Bill Warnock’s War Story # 7: GI Generation Gap

Photo via vietnamwar50th.com

War Story #7. GI Generation Gap.

In 1967 my unit (Battery A, 7th Battalion, 11th Field Artillery—105MM-T) was deployed at Fire Support Base Martha, at Go Dau Ha, Vietnam. We were in direct support of the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry (Manchus). Our two main activities were firing our howitzers (25,000 rounds per month out of 6 guns) and filling sandbags (80,000 in 6 months). Most of us had joined the unit at the beginning of the rainy season, and we quickly learned to avoid digging down. Every two rounds came in a wooden ammo box, so we first built a pad of ammo boxes filled with dirt for our howitzers and bunkers. Our other materials were pierced steel planking (PSP) intended for field air strips, and 6” X 6” or 8” X 8” timbers. Our biggest problem with the timbers was that we only had one dull panel saw, and it took about 30 minutes to saw a timber to length. We built troop bunkers and ammo bunkers with 3 layers of sandbags overhead. When a unit moved, it slit all the sandbags, so as not to leave them for the VC to repurpose, and it took along the PSP and timbers. Lucky for us we did not have to make many permanent moves. We did a lot of work which I think made the VC wary of attacking us. The day before we moved into Martha, the VC had set off a Chinese D-10 Claymore there so we took the threat of attack seriously.

In any event, our position was fairly impressive (IMHO), and we were not surprised when we received a VIP visitor in the person of Omar Bradley. General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley (1893-1981) was a very famous 5-star general (see for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Bradley). He commanded forty-three divisions and 1.3 million men at the Normandy Invasion and subsequent attack across Europe in World War II. Ernie Pyle dubbed him the GI’s general. He was said to be mild and reticent yet he sacked more generals and commanders than the more flamboyant General George Patton. After the war, he headed the VA and became Chief of Staff of the Army. In 1949, he became the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Shortly after the outbreak of the Korean War, in September, 1950, he was given a fifth star as General of the Army—the fifth and last man to achieve that rank. He retired from the Army in 1953 but did not exactly ‘fade away.’

So what was he doing at Martha in 1967? No one told us then, but he was a consultant for Lyndon Johnson’s Wise men (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wise_Men_%28book%29) He was forming his views on the war. In November, 1967, the wise men are said to have recommended staying in Vietnam, but by April, 1968, they felt the war could not be won and American troops should be withdrawn. General Bradley flew in to our fire base by UH-1 helicopter and was wearing civilian clothes. We had no prior warning which is why we were not subject to the usual preparatory actions that might be expected. He didn’t spend much time with the officers. Instead, he walked down our gun line and talked to the chiefs and their men.

General Omar Bradley in Vietnam, August 1967.  Photo via stripes.com 12.12.2019

At the time, I thought everyone had heard of General Bradley. However, as the general’s helicopter flew off, one of my gun chiefs, Sergeant Butshaw, came up to me and asked, “Sir, who is Omar Bradley?” It’s likely that this is exactly the way Omar Bradley would have wanted it. Although the highest ranking officers learn many valuable lessons from their sergeants back when they are lieutenants, it’s not easy to have a candid conversation between generals and sergeants later on. My good sergeant without knowing it no doubt helped form a wee part of Omar Bradley’s assessment.