed by ground fire were 'When I have your wounded...'"

Many medics and ambulance drivers and medevac helicopter pilots were wounded and killed in Vietnam, and we should remember them. They were often the bravest of the brave, having their weapons slung over their shoulders while tending to the wounded in their care. Some even were conscientious objectors, carrying no weapons yet in the midst of battle.

Thanks, troops.

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About the author Brooks A. Mick: 63-yr-old physician, still practicing medicine but retired from the US Army. Write just for the fun of it, but working on novel in the vein of Tom Clancy's politico-military genre.

Email: brooks15@cox.net

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