VIETNAM WAR

A Memoir

Peter Merry

 

This week's speaker at Rotary was Peter Merry. Peter handed out an article called The Tip of the Spear written by Lt Cl Jack Wells from the United States Marine Corps, an article which he's had since the Vietnam War. The goal of the article was to review the early war efforts and the impact on the young officers at the beginning of the war. Peter recounted how many of the early casualties were officers due to inexperience. When it was Peter's turn to go to training, he was lucky enough to go to Camp Lejeune and work with the men before being shipped off to the war. 

 

The bulk of Peter's presentation was an article that he wrote. Peter was smaller and wanted to test himself as a man after graduating college. There was no war at that time so there was no real risk to him. As the conflict in Vietnam grew, it became more and more apparent that he would likely be involved in combat. He signed up for the platoon leaders bootcamp course in 1966, graduated in 1967, then went off to basic training. At that point there would be a certainty that he would be sent to Vietnam. During this time, he started to research the background of the war (even though the US military refused to use that word at the time, preferring "police action"). It was clear to Peter that US policy failed to grasp the complexity of the Vietnamese people and their historical independence, fighting off invaders from Japan and China. To Peter, the United States and any installed South Vietnamese government were sure to be next invaders tossed aside.

 

Peter went into depth about the guerrilla capabilities of the Vietnamese military. He went into the conflict that the United States war effort that he believed was doomed to fail. He even went as far as to consider the war immoral, and he at one point considered going to prison because of these beliefs. Peter has great respect for those who went to prison for similar beliefs. He has no respect for the people who fled to Canada, though he has no ill will for them either. He decided to join the military but was vocal about his belief that the effort would not be successful. At the time there were 17,000 dead US servicemen and many others would die in vain. Like the other upcoming officers, he was sent to stateside work with troops. The only two exceptions at that time were the two highest scoring students. According to Peter one classmate who was sent early was killed two months later. The other became Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

 

His opposition became an issue when it was reported to the higher authorities at Camp Lejuene. He had to explain himself to a ranking officer who asked Peter if he was willing and able to carry out his duty. Peter said that he could and the issue was never brought up again. After 4 months in garrison stateside, the battalion went on a Caribbean cruise on board an aircraft carrier. Upon return, Peter was given his orders to go to Vietnam. He was initially part of the 1st MP Battalion in Da Nang, but opted to request reassignment to the 1st Recon battalion where he led long range patrols. His troops were inserted by helicopter into areas of potential concentrations of enemy troops. They provided security for an artillery team and observation devices in a dangerous valley.    

 

At one point, a bombing campaign that targeted a bunch of farmers was called off because he called it like he saw it, that these farmers likely posed no threat to American forces. While Peter did get some thanks and he knows that Vietnamese lives were potentially spared several times by his actions, he is also aware that hidden Viet Cong might have also been spared and later killed American soldiers. Such was the complexity of the war. He was not alone in having doubts about the war effort. Others were relieved to hear that officers had similar concerns. He regretted that the war in which he was involved was not a war that he could be completely professional in terms of commitment to the war effort. 

 

To this day, he cannot understand how the leaders of the country did not see that the war effort was doomed. He does understand why decision to remove soldiers was delayed because it would take an extreme moral effort and the ability to survive the blowback. He has framed the photographs of the four officers all of whom ended up with three stars. 

 

 

 

Maria Moriarity sold by Joanne Scott

Pot $1035

John Walsh and Jen Close played. No winners this week!

• Joanne Scott left cards advertising the upcoming open house at the Boys and Girls of Greater Salem. The event will be 5-7 pm on February 22 at Collins Middle School 
• John Walsh shared that spent January in Florida where he enjoyed the weather. He will be a grandfather for the fourth time in April.