Remembering Vietnam

"Only the soldier really lives the war," the CBS correspondent Eric Sevareid told his radio listeners in 1944, after years of covering World War II up close. "The journalist does not. He may share the soldier's outward life and dangers, but he cannot share his inner life because the same moral compulsion does not bear upon him. The observer knows he has alternatives of action; the soldier knows he has none. It is the mere knowing which makes the difference. Their worlds are very far apart, for one is free, the other a slave. The war must be seen to be believed, but it must be lived to be understood."

Vietnam

1968-69 and 1972-73

D Troop 2/1 CAV and 180th ASHC "Big Windy"

The intrepid Aviator as a young man.

1968 age 22 (on the left )...... VC Sapper (actually a Monitor lizard) on the right.

Don't get them confused!

Soldier eating tiger, laid to rest by D 2/1 CAV OH-6 Crew

This Tiger would kill and eat armed South, and probably North Vietnamese, soldiers at bridge defense sites around An Khe. When It got bad enough to cause the ARVN guards to refuse to go out of their main base at night, D 2/1 CAV went tiger hunting. After two days ( and another eaten civilian ) this tiger would dine no more. It was killed by Sp5 Jimmy Cregan, Scout door gunner. The human inhabitants were now free to kill each other without fear of being eaten in the process.

If there were things that would bite and eat you, there were also things that would choke you. Below is a python that slipped up on the Officer of the Guard at night. My hat lay next to the critter as a gauge of it's size.

Bobby Collins with a Juicy Peacock he caught near An Khe with his OH-6 Helicopter...slurp!

Wild Boar Dietary Supplement

Reverting to Primitive Man at Phan Thiet!

A comforting sight to "Grunts" and the last thing many North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers ever saw.

AH-1G "Cobra" Gunship

One of a helicopter pilot's worst nightmares.

A few friends.

David Klapper, Bobby Collins and Edward Whittkamper (Fast Eddie)

Dave's current whereabouts are unknown.

Bobby Collins was killed in an aircraft accident in the late 1980s while still on active duty in the Army.

Eddie Whittkamper was shot down North West of Phan Thiet RVN in Aug 1969. He was rescued, recovered from his many wounds and was medically retired from the Army.

Another photo of Bobby Collins, a former 2/1 CAV roommate and excellent pilot who had the patience to quickly teach me what I needed to survive in the skies over Vietnam.

Not just another day at the office!

HOPE!

Loose trail formation up into the mountains. Hope we don't take fire, hope the engine doesn't quit, hope we don't have to walk or fight our way out.

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