Thank A Vietnam Vet Today, It's National Vietnam War Veterans Day Today

It was a war that I never thought would get over.  It started when I was in junior high, went all the way through high school and all the way through college.  I thought it would still be going on today.  There just was no end in sight as we continued the buildup for all those years from 1963 to 1973.

It was my war as I came really close to having to go.  I gad a draft lottery number of 22 and was graduating from college in May 1973, but the last fighting troops were pulled out March 29, 1973.  So, I was that close.

Not that I was against the war, just it is my belief that if you go to war, you fight to win it as soon as possible and you do whatever you have to do to accomplish those goals, no matter how mad they are.

I have written about my experiences with the Vietnam War in past blog entries.  Click on My Vietnam War Experience in the labels below to see what I have written.

A Hard and Long War.

My Vietnam War Experience-- Part 5: The Cambodian "Incursion" and Kent State

Protests against the Vietnam War continued at Northern Illinois and across the country.  Some of the other schools had their protests turn quite violent, but not so much in DeKalb.

However, on April 30, 1970, President Nixon went on TV to say we had had an "incursion" into Cambodia to cut off supplies the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese were receiving in South Vietnam.  The Ho Chi Minh Trail.  Well this set off a powder keg of protests at colleges all across the country, including at Northern.

It all came to a head on May 4, when National Guardsmen opened fire on students protesting at Kent State University in Ohio and four were killed and several wounded.  Some of the students had been protesting, others watching and some walking by on the way to and from classes.

Things got violent at campuses all over the country, although NIU was tense, but there was no violence.

That is until Father Groppi, a noted civil rights activist from Milwaukee, was going to come to campus.  That is when we started hearing that the anti-war people were planning some really big things.

If you want to read all my previous posts on this, hit the My Vietnam War Experience label below.

Things Really Heating Up.  --RoadDog

My Vietnam War Experience-- Part 4: Pledging Delta Sigma Phi

Continued from August 7, 2017.

In the spring semester 1970, I pledged Delta Sigma Phi fraternity at Northern Illinois University.  Tension on campus continued to get worse as the Vietnam War dragged on.  There was quite a bit of this anti-war sentiment that flowed over to anti-establishment and fraternities and sororities were viewed as "The Establishment," so our groups came under increasing fire from the others.

I had a great time during pledging and I have to admit that my grades slipped quite a bit.  To put it mildly, we partied a whole lot.  Delta Sig pledges had to carry this big old empty bomb shell around campus and protect it, or dire consequences if it got "stolen."  It was painted green with our Greek letters on it.  We never lost it.

Of course, failing college was a REAL Good way to get yourself to Vietnam via Uncle Sam's Draft.  You flunk, you get shot.

The frat house was on Augusta Avenue, east of campus (44 Augusta?).

Anyway, I became an active in April.

Hoddy Toddy, God-Almighty, Who the Hell Are We?  We're the Delta Sigs.  --RoadDog

Ken Burn's Vietnam War

I have been watching as much of this series on PBS as I can.  Another excellent effort from Mt. Burns.  I am of that era and have found out more about it than I ever knew.

I like how he goes back to the beginning of the French colonization and traces it to the 1960s and American intervention to stop the spread of Communism.  So far, I come away with the idea that Ho Chi Minh was the George Washington of his country and the Viet Cong were the Patriots.

But, he gives the story from all sides: the enemy, the soldiers, the government, the generals, the grunts, the ant-war movement and so on.

I have already been writing about my experience in the war, though I did not fight in Vietnam, i sure came close.

Click on the My Vietnam War Experience to see prior blog posts and I will have more.

--RoadNam

My Vietnam War Experience-- Part 3: Much Anti-War Feelin at NIU

OK, so now I am out of Palatine High School and a freshman at Northern Illinois University.  This is fall 1969 and the war in Vietnam is escalating.  It was a subject of discussion at high school, but now, on campus, this was a really big deal.

We had those opposed to the war and those for it.  Of course, the draft loomed high and wide over every boy's future.  Flunk out of college and go to Vietnam.  That is a horrible punishment for failing at school.

We had anti-war marches and one time the marchers went past Lincoln Hall, my dormitory and someone was carrying a North Vietnamese flag.  This was too much for some of my floormates, protest the war, but never ever fly the enemy flag.   Several members of our floor,  Lincoln Hall 3A at NIU, we called ourselves the Keggers, charged outside, grabbed the flag and ran back to the dorm floor.  Some of the protesters followed until they saw a lot of us standing in their way.

They beat a hasty retreat.

I will continue this next month.

Not the Best of Times.  --RoadDog

My Vietnam War Experience-- Part 2: It's Draft Time

That war goes on forever.  Most boys were going to get drafted coming out of high school, unless you went to college (or had a high draft lottery number).  A whole lot of boys who hadn't planned on going to college all of a sudden decided to go to college and get that beautiful student deferment.

I had planned on being a teacher since I was seven years old and that meant going to college, so I was ok there.

Maybe the war would be over by the time I got out of college.  Foolish boy.

Then, the draft became the draft lottery.  Birthdays were taken and put in a big drum and dates pulled.  We high school boys watched that intently, hoping that we would not get pulled early.  The earlier you were pulled, the more likely you had a one-way ticket to Vietnam.

The first time they had it, I was not eligible because of age.  May 24th came up #31.  I would have to go to Vietnam had I been eligible.  But, if I got the low number this time, perhaps next time I would have a nice high number.

The year that I was eligible, my birthday was pulled #22.

So Much for the Odds.  --RoadDog

My Vietnam War Experience-- Part 1: The War That Wouldn't End

This past May and June I wrote about different Vietnam War veterans giving their reminiscences of that war.

Well, for me, it wasn't an experience in South Vietnam.  The war ended before I graduated from college.  But, I was fairly sure the war would be going on even now with the way we were fighting it.  Had it continued past 1973, I was going to be there.

I really wasn't so much against the war in junior high and part of high school. The war started when I was in junior high at Winston Park in Palatine, Illinois, and went all the way through those two years.  Then it continued all the way through high school at Fremd and Palatine.  Surely it has to end at some point.  No war goes on forever, or so I thought.  But no, it didn't and was only showing signs of escalating instead of coming to an end.

I always felt that the war might have ended in the 1964 election had Barry Goldwater been elected.  I know the North Vietnamese must have been afraid of him when he said he would begin bombing Hanoi.  President Johnson in the election didn't say what he was going to do as far as bombing.  Johnson won in a landslide and soon began bombing Hanoi.

--RoadDog

40th Anniversary of Kent State-- Part 2: NIU Got Violent

I will be continuing this story on my Cooter's History Thing Blog http://cootershistorything.blogspot.com.

I had thought that the violence at Northern Illinois University had started within a few days after Kent State. There was unrest, but the real frightening times didn't erupt until almost two weeks later.

I definitely thought I was witnessing the end of the United States at the time. I'll never forget watching the students and police clash by Lincoln Hall, where I lived, and then the explosions that took place west of the dorm by the physical plant.

Quite a Scary Time to Live Through. --RoadDog

OXYMORONS: Is it good if a vacuum really sucks?

40th Anniversary of Kent State Today

On May 4, 1970, Ohio National Guard troops at Kent State University opened fire on an Anti-Vietnam War rally and killed four and wounded eleven others. This ignited protests and violence at college campuses all across the United States.

I was a freshman at Northern Illinois University at the time. I didn't like the war, which I thought was never going to end. It started when I was in 7th grade and went on all through high school and showed no signs of letting up. Actually it was getting worse. A few days earlier, President Nixon had announced that the US was attacking Cambodia to cut off supply routes.

This set off a new wave of protest and marches.

The war was particularly looming for males my age because of the draft. There was a lottery where every year boys turning 18 had their birthdays placed in a drum and pulled to give a number. The lower your number, the more likely you were to be drafted.

I was too young for the first lottery and was #31. I was hoping that since this was very low, I'd get a high number for when it counted. Not with my luck. I was #22. That meant go to college or Vietnam. Since I wanted to be a teacher, college was definitely already in my plans. But a lot of boys were there to avoid the draft.

To Be Continued. --RoadDog



My wife said, "Whatcha doing today?"
I said, "Nothing."
She said, "You did that yesterday."
I said, "I wasn't finished."

I Was a Marine For a Short Time --Part 2

Like I was saying, I was going to be drafted and in all likelihood, going to Vietnam. I figured that if I was going, I might as well go as an officer, so I started looking around at officer candidate programs in the Armed Forces.

I selected the Marine Corps which offered me a second lieutenancy upon graduation of college and six months more of basic. I would have to go to two six week courses at Quantico, Va., outside of Washington, DC. The first between sophomore and junior year and the second between junior and senior.

I signed up and spent six of the hardest weeks of my life in 1971. The first three, I just could do anything Corps-style and had enough drill instructor time to last a lifetime. Those guys were rough. Fortunately, I had gone through pledging a fraternity and with the treatment I got there, I was able to handle the stuff they'd do and in-your-face. Other guys in my platoon had not pledged and found this difficult.

I transferred from Northern Illinois University to the University of Georgia for junior year. I was known as the "guy with no hair" because of my USMC haircut. Remember, this was still the time of the hippies. I decided to finish college at Northern, but had to take some extra courses at Georgia the summer between junior and senior years so contacted my person in OCS, Officer Candidate School, and thought I had it worked out so that I would be able to do my six weeks after graduation and then the six months of basic.

However, I must not have, because several months later I received my Honorable Discharge. Evidently, with the war actually winding down, believe it or not, they didn't need that many more second louies.

With such a short service, I really don't consider myself a veteran, although I can still join the American Legion.

So that Was My Short Time in the Corps. --RoadDog

I Was a Marine For a Short Time --Part 1

I was a Marine for a very, very short time.

I didn't think the Vietnam War would EVER end. It really got hot while I was in junior high school and went all the way through my high school years and college.

The first year they had the draft lottery, I wasn't eligible, and I had the number 31. I was happy with that as I figured the next year, when it would count, I'd surely get a higher number.

Wrong!!! The year it counted, I was number 22. I was getting an all-expense paid "vacation" to Vietnam compliments of Uncle Sam. That is, I'd go after college. I had always intended to go to college anyway, something you had to do if you wanted to be a teacher. But , that war just WASN'T going to end. And after four years, I would be eligible for the draft, and with a 22, I was gone.

Stay Tuned. --RoadDog