A Minnesota PBS Initiative
My Search For The True Story Of My Viet Nam Experience
As all of us have rolled in to our 50's, some of us have started thinking about Viet Nam again, I certainly have.
As I thought about my experiences over my short time (lucky me) in Nam, March 23, 1968 to May 15, 1968, including in country hospital time, I questioned the accuracy of my memory - did a grenade really bounce off my arm, did the round that hit my shoulder really go through a guys helmet first, and was seeing someone, probably Steve Draper, throwing rocks at a squad member who was trying to take a dump my first experience with my squad.
The questions started chewing at me and when that happens I have to find the answers, so I started a search about 3 years ago. My search put me in touch with you guys for the first time in over 35 years.
I questioned the accuracy of my memory. Did a grenade really bounce off my arm? Did the round that hit my shoulder really go through a guy's helmet first?
I started out not remembering any names, but I did remember something about each of the other 6 guys who I thought were in my squad - what happened to the 10 or 12 man squads. I also had a copy of my 214.
The first thing I did was to contact the Defense Dept. to try to get a company roster for the time period I was In Country. No luck, they said the day reports (I think that is what they are called) were missing for that time period. They did send me a bunch of stuff that appeared to be supply reports which were of no help.
Next I sent a request to St Louis for my records. After 4 or 5 months I received a copy of my DD214, DA20, and the orders for the medals I received for my services in Nam, Air Medal, CIB, Purple Heart, ect. The orders had multiple names or them and I found one I recognized, Dennie Treadway. He was my only clue from the records.
Dennie and I were both replacements from Germany. We met on the flight back from Germany, did our one week Viet Nam training together at Ft Lewis, were both in Co. A (maybe the same platoon) and later in the same Co. serving out our time at Ft. Carson. I remembered he was from Arkansas and I tried to track him down. I couldn't find him and was at a dead end.
A few months later I fount the 1st Cav web site and better yet the 7th Cav site. On the 7th Cav site I looked for messages posted by guys were were in Co. A 2/7 during the spring of 1968 and found Tom Moon, Gary Redmond and Larry Montgomery. I emailed all 3 asking if they remembered the May 7 ambush and obviously they all did.
They all gave me some good information about what happened and some names - I think they all mentioned Sgt. Fosburg, which was the only name I recognized, but no one remembered me, I suppose I was still a FNG when I got hit. I did have a nice conversation with Gary right after the exchange of emails and he offered me some good insights of our time in the Nam.
About this same time I found the letters I had sent my Mother from Nam; I didn't know she had saved them. The letters gave me some dates and locations, for for some strange reason no names, and obviously not much information about what was going on. I had sent daily letters to one of my brothers, sort of a diary; however, after I had been back a couple of years he ask me if I wanted them and I gave him the typical 22 year old answer - No thanks throw they away - and he did.
This all took place late in 2000. I then dropped things for about a year. Late in 2001 I started looking at the 7th Cav site again and found Karl Oestrich's message.
We had a very good visit and watched his video, after which he gave me a copy. It was interesting actually seeing someone that I had spent time with in Nam.
His response to my first email to him was that he did not remember me and that he had been transfer around (A 2/7, mortars, liaison with the ARVN).
In my second email to him I mentioned that my hole was overran the night of the 7th. His response was that he remembered talking to me the next morning, probably because we were both from Indiana (he described me as having curly hair - true, tattered pants - maybe, and that I told him that I had been very scared - no way, to macho to say that (ha-ha)).
Karl had a movie camera in Nam and has put together an interesting video that combines the movie footage and still shots.
Editor's Note: The images in this story are from the video footage and stills shot by Karl Oestreich.
I visited Karl in the spring of 2002. He had a friend at the house when I arrived who also served in Nam, I think he was back up in case I was a deranged Vet. We had a very good visit and watched his video, after which he gave me a copy.
It was interesting actually seeing someone that I had spent time with in Nam. He seems to be doing great. I think most of you will remember that on our way to Khe Sanh, and a couple of days before I joined up, during an ambush Karl got cutoff from the remainder of the Company and was by himself for several hours before he managed to make it back after dark.
Karl sent my name to Andy (Doc) Metrando. Doc's response to him was that he remembered the hold being over ran and Sgt Fosburg being killed, but did not remember me. I did talk to Doc a couple of times. A couple of interesting things he told me are: he has a notebook from Nam in which he wrote down all of the names of the guys he treated and that someone from the company, I can't remember the name, is writing a book about his time in country.
In one of my emails to Karl I described the other 6 guys in my squad - one description was a guy from the south who had been living in South Bend, Indiana before being drafted.
He wrote back that I had described Elton Woods and that he had visited with Elton a few times over the years and that he lives in Alabama.
On the web I found 3 or 4 possibilities and started calling them. I think I got him on the second try. I talked to Elton a couple of times and he also reinforced my memories.
He gave me Steve Drapers name, who I described as a college kid from Washington State. He said that he had talk to Steve, who lives in the Seattle area, a couple of times, but the phone number had been changed and he could no longer reach him.
I remember Steve as a guy I spent a lot of time with. I tried to track him thru the web and the phone book without any luck; I was surprised how many Steve Drapers there are in Washington. I did remember that Steve was an education major in college, so as a last resort I called the Washington State Department of Education. Luck was with me, a very helpful lady checked the records and found a Steve Draper who is a teacher (Was - he retired this year.). She would not give me his phone number, but she did call him and the next day I received a call from the right Steve Draper.
Steve and I had a couple of very good conversations and our memories match up very well. In the spring of this year I was in Seattle on business and we got together for dinner. It was a delightful evening.
Steve and I had a couple of very good conversations and our memories match up very well. In the spring of this year I was in Seattle on business and we got together for dinner. It was a delightful evening. The new name I received from Steve was Gary Johnson, very slight clumsy guy who, despite all his efforts, had a hard time keeping up, architecture major in college. Steve and Gary went thru basic and AIT together, Gary is living in San Francisco, and they have been in contact over the years.
Steve reminded me that I had sent the squad a fifth of whiskey when I got back home. The real story is that one of my brothers had sent the bottle to me in Nam. I was gone by the time it got there so it was forwarded to me at the Ft Knox hospital; I was surprised that the mail guys didn't steal it. When I finally received it I sent it back over.
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Somewhere along the line I remembered that Sgt Fosburg, Rick, had been from Grand Rapids, Michigan. In August of this year I had a need to got to Grand Rapids on business. After some thought I decided to try to find out where he is buried and to visit the grave site. I called the city and was put in touch with a woman working at the library. In a few hours she called me back with the name of the cemetery and directions on how to get there.
A couple of days before my trip I thought I should try to contact someone from his family since I was with him when he died. I checked with a mortician friend who was in Nam and he said he thought it was a good idea. I went to the web and picked one of the 3 Fosburgs listed; as luck would have it the person I called was Rick's brother.
Paul Fosburg, who is 11 years older than Rick would be, said that he would be very interested in talking to me and would be happy to take me to the cemetery. Paul had been a member of the National Guard for 30 years, E-8. He told me that someone else had contacted him a few years back who knew Rick in Nam but the guy did not know the details of his death.
As I started to tell him the story it became apparent that he had heard at least part of it before. When I inquired about the source of his information he told me that, right after Rick's death, thru his army sources, he had made contact with the 1st Sgt of Co. A (I remember someone throwing a smoke grenade in his tent because he was not sending our beer rations to teh field.) and the 1st Sgt had sent him an account of Rick's death.
Paul seemed very appreciative of me making the effort to contact him and to receive confirmation of the story of Rick's death from someone who was with him. Although I was very apprehensive about meeting Paul, in the end I actually felt pretty good about it.
I have now accounted for all but one of the guys that I remember from the squad. Gary, Elton, Steve and I have managed to survive 35 years in the real world. Along with Sgt Fosburg, Shumate (Berlin Robert), another replacement from Germany, was a casualty on the 7th. The last guy who got hit in the shoulder my first day, on our way to Khe Sanh and I have no idea who he is. I think of another Sgt as being part of the squad (skinny, straight black hair, black piercing eyes), but he must have been the Platoon Sgt; someone suggested that this was Monfort, or something like that, but there was a Sgt Monfort killed on the 6th (no necessarily from our company) and I remember seeing this guy the morning after the 7th retrieving bodies.
Besides the serious stuff it had been fun remembering things like:
> Swimming in the river
> Holding on to a can of peaches until I got a can of pound cake
> My squad being on an observation point and having that "oh shit" feeling when something started to come out of the bush - a wild pig that someone proceeded to shoot, what a relief
> Burning shit - great job for the FNG
> Entering Khe Sanh and wondering what the Marines were complaining about with all of the bunkers and mind fields
> Seeing the plane coming into Khe Sanh to pick us up crash
> The British Broadcasting guys traveling with us
> Stepping into a hole and ripping the crotch out of my pants, which I had to wear for a few more days
> Wait a minute bushes when the crotch is ripped out of your pants
> Leaches
...
Visiting the cemetery and meeting Paul put my mind to rest and it felt like the end of my search. I have now put Viet Nam to "sleep", although I'm sure that it will come back to my thoughts much more than it did in the first 30 years after coming home.
...
This is what I pieced together regarding my most significant day in the Nam.
MAY 7th, 1968
According to Gary Redmond we relieved C Co. in the morning and were mortared on the LZ. My memory is that we had been dropped in the mountains a few days earlier, had worked our way down to the valley floor and were humping up out of the valley; I remember a muddy hill that we had a hard time getting up.
Gary was a squad leader and his squad was on point. We had gone most of the day without incident. The six point men had spend the day cutting thru thick growth. Late in the day we were on a ridge and his guys came to a clearing made by a bomb. He says that from the clearing he could see ridges on the left and right that connected in front of us. After taking five Gary was getting his folks ready to move out when they opened up on us. He immediately lost 2 guys and 3 others were wounded. He also remembers a brand new Lt getting hit.
Tom Moon was in Gary's squad. He remembers Elija Cox was one of the point men who was killed, although I did not find his name on the list of KIA's for May 7, Capt. Grubb was the Company Commander, Mike Martin was the radio man, and that Donald Furr was also there. He described Gary Johnson as I remember him. Tom remembers that the new 2nd Lt, a fat guy, led us in the ambush and that after he got gut shot Tom had to drag him back. Tom says that when their position got hit that night Gary saved the squads ass by blowing the claymore.
Biographical Details
Submitted From: Forest Lake, MN
Primary Location During Vietnam: Khe Sanh, Vietnam 
Story Subject: Military Service
Military Branch: U.S. Army
Dates of Service: 1966 - 1969
Unit: A 2/7 1ST CAV
Story Themes: 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, A 2/7 1st Cavalry, A Shau Valley, Army, Forest Lake, Harold Richey, Khe Sanh, Look, Reunion, WIA, Wounded in Action