Today being the Veterans Day I thought it appropriate to do a blog about a veteran I knew. Actually, it probably would have been more appropriate to do this blog on Memorial Day, but Veterans Day will have to do.
I met George when I was with the Special Forces Training Group, during a hot and muggy North Carolina summer. George and I were with the A Company of the Training Group, in one of those old clap board "temporary" barracks that were built during World War Two. They were only a smidgen better than the corrugated "tin" Quonset huts which were even hotter! George actually did not live in the barracks, he was married and lived off post in a rental with his wife and child. However, he spent most of time with unmarried types like me in the barracks. We used to play a lot of poker in the evenings and George loved to play poker. When we weren't playing poker, we usually hung out at the Enlisted Club which was for enlisted men below the rank of E-5, in other words, it was for anyone who was not an NCO. George, who was actually a Staff Sergeant E-6, preferred to go to "E" Club with us rather than going to the NCO club. He didn't seem to have any NCO close friends, although he was friends with one other NCO, a Hawaiian like George.
George was a Hawaiian of Filipino descent and looked a lot younger than his 30 years. In fact, he looked like the rest of us "barracks rats" who were all around 20. According to what George told me, he enlisted in the Army straight out of high school at the age of 18. Korean War was raging and he wanted to go to war! He was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division and got his wish, he was shipped off to Korea almost immediately. He said he didn't know what he was doing and that he was not adequately prepared to face combat. He never talked about his combat experience, only that he was captured and ended up being a POW for the next two years. When the Armistice was signed at Panmunjom, prisoner exchanges took place and he returned home with the first batch. He was all of 20 years old!
Returning to Hawaii as a civilian George didn't like what life offered him. He couldn't find a decent job, so after a couple of years of kicking around, getting into trouble, etc., he re-enlisted in the Army and decided to make a career of it. When I met him, he had been in the Army a total of 10 years or so and held the rank of Staff Sergeant E-6. We were both undergoing Weapons Training at the time.
Special Forces Weapons Training was pretty intense and covered just about all of the light and heavy Infantry Weapons that were then in use around the world. This meant that we had to learn how to assemble and disassemble and fire all of those weapons, everything from Soviet Mosin-Nagant bolt actions to AK-47s and our own 19O3 Springfields to the then new XM-16s, soon to be renamed M-16s. British Stens and Sterlings, Danish Madsens, Finnish Soumis and Israeli Uzis, German MP-40s, you name it, we became familiar with them. But of all the weapons, George seemed to know the old BAR the best! He could strip and assemble a BAR blindfolded! I asked him if he was a BAR man, if that was his specialty in Infantry. His response was puzzling. "Yeah, that's what got me captured in Korea!" He said, without elaborating. Later, I learned from his only NCO friend, Dave, the other Hawaiian, that George was captured by the Chinese while he was trying to clear a jammed BAR!
During the entire time that I knew him, George would periodically tell me that he had a grudge to settle with the communists. Obviously his experience as a POW was not a pleasant one! Whenever George said that, especially if it was in the presence of Dave, Dave would glance at me then shake his head sadly. George had lots of problems. His marriage was falling apart and he didn't seem to get along with other NCOs except Dave. He drank a bit too much and gambled. Overall, even to a young, single guy like me, he seemed a bit too irresponsible and somewhat reckless.
After we completed our training, we were assigned to different units. I went to the 7th, George went to the 5th, and Dave went to the 1st on Okinawa. Dave who was a Staff Sergeant E-6 like George, went on to receive rapid promotions and decorated numerous times including a Distinguished Service Cross and a Silver Star! He retired as a Command Sergeant Major. Before he left for the 1st on Okinawa, he told me somethings about George. He said that George told him that when he was in Korea, he was not properly trained to operate a BAR but his Sergeant assigned him as a BAR man anyway! It seems that the smallest guy in the squad always ended up being the BAR man, carrying the biggest and heaviest weapon on the squad! George did not have proper training and could only load and fire the BAR. When the weapon jammed in a fire fight, he couldn't clear it, and the Chinese overran their position and captured the squad. George blamed his Sergeant for his lack of familiarity with the BAR! Later, when he re-enlisted, he made a point to learn all there was to know about the BAR.
Shortly after arriving at the 5th, the entire group PCSd to Vietnam, establishing a Headquarters in Nha Trang and scattering teams all over South Vietnam. George was assigned to a hamlet along the Cambodian border. About 5 months into George's tour in Vietnam, his camp was overrun by a large combined VC and NVA force. During the attack, one of the "Strikers," a CIDG (Civilian Irregular Defense Group) Strike Force members who was a BAR man, appeared to be having trouble with his weapon, George went over to see what was going on, to help the "Striker," only to be cut down by the BAR. That camp was heavily infiltrated with VC and several members of the CIDG were VC, including the BAR man. When the attack commenced, they turned their weapons on the 12 American Special Forces members who were in camp. Fortunately for the rest of the team, except for George and one other killed, there were just three wounded and the rest were able to hold off the attackers until a Mike Force arrived to their rescue.
Poor George, an unhappy man who was on the road to his own destruction long before that fateful day in Vietnam. His POW experience in Korea must have been terrible, for he kept talking about paying back the "commies" for what they did to him. He never told me what they did to him. He was unhappy and his marriage was in ruins. He had only a handful of friends. At one point, when I was drinking and gambling with George, Dave told me to stop hanging out with George, that he would get me into trouble. His was not a distinguished career like Dave's, it was in fact an unremarkable career. But he died a warrior, not running, not raising his hands in surrender. This time, he did not become a POW.
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