Unlikely Brothers: Just Trying to Make It Home

By Shannon Newberry

Alan Newberry always believed it was a man’s duty to answer his country’s call and serve with dignity. When he received his draft notice at age nineteen, he knew he had to mentally prepare himself for what he was about to face: a brutal war in Vietnam. In a riveting memoir, Alan’s son, Shannon, shares a walk through not only his father’s journey, but also the journeys of other soldiers who put their lives on the line for freedom. Beginning with Alan’s arrival at boot camp in 1969, Shannon details how his father became “brothers” with his fellow soldiers while attempting to survive infantry life, learning to kill or be killed, and facing the brutal North Vietnamese Army. As Shannon chronicles the soldiers’ experiences from the battlefields to their eventual return home, he reveals the many challenges they faced while processing the emotional after-effects of a war that took so many young lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: May 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483427737

Book preview

Unlikely

BROTHERS

Just Trying to Make it Home

SHANNON NEWBERRY

Copyright © 2015 Shannon Newberry.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-2772-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-2773-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015903610

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 05/12/2015

Contents

Note from the Author

From Life in Small-town Southern Ohio to a Morning I’ll Never Forget

Preparing for War: Boot Camp and Advanced Infantry Training

Next Stop Vietnam: Meeting My Brothers in a Strange Land

John Wayne’s Got My Back

January: Hell on Earth

We Are Going Into Their Territory: Hence the Three Dog Tags

Can I Kill a Child?

Through the Eyes of Our Commanders

There’s Humor in Uniform

Coming Home Was Not Easy!

Remembering Our Year Together: Would We Do It Again?

I would like to thank several people without whose help and inspiration I would not be writing this book today. First of all, I want to thank my parents: Alan and Debbie Newberry. They were always there for me when I needed them. They have been a constant source of encouragement. Ken McGuire was my music teacher in school. He is the man who got me to believe in myself. I don’t think I would have graduated from college if it were not for his intervention when I was in school. I want to thank my son, Wrigley Newberry, for constantly telling me to write Papa’s book. There were days when I just didn’t feel like typing. However, he was always there to remind me. Thank you to all the veterans who allowed me to write such a great book about Vietnam. I also am grateful for Jeanne Dickson. She was an English teacher and English Department Chairperson at Unioto High School from the time I started at UHS in 2001 up until the spring of 2012. She spent hours editing this book. Also, a big thanks to John Lafferty. He is an English teacher and English Department Chairperson at Unioto High School. He advised me on editing and style issues. I’m very thankful for the help provided by my fiancé, Christine Myers, for her help in revising the book. A big thanks also goes out to Melissa Lawson. She is a fellow teacher who helped me clear up several grammar questions. Most of all, I would like to thank every person who has ever served in the United States Military!

Note from the Author

W hile shopping for Christmas presents during the winter of 2008, I ran across a book about a soldier’s journey in the Iraq war [ The Faith of the American Soldier by Stephen Mansfield]. The theme of the book jumped out at me, mainly because I always wondered what my father had to deal with when he served in Vietnam.

As I began to read the book, I paused and thought, Did Dad feel that way after a battle, or is that why he didn’t really like to talk about his experiences very often? As a history teacher, I always try to explain to my students the political side of war and the perspective of the soldiers.

Writing a book about my father’s experience was always in the back of my mind. However, for some reason, I had never acted on it. While teaching a lesson on Vietnam one day, I thought, Why don’t I write a book about my father’s experiences? I thought his story was just as important as the soldiers who fought in Iraq. I purchased a copy of The Faith of the American Soldier for him and wrote a note on the inside cover explaining that I wanted to write a similar book about his experiences in Vietnam. The letter read as follows: I’ve wanted to write a book for several years. This is a great example of the type of book I would like to write. With your permission and help, I would be honored to write about your (and your brothers) experiences in Vietnam. My hope is to finish it by this time next year.

I knew he would appreciate the book. However, not knowing how he would react to my proposal, I waited with a feeling of angst, hoping he would say yes to the note. He looked up and said, Yes, that would be great. I’ve always viewed my father as a hero. Finally, my father’s story will be known.

As a young kid, I realized that my father served in the military. I often thought, I wonder what my father did in the military? From time to time, I would say, Dad, what was Vietnam? He would briefly explain that he served as a combat soldier in Vietnam. He explained that one of his friends went out on patrol and died as a result of being shot in the chest. Beyond that, however, I didn’t know what his role was. For that matter, I didn’t really understand what the war in Vietnam was all about. Looking back, I realize he didn’t want to go into too much detail, primarily because, he didn’t want to confront his fears, demons, and feelings of loss.

During the spring of 2006, my father received several phone calls from his military brothers. Joe Luster, a fellow veteran, explained that several of the guys were organizing a reunion. My father seemed very excited to go to the reunions and discuss old times.

Looking back, it’s easy to see that the reunions proved to be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they allowed the veterans to catch up on one another’s place in life. The veterans could discuss the good old times. However, what actually occurred caused me to pause and think, Wow, my father is just now allowing himself to deal with the wounds of Vietnam. Up to this point, I had only witnessed my father cry on a few occasions.

After the reunions started, he became very emotional when he spoke about certain aspects of the war, especially the brothers he lost in battle. From the summer of 2006 (the first reunion he attended in Nashville, Tennessee) to now, he tears up almost every time he says or hears the name John Waalen. Countless times while interviewing my father for this book, I witnessed him tear up and talk with a trembling voice. It’s hard to unravel the emotions he feels. Quite frankly, it’s hard for me to convey in mere words the emotions that he faces when dealing with his past as a combat soldier. It’s kind of like peeling back the layers of an onion. He was proud to serve his country, yet he resents certain aspects of being drafted. It’s evident now that he will be dealing with these emotions for quite some time.

In many ways, my father and his fellow brothers are tortured souls. While interviewing several veterans for this book, I noticed that they all share one thing in common: they blame themselves for the death of fellow soldiers. In most cases, there was nothing these guys could have done to change the outcome, and there is no guarantee that their fallen brothers would have survived future battles.

Looking at the guilt these men carry, it’s obvious why they tried desperately to bury their feelings and emotions. Most of these guys returned from their tour of duty to face a nation of turmoil and despair. Almost every soldier mentioned in this book returned to the United States shortly after the Kent State Riot. This was a time in which American soldiers were referred to as baby killers. I’ve struggled to understand this, especially when most of these guys were drafted and forced to serve in the military. Keep in mind, these guys couldn’t vote until they were twenty-one years old, yet they were forced by elected officials to fight the war in Vietnam.

My father and most of his fellow soldiers were just out of high school. They were basically kids. In fact, today members of the media often give college athletes a free pass for making poor decisions. Members of the media say, Well, remember he is still a kid, which is ironic if you think about it. Today’s college athletes are just kids, yet these soldiers of the same age were forced to become men.

The soldiers in Vietnam made life and death decisions at a moment’s notice without the luxury of having time to ponder the future ramifications of their actions. While reading this book, you will learn about at least one soldier who was responsible for helping coordinate airstrikes on the enemy. Due to a deal he made with the military, he was out of the military and back to work in civilian life just a few days after returning from Vietnam. I can’t imagine how someone could be expected to flip the switch from soldier to civilian overnight.

According to these soldiers, they didn’t have time or the appropriate counseling to deal with and process their emotions prior to returning to civilian life. I have the utmost respect for these veterans.

As a young high school student, I often tried to read books and ask questions about Vietnam. Mr. Anderson (one of my high school history teachers) taught me and my fellow classmates that soldiers in Vietnam fought to save the world from Communism. I never really understood that, especially given that it was such a tiny country in Southeast Asia.

Teaching history has given me the ability to spend a great deal of time trying to fully grasp the reasons for war. While trying to explain why we were involved in Vietnam, students glaze over and ask, Okay, I get the Domino Theory (If one country fell to Communism, the surrounding countries would fall like dominoes.), but why did we care about that tiny little country in Southeast Asia? To be sure, the country was deeply divided on this issue. However, several brilliant minds truly believed it was imperative that we contain communism.

I finally arrived at the conclusion that President Johnson slowly got the United States and himself into a mess that he could not get us out of. It’s obvious to me that he thought the war would be over with much quicker than it was. The United States had never lost a war, which probably gave him the added confidence that we couldn’t possibly have been defeated by such a small country like North Vietnam. Looking back, it’s apparent to me that the United States officials sent our young men into a war that they couldn’t win. My father always says we won almost every battle and yet we lost the war.

In order to win the war in Vietnam, we had to get the Communist leaders to agree to give up their dream of Communism and forgo a united Vietnam. Of course, that wasn’t possible. So, we decided to win the war militarily. It’s tough to win a war when the enemy is willing to do almost anything to win, including seeing more than a million of its people die.

My goal in writing this book is to tell the story as accurately as possible. I spent countless hours interviewing veterans for this book. I interviewed Alan Newberry and Joe Luster during the winter of 2009 at Joe’s home in Cincinnati. A few months later, I interviewed several veterans during a reunion talk in Covington, Kentucky. The veterans graciously allowed me to put a digital recorder in the center of a table while they talked and reminisced about the war.

In May of 2010, I traveled to Chattanooga, Tennessee to interview veterans at the Fortieth anniversary of the Invasion of Cambodia. I conducted several one-on-one interviews in a small hallway while the veterans were socializing outside in the courtyard. During this reunion, I was also able to take notes while I walked around and listened to several conversations. I used those notes during follow up phone interviews, which allowed me to ask several other questions.

In many ways, writing this book was like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. Once I got the main focus of the book together, I focused more in the inside information. The veterans who I interviewed for this book are listed with their home state by their names. Cruise Cuellar (CA), Dan Richards (CA), Paul Deschamp (MO), John Schmidt (IA), Donnie Hill (TN), Shorty McKinney(SC), Leigh Fairbank (FL), Joe Luster (OH), Alan Newberry (OH), Bill Hansel (IN), Donnie Ferguson (TN), John Catterton (MD).

After interviewing each person, I made follow up phone calls to get clarification. I feel like I could have dug deeper for more details. However, the realization hit me that I need to get this done so that these veterans and their families can appreciate this information. Leigh Fairbank commented during a phone interview that he wants his children to read this book so they will learn more about what their dad did in Vietnam. I think that is a great idea. After finishing the book, I also realized that the veterans will learn a lot, too. Given that this book is primarily based on events that occurred in 1969 and 1970, several of the individual details were often foggy at best. Some of the guys remembered certain events very well, while not really remembering other events. I was able to put most of those pieces together.

Russ Shorty McKinney once indicated that I should ask a few of the other soldiers about a particular story. He said, I remember it happened, but I don’t remember the details. Of course, he recalled details that other veterans had forgotten. This was to be expected.

I’m sure I speak for the veterans when I say, We cannot guarantee every fact and every date is 100% correct. However, we can say that this is the story as remembered by the veterans some forty years after the events occurred.

Each story or account in this book has been verified by or cross referenced with other soldiers. It was impossible to put a date with every story. In those cases, I attempted to place the story in the most logical chapter.

According to these soldiers, they didn’t have time or the appropriate counseling to