Not to be confused with official markings or insignia, nose art personalizes an aircraft for its crew, because it is the crew members who name the aircraft and create the art, imbuing it with an identity of its own. ‘Nose Art’ is important as an historical and societal indicator over time, an example of folk art or popular expression, and a record of the past.

Charlie Troop 1/9th Lift bird

Cobra gunship

Scout bird

The original Pink Panther nose art was designed by 1st LT Joe Waters (Weapons Platoon) C Troop 1/9th, 1st Cavalry Division

Mike Thompson (crew chief) 228th Assault Support Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, 1970-71
This and the following eight nose art photos courtesy of Mike’s brother-in-law Specialist 5 Jordan Green (Maintenance Platoon) Charlie Troop 1/9th, 1969-70

Below are some photos Chris Bussells (31st HHC) provided of a Bailey bridge project built by the 31st Engineer Battalion over the Song Be River and completed in 1970. Chris worked on the design part of this project as a draftsman.

The original concrete bridge piers had been partially destroyed, and he needed to design formwork and reinforcing for the reconstructed piers. These photos were taken by Chris at the request of the operations officer, who wanted the photos for the unit historian. He had to turn over the negatives, but kept a set of prints for himself.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 27,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 10 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

It was going to be another hot sunny day in Vietnam, but this would go down as one of my most memorable days by far.

A hand full of Charlie Troopers including Roy McDonald and myself hitched a ride in the back of a 3/4 ton Jeep and headed to Long Binh to attend the Bob Hope USO Christmas Show.

This is where I sat on that hot and sunny Christmas Day. A few GI’s climbed trees and telephone poles to get a better view of the stage. The show ended with everyone singing “Silent Night” and not a dry eye anywhere.

Vietnam “Santa Claus” with a group of hospital patients during one of the 1970 Bob Hope Christmas Shows.

Santa visits Phuoc Vinh
The man to the right of Santa is CPT Enn Tietenberg, 1/9th’s XO.

John Kerry sitting behind Jane Fonda during an anti-war rally at Valley Forge, PA in September 1970.

This much-traveled photo which purports to show Massachusetts Senator (and the potential 2004 Democratic nominee for President) John Kerry at a September 1970 anti-war rally in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania has been confirmed as genuine. John Kerry appears in the background of the photo directly above Jane Fonda’s head, sitting about three rows behind the actress. (Some online versions of this picture mistakenly identify the bearded man to the right of Jane Fonda as John Kerry.)

During a 1972 trip to North Vietnam, Jane Fonda propagandized on behalf of the North Vietnamese government, declared that American POWs were being treated humanely and condemned U.S. Soldiers as “war criminals” and later denounced them as liars for claiming they had been tortured.

Jane Fonda sitting on a seat of an anti-aircraft gun

To her credit, during a 20/20 television interview sixteen years later in 1988 with Barbara Walters, Jane Fonda apologized for her incredibly bad judgement in going to North Vietnam and allowing herself to be used as a propaganda vehicle.

“I would like to say something, not just to Vietnam veterans in New England, but to men who were in Vietnam, who I hurt, or whose pain I caused to deepen because of things that I said or did,” she began. “I was trying to help end the killing and the war, but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I’m . . . very sorry that I hurt them. And I want to apologize to them and their families.”

As if we didn’t have enough to worry about while in Vietnam; here’s a GI that claims he spotted a UFO while pulling guard duty on Phuoc Vinh’s perimeter.

Full Description of Event/Sighting: I was pulling Green-line duty with 3 other 1st Cav. soldiers who were sleeping. I had a star light scope, a radio and all the stuff you would expect in/on a bunker. This bunker was a big well fortified bunker. We were all on top of this bunker from my best recollection. I was pulling my stint, let the others sleep. This bunker was on the western facing perimeter. This night was a beautiful night with no overcast. Many small brilliant stars were in the night sky. No moon, as far as I remember especially facing out west. The starlight scope was working very well. I’m going into a little detail to set the stage leading up to my sighting. I know it’s not to the point Please bear with me.

As I was scanning the western night sky. and all of a sudden something to the Northwest caught my eye. It was a very brilliant whitish, silver and with a hint of blue more of a rounded shape. It was fairly far away. The main thing about this object was it would move to my left, or South in jerky movements , hover, do it again and again. It never lost the same brilliance or colors the entire time. Additionally it left a amber or reddish trail (like a tracer) as it moved only to suddenly stop on a dime. I watched this thing for several minutes.

By this time it was in the Southern Horizon. Then, all of a sudden it shot up skyward on a 45 degree angle towards the North. It was totally out of sight in seconds. I was thinking should I report this? I decided not. I would wait to see if anyone else would, then I would to. I didn’t have the presence of mine to wake the other guys. Mainly, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

When you consider that we LIVED there, (ate, drank & sleep) with an open tank for the drinking and cooking water, slogging through the mud during the rainy season; could we really avoid exposure?

The veterans who were physically present at Phuoc Vinh Groundwater Zero are, undoubtedly, the most likely to show high level body-burdens of the compounds, even today. Why haven’t we tested the veterans who were subjected to the heaviest and most continuous contamination? Thousands of these soldiers can indeed be found today, through service organizations and the various grassroots networks addressing this issue.

Establishing a group of veterans subjected to high levels of exposure, by evidence of Dioxin (2378 TCDD) testing, and THEN studying these epidemiologically will get at the truth of the matter. The results of blood or tissue analysis of these veterans of Ground Zero will definitively show very high levels of exposure. An additional survey of the medical histories of deceased veterans of Phuoc Vinh will provide STARTLING data.

A year ago I was diagnosed with actinic keratosis, a precancerous skin condition and a cancerous spot (squamous-cell carcinoma) was surgically removed. Whether my skin condition is linked to the thirteen months, I spent in Phuoc Vinh and surrounding areas remains to be seen…

Agent Orange, named after the color of the stripe on the barrels in which the defoliant sprayed by American forces during the Vietnam War was stored, contained tetrachlorodibenzop dioxin (known as TCDD), one of the most poisonous chemicals ever made by man.

The following is an Agent Orange study done by Gregg Knowlton:

The following photos are from “fold3″ a collection of original military records

“AS A NATION THERE IS PLENTY we might learn from Viet Nam,” wrote TIME’s editor-in-chief Hedley Donovan in 1971 as the war raged on after ten years of fighting and tens of thousands of American soldiers killed. It is important for Americans today to understand the fear of communism that provoked America’s initial involvement in Southeast Asia and to be aware of the political decisions and deceptions that shaped the relentless war in Vietnam. Use the TIME Archive to catch up on your history and to ask which lessons learned from the Vietnam War apply today in Iraq.

April 4, 1955

The beleaguered man sat in Freedom Palace, small, chunky, tan-tinted and surrounded by a few intimate possessions—a wooden crucifix, a picture of the Virgin, a slide projector, a gaudy spittoon, books entitled Social Justice and Thought of Gandhi. Before him on a shabby desk lay an ultimatum, a blunt threat to tear down the government of South Viet Nam. An odd procession passed in and out of the palace doors for hours on end to deal with the crisis—three of the man’s brothers, one in the cloth of a Roman Catholic bishop; his beautiful, politics-minded sister-in-law; U.S. diplomats and U.S. military officers in mufti; eye-rubbing ministers of state summoned from their sleep for emergency consultations.

August 9, 1963

The history of Viet Nam is full of heroines. Women often served as generals. In the 1st century A.D., the Trung sisters raised an army and started a rebellion against Viet Nam’s Chinese overlords; one of their female commanders gave birth to a child on the battlefield, then strapping her infant on her back and brandishing a sword in each hand, led her troops against the Chinese. In 248, a 23-year-old girl put on a suit of golden armor, climbed on the back of an elephant, and led her army into the field against Viet Nam’s foreign invaders.

August 7, 1964

“Communists are the aggressors, not us,” insists Khanh. “If we were to go back to the north, it should be termed a counterattack.” The U.S., hoping to avoid a direct attack on North Viet Nam as long as possible, was vexed at Khanh’s cries but in a way sympathetic, for his outburst reflected the frustrations of a people who have been at war for the better part of two decades.

August 14, 1964

The Gulf of Tonkin is a forbidding body of water. Along its shores lie the brutal war in South Viet Nam, the belligerent Red regime of North Viet Nam’s Ho Chi Minh, the ominous expanse of Communist China.

February 19, 1965

“The war has quite obviously moved into another stage,” said Westmoreland in visible relief. “Now the rules of war have changed, and policymakers in Hanoi are confronted with the necessity of balancing their resources against the damage they may suffer. They’ve got to take a look down that long road and decide whether they really want what lies ahead for them if they persist in past policies.”

July 16, 1965

The Men from Uncle. Hanoi last week was ready for total war. So was Ho Chi Minh, the goat-bearded god of Vietnamese Communism and, at 75, Asia’s oldest, canniest Red leader. North Viet Nam’s Ho was making his last and most steely stand, and his young country seemed ready to win or die with him.

October 22, 1965

“We Will Stand.” It was late July when the President of the U.S. summoned his aides to a three-day secret session to deliberate Viet Nam. Just back from Saigon was Defense Secretary Robert McNamara with the grim prognosis of peril. When Johnson announced his decision, it was the most significant for American foreign policy since the Korean War: “We will stand in Viet Nam.” To stand meant in fact that the U.S. would go to Viet Nam in overwhelming force and stay until the job was done. Why? “If we are driven from the field in Viet Nam,” the President told the nation and the world, “then no nation can ever again have the same confidence in American promise or in American protection.”

January 7, 1966

As commander of all U.S. forces in South Viet Nam, General William Childs Westmoreland, 51, directed the historic buildup, drew up the battle plans, and infused the 190,000 men under him with his own idealistic view of U.S. aims and responsibilities. He was the sinewy personification of the American fighting man in 1965 who, through the monsoon mud of nameless hamlets, amidst the swirling sand of seagirt enclaves, atop the jungled mountains of the Annamese Cordillera, served as the instrument of U.S. policy, quietly en during the terror and discomfort of a conflict that was not yet a war, on a battlefield that was all no man’s land.

February 18, 1966

In his eight months as Premier, South Viet Nam’s Nguyen Cao Ky had best been known as an atavistic aviator-the flamboyant, Von Richthofen-like figure of a fighter pilot, replete with mustache and a wisp of lavender silk knotted at his throat. Followers of Viet Nam’s recent raucous history could argue for hours over whether he was the sixth or ninth Premier in the last 18 months; few took a close look at Ky and his accomplishments. But under the spotlight of Lyndon Johnson’s U.S.-Vietnamese summit in Honolulu, the highflying aviator finally came down to earth.

June 3, 1966

The letter bore the nominal heading “The President of the United States.” It was addressed to Gary William Wilson, and it arrived at the blue stucco house in Rosemead, Calif., two days before Christmas. Its terms were cold, its message unmistakable. “Greeting: You are hereby ordered for induction into the Armed Forces of the United States.”

July 8, 1966

It was siesta time in Viet Nam’s clammy cities as the droop-nosed F-4 Phantom jets snapped off the U.S.S. Ranger’s dipping flight deck. Next into the crystalline sky burst four flights of A-4 Skyhawks. Then the mission, 45 planes strong, streaked low across the Gulf of Tonkin toward the craggy, familiar coastline of North Viet Nam—and a target never before attacked by American pilots.

August 25, 1967

Viet Nam is for men with double vision. There has never been a war quite like it. Tt is two kinds of combat against a two-faced enemy, and the combination is deadly. One fight pits the U.S. and its allies against North Vietnamese and main-force Viet Cong regular soldiers whose primary mission is as old as war itself: to kill and maim the opposing armies. The second fight is waged by a second enemy, the clandestine Viet Cong guerrilla. His uniform is the peasant’s black pajamas, and his mission is a Communist innovation: to steal people as well as territory away from the South Vietnamese government.

October 6, 1967

Dangerous Detonations. In the U.S., 10,000 miles away, Con Thien dramatized all the cumulative frustrations of the painful war. A long-rising surge of doubt about Viet Nam was intensified for Americans as the bloody, muddy ordeal of Con Thien flickered across the TV screen. With total U.S. casualties nearing 100,000 since 1961, with the war’s cost running at $24 billion a year and with rumors circulating on Capitol Hill that Lyndon Johnson may need $4 billion more before the end of 1967, there was a measurable increase in American unease and impatience.

October 27, 1967

Troops of the 82nd Airborne Division—many of them Viet Nam veterans—waited outside the capital in case they should be needed. Police monitored the highways leading into Washington, looking for a chance to nip violence in the bud. All together, there were 8,500 men on hand to quell the demonstrators if necessary. On the Pentagon roofs, federal marshals, Defense Department guards and Army riflemen crouched uneasily, weapons at hand, radios at the ready, field glasses constantly scanning the ground below, while helicopters fluttered overhead with cameras clicking.

April 12, 1968

LYNDON JOHNSON’S renunciation of a second term as President dumfounded all but a score of relatives and top aides, who suspected that it might be coming. It was not included in the advance text of his bombing-pause speech. Only an hour before he went before the television cameras did he order a U.S. Army Signal Corps man to put his climactic words on the TelePrompTers. Even then, Johnson said, “I’m not going to know probably until I get in there whether I’m going to use that speech.”

April 19, 1968

Even as Washington and Hanoi conducted the delicate diplomatic exchanges that could lead to negotiations, the U.S. last week announced a major shift in the strategy of the Viet Nam war and named a new commander to carry it out. The strategy, set forth in his first press conference by Defense Secretary Clark Clifford, is a decision by the U.S. to turn the war gradually over to the South Vietnamese and to give them the firepower and backing to wage it effectively. The new man in Viet Nam is General Creighton W. (“Abe”) Abrams, 53, who will succeed General William C. West moreland, soon to return to Washington as Army Chief of Staff.

June 20, 1969

WHEN the President’s Midway announcement crackled over transistor radios tuned to the Armed Forces Viet Nam Network last week, few G.I.s even paused in their tasks to listen to it. Rumors of troop withdrawals had been making the rounds in the war zone since peace talks got under way in Paris a year ago; when nothing happened, the results were skepticism and indifference.

October 17, 1969

MORATORIUM” was scarcely a household word a couple of months ago. The dictionary definition is “a period of permissive or obligatory delay,” and to most people it meant a pause in paying one’s debts or in talking. Now, suddenly, “moratorium” has become the focus of national attention in its special 1969 sense: M-day, Oct. 15, a movement intended by its organizers and supporters to show the Nixon Administration that large and growing numbers of Americans want out of the Viet Nam war as fast as possible.

October 24, 1969

THEIR numbers were not overwhelming. Probably not many more than 1,000,000 Americans took an active part in last week’s Moratorium Day demonstrations against the Viet Nam war; that is barely half of 1 % of the U.S. population. Yet M-day 1969 was a peaceful protest without precedent in American history because of who the participants were and how they went about it. It was a calm, measured and heavily middle-class statement of weariness with the war that brought the generations together in a kind of sedate Woodstock Festival of peace.

May 18, 1970

Both the eruption of protest and the reaction to it mocked Nixon’s still unfulfilled promise to lead the nation “forward together.” Not only were there rending, sometimes bloody clashes between peace demonstrators and peace officers, but a scattering of vicious brawls set citizen against citizen as well.

Dec. 7, 1970

On Oct. 7, President Nixon proposed “the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of war held by both sides.” (Laird said last week that Saigon holds 35,000 P.O.W.s to the enemy’s 3,000.) When that got no response, the U.S. turned again to the Ivory Coast alternative.

April 12, 1971

LEUT. WILLIAM CALLEY’S secretary, Mrs. Shirley Sewell, had just come back to his apartment with the 1971 tags for Calley’s Volkswagen and motorboat. Calley had just got up from a nap when Captain Brooks Doyle Jr., his young deputy military counsel, walked through the door. “They’ve got a verdict, Rusty,” Doyle said. Calley stopped in his tracks, his face a mask of fear, his right fist pounding into his left palm. “So they’re finally ready,” he mumbled, turning into the bedroom to don his Army greens. Half an hour later, Calley walked shakily before the six-man jury, saluted and heard the verdict: on three counts, guilty of premeditated murder of at least 22 Vietnamese civilians; on the fourth count, guilty of assault with intent to commit murder on a child approximately two years old.

June 28, 1971

THE issues were momentous, the situation unprecedented. The most massive leak of secret documents in U.S. history had suddenly exposed the sensitive inner processes whereby the Johnson Administration had abruptly escalated the nation’s most unpopular—and unsuccessful—war. The Nixon Government, battling stubbornly to withdraw from that war at its own deliberate pace, took the historic step of seeking to suppress articles before publication, and threatened criminal action against the nation’s most eminent newspaper.

Apr. 17, 1972

Back in 1969, when Vietnamization was put into effect, the Nixon Administration had realized that the policy would eventually be put to a violent test. The time, it reckoned, would come after the U.S. had ceased to have a significant ground combat capability in Viet Nam, and before the November 1972 elections. More recently, U.S. intelligence had forecast that the Communist assault would come some time between February and April or May, when the monsoon rains begin the annual conversion of much of Indochina into a sea of mud.

May 22, 1972

The President began considering new military moves soon after Communist troops swept across the DMZ with tanks and heavy artillery on Easter Sunday, and too many South Vietnamese units crumpled with alarming speed. His choices included the resumption of massive bombing of the North, including possible air strikes against Hanoi itself, and the destruction of flood-preventing dikes. He could even send U.S. Marines into a hit-and-run attack above the DMZ to divert Hanoi’s troops. He considered urging the South Vietnamese to stage a similar raid or to counterattack across the zone.

October 30, 1972

ENDING THE WAR. A cease-fire freezing all forces in South Viet Nam “in place” and halting all military activity —including the U.S. bombing of North Viet Nam and the mining of its harbors —would be put into effect initially. Then negotiations would begin on the final withdrawal of all U.S. forces and the return of the American prisoners of war. Possibly the talks would eventually extend to the related wars in Cambodia and Laos.

February 5, 1973

The President mentioned achieving “peace with honor,” but it is a dubious and troubling phrase to apply to Viet Nam. No matter what honor the U.S. could still extract from that cruel battleground, honor must now be sought at home as much as abroad. As Kissinger put it in his briefing: “Together with healing the wounds in Indochina, we can begin to heal the wounds in America.”

March 31, 1975

Thieu’s decision to give up the provinces was a gritty gamble that he could improve his country’s defensive posture by what he clearly hoped would be a last retreat. Yet to many Americans who fought in Viet Nam, the surrender brought anguished remembrances.

May 12, 1975

In the end, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese poured into Saigon, raised the flag of the Provisional Revolutionary Government and took into custody South Vietnamese President Duong Van Minh and Premier Vu Van Mao. For many Americans, it was like a death that had long been expected, but was shocking when it finally happened.

April 15, 1985

And so ten years ago this month, the North Vietnamese swept down the map like the blade of a guillotine. They came in full divisions, with artillery and tanks. They banged across the countryside like Patton. It was no longer the endless, hallucinatory Viet Nam at all, but blitzkrieg, Western war, all of those years of inconclusive struggle finished off briskly in a short, surreal spring.

Aprl 30, 1990

Normal relations between the U.S. and Vietnam could contribute to peace and cooperation in Southeast Asia and to maintaining the independence of this area .

April 24, 1995

Because Vietnam was a hot war in the midst of a cold war, it was afflicted with contradictions. On the one hand, America’s leaders assumed they had to fight; but at the same time, the U.S. had to fight within tight, self-set limits, fearful that using too much force would prompt China to intervene.

One of the most important stories that LIFE Magazine would ever cover was the Vietnam War. From sending photographers to the trenches to covering the stories of draft dodgers and deserters, LIFE Magazines during the 1960s explored every aspect of the most highly televised conflict in history. LIFE Magazine would do it’s part to shape the story, as well.

Life Magazine (October 27, 1961) Advisers in Vietnam, mans eye

Life Magazine (January 25, 1963) Mekong Delta

Life Magazine (November 15, 1963) South Vietnam soldiers

Life Magazine (March 20, 1964) Henry Cabot Lodge in Vietnam

Life Magazine (June 12, 1964) Patrol in Vietnam

Life Magazine (August 21, 1964) South Vietnam’s General Khanh

Life Magazine (November 27, 1964) Vietnam GIs

Life Magazine (April 16, 1965) U.S. helicopter crew, Yankee Papa

Life Magazine (July 2, 1965) Wounded marine evacuated in Vietnam

Life Magazine (August 6, 1965) U.S. Navy vs. Vietcong

Life Magazine, August 20, 1965 – Draft inductees

In the summer of 1969 I got my induction papers from Uncle Sam; I think it read: “I Want You”

Life Magazine (November 26, 1965) Vietcong prisoner

A Vietcong prisoner, captured during the battle at Cape Batangan, under guard as he awaits transfer to a U.S. POW compound.

Life Magazine (January 14, 1966) Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh and Pham Van Dong

Life Magazine (February 11, 1966) Wounded GIs in Vietnam

Life Magazine (February 25, 1966) Dawn mission over South Vietnam

Life Magazine (October 28, 1966) Wounded marine

Life Magazine (November 4, 1966) President Johnson goes to Vietnam

About four years after this photo, Vice President Spiro Agnew paid a visit to Vietnam. Our unit provided security around Saigon before his arrival.

Life Magazine (January 13, 1967) Navy patrol in Mekong River

Life Magazine (March 10, 1967) U.S. paratroopers over Vietnam

Life Magazine (April 7, 1967) Hanoi air-raid alert

Life Magazine (May 26, 1967) General Lew Walt

Life Magazine (August 25, 1967) Marine and young Vietnamese friend

Life Magazine (October 27, 1967) GI at Con Thien

Life Magazine (February 16, 1968) North Vietnamese soldiers

Life Magazine (March 22, 1968) Ho Chi Minh

Life Magazine (November 8, 1968) Vietnam war victim, This girl tron

Life Magazine (June 27, 1969) American dead in Vietnam

One of LIFE’s most memorable stories was from an issue published on June 27, 1969. Editor-in-chief Hedley Donovan approved a yearbook-like spread of photos of the 242 soldiers who died in Vietnam between May 28 and June 3. That feature did what the editor hoped – it burned into the American consciousness the young faces of the men who fought.

Life Magazine (September 6, 1969) Woodstock

The Woodstock festival was a protest to pull soldiers from the Vietnam War.

Life Magazine (October 24, 1969) Composite: Dissent

Life Magazine (May 15, 1970) Wounded Kent State student

Some of the students who were shot had been protesting against the American invasion of Cambodia, which President Richard Nixon announced in a television address on April 30.

Life Magazine (May 22, 1970) Composite: Our Forgotten Wounded

Life Magazine (January 29, 1971) Bob Hope

I was very fortunate to be able to attend the Bob Hope USO Christmas Show in 1970. It was by far my fondest memory of my Vietnam tour…

Life Magazine (March 12, 1971) South Vietnamese soldiers in Laos

Life Magazine, January 21, 1972 – Single U.S. Vietnam casualty in a week

Life Magazine (May 12, 1972) Vietnam soldier carries wounded buddy

Life Magazine (November 10, 1972) Navy POW

Life Magazine (June 1, 1979) Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now

When I saw this issue of LIFE on a magazine rack in 1979, it definitely got my attention. It had an article about a movie to be released August 15th of that year featuring the unit (1st Squadron 9th Cavalry) I served with in Vietnam.

The 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry troopers earned three Medals of Honor in Vietnam.

SKIDGEL, DONALD SIDNEY

Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Troop D, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division.

Place and date: Near Song Be, Republic of Vietnam, 14 September 1969.

Entered service at: Bangor, Maine.

Born: 13 October 1948, Caribou, Maine.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Skidgel distinguished himself while serving as a reconnaissance section leader in Troop D. On a road near Song Be in Binh Long Province, Sgt. Skidgel and his section with other elements of his troop were acting as a convoy security and screening force when contact occurred with an estimated enemy battalion concealed in tall grass and in bunkers bordering the road. Sgt.Skidgel maneuvered off the road and began placing effective machinegun fire on the enemy automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenade positions. After silencing at least 1 position, he ran with his machinegun across 60 meters of bullet-swept ground to another location from which he continued to rake the enemy positions. Running low on ammunition, he returned to his vehicle over the same terrain. Moments later he was alerted that the command element was receiving intense automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenade and mortar fire. Although he knew the road was saturated with enemy fire, Sgt. Skidgel calmly mounted his vehicle and with his driver advanced toward the command group in an effort to draw the enemy fire onto himself. Despite the hostile fire concentrated on him, he succeeded in silencing several enemy positions with his machinegun. Moments later Sgt. Skidgel was knocked down onto the rear fender by the explosion of an enemy rocket-propelled grenade. Ignoring his extremely painful wounds, he staggered back to his feet and placed effective fire on several other enemy positions until he was mortally wounded by hostile small arms fire. His selfless actions enabled the command group to withdraw to a better position without casualties and inspired the rest of his fellow soldiers to gain fire superiority and defeat the enemy. Sgt. Skidgel’s gallantry at the cost of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

Walker Jones‘ Saber Article
May/June 2002

Dear Troopers and Family,

We have great news! Our close family just got larger. And we all have recently, by proxy, received a huge dose of pride to boot. I had the distinct honor (and luck) to be present on 1 May at the White House Rose Garden when President BUSH presented the Medal of Honor (posthumously) to the wife and daughters of CPT Jon Edward SWANSON (B Trp, ’70-71). CPT SWANSON and his gunner/observer, SSG Larry G. HARRISON were killed on Feb. 26, 1971 when their OH-6A (“Loach”) was shot down in Cambodia. The 1-9th Cambodia incursion in ’71 supported “Task Force 333″ concurrently with the infamous “Lam Son 719″ in Laos – I presume we were there to keep the NVA in Cambodia occupied; well, they kept us quite occupied, as any Trooper from those days can attest! These two men’s remains were only recently located and identified. The mission to award Jon with the MOH was apparently quite independent, but coincidental, with the finding and identification of his and HARRISON’s remains, which were indistinguishable and thus were buried together on 3 May. CPT SWANSON was B Trp’s Scout Plt Ldr (Sabre White) while HARRISON was the Scout Plt Sgt (White Mike); the top Scout leadership in the Troop died together.

CPT Jon E. SWANSON

I was already in D.C. on business that week and had earlier received a heads-up from Al DeFLERON of the Bullwhip Squadron Assn about the MOH plans and Arlington interment. After a mad series of cell phone exchanges, I met up with 3 other former 1-9th pilots (Vietnam) to witness the President’s presentation of the MOH in the Rose Garden on May 1. At the White House gates, I joined Jack SHIELDS (B Trp XO, CO, ’70-71), and James “Jim” KURTZ (A, C Trp Cobra pilot, ’70-71, 5235 Nottinghill Lane, Fairfax, VA 22032 ), then met Jack MORRISSEY (A Trp pilot, ’68 ). Jim KURTZ pulled some strings to get us in at the last minute, but due to the short notice, “the word” couldn’t get out in time to get others “vetted” by White House staff. Mike SLONIKER , Vietnam Helicopter Pilots’ Assn (VHPA) Historian, with lots of Pentagon and Arlington experience, and who is a champion of Vietnam helicopter crews, told me that this lack of notice is typical. Too bad, as I believe many dozens would have made the trip. Amy COLEMAN with the Office of Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army did a wonderful job of herding us around to the multitude of additional events. A photo of the presentation is at .

Jon’s wife, Sandee SWANSON, and their beautiful daughters, Holly Christine WALKER and Brigid Eileen Swanson-JONES seemed to be knocked out to find us there among the crowd of dignitaries and families, us sporting our Stetsons. They were hungry to know what type of war their hero husband/dad had fought and sacrificed. I’m sure each of us felt like me – so surprised and so honored just to be there and be so … welcomed. That was not what I was expecting. Jack SHIELDS, Jon’s XO at the time he was killed, had traveled from Arkansas, and found himself the only person present who had been there that day in 1971 and knew Jon when he was killed (both had also served their first tours together with D/3-5 Cav, 9th Inf Div). Jack was inundated with questions. Jack also attended Thursday’s activities with Jon’s family, which included CPT SWANSON’s induction into the Hall of Heros at the Pentagon: see . He also kept telling me that B Trp’s CO, MAJ LOTT – who put Jon in for the MOH – should be sharing in this tremendous event, but he couldn’t be located in time.

It was a perfect spring day in the Rose Garden. Dogwoods and azaleas in full bloom (I left s. Texas at 100 degrees). Jon would have been 60 years old on this day. About 60 of Jon SWANSON’s family were present and I think we must have been introduced to all of them – they are all such wonderful people. This family was already “together” before they ever gathered for this event. Great family – now OUR family, or rather we are now THEIR family. There were also lots of heavy duty dignitaries present, including Army Chief of Staff GEN SHINSECKI who is also a Vietnam Vet – rare among General Officers these days – and SGT Major of the Army (SMA) Jack TILLEY (both pictured with Sandee SWANSON at the website above). Nick BACON, president of the Medal of Honor Society, was there along with 3 three other MOH winners. They are fine folks, as one would expect.

I should mention that the MOH ceremony was for two men – CPT (Dr.) Ben L. SALOMON was honored for his bravery on Saipan in WW2. Sadly, no living relatives could be located, but several of his college classmates and their families made it their business to attend. SALOMAN’s classmate and champion, Dr. Robert WEST, accepted the MOH from President BUSH.

The MOH citation for CPT Jon E. SWANSON states: “On February 26, 1971, Captain Jon E. SWANSON was flying an OH-6A aircraft on a close support reconnaissance mission in support of Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) Task Force 333 in the Kingdom of Cambodia. Two well equipped enemy regiments were known to be in the area, and Captain SWANSON’s mission was to pinpoint precise enemy positions. To accomplish this mission, he was required to fly at treetop level at a slow airspeed, thus making his aircraft a very vulnerable target. The advancing ARVN unit came under heavy automatic weapons fire from the enemy bunkers in a treeline approximately 100 meters to their front. Captain SWANSON, completely exposing himself to enemy anti-aircraft fire, immediately engaged the enemy bunkers with SSG HARRISON’s concussion grenades and machine gun fire.”

“After the crew destroyed five bunkers and successfully evaded ground-to-air fire, Swanson, he discovered a .51 caliber machine gun position. He had expended his heavy ordnance on the bunkers and did not have sufficient explosives to destroy the positions. Consequently, he directed SSG HARRISON mark the position with a smoke grenade and directed a Cobra gunship attack on the position. Upon completion of the attack, he again returned to the area to assess the battle damage. Captain SWANSON found the weapon still intact and an enemy soldier crawling over to man it. He immediately directed HARRISON to engage the individual and killing him. His aircraft was then taken under fire by a second .51 caliber machine gun position.”

“Although his aircraft had sustained several hits, Captain SWANSON engaged the position with his aircraft weapons, marked the target, and directed a second Cobra gunship attack. He volunteered to continue the mission despite the fact that he was critically low on ammunition and his aircraft was crippled from the hits it sustained. While approaching the target area, Captain SWANSON was taken under fire by yet another .51 caliber position. In an effort to mark the position with smoke, he again flew into the objective area. Although his aircraft was taking heavy fire, he continued to fly to the .51 caliber position. It was at this point that his aircraft exploded in the air and crashed to the ground. Captain SWANSON’s courageous actions resulted in at least eight enemy killed and the destruction of three enemy anti-aircraft positions, which would have been responsible for the destruction of many more helicopters and crews.”

“Many attempts were made to recover the crew. Another helicopter landed near the site, but was forced to take off when it came under heavy enemy fire. Repeated attempts by both ARVN ground troops and U.S. helicopters to reach the downed helicopter were thwarted by enemy fire. On February 27, U.S. helicopters returned to the area and saw what they believed to be two remains near the crash site. As late as March 7, the remains were observed near the crash site, but could not be recovered due to enemy fire.”

President Bush’s statement can be found at the White House website at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/05/print/20020501-11.html.

On Friday, May 3, Mark “Babysan” HILTON (C Trp Lift pilot, ’70-71) piloted his UT-1 Camry to PZ Falls Church to load up Bill MOELLER (C Trp, avionics, ’70-71, Rockville, MD ), Jesse JAMES (C Trp, HHT engine mechanic, ’69-70, Prince George, VA ) and myself, for transport to LZ Ft. Myer for the memorial service for SWANSON and HARRISON. The chapel service was punctuated by Jon’s daughter Brigid’s courageous statement that ended with a “Welcome Home” to us all. I lost it then. Like I said, we have a great new family addition with whom we should establish and sustain contact.

The service was followed by a procession to the interment site led by military band and color guard and the horse-drawn caisson carrying the flag-draped casket. They were fittingly buried together with full military honors. Quite something to witness. There were lots of Cav Hats there, but I cannot possibly know who they all were. Some folks represented Jon’s first tour Unit. 1-9th guys I knew included Bob TREDWAY (C Trp CO ’69-70, 409 N. Street SW, Washington, DC 20024-3701, ) and John POWELL (C Trp Scout and Cobra pilot, ’69-71, Stafford, VA ). Mike “Loadhacker” SLONIKER (VHPA historian and former CAV pilot) led a few of us to pay homage at the gravesite of our hero, Ron TIMBERLAKE). Also there was my bud, former President of the Vietnam Helicopter Crewmembers’ Assn. , Chris WHITE , who drove down from Baltimore. Former VHPA president and SWANSON’s flight school classmate, Tom PAYNE (, was there and has produced a great website tribute to Jon at . And Joe GALLOWAY, co-author of “We Were Soldiers Once … And Young” was also there with his own Cav Hat!

I was also very proud to see that the present day 9th Cavalry continues to recognize their legacy. Attending all events last week were the following 1-9th soldiers from Ft. Hood: Btn CO, LTC Roger MCDONALD, CSM Walter SMITH, B Co CO, CPT Jack CRABTREE, and B Co 1SG Everett CLARK. LTC MCDONALD led the incredible welcome we received at the 9th Cav luncheon during last year’s First Cav. Div. Assn. reunion in Killeen/Ft. Hood.

CPT SWANSON became the third 1-9th Cav Trooper to be awarded the MOH. The other two are SGT Donald S. SKIDGEL, Trp D, 14 Sept ’69, and 1LT Robert L. POXON, Trp B, 2 June 1969. Each died as a result of their heroism.