Our Year of War Read online

  18. Sasse, “A History of North Omaha’s June 1969 Riot.”

  19. Paul Hammel, “David Rice, Long Known as Mondo we Langa, Maintained His Innocence in 1970 Slaying Until the End,” Omaha World-Herald, March 16, 2016, at http://www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/david-rice-long-known-as -mondo-we-langa-maintained-his/article_44514dcc-2778-5593-a7ff-23f5dcbad22c .html, accessed July 19, 2016.

  20. Elena Carter, “The Forgotten Panthers,” Buzzfeed, February 11, 2016, at https://www.buzzfeed.com/e6carter/the-omaha-two?utm_term=.wv1El3bY7# .urzqeLv8A, accessed July 19, 2016. Carter’s father, Earl Sandy Carter, worked in North Omaha in the early 1970s as a Volunteer in Service to America (VISTA) anti-poverty worker.

  21. Michael Richardson, “Omaha FBI Office Sets Up COINTELPRO Unit and J. Edgar Hoover targets Black Panthers,” San Francisco Bay View, June 25, 2011, at http://sfbayview.com/2011/06/the-story-of-the-omaha-two-2/, accessed July 19, 2016.

  22. Vance, “Chuck Hagel Nomination,” 32; Bolger interview with Charles T. Hagel; Bolger interview with Thomas L. Hagel.

  23. Robert Nelson, “War and Peace,” Omaha Magazine, July 10, 2014, 60–61.

  24. Ibid.

  25. Berens, Chuck Hagel, 37–38, 46.

  26. MacPherson, Long Time Passing, 22–23.

  27. Westmoreland, A Soldier Reports, 455–56.

  28. Stanton, Vietnam Order of Battle, 274, 334. The ARVN 7th Infantry Division and 9th Infantry Division assumed responsibility for the former U.S. 9th Infantry Division area of operations.

  29. Davidson, Vietnam at War, 542–47.

  30. U.S. Selective Service System, “Induction Statistics” at https://www.sss .gov/About/History-And-Records/Induction-Statistics, accessed July 19, 2016. See also U.S. Selective Service System, “The Vietnam Lotteries,” at https://www.sss .gov/About/History-And-Records/lotter1, accessed May 27, 2016.

  31. Sorley, Thunderbolt, 291, 313–14, 317–18; Davidson, Vietnam at War, 653–54.

  32. Thomas J. Knock, The Rise of a Prairie Statesman: The Life and Times of George McGovern (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2016), 429. McGovern earned the Distinguished Flying Cross during a 1944 bombing mission over German-held Czechoslovakia.

  33. Berens, Chuck Hagel, 45–46; Bolger interview with Charles T. Hagel.

  34. Unattributed, “Hastings Youth, 16, Is Victim,” Lincoln Evening Journal, November 17, 1969.

  35. Betty Breeding was quoted in MacPherson, Long Time Passing, 420. For Chuck Hagel’s quotation, see Hagel, America: Our Next Chapter, 279. He offered similar thoughts in the Bolger interview with Charles T. Hagel.

  36. Berens, Chuck Hagel, 18–19.

  37. MacPherson, Long Time Passing, 180.

  38. Richard Holmes, Acts of War: The Behavior of Men in Battle (New York: Free Press, 1985), 213–20.

  39. Bolger interview with Charles T. Hagel.

  40. Grossman, On Killing, 287–89.

  41. MacPherson, Long Time Passing, 180. Emphasis in original.

  42. Ibid., 180; Bolger interview with Thomas L. Hagel; University of Dayton, “School of Law: Thomas Hagel” at https://www.udayton.edu/directory/law/hagel _thomas.php, accessed July 19, 2016.

  43. Berens, Chuck Hagel, 47.

  44. U.S. Senate, Senator Charles T. Hagel, “Governor Frank B. Morrison,” 108th Congress, 2nd Session, Congressional Record (April 22, 2004), S4288; Bolger interview with Charles T. Hagel.

  45. Bolger interview with Thomas L. Hagel.

  46. Carter, “The Forgotten Panthers.”

  47. James Moore, Very Special Agents: The Inside Story of America’s Most Controversial Law Enforcement Agency—The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1997), 103–4.

  48. The FBI special agent is quoted in ibid., 104 below. For the Des Moines, Iowa, attack, see United Press International, “Des Moines Building Ripped by Explosion,” Chicago Tribune, June 14, 1970.

  49. Ibid., 104.

  50. In Operation Pandora, on July 25, 1971, the KGB directed emplacement of bombs “in the Negro section of New York,” preferably at a black-majority college. See Andrew and Mitrokhin, The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive, 238.

  51. Unattributed, “Students, Police to Be Topics of UFAF Confab,” Omaha Sun, January 1, 1970. This source refers to the United Front Against Fascism, an alternative name for the National Committee to Combat Fascism. That latter name was on the sign in front of David Rice’s house.

  52. Carter, “The Forgotten Panthers.”

  53. Ibid.; Moore, Very Special Agents, 104.

  54. Carter, “The Forgotten Panthers.”

  55. Bolger interview with Charles T. Hagel.

  56. Hammel, “David Rice, Long Known as Mondo we Langa, Maintained His Innocence in 1970 Slaying Until the End.”

  57. Carter, “The Forgotten Panthers”; Bolger interview with Thomas L. Hagel.

  58. Jennifer Mascia, “People Were So Stunned That a 12-Year-Old Could Be Holding a Gun,” Trace, July 30, 2015, at https://www.thetrace.org/2015/07/omaha -nebraska-urban-gun-violence-city-limits/, accessed July 20, 2016.

  59. MacPherson, Long Time Passing, 420; Bolger interview with Thomas L. Hagel.

  60. Todd Cooper, “After 35 years, Witness Still Says He Was 911 Caller. Duane Peak Holds Firm on the Recording That Led to the Death of an Omaha Officer and the Convictions of Two Men in the 1970s,” Omaha World-Herald, May 14, 2006. For Chuck Hagel’s thoughts on due process, even when it is very unpopular, see Hagel, America: Our Next Chapter, 101.

  61. Penner, “Interview with Charles Timothy Hagel and Thomas Leo Hagel, Part 10 of 21”; Bolger interview with Charles T. Hagel.

  62. Davidson, Vietnam at War, 706–10.

  63. Edward Doyle and Terrence Maitland, The Aftermath, 1975–1985, The Vietnam Experience (Boston: Boston Publishing), 102. For Chuck Hagel’s thoughts on the differences between Saigon of 1968 and 1999, see Hagel, America: Moving Forward, 8–9. Following his stint as a public defender, Professor Tom Hagel served on the law faculty of Temple University and then the University of Dayton. He also filled in as an acting municipal judge in Dayton, Ohio.

  64. Brad Penner, producer, writer, reporter, Echoes of War, Nebraska Educational Television, 1999, at http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc 2001001.88134/, accessed July 21, 2016.

  65. The complete set of available raw video footage and sound can be found at http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.88134/, accessed July 20, 2016.

  EPILOGUE. THE OLD SERGEANT

  1. George Santayana, “Tipperary,” Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies (London: Constable, 1922), 102. Santayana wrote these lines following the armistice of November 11, 1918. The quotation is often attributed to Plato, most notably on the wall of the British Imperial War Museum in London. It was also linked to Plato by General of the Army Douglas A. MacArthur in his famous “Duty, Honor, Country” speech to West Point cadets on 1962. The words appear again as Plato’s aphorism at the beginning of the 2001 film Black Hawk Down. No extant work of Plato includes this quotation.

  2. Karen Parrish, “Hagel Visits Afghanistan to Assess Operations,” American Forces Press Service, March 8, 2013, http://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle .aspx?id=119473, accessed August 2, 2016.

  3. Mirwais Harooni and Phil Stewart, “Suicide Bomber Kills Nine Afghans in Kabul During Hagel Visit,” Reuters, March 9, 2013, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-blast-idUSBRE92804220130309, accessed August 1, 2016.

  4. Karen Parrish, “Hagel Offers Observations After Meeting with Karzai,” American Forces Press Service, March 10, 2013, at http://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=119483, accessed August 1, 2016.

  5. Karen Parrish, “Suicide Bomber Attacks Nearby During Hagel ISAF Meeting,” American Forces Press Service, March 9, 2013, at http://archive.defense .gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=119480, accessed August 1, 2016.

  6. Chris Carroll, “On Hagel’s First Afghan Visit, Karzai Alleges US, Tali
ban Are Colluding,” Stars and Stripes, March 11, 2013.

  7. Daniel P. Bolger, “Notes on Events of March 10, 2013,” NATO Training Mission—Afghanistan commander’s journal.

  Index

  Abbott, James Frank, 142

  Abrams, Creighton

  background, 210

  description/traits, 210, 239

  Ewell and, 93

  on military strength, 127

  on Saigon, 178–179

  task of “losing war” and, 210

  Vietnam, 178, 210

  Acheson, Dean, 106

  Advanced Individual Training/Chuck Hagel

  leave/return to Nebraska and family, 50

  Officer Candidate School offer and, 49

  Redeye antiaircraft missile training, 49–50

  training description, 47–49

  Afghanistan/fighting, xii, 265–268

  Agent Orange, 157

  Agnew, Spiro, 206

  Ali, Muhammad, 54, 163

  American Civil Liberties Union, 261

  American Independent Party, 137, 141

  American Spirit Honor Medal, 47

  Amin, Mohammed, 267

  Amnesty International, 261

  Andrews Air Force Base

  description, 17–18

  as target, 17, 18

  anti-war movement, 52

  anti-war movement/Vietnam

  by 1967 and, 10–11, 51–53

  Chicago riots (1968) and, 204, 205–206

  college students losing interest in, 254

  draft and, 52–53

  march on the Pentagon (1967), 52

  media and, 85–87

  military claims on enemy casualties and, 177

  rallies/sayings, 52

  Tet Offensive and, 85–87, 145

  US people/statistics (1967), 10–11, 145

  See also specific individuals

  APC (armored personnel carrier)

  advantages/disadvantages, 70–72

  maintenance and, 102, 117

  movements, 161

  tanks vs., 71

  Apollo 11 astronauts, 248

  Apple, R.W., Jr. (“Johnny”), 10, 65

  Arapaho, 13

  Armstrong, Louis, 138

  ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam)

  Nixon/Vietnamization and, 254, 255

  role of, 7

  Tet Offensive and, 86

  US military views of, 7, 231

  Asterisk, 142

  attack (March 28, 1968)

  aftermath, 124–125

  Claymore explosion/casualties, 120, 121–123

  getting to water/using trail, 119–120

  helicopter lifts and, 123–124, 129

  “measure of success,” 130

  night lift/“walking wounded,” 129

  US shooting back, 120–121

  attack (March 28, 1968) and Hagel brothers

  going back/reasons, 122–124

  injuries, 121–123, 125

  leading others out/trip wire, 125–126, 128–129

  medical treatment/rest, 130–131, 134–135

  awards system

  overview/problems, 200–201

  See also specific awards; specific individuals

  Bacon, Edward E. (“Gene”), 127–128

  Ball, George, 106

  Barnes, Brice H.

  medal/recognition, 81–82

  Tet Offensive, 80, 81–82

  Barsanti, Olinto, 104

  Bartek, Ronald, 104

  basic training

  centers for, 40

  cleaning/repairs and, 41

  evaluations summary, 43

  marching/equipment carried, 44–45

  marine-style Basic Combat Training overview, 39–40, 43

  numbers of privates, 40

  overview, 39–40

  Tom Hagel/MOS, 50

  See also Fort Bliss, Texas

  basic training/Chuck Hagel

  awards/recognition, 47

  description/traits, 37, 40, 42, 43–44

  drill sergeants and, 38

  as leader, 37, 40–41, 42, 43–44, 45

  MOS/Advanced Individual Training, 47

  on other recruits, 43

  as soldier/skills, 41, 42, 43–44, 45, 46, 47

  travels to Fort Bliss, Texas, 37, 38

  See also Advanced Individual Training/Chuck Hagel; Fort Bliss, Texas

  Beam, James W., 209

  Berens, Carlyne, 31

  Bergeron, Robert J., 221

  “best and the brightest,” 10, 57, 106

  Binh Phuoc description/defense, 236–237, 238–239

  Binh Son rubber plantation, French Michelin Company, 119

  Bivens, Eddie, 221

  Black Lives Matter movement, 296n36

  Black Panthers

  Chicago (1968) and, 205

  disbanding in North Omaha, 262

  FBI and, 250–251, 252–253, 259

  Omaha, Nebraska, and, 139–140, 250–253, 259–261, 262

  See also specific individuals

  Bockscar, 18–19, 30

  Bolden, Eddie, 252

  “boonies,” 229

  Bowman, Paul H., 169, 170

  Bradley, Omar, 106

  Breeding, E. J., 254, 256

  Bronze Star, 200, 201, 306n60

  Brown, James, 150

  Buffalo Chip, 142

  Bundy, McGeorge, 10, 106

  Bush, George W., 55

  Butler, William

  rank, 127

  Tet Offensive/effects, 78–79, 118

  VC tunnel network and, 118

  Caine Mutiny, The (Wouk), 43

  Caldwell, Larry G., 168

  Casey, George, 104

  “checkerboard” operation, 211, 212

  Cheney, Dick, 55

  Cheyenne, 13, 83

  Chicago (Democratic National Convention, 1968) riot

  Daley and, 205–206

  description, 204, 205

  Vietnam and, 204, 205, 207, 210

  civil rights

  1960s and, 138–141

  blacks in Omaha, Nebraska, and, 137–138

  See also specific individuals

  Civil Rights Act (1964), 144

  Civil War (US)

  descriptions, 88, 89–90

  paying a substitute, 55

  World War II comparisons, 22, 23

  See also specific individuals

  Clayton, George M., Jr., 221

  Clifford, Clark, 107, 146

  Clinton, Bill, 55

  Cody, Buffalo Bill, 30–31

  COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program) tactics, FBI, 251, 259–260, 261–262

  Cold War

  descriptions, 24

  FBI and, 250–251

  “Looking Glass” and, 19

  SAC headquarters and, 17, 18–20

  Soviet foreign/military intelligence (KGB/GRU), and, 17, 20, 140, 250–251, 274n17

  See also Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska; specific countries/individuals

  Corrilla, John, 78–79

  Craig, James B.

  Company B appointment/description, 164, 228

  injury, 175

  Mini-Tet and, 166, 169, 173, 174, 175

  Cronin, William B., 200

  Cronkite, Walter, 86

  Custer, George A., 15

  Czajak, Daniel J., 221

  Dakota, 13

  Daley, Richard J., 205–206

  Darnell, George W., 168

  Davison, Frederic E., 151

  DDT use, 178

  Dean, Arthur, 106

  DePuy, Bill, 104

  Dillon, Douglas, 106

  DISCOM and 2-47th, 212

  Distinguished Service Cross, 81, 93

  draft. See military conscription

  drill sergeants

  Fort Ord, 48

  in movies, 36–37

  recruits and, 36–37

  See also specific individuals

  Duerson, Dave, 163

  Dunn, Elizabeth (“Betty”)
, 31

  See also Hagel, Elizabeth (“Betty”)

  Duvall, Jerry, 60–61

  Dye, Jimmy, 164, 168, 169

  Echoes of War (documentary film), 263–264

  Eisenhower, Dwight D., 137

  Emerson, Henry E. (“Gunfighter”)

  death, 199

  description, 228

  Ewell and, 189

  jitterbugging and, 189, 199, 304n26

  Enola Gay, 18–19, 30

  Enquist, Arthur John, 183

  Ewell, George W., 90

  Ewell, Julian J.

  background/ancestors and, 89–90

  description/traits, 89, 91, 93

  education, 90

  medals/recognition, 93

  military background, 90–93

  parachutes/paratroopers, 90–92

  World War II and, 91–93, 98

  Ewell, Julian J./Vietnam

  beer and, 232

  changes made (overview), 102–104, 129

  “checkerboard” and, 211, 212

  comparison to other military leaders, 104–105

  critics of, 104

  on guerrilla foe, 98

  Hagel brothers and, 111, 232

  jitterbugging and, 190, 197, 211, 212

  kill ratio and, 103–104, 177, 179, 183

  mechanized units and, 97, 155, 211

  Mini-Tet and, 165, 169, 170, 172, 177

  new tactics (1968) and troop views, 211, 212

  night flights and, 189

  “night hunter” and, 211, 212, 213

  numbers of men/tasks and, 101–103

  personality/applying pressure, 97, 102, 104, 117, 125, 155, 164, 176, 177, 181, 183, 185, 197, 211–212, 222, 223, 225, 228, 232, 239

  posting/9th Infantry Division and, 94

  report demands and, 103

  reputation/killing VC, 88, 89, 103, 104, 107, 118, 164, 181, 185, 197, 211–212, 240, 241, 242

  riverine units and, 97, 103, 155

  situation on arrival (1968), 94–98

  tactics, 115, 117

  World War II methods and, 104

  Ewell, Jamie Offutt, 90

  Ewell, Richard Stoddert, 89–90

  Falana, Lola, 150

  Fall, Bernard, 237

  Fallaci, Oriana, 9

  FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation)

  Black Panthers and, 250–251, 252–253, 259

  COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program), 251, 259–260, 261–262

  King and, 147

  Omaha, Nebraska, and, 140, 143, 250–251

  Omaha, Nebraska, bombing (August 1970) and, 259–260, 261–262

  See also specific individuals

  “flyover country,” 14

  Forrest Gump (film), 69–70, 283n23, 304n25