A Little Piece of History...
Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:23 pm
There have been a couple of poignant references to 'fathers and sons' on the Forum today, so...
I wanted to share with you what is perhaps the most historically important 'family heirloom' in my possession...I thought it was lost until this past October, when I found it amongst my mom's belongings as we were closing her apartment in preparation for the painfully difficult moving of her into an Alzheimer's facility...
This is a book by the famous war cartoonist/correspondent Bill Mauldin, which he published in 1965. Towards the end of the book, Mauldin describes, in cartoons and words, the attack on Camp Holloway at Pleiku in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. He was visiting his son, a 'Huey' pilot stationed there at the time. On the morning of Sunday, Feb. 7, 1965, at 2 am, the camp was attacked by a mortar barrage that lasted somewhere around ten minutes. Approximately 80 rounds of 'captured' (read:Black Market) American-made 81mm rounds were dropped into the 'bivouac' area, with an accuracy that suggested detailed mapping of the camp had been carried out earlier. Viet Cong 'sappers' then entered the camp and destroyed several helicopters with 'satchel charges'. The American contingent suffered 8 KIA's and 166 wounded. This was the event that precipitated, as retaliation, the first bombing of the North - Operation 'Flaming Dart', and the subsequent Operation 'Rolling Thunder' which lasted throughout the summer of '65. As some might recall from my early postings on the subject, my dad was a platoon Sgt. and left-door gunner at Holloway, and 4 of the 8 KIA's were young kids in his platoon. Dad was hit from behind across the length of his body by shrapnel...the bigger pieces were removed in the hospital he was medivaced to the next day, but I can remember him pulling pieces of metal from the back of his neck for the rest of his life...
At some point during that dreadful early morning, dad collided with Mauldin in the dark...they spent the next couple of hours hauling wounded on stretchers to the tiny dispensary. During one of these deliveries, a medic said, "Hey Sarge, turn around...okay, sit down, you're next." Mauldin went back for more wounded, but promised dad he would visit him later in the hospital.
Mauldin kept his word, tracking dad down a few days later...
Later in '65, Mauldin's book came out, and my mom got it for my dad that Christmas...what follows is the portion of the book dealing with the attack, and a few comments by way of clarification...
I wanted to share with you what is perhaps the most historically important 'family heirloom' in my possession...I thought it was lost until this past October, when I found it amongst my mom's belongings as we were closing her apartment in preparation for the painfully difficult moving of her into an Alzheimer's facility...
This is a book by the famous war cartoonist/correspondent Bill Mauldin, which he published in 1965. Towards the end of the book, Mauldin describes, in cartoons and words, the attack on Camp Holloway at Pleiku in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. He was visiting his son, a 'Huey' pilot stationed there at the time. On the morning of Sunday, Feb. 7, 1965, at 2 am, the camp was attacked by a mortar barrage that lasted somewhere around ten minutes. Approximately 80 rounds of 'captured' (read:Black Market) American-made 81mm rounds were dropped into the 'bivouac' area, with an accuracy that suggested detailed mapping of the camp had been carried out earlier. Viet Cong 'sappers' then entered the camp and destroyed several helicopters with 'satchel charges'. The American contingent suffered 8 KIA's and 166 wounded. This was the event that precipitated, as retaliation, the first bombing of the North - Operation 'Flaming Dart', and the subsequent Operation 'Rolling Thunder' which lasted throughout the summer of '65. As some might recall from my early postings on the subject, my dad was a platoon Sgt. and left-door gunner at Holloway, and 4 of the 8 KIA's were young kids in his platoon. Dad was hit from behind across the length of his body by shrapnel...the bigger pieces were removed in the hospital he was medivaced to the next day, but I can remember him pulling pieces of metal from the back of his neck for the rest of his life...
At some point during that dreadful early morning, dad collided with Mauldin in the dark...they spent the next couple of hours hauling wounded on stretchers to the tiny dispensary. During one of these deliveries, a medic said, "Hey Sarge, turn around...okay, sit down, you're next." Mauldin went back for more wounded, but promised dad he would visit him later in the hospital.
Mauldin kept his word, tracking dad down a few days later...
Later in '65, Mauldin's book came out, and my mom got it for my dad that Christmas...what follows is the portion of the book dealing with the attack, and a few comments by way of clarification...
