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Anyone remember Cpt Dennis Smith who was KIA on 11/30/69 by a mine in the NDP? Was he the CO? Anyone else wounded?
I remember a little about Captain Smith. I had just met him for the first time that day. Cheerful, nice guy. He was an Lt. as far as we knew but apparently had just gotten his promotion to Captain about a day before. He was, I believe, scheduled to go into Hawk Hill for another job, S4 or something and come out of the field any day. I also heard that his wife had just had a baby, who he never got to see. That was also the booby trap that messed up Marty (E5).. I don’t remember his last name but I’m sure others here do. I saw him at the one reunion I went to, in Alabama about 5-6 years ago. There was another guy who got two broken arms from the booby trap. I believe he sat with us (Me and Steerman, my 90mm partner) while we were awaiting dustoff. Smith was not CO. Captain Morris was at that time, I’m pretty sure. I think there were quite a few more casualties from that booby trap.
Jim, we hit 2 booby-traps that day , 1killed, 6 wounded including Lt. Shepard, Bruce Martin aka Marty [ who by the way died this past year] and myself. The next day, Tom Sipps stepped on a bouncy betty which did not go off. And yes, Capt. Morris was our CO.
R.I.P. Bob Garvin………Happy Thanksgiving to all!
The arrangements for Garvin’s funeral have been made. The services will be held at the Brown-Oglesby funeral home at 101 E. North 2nd St, Seneca, SC. Family night will be Sunday, Nov. 30th from 3-5 PM. Services will be Monday, Dec. 1st at 11AM. Burial will be in the Veteran’s cemetery in Anderson, SC.
We will send flowers in the name of the whole group.
Hey SR, got word today I don’t have to cook the turkey,peel the potatoes or make the gravy! But, since none of the above is my responsibility my past professional experience has made me pots and pans KP eligible! Just no way possible to escape our history! To all my Brothers be safe, eat lots of turkey and pumpkin pie and stay the heck away from Black Friday!
I wish all my Grunt Brothers, and your families, a very happy Thanksgiving. I, for one, am thankful for having this website to go to and read and participate in discussion, with you all!
It makes my day, day in and day out.
Gary, the name Bob Garvin is very familiar to me but I can’t put a face or a function to him. What platoon was he in?
Garvin was in 2nd platoon. He was short and blonde headed.
Received word today that Robert Garvin passed away this morning. Bob served with us in 70 and 71. No arrangements have been made yet.
Chuck and Russ: You too old farts wouldn’t last a night in Bangkok!
Carl: Count me in on the peaches and pound cake
HAPPY THANKSGIVING IN ADVANCE TO ALL YOU OLD TURKEYS! HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS!
Sounds like a road trip Russ…..
Russ
That is a question that would require a lot of time to answer as well as a lot of cocktails/beers. Of course this conversation would have to be held in a secure location such as Bangkok Thailand.. Gimmie a shout when you are ready to roll….
This old body of mine could not take what I would like to put it thru but that would be a cool week or 5 trying……
while I am on here, are you out there TOP? have not heard from you in quite some time. I’m still surviving on my “Peaches and Pound Cake”. Please post and let us know you are OK.
OK Chuck, I think I can be persuaded to join a mission to Bangkok to discuss a national defense oak leaf remf cluster medal that can also be given for viet nam era service. What are you doing next Tuesday.? Gotta give Rocky and Roger a call to help.
Just finished a night snack of pound cake and peaches. Maybe the best thing I got from Nam except for ME!!!!
Gary
Did it have a “V” device or an oak leaf cluster on it?
LOL I didn’t notice, but I’ll watch for him again and report back if I run across him.
Chuck…….an oak leaf cluster on a nation defense service medal means 2 tours as a REMF…? or just meritorious REMF service..?
Funny you should ask that, LT. I just saw a guy at Walmart today wearing a Veteran’s baseball cap with…..get ready for it….with the National Defense Service Medal embroidered on it! No CIB, no jump wings, no combat service ribbons. Just a full sized representation of that yellow and red ribbon they tossed to you out of shoe box in basic training.
I guess for those who don’t know any better, it looks pretty impressive. For those like me, though, it causes a WTF moment.
Larry,I always cause a ruckus when I talk about remf’s; and love doing it. I also have very strong debates with my two therapists regarding my insistence that ptsd for grunts is different than everyone else. Another thing; boots on the ground has no meaning when it comes to most Americans. They think everyone fights.
Hey Larry,
Illinois is so stupid that they have a Vietnam Era License plate. I hate that term. It’s like who the hell is going to Medals of America and buy a hat with Cold War Veteran on it. Bone chilling cold in the Chicago area!
I caused a ruckus a few years past on my thoughts on REMF’s, so lesson learned. However, it still irks me that there is this guy that is two years my junior that was drafted in 1972 and was a cook. He never left the continental United States. He is a member of our local American Legion. He always says he is a Viet Nam “era†veteran. He kind of mumbles the era part or does not say it at all. I would guess that about 99% of the public thinks that a Viet Nam veteran had boots on the ground and do not know the difference in a boots on the ground and an “era†Veteran. I asked him one day about being a Viet Nam vet and he said he is a Viet Nam “Era†vet because he served during the time period when the United States was in combat in Viet Nam.
A short story of interest. One of my buddy’s sons is a colonel in the Marines and just got transferred to Hawaii. He has a clip on his Facebook of the kids playing in the yard. All of a sudden a bugle starts play in the distance as they retire the colors for the night. All of the little kids drop whatever they are doing or playing with and face the direction of the bugle and stand still until it is over. Once the sound stops the kids resume their play. It was amazing to watch.
I was in Nashville TN on veterns day and they had a big parade ,lasted over 1 hour meet a lot of vietnam veterans.Went to GRAND OLE OPRY that night and had upfront seats when a bluegrass band came on stage and played a patriotic song and when they got done the lead singer gave me his gitar that had a flag desighn. I got a standing ovation and had pictures and well wishes from a lot of people and finally felt like i got a little respect.
Out standing!
The grunts did all the dirty work (I consider myself a semi-grunt, since I had the luxury of the 90mm and never walked point, sometimes had a nice hooch at Hawk Hill and didn’t have to do stuff like set claymores, blow booby traps, etc. like the rest of you guys here. I went on patrols and ambushes sometimes but still had it better than most of you. Still a long way from being a remf but my life was often easier than the rest of Charlie Company.
If you haven’t seen this, I strongly suggest you go to the library and take out “UP Front” by Bill Mauldin, a WWII cartoonist who traveled with the infantry in Europe and has some of the greatest stuff you’ll ever see about the grunts of WWII who were known as “Dogfaces” then. Some stuff is obviously outdated but i guarantee you will enjoy the cartoons (all sent from the front and published in the U.S. during the war) and the text that explains it. He also talks about remfs but with different names for them then.
Speaking of remfs, does anyone remember an army thing they did to try and make remfs respectable. We all know what the mf stands for. But, I recall some Sgt. Major or someone saying they were “Remps” rear echelon military personnel. He was trying to twist our favorite word for them. I don’t know if it was just him or if the army’s PR people were trying to do this. Anyone else familiar with that?
Home depot and Lowes both give 10% discount for veterans, which saves me a lot, cause I’m alwlays doing something in my house. Usually, the clerk says the “Thank you for your service.” It may be obligatory and PC but they are saying it and have probably been told to, so at least they are aware of it.
I drive a school bus. One of my kids father is in the army (E7). I mentioned to him that I had been in. HE thanked me for my service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That seemed weird. Obviously I returned the favor and thanked him as well. I didn’t see a CIB but I only got a quick look. And as much as we love fellow grunts, a lot of others share the danger but don’t get a CIB.
A friend who was on a flight crew on an aircraft carrier told me about major injuries and fataalities from aircraft landings, fires, etc. during Vietnam war. Another friend (since 4th grade) was on a ship whose gun blew up and killed 21 sailors off the coast of Vietnam while we were there. I also remember at Fort Hood, about one or two guys a month got killed in training stuff; run over by a tank, stuff like that.
But, we woke up evry morning, half expecting to get shot at or worse, so my CIB and purple heart are among my most important posessions. I just the other day told my wife, that when I die, I would like them displayed in my coffin (along with my certificate for completing a marathon in 3:48 in 1981). Hopefully that will be a long time off.
Okay. So, I’m long winded. Let me stop babbling for now.
Jim Intravia aka “Infantry” or as Captain Morris would say “Mike-Mike” (for the 90mm)
Now that is the Tooch I know and love!
Wow, Mark!
I stand erected! I mean, I stand Corrected!
TAKE THE HIGH ROAD? NO WAY!!!!!!!!!! A GRUNT IS A GRUNT , END OF STORY!!!!!
REMEMBER… WE SUFFERED, WE BLED, WE DIED, AND THEY DIDN’T CARE.
Based on the comments my heighten blood pressure was in error. These are all great comments and I am glad I did not say anything negative to him. We all had a part to play and a job to do!
That’s a question which has come up before. Where does Vietnam Veteran and Era Veteran begin and end? For instance, should the guy on Guam who got crushed while loading bombs onto a B-52 for a mission over North Vietnam be counted as a casualty of the war? Or, is the clerk who did the paperwork for pilots who bombed the North out of Udorn AFB in Thailand a Vietnam Veteran? What about the sailor whose ship never actually entered Yankee Station, but which serviced the fleet there?
Bill,
I think there are a couple of ways of looking at this. It is very hard for those of us who served in the harsh, inhumane conditions that we did as Grunts to even imagine how someone like the guy that you mentioned could even do that. But, on the other hand, if the guy was involved in bombing runs in support of us or on targets in the North, well, maybe. He did stand the chance of being shot down and taken as a POW.
Bill, you took the high road when you thanked him for his service.
Thanks Rick
OK guys got a question. Yesterday, Veterans Day, Kay and I were in the Ft. Lauderdale airport flying home after visiting our son’s family for 11 days. I was standing in line and ahead of me was a guy wearing a Vietnam Veteran’s Cap with an Air Force Pin and rank attached to it along with ribbons. One may have been a “purple heart ribbon”. Not sure of that.
I asked him where he was stationed in Vietnam. He told me he never stepped foot in country but supported the war from 1971-1974 from bases around the world. Floored me. Yes he served during the Vietnam War era but I believe he was miss leading the public. He was so far in the rear he was not even in Vietnam.
I thanked him for his service and never even told him my vet status. Your thoughts please.
Doc Bob Capone was our medic in Nam. The Providence, RI newspaper did a short article on him that I am very proud of and want to share:
Robert Capone is physically reminded of his service in Vietnam from time to time — when a piece of shrapnel comes out of his body.
Capone, a 68-year-old former Army combat medic, runs an investment group in Providence. He and other Vietnam-era veterans attended the event at Portsmouth High School in response to an invitation (more than 800 were sent out to veterans) — not because they were looking for attention.
The town, with help from veterans’ organizations, gave each of them a cap designating them as Vietnam veterans and a certificate of appreciation.
In May 1970, about three months into his deployment, Capone earned a Silver Star when he exposed himself to enemy fire while helping injured soldiers in his unit. A bullet had pierced his helmet.
The following month, Capone stepped on a booby trap near Hawk Hill, in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. He suffered extensive injuries to a hand and took shrapnel throughout his lower body.
More than 34 years later, Capone is struck by the way society has changed, by the money and adoration that Americans heap on superstar athletes and entertainers. Capone watches a lot of football, but in his mind, there are veterans who deserve the highest status.
He wishes Americans would pay greater attention to such organizations as Providence’s DaVinci Center, a social-service agency that helps people in need, including veterans.
“The men in my unit,†says Capone. “Those are the bravest men. They took care of me. They were valiant.â€
I wear my 196th baseball cap whenever I leave the house, and here in Texas, many people tell me “Thanks for your service”, and I respond by simply saying “Thanks for your Support”.
I know that in our time, we weren’t very well supported, but today, our Men and Women are very much respected for their service.
Happy Veteran’s day to all my brothers!
Attended three school Veterans day assemblies yesterday, our country will be in good hands when we pass on.
I have never been able to respond what I guess would be appropriate to the “thank you for your service” line but sometimes I say you’re welcome. I think it is really neat though when parents will tell their young children to thank me. Those are my kind of parents, teaching those little ones to do right! God Bless all you guys and praise to the Lord that we are all still here to send these blog entries. RIP to all our fallen brothers!