54- Jan Scruggs and the Ed center at the Wall [32:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

For a Vietnam Veteran who was a Combat Infantryman, the names on “the Wall” (aka the Vietnam Veterans Monument) in Washington, D.C. (or with the “moving walls” that tour the nation) are sad memories of those who died in action during that Southeast Asian War.

However, the living memory of gratitude to those who gave “their last full measure of devotion” is now being elevated to a higher level by Jan Scruggs, who is himself a Combat Infantryman (who served with the 199th LIB or Light Infantry Brigade) and Purple Heart recipient. Jan was the founder of the Vietnam Veterans Monument, and now he is the President of the project called THE EDUCATION CENTER AT THE WALL.

In this episode of The Combat Infantrymen’s Association podcast for H21 Southern Branch, Austin Chapter of Division 4, we deliver a summary of our meeting with Jan Scruggs and the brief presentation he made to the Austin Chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

As you will hear in his presentation, Jan Scruggs has now extended his participation and mission with “the Wall” to include those who died in other conflicts and campaigns in America’s history. The Education Center at the Wall is an ambitious project, but it will serve to commemorate all those who died in every war in which the USA has participated, so that we can give the proper respect and recognition.

Jan has also compiled small book called “Dreams Unfulfilled: Stories of the Men and Women on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.”

And all this started from the time that Jan Scruggs wanted to remember the names of those who were killed in the Vietnam War. This was one of the opening scenes in the Television movie about Jan’s story in having the Wall built and dedicated–a movie called To Heal A Nation. (You can get the movie and his book of compilations from Amazon.com)

Copyright (c) 2012, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Jan Scruggs. All rights reserved.

 

 WW II Paratrooper with CIB gives back to fallen comrades [13:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode, we deliver an audio narration of an article that was published in THE AMERICAN LEGION Magazine at www.legion.org, pages 32 to 36.

The article is about Zane Schlemmer, who was a paratrooper in World War II that served with the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division and made 2 combat parachute jumps (i.e., D-Day at Normandy and Operation Market-Garden in Holland in 1944).

Zane also received the CIB (Combat Infantryman’s Badge) for his action in 1944–not only in the parachute assaults, but also in his fight during the Battle of The Bulge in December, 1944.  Zane was also recalled in 1950 during the Korean War and served stateside.

The article, however, highlights Zane’s recent and present contribution to his fallen comrades rather than his combat experiences.

Zane is a volunteer who supports the burials and services at cemeteries and he works a full week to give back to the fallen comrades — all veterans of all campaigns.

Now 87 years old, Zane can serve as a role-model of a trooper who braved adversities, rose above them (in combat, as well as in personal civilian life, and still can give to the community of those who served their country.

You can read the entire article from THE AMERICAN LEGION Magazine, pages 32 to 36, at www.legion.org. The story and photos are by Floyd K. Takeuchi, a writer and photographer living in Hawaii.

Copyright (C) 2012, www.legion.org and THE AMERICAN LEGION Magazine, pages 32-36, and www.cibaustin.org. All rights reserved.

H21 Southern Branch and Division 4 of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association celebrated Veterans’ Day both in Austin and San Antonio by participating in the Parades and Ceremonies.

VETERANS’ DAY PARADE AND MEMORIAL DEDICATION:

In Austin, we had members Bobby Briscoe, Roger Gilmore, Fred Castaneda and Commander, Tony Martinez, march in the parade and participate in the ceremonies by laying the wreath of the CIA at the foot of the mock-up tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the South Steps of the Texas Capitol building after the ceremony of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

In addition, on November 12th, both Commander Tony Martinez and Fred Castaneda participated in the dedication ceremony of the Veterans Memorial at Cedar Park, Texas.

SAN ANTONIO VETERANS’ DAY PARADE

Also, in San Antonio on Saturday, 12 November 2011, Senior member Darrell G. Harris drove his roadster in the Veterans’ Day Parade there (the 3rd largest parade in San Antonio).

HONOR RECOGNIZED: NEVER TOO LATE

Tony Martinez, commander, H21 Southern Branch in Austin and Division 4, is due to receive his Bronze Star medal (after 40 years of Delay) for his actions in Vietnam while he was in the 11th Brigade of the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal).  Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett will be presenting the medal and award to Tony when it arrives in Austin. However, a subsequent ceremony will be held in Washington, D.C.  in April, 2012, when Tony attends the reunion of Bravo Company of the Americal Division unit. Forty years delayed, the medal recognizes valor and courage that our brothers in Vietnam gave for their buddies–and it is never too late, only merely delayed.

CIB SUPPORTS BOY SCOUT TROOP 8787

In the participation of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association for Community Service,  Boy Scout Troop 8787 participated in a Community Service event at the October, 2011 meeting at VFW Post 8787 in Austin. Along with the joint cooperation of the Alamo Chapter of the 82nd Airborne Division Association, the scouts and leaders donned woodland BDU shirts, then helmet, then a real T-10 parachute and reserve. Then they “hooked up” to a cable in a mock door of an aircraft and “stood in the door” before leaping all of 1 inch from the ground.

With their parents taking photos of the scouts, they were then awarded a professional certificate of participation, as well as a miniature set of novice Airborne Wings–i.e., the ones earned by US Paratroopers.  Yes, Boy Scout Troop 8787 was “adopted” by the CIB Association chapter, and we will be supporting them when they put out the flags on the Veterans’ graves in preparation for Memorial Day Ceremonies in May, 2012, at the Pflugerville, TX, cemetery (in which the CIB Association will be represented in the ceremonies).

CIB CHAPTER TO WELCOME NATIONAL COMMANDER-ELECT

This CIB chapter also looks forward to the visit of National Commander-elect Ralph Cross in April, 2012, as we will be participating with the parachute-donning fundraiser at the American Heroes’ Celebration / Muster Day activities in Camp Mabry, Austin, Texas, on April 21st and 22nd in 2012.

Remember:  Brother Cross will be the first to don the parachute in support of the chapter.

Copyright (c) 2011, Combat Infantrymen’s Association and Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved.

 

 51- Combat Infantrymen carry quite a load on their back [26:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The combat infantryman has always carried the load of fighting on his back. As you know, the mission of the combat infantryman is “to kill, capture and destroy the enemy by means of fire and maneuver and fire-and-movement.” Thus, the footsoldier’s job results in “being in harm’s way” due to the dangerous situations, as well as a very heavy burden  and sacrifice of accomplishment.

However, now we discuss another burden–the reality of the equipment, arms, supplies and tools that he was forced to carry on his back. And we look at this especially during the role of the combat infantryman during the Vietnam War.

The image you see on this post is a photo that comes from the book cover of the work titled The TET OFFENSIVE- A Concise History. This is a book by James H. Willbanks, published by Columbia University Press (ISBN 978-0-231-12841-4).

From my own experience as a combat infantryman in the jungles, the rice paddies, the mountains and the villages in Vietnam, I can truthfully say that we also became literally the human version of “beasts of burden.”

To help you visualize this, we outline 3 key jobs or roles in the squad of an infantry line company in this audio podcast episode, and the loads that they carried–so you can get a better appreciation of what the infantrymen had to carry on their backs.

(1) THE “PIG-MAN” — that is, the machine-gunner who carried the m.60 machine gun;

(2) THE RTO — that is, the “radio-telephone” operator who carried the PRC-25 radio for communications; and

(3) THE STARLIGHT SCOPE humper– that is, the man who carried the Starlight Scope (also known as the “night vision device”).

And then there is an understanding of the load carried by the snipers, medics, recon/recondos–and how they may have differed from the typical line company infantry loads.

In other campaigns in other conflicts, the combat infantryman was the one chosen to shoulder the burden of some of the heaviest loads one can imagine. For instance, in World War II, the paratroopers who made the combat jumps (for example, those of the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division in Normandy on D-Day) were so laden down with all the ammunition, supplies, tools and armament that many could not even board the airplanes by themselves normally. In fact, many had to go on their knees or use the helping hands of others to get on board– as the weight of their burden made the paratrooper exceed well over 300 pounds.

We remember the words that General MacArthur said during World War II which told us that nobody hates war more than the soldier who has to fight it. In our case, nobody would hate the load he was forced to carry on his back in Vietnam more than the combat infantryman who had to shoulder this burden–which was necessary for him to sustain and survive the mission in the mountains, the jungles, the highlands and the rice paddies.

But such is the burden of the combat infantryman. And this burden usually went unnoticed by those who were not 11B light weapons infantrymen–not by most of the REMFS in the rear, nor most of those in the military who were not in Vietnam (but served only as “Vietnam-ERA” veterans), and certainly not by the civilians who did not have this burden on their backs.

That is why this saying is so true:  “For those who fought for it, Freedom has a taste that the Protected can never know.”

Copyright (c) 2011, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Columbia University Press and James H. Willbanks.  All rights reserved.

 

 I served with these men - John Hastings [12:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

From the Americal Journal, the quarterly newsletter and magazine of the Americal Division Veterans Association, comes a combat infantryman’s story–John Hastings, who earned his CIB in Vietnam as a sniper, Recondo and Ranger in G Company, 75th Ranger detachment of the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal).

His story is found on pages 29-32 of the aforementioned publication, and this episode is an audio narration of that article.

As you will hear in this audio episode, John Hastings left a stateside position in the National Guard and volunteered for Vietnam. He went to Recondo School in country (which led to being a Ranger and wearing the black beret of the 75th Ranger Detachment in Chu Lai — G Company), and where he eventually became a sniper (after several days of sniper training at the Sniper School in Chu Lai).

You can see the subdued CIB on his tiger-stripe fatigues as one of the Recon units of the Americal.  This article highlights the tremendous esprit de corps of the Rangers, as delivered by the man himself who walked in the shoes of the Recon Rangers of the Americal–a combat infantryman of the Vietnam War.

Copyright (c) 2011, Matrix Solutions Corporation and the Americal Division Veterans’ Association. All rights reserved.

 

 49- CIB recipient Dr James Willbanks teaches history of the Vietnam War [17:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode of the H21 Austin Chapter of Division 4 of The Combat Infantrymen’s Association, we deliver to you an interview with Dr. James Willbanks, LTC US Army (retired), who is a Vietnam Veteran and earned his CIB in the Battle of An Loc.

Dr. Willbanks is the author of several books on the Vietnam War, including:

- The Battle of An Loc

- Abandoning Vietnam

- The Tet Offensive: A Concise History

- Vietnam War Almanac

– America’s Heroes: Medal of Honor Recipients from the Civil War to Afghanistan

Dr. Willbanks currently teaches a history course on the Vietnam War at the University of Kansas. He has between 30 and 75 students for each semester taught. In addition to telling the truth about the war — since he was one of the combat infantrymen that fought in it — he teaches the respect for those who were combatants.

What is interesting is that he requires that each of his students complete a person-to-person interview with a living Vietnam Veteran. This adds a lot — both for the student and the Veteran.

Also, he has every semester a Veterans Panel in which five Vietnam Veterans or more share their experiences with the students and then open up the discussion for questions from the class.

As you will hear in this interview, I happened to sit in on the panel in the 2011 semester, and it was a rewarding (although stressful) experience–because these types of situations always border on stress as well as closure.

Note: We apologize for a slight problem in the recording of the interview. Originally, we tried to record this on the Skype network. However, Skype had problems and the second half of the interview had to be re-recorded via telephone. Sorry for this inconvenience. We hope it did not detract from the quality of the content given to us from Dr. Willbanks’s experience.

Copyright (c) 2011, Matrix Solutions Corporation and the Combat Infantrymen’s Association. All rights reserved.

 

 Reenactment event honors DG Harris: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode of the H21 Southern Chapter Combat Infantrymen’s Association, we deliver to you the summary of the honor given to one of the very first recipients of the CIB in World War II, Darrell G. Harris, a veteran who made 3 combat parachute jumps with the 82nd Airborne Division, and who also fought in the Battle of the Bulge and the Anzio beach landing.

DG Harris was interviewed in this podcast’s series in episode 12 (you can search for previous entries and posts, at the bottom as you scroll down). He describes in detail his experiences for 3 years in Europe during WWII. He also describes his book, Casablanca to VE-Day: A Paratrooper’s Memoirs, which is a journal of his 3 combat jumps, his beach landing in Anzio and his struggle in the Battle of the Bulge.

There is a YouTube video that shows the introduction and honor given to DG Harris prior to the Reenactment of the Battle that took place in Southern France in 1944, in which the 36th Infantry Division was involved. You can see the video at:

http://bit.ly/muSd8c

In this video, DG Harris tells a tale of ironic humor that occurred in a combat zone. This is one of the funniest incidents that took place in WW II.

Copyright (c) 2011, Matrix Solutions Corporation and the Combat Infantrymen’s Association. All rights reserved.

 

 47- Deadly attack on Fire Base Mary Ann: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode of the H21 Southern Chapter, Division 4, of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association podcast, we deliver to you the audio narration of an article in the March, 2011,  issue of VFW Magazine, called “Sixty Minutes of Terror at Mary Ann” by Al Hemingway.

As you may know, the Combat Infantrymen in Vietnam were the ones who pulled SECURITY for the fire bases (usually situated on top of hills or mountains, in order to provide the maximum range of artillery and mortar support for the “grunts” down in the adjoining valleys, jungles or rice paddies). They were usually situated on the slopes of the hills, or at the base of the mountains or elevations. Their mission was to prevent the enemy from frontal attacks or infiltration and protect the artillery bases on the top from being compromised or attacked. There was usually a helipad at the top of the fire base, in which resupply choppers could come and deliver needed items. And, in truth, the fire bases were actually little cities or villages within themselves.

In this article, 20 of the 30 soldiers killed, and over 82 wounded, were Combat Infantrymen, defending the base. In fact, one of the fatalities fought so fiercely that he strangled one of the enemy sappers (that had brought in satchel charges and explosives to kill the soldiers) with his bare hands.

As you will hear in the audio podcast, the media and the authors of books “got it all wrong” and delivered the same, agenda-filled and sensationalist message that the soldiers were “dope-addicts” and other negative images of these soldiers that had already had a history of bravery in combat.

One of the officers of the Americal Division Veterans Association, Gary Noller, is coordinating a memorial service at Fort Benning, Georgia, on 28 March 2011. For information, contact Gary Noller at

gnoller @ aol.com  [to prevent spam]

Yes, even though historians may agree that “the war was beginning to wind down,” the constant threat of the enemy for the Combat Infantrymen was still there, and it still presented the worst nightmares for everyone — enemy attack.

Copyright (c) 2011, Matrix Solutions Corporation, the Combat Infantrymen’s Association and VFW Magazine at www.vfw.org. All rights reserved.

 

 46- Vietnam War college course taught by Combat Infantryman [11:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode of the H21 Southern Chapter of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association, we deliver the audio narration of an article from VFW Magazine by Kelly Von Lunen from pages 24-26 of the October, 2010, issue.

This article is titled “The Vietnam War: Teaching Understanding and Respect.” What is interesting is that a college professor at the University of Kansas with a  Ph.D. in History is teaching a course on the Vietnam War to young students–and that this professor is a Vietnam Veteran who earned his CIB during the last phases of the war. His name is Dr. James Willbanks.

James Willbanks is a Ph.D and historian, as well as a retired LTC of the US Army. He was a combat infantryman during the Vietnam War from Dec., 1971 to Dec., 1972.

In this course, Dr. Willbanks gives an unbiased perspective of the war–something that the media has never done (and probably will never do, as the media wants to sensationalize the war and still blame the soldiers who fought it). For the young students — both civilian and the returning Veterans from the Middle East who finished their tours of duty– this course draws similarities of the experiences of both Southeast Asia and Southwest Asia.

Instead of being stereotyped as “psychos, baby-killers, drug-addicts, misfits and losers” when the media blamed and spat upon those who served in the theatre, as well as those combat infantrymen who fought the conflict, Dr. Willbanks treats the subject and the perspective with both honor and respect–that is, an understanding.

Although we understand that this course is not available online, but only as a lecture class at the University of Kansas, perhaps one day there will be an online course such as this. And then perhaps the combat infantrymen of the Vietnam War can get the respect, understanding and honor they deserve for having served in the Army and having done their duty — and perhaps this can help provide closure for many of us Vietnam Vets.

Copyright (c) 2010, VFW Magazine, Kelly Von Lunen and Matrix Solutions Corporation. All rights reserved.

 

 Veterans Oral History Project for the Combat Infantryman [11:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode of H21 Southern Branch, Austin Chapter, of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association, we deliver the opportunity for the combat infantryman to tell the story of his experiences during his time in the Army within one of several programs encompassing the VETERANS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT.

As you will hear in this audio episode, there are 3 major programs within the project that solicit your participation to preserve your story of your experiences when you were in the Army and gave military service:

1.  NATIONAL PROGRAM chartered by the US Congress and implemented by the Library of Congress - THE VETERANS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT.

2. UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS program called the WORLD WAR II LATINO ORAL HISTORY PROJECT – mainly comprising of the stories from Latinos in Texas from World War II — and now stretching to Vietnam, Korea and the conflicts to the present day; 

and

3. TEXAS VETERANS LAND BOARD program called “VOICES OF THE VETERANS,” which does not specify a particular branch of service, unit or MOS — it is for veterans of all campaigns and all branches.

As you can see from the image, above, the Texas Veterans Land Board “Voices of the Veterans” program delivers 4 sets of CDs to the veteran, with the audio recording of the interview. In addition, there is a nicely done, professional folio that is awarded to the interviewee, with a great letter and certificate thanking the veteran.

To see the pdf document of the certificate from the Texas Veterans Land Board, CLICK HERE.

In addition to the description of the VETERANS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, we also deliver to you the announcement of the next meeting:

Saturday, 14 August 2010, at VFW Post 8787 in Austin Texas (at 500 VFW Way, on the northbound access road just north of Braker Lane.)

The meeting will start at 11:45 a.m. and will be a joint meeting with the 82nd Airborne Division Association Alamo Chapter.

For more information or if you need a ride, please contact Tony Martinez ( Tel: 512-228-7045)

Copyright (c) 2010, Combat Infantrymen’s Association. All rights reserved.