AVQ AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 3 from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima the World War II Experience of Admiral Thomas H

American Valor Quarterly A Publication of the American Veterans Center www.americanveteranscenter.org World War II Veterans Committee National Vietnam Veterans Committee www.wwiivets.com www.vietnamvetscommittee.org Autumn 2008

Articles -In This Issue- From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima 4 with Admiral Thomas H. Moorer Prior to being named Commander-in-Chief Long before he served as Chairman of the Joint of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Thomas Moorer Chiefs of Staff, Thomas Moorer lived through was known around the Pentagon as “the an amazing series of events during World War man you always send for when you have a II that took him from Pearl Harbor to the tough job.” Long before that, back in his wreckage of Hiroshima. .Academy days, friends predicted he would one day rise to become Chief of Naval Op- Operation Valkyrie - The Plot to Kill Hitler erations. Moorer did them one better, even- An interview with Christopher McQuarrie, co- 9 tually becoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs writer and co-producer of the new World War of Staff. II drama, VALKYRIE, coming to theaters in December 2008 and telling the story of Claus Moorer began earning his reputation for being the man to handle a tough job during von Stauffenberg and the plot to assassinate World War II, when he served around the globe in both the Pacific and Atlantic The- Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944. aters, from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima. In this issue, we share his incredible story.

The Ice Diaries - 11 The Untold Story of the USS Nautilus and the Cold Counterinsurgency in Vietnam - War’s Most Daring Mission 19 Lessons Learned, Ignored, Then Revived by Captain William R. Anderson by Rufus Phillips Following the launch of Sputnik 1 - the first man-made At a time when it is needed more than ever, we present satellite - by the Russians in 1957, President Eisenhower an account from one Army’s earliest men on the was determined to put forth a demonstration that would ground in Vietnam and expert in counterinsurgency. prove the U.S. was still the technological equal of the His work brought him face to face with the major Soviets. The result was the mission of the USS Nautilus players of the era, including Presidents Kennedy and to travel under the polar ice cap to the North Pole. Diem, Ambassador Lodge, and General Taylor. Here, the captain of the Nautilus shares that epic story. Valor in Anbar PLUS... 24 An excerpt from the American Veterans Center’s radio Coming home from war is difficult for any soldier, but espe- series Veterans Chronicles, profiling the story of cially those who have been wounded or injured in the line of U.S. Army Captain Walter Bryan Jackson, recipient duty. The American Veterans Center is working to help make of the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism in their recovery time just a little bit easier. Turn to Page 16 to see Operation Iraqi Freedom. how you can join us in this effort. Now Available from the American Veterans Center

World War II Veterans Committee 2009 Calendar Featuring the Heroes of WWII Now over 50% Off! Now available from the American Veterans Center is the World War II Veterans Committee 2009 Calendar. This glossy oversized calendar commemorates the major dates and events of World War II throughout the year, with each month featuring a profile of an American hero of World War II. Profiles include Audie Murphy, Dwight Eisenhower, Greg “Pappy” Boyington, and Jimmy Stewart. To order, please send $7 (plus $2 shipping) along with calendar request to: American Veterans Center / 1100 N. Glebe Rd. Suite 910 / Arlington, VA 22201 Or call 703-302-1012 ext. 203 to order with Visa/MasterCard FROM THE EDITOR Continuing the Mission Autumn 2008 By Tim Holbert James C. Roberts President The holiday season is a time for giving Tim Holbert thanks for all that we have – for our Editor & Program Director friends, our family, and also for those who James Michels are serving our country around the world. Director of Development For the American Veterans Center, it is also Jordan Cross Director of Communication a time to thank the thousands of Americans who believe in our mission to Laura Ymker preserve the legacy of our veterans from Program Assistant the Greatest Generation through the latest Michael Newcomb & Andrew Lee generation. The past year has been a very Veterans of Jimmy Doolittle’s raid on Japan in 1942 Graphic Illustrators are interviewed on their wartime experience by high good one for us, as our programs have school students at the American Veterans Center’s Peter Trahan continued to grow. 11th Annual Conference on November 6, 2008. Website Manager Pictured far-right speaking to the students is Maj. Chris Graham Thanks to your help, 2008 was a banner Gen. David M. Jones, pilot of plane #5 in the raid. Researcher year for the American Veterans Center, General Jones passed away on November 25, 2008. with a number of highlights, including: We are grateful for his support and friendship, and Michael Paradiso ask that all of our readers keep him in their prayers. Publisher The Fourth Annual National Memorial Day American Valor Quarterly. Introduced in Parade. Unbeknownst to many people, early 2008, this magazine allows the Center Washington, DC – our nation’s capital and to share, and preserve, first-hand accounts headquarters of the military – was without from veterans of every era so that future a parade on Memorial Day for nearly generations can better understand the seventy years prior to 2005. That year, the values of service and sacrifice. American Veterans Center brought that American Valor Quarterly tradition back, and it has grown ever since. We have continued our radio documentary series, Veterans Chronicles, A quarterly publication of the The 2008 parade drew over a quarter which airs on over 40 stations nationwide American Veterans Center million spectators, and was televised and can be downloaded from our website 1100 N. Glebe Rd. Suite 910 around the world on the Pentagon at www.americanveteranscenter.org. Also, Arlington, VA 22201 Channel. It featured hundreds of veterans, as you will note in this issue, we have taken Telephone: 703-302-1012. Fax: 571-480-4141. as well as celebrities like Hollywood the lead in sponsoring a number of events The American Veterans Center is comprised of legend (and WWII vet) Mickey Rooney, for wounded service members just home two divisions, the World War II Veterans Miss America 2008, and actors and troop from the front lines. Our youth programs Committee and the National Vietnam supporters Gary Sinise and Joe Mantegna. continue to go strong, with speaker Veterans Committee. programs, scholarships, and student participation in all of our events geared American Valor Quarterly is mailed The Eleventh Annual Conference: From toward building a culture of service to donors to the World War II Veterans November 6-8, some of America’s most Committee or National Vietnam Veterans distinguished veterans gathered for the among today’s young people. Your Committee who make a contribution of $50 Center’s annual conference, where they support has also allowed us to donate or more per-year. Contributions help fund the shared their experiences with an audience several thousand copies of our 2009 Center and Committees’ various speaker of hundreds of high school and college WWII Calendar to VA Hospitals and vets conferences, student programs, the National students. Participants included the centers around the country. Memorial Day Parade, documentary and oral legendary Doolittle Raiders, Tuskegee history projects, and this publication. Airmen, “Filthy Thirteen,” Lt. General Hal It has been an honor for us to do this work Moore, recipients of the Medal of Honor, on behalf of those who have served, and To make a contribution or subscribe, call are serving, and we look forward to 703-302-1012 ext. 214 or e-mail and several of the greatest heroes from continuing our mission into 2009. Until [email protected]. Iraq and Afghanistan. then, we wish each and every one of our www.americanveteranscenter.org readers a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. AVQ AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 3 From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima The World War II Experience of Admiral Thomas H. Moorer

Thomas Hinman Moorer grew up in Eufaula, Alabama, and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1933. After completing aviation training at Pensacola Naval Air Station in 1936, he flew with fighter squadrons based on the USS Langley, the USS Lexington, and the USS Enterprise. In late 1941, he was flying PBY patrol bombers in the Pacific, and was present when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. In fact, Admiral Moorer’s plane was one of the first and only planes to launch on December 7.

Moorer’s incredible story did not end there. In 1942, his plane was shot down off the coast of Australia. He was rescued shortly thereafter, only to be on board when the rescue ship was attacked and sunk. Moorer would earn the Distinguished Flying Cross three months later when he braved enemy-controlled skies to fly supplies into and evacuate the island of Timor. He saw numerous assignments throughout the war, Photo taken from a Japanese aircraft during the opening minutes on the attack on which took him to Britain as well as Japan immediately Pearl Harbor. The explosion in the center is a torpedo attack on the USS West following the surrender. Virginia situated along Battleship Row. Then-Lt. Thomas Moorer’s squadron was based from Ford Island, dead center of the Japanese attack. In the years following World War II, Moorer’s career Just as the war was ending, Moorer would find himself assigned to a group tasked continued to advance. He was promoted to vice to find the reason why Japan decided to attack on December 7, 1941. During this admiral in 1962, and took command of the Navy’s time, he got to know many of the senior Japanese commanders, including Captain Seventh Fleet. In 1964 he was promoted to full Mitsuo Fuchida, who directed the Japanese air assault on Pearl Harbor. Of him, admiral and became commander in chief of the Moorer recalled, “Years later Fuchida visited me in Washington and I asked him what Pacific Fleet. The following year he became the he was doing. He said that he had converted to Christianity and was traveling around commander of NATO’s U.S. Atlantic Command and Japan to the schools to tell the students about Christianity. I told him that he better the U.S. Atlantic Fleet – the first naval officer to not do that in the U.S. - the Supreme Court would find out and put him in jail!” command both the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets. He was appointed Chief of Naval Operations by President Johnson When fighting broke out in Europe, the clouds of war grew in 1967, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President thicker and thicker for us. We had been very isolationistic in the Nixon nearly three years later. He retired from the Navy on July United States, and remained so even after the war broke out in 2, 1974. Europe. Mr. Roosevelt even made a statement to the effect that he would “not send one American to fight in a European war.” Admiral Moorer was one of the earliest supporters of the World Yet at the same time, he was doing a little undercover work; we War II Veterans Committee and the American Veterans Center, were covering British ships against the German submarines, and and one of our best friends. For our first several years, he would instituted the Lend-Lease law. And Mr. Churchill and Mr. Roosevelt speak at the Center’s annual conference, always eager to teach the were meeting. They made an agreement that the United States lessons he had learned to the younger generations. would move our ships to the Pacific while the British would take care of the Atlantic. In fact, we built a tremendous dry dock at a Thomas Moorer passed away on February 5, 2004. However, place called Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico which, unknown to before he died, he sat down with us to recount his experiences in many officers, was created should the British be forced to abandon World War II. In this issue, we are honored to share that story their bases in England should Hitler invade. and to help preserve the memory and the legacy of this great man of the Greatest Generation. So the Enterprise and the Yorktown and the American carriers went through the Panama Canal over to the Pacific. They were ordered to Hawaii as part of what was called the “Hawaiian Detachment,”

National Archives AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 4 which was in reality the entire fleet. And this is how the fleet came they still kept shooting trying to fight back. We only lost one man. to be based at Pearl Harbor by the time of the attack. Strange enough, he had been on watch the night before, and was asleep when he was hit by a bullet and killed. He never even knew There were no airfields on the small islands in the Pacific in those there was a war. days. The only means of flying to the Orient was on a Boeing Clipper, which is a big seaplane. The United States sent a number Before we were able to even try to launch a plane, we had to go of B-17s to Clark Air Field in 1941 as things heated up. The B- through all of the checks – you can’t take a chance with planes, 17s used 100-octane fuel which was a rarity at the time, so the B- and we had to check the hydraulic lines, the fuel lines, the electric 17s had to go down to Australia then up to the Philippines because lines, etc, before we were able to get up in the air. Not until that there were no airfields in Wake or Midway, and so on. It took night did we get two planes ready to fly out of there, and I took quite a bit of negotiating to get that 100-octane fuel, and so two off in one of them. colonels were to be sent down to Australia to contract for the fuel. But they didn’t know how to get there. So my crew got in Kimmel’s staff thought that the Japanese would be heading on the act and took them down to Rabaul then on to Port southwest toward Kwajalein. So they decided that if I flew toward Moresby and Darwin and so on. When we returned, my squadron Kwajalein all night long, I could make it further than the Japanese was immediately ordered to Midway, arriving there in October, ships could reach. Then, at daylight, I would turn around and 1941. We remained there as things started heating up until Friday, pass over them. We had no radar – if we had radar we would December 5, when we were ordered to Hawaii and Pearl Harbor. not have had to worry whether we could see them or not. People We got in late Friday night, and the war started Sunday morning. who have written books on Pearl Harbor overlook the fact that the technology that existed at the time is not what we have today. I do not know why I was ordered back, other than there were so They make the assumption that we live in a static world, but the many messages going back and forth between Washington and world is changing like hell all the time. Hawaii - but unfortunately not the right one. I still have a copy of the message that they sent to us, which I really think is an eye I never did see the Japanese fleet. They actually went north – they buster. It said, “Be prepared to take six planes east or west.” So had come in from the north, as we found out, and never were we did not know whether we were going to Wake or Guam or down to the south. But since we only had two planes available, sending six and leaving six, or what. We were prepared for we were doing our best to estimate where they might be. anything, but they ended up sending all of our planes east, so we went to Hawaii. Two and a half months later, I found myself flying a mission in On that Sunday morning when the attack began, we were not the Dutch East Indies. Mr. Roosevelt had earlier announced that able to get any of the planes of our squadron up. The Japanese we would be sending reinforcements to the Philippines. Of course strafed our planes, which operated from the western tip of Ford the Japanese had already captured Wake Island, so the only way Island. The first step the Japanese took was to attack all of our you could get to the Philippines was to go down to the Fiji Islands, planes, including the fighters. Fortunately all of our aircraft carriers around and over to Java, and join the remnants of the squadron were out, which saved them and their planes. They were escorting that had come down from the Philippines. There were two PBY the Marine fighters to Wake Island. As a matter of fact, the day before we left Midway, I escorted those fighters myself from the carrier to the island, because the fighters had no navigation equipment to speak of, and Wake Island is about as high above sea level as a table top. Unless you get right on top of it, you can’t see it.

I was getting ready to go to work on the morning of December 7 when I saw the Japanese planes in the distance. They came in three ways – from around the east side, from around the west side, and right through what we called the “saddle,” where the island of Oahu dips to the south.

I grabbed my co-pilot, who was right around the corner from me, and we raced out to the base. I got there just after the first wave of the first attack began, which was when they were strafing the aircraft. These aircraft had air-cooled guns, and I recall chief petty officers who took the guns out of the planes and held them A PBY-5 Catalina patrol bomber similar to the plane flown by then- Navy U.S. as they were shooting. It burned the flesh off of their hands, but Lt. Moorer at Pearl Harbor and his later adventures en route to Darwin. AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 5 squadrons in the Philippines. We joined them and, more or less, killed in the attack. The ship of course kept moving, so we were operated as a unit, flying from two converted old World War I far enough away from the bombs that were exploding all over destroyers all over the place around the Dutch East Indies. the place. The ship went down bow first, after the first bomb blew the bow completely off. It was a big ship, six hundred feet Around this time we began to get information that the Japanese long or so. that had attacked Pearl Harbor had detailed two carriers to head to Wake and the other four to come down and attack Darwin. The stern was left above water, so a couple of us climbed back My mission was to find those carriers, which I did. I ran right up and cut the lifeboats loose, and they splashed down into the into a big flight of planes – a couple hundred – from the same water. I put my copilot in one while I got in the other, and we carriers that attacked Pearl Harbor on their way to Darwin. I was went around trying to pick up the remnants of the ship’s crew. by myself with the crew of my PBY, and nine of the Japanese We got about forty of them out of a crew of what must have fighters attacked, setting my plane on fire. They were using been about eighty. Some of them were terribly burned and died incendiary bullets, and they were splashing all over the place – I fairly quickly. Just as soon as we got them picked up, however, could actually see the bullets. we got strafed. Everybody jumped out of the boats again, so we had to pick them all up a second time. We had no leak proof tanks, and the plane had a fabric tail and ailerons, so it immediately caugh fire and went down. Fortunately I examined the boat, and it had no water and no compass, but it for me, the fighters realized that they had better get back to the did have a case of milk and sails. I knew how to sail so we set bombers to escort them to Darwin. So they didn’t stick around them up and using the Southern Cross, which was sitting up there to strafe us in the water. When they saw that we were on fire and just like the North Star, I estimated the direction to Darwin. But going down, they rejoined the rest of the planes and the last time I drifted north and a few nights later, at about midnight, I heard I saw them they were heading off towards Darwin. the surf and we beached the boats.

The United States had chartered six merchant ships to take We had landed on Bathurst Island just off Australia. As soon as ammunition to Corregidor along different routes, hoping that at we beached the boats, all of the Filipino kids with us – all of least one of them would get there. One of these ships – a them about 19, 20, 21 years old – jumped out and ran into the Philippine ship – saw me hit the water. Following the dictates of jungle just as hard as they could go. They had had enough of this etiquette at sea, he came over and picked me up – we had a bit man’s war. I often thought that if I ever have the time, I am going of trouble getting over to the ship because the rubber boats we to go down there and tell them the war is over, because I think had were all full of holes. I was not seriously hurt in the crash, they’re still in that jungle. and could still walk; fortunately, only our radioman ended up with a real injury, a broken ankle. The shore we landed on was a gorgeous beach – a white sand beach, just like sugar. No cigarette butts or Coca-Cola bottles – We went aboard ship and I immediately went up to talk to the just beautiful. I got the idea of building letters in the sand, about captain. As soon as I found out that the ship was loaded from four feet wide and three feet high that said “Water” and stem to stern with ammo, I told my crew to get to the stern – “Medicine.” Fortunately, about four days later an Australian that if we were attacked again to watch me and the minute I saw reconnaissance plane from Darwin flew by. He saw this and a dive bomber coming down, I would let them know to jump dipped his wings, and dropped a note saying that he would be over the side. back.

About 2:30 that afternoon I saw a stream of dive bombers coming He flew back again and dropped several glass bottles of water down, so I said, “Jump!” and we all went over except for one which shattered when they hit the sand. I was mad as hell about man. He had gotten bored it, but then it occurred to me that Australians don’t know anything and gone over to talk about water – they drink beer! Japanese attack on Darwin - to someone, and we February 19, 1942. never saw him He also had dropped a note saying that they would pick us up at again – he was daylight. So at daylight I looked out in the water and sure enough, there was an Australian destroyer. It sent in a boat and picked us up and brought us to the ship headed for Darwin. Well, as soon as we headed out, a Japanese seaplane flew over and started dropping bombs on us. The captain of the ship had just come from Crete in the Mediterranean, which was a hell of a battle, and he thought that compared to the Germans, facing the Japanese would be nothing. He was an old timer, and knew what he was doing. The Japanese

Australian War Memorial AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 6 tried bombing, but when horizontal bombing, you need to have a steady course at the end of the bombing run. The captain had a tar barrel on the stern of the destroyer that he would light up and send all of this black smoke up in the air to screen us and keep the plane from staying on course, so he never touched us.

As soon as we got to Darwin, the captain told us that he was sorry, but he had another mission to head out on, so he put us off the ship and left. I had been to Darwin before, when I took those two colonels down to make the contracts for the 100-octane gas, so I knew where the hotel was. We headed toward the hotel, and found that there wasn’t a man, woman, or child in town – nobody! They had all been so sure that they Japanese were about to invade that they had headed into what they called the bush. Commander Thomas Moorer (far right) with fellow American service members as they leave Pearl Harbor following World War II. Fortunately, when we got to the hotel, we found that Years later, as commander of the Seventh Fleet, Admiral Moorer spent some time they had left steaks in the icebox and whiskey on the bar, living in Japan, which he and his wife grew to enjoy very much. As he told us, “It's so we just signed up for a week or so stay there in that funny-- my wife hated the Japanese so much after the war that she didn't want to hotel! We were barefooted and in shorts, had no razor go to Japan. But once we got there, they treated us so well she didn't want to leave. and looked like hell. Eventually, the Australian MPs finally It's just another example of why women are so interesting.” came by, and we got word that our squadron had retreated all They eventually found one of the German mines that had not the way to Perth. We sent word to them where we were, and exploded, and to figure out how the Germans had built it, they they came and picked us up. took it out to a big field, putting numbers on all the parts, and gave a guy a field telephone. He would announce what he was About that time, we began to intercept Japanese radio traffic doing as he worked to take it apart, saying things like, “I am now leading up to the Battle of Midway. Figuring there could be great moving screw number five.” If the thing didn’t blow up, he losses of pilots at Midway, they ordered us to head back to the would remove screw number six. The problem was that the United States where we would be replacements for the possible Germans had put a photoelectric cell inside, and the minute you losses. We came back around Indonesia and Australia with the broke it open and let light inside, it went off, killing the man remnants of the so-called Asiatic Fleet, which had retreated south dissecting it. Once they figured that out, they had to take it apart from the Philippines; my squadron had been ordered out to the in the dark, until they found out exactly how it worked and how Philippines after we had lost all our planes at Pearl Harbor. to defeat it.

As it turned out, while we took losses at the Battle of Midway it This sounds like a blind process, and it was. You might have was not nearly as heavy as they feared, so I was able to settle expected that it would be hard to find people to volunteer to do down for a bit of rest. I went down to Banana River in Florida that job, but this was World War II, and many do not realize what where we had a seaplane base and worked as an instructor, and the people in that war were really like. Following Pearl Harbor, as a matter of fact, one of our students was Joseph Kennedy, Jr. one of the most vivid memories I have is the total change of who was later lost in France. attitude in the public. Before, as I said, Roosevelt had promised not to send the boys to Europe and so on, even if he had intentions No sooner had I gotten down there and picked up my wife and of eventually doing so or at least risked getting involved in the baby who I had not seen in a year, I was ordered back to war. But the minute the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the entire Washington to see Admiral King – I had no idea what it was public became totally dedicated toward defeating the Japanese about, but it wasn’t about giving me any kind of a rest – instead and defeating the Germans. So you would not have had any they wanted me to go to England to learn about a new device trouble finding someone to take apart the ground mines, they the British had built. The British had developed, following the were that dedicated. Germans, a ground mine. It is not a conventional mine you see in

pictures, but was a mine that would be laid at the bottom of the I spent about six weeks there learning how these mines worked, Moorer Thomas Admiral of Courtesy sea and was effective to a depth of about 120 feet. The British how they were laid and such, then came back and wrote a small thought at first that their ships were being sabotaged as they came instruction book on how to do it. At that point, I entered into the in, that somebody had put a charge in them. They finally figured submarine war – we were really losing the war in the Atlantic at it out because the ships leaving London were blowing up. that time – so I requested the command of an anti-submarine

AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 7 squadron. The Germans, with very few submarines, were doing Had we executed the planned invasion of Japan, the casualties on a good job of putting us out of business. Up and down the east both sides would have been far greater than many believe. I actually coast, none of the beaches were usable because of all the oil spoke with the Japanese about that when I was there. They were from the merchant ships that were sunk. Initially, the merchant ready to use every plane they had as a kamikaze plane, and had ships wouldn’t pay any attention to the advice from the military scuba divers by the hundreds that were going to swim out to the on how to evade the U-boats because they felt they had a schedule ships when they were anchored with troops aboard and affix to keep, and they were determined to keep it. So many of them charges to the sides. They had a great number of little two-man were sunk. It was a very serious thing, and it took us some time submarines in dry dock that they were going to try to use to to develop a force. torpedo our ships as they came in.

The German U-boats were able to stay on station for so long There was a big propaganda campaign, as well. When I was and inflict so much damage because they had so little opposition commander of the 7th Fleet based out of Yokosuka, we had a at the outset. We had to develop detecting Japanese maid whose husband was a colonel devices, sonobuoys, homing torpedoes, and in the Japanese Army before he was killed, all of those things that did not come about and she spoke of how they were all told until after the war started. It took us awhile that the women would be raped and killed to recognize the great difference between by the Americans. She said the government combat in the Pacific and submarine war. did all it could to frighten the citizens to make In a submarine war, you win by building them want to fight. It was the emperor’s ships faster than the other side can sink message that helped to bring the war to a them, and by sinking submarines faster than close. the other side can build them. When those two things take place, you’ve won. And that Assigned to interview senior Japanese began to happen in September of 1943. military officers to find out more about their war plans, I was struck by the significant Just following the end of the war, I was difference between the attitude of the given the most interesting assignment that I Japanese Army officers and Navy officers. can remember. I was made a member of The Navy officers were very cooperative. the strategic bombing survey, which had They brought us their operations reports originally been organized to analyze the air and translated them for us so we could war in Europe, but actually turned out to compare what they thought happened be much broader than that. I was a member Admiral Thomas Moorer as against what we thought happened – it was of the group that went to Japan, and was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. really fascinating. The Army, on the other there right after the atomic weapons were hand, would click their heels together and exploded, visiting Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We had scientists by give us their name and serial number. The reason for that was the thousands flooding the place, with all kinds of speculation as obvious – only the Army was being tried for war crimes and to what would happen there in the future. they thought that we were involved in gathering evidence for their trials, which we were not at all doing. But that is what they One of the interesting experiences was when a friend of mine thought, so they would not tell us anything. and I drove a jeep down from Tokyo, and we took quite a bit of candy and chewing gum, and would drive into a little town. There Since I was at Pearl Harbor, I was put in a small group tasked to was not a grownup in sight, but we would see the kids peeping find out why the Japanese decided to attack us on December 7. around the corner. Soon, they would come out, and we would I spoke with Japanese officers all the way up to the top, and they give them some of the candy. Before you know it, the parents all said the same thing – that the U.S. only passed the draft by one came out, and the next thing you know we found ourselves invited vote, and the congress refused to fortify Wake Island and Guam, into the house for a cup of tea. which the Japanese wanted to capture, and the U.S. Army was only training with wooden guns. Their perception of us – I was amazed that the Japanese parents took that attitude, because “perception” being a very important word – was that we would I am not sure the outcome would have been the same were the not ultimately fight. That we could not fight. situation reversed. I think that when the Emperor had gotten on the radio, which was very rare for him, and told the people that This is an example of the importance of deterrence – we talk the war was over, that was all they needed to resign themselves about deterrence quite often. When you get down to it, deterrence that it was indeed over. is simply a state of mind you create in the mind of a potential enemy. If his perception is that if he starts a war he will win it, then he is highly likely to start that war. It is that simple. Joint Chiefs of Staff Photo AVQ AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 8 Operation Valkyrie And the Plot to Kill Hitler

On December 25, 2008, MGM studios will release VALKYRIE, that there was an attempt to overthrow Hitler from within the the true story of the plot to kill Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944 by German government, as opposed to a civil uprising. At this point, members of the German resistance. The film stars Tom Cruise Operation Valkyrie would go into effect, and the German Reserve as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, the man who was given the Army would be used to unwittingly assist them in overthrowing task of planting the bomb intended to take out Hitler. It was the German government. That was the plan. filmed on location in Germany at many of the actual locations in which the events took place. As far as the resistance movement was concerned, that is a much more complicated answer. There were many pockets of resistance, Recently, American Valor Quarterly editor Tim Holbert with different groups within both the German government and had the opportunity to speak with Christopher McQuarrie, co- military, as well as civilian groups, that had been actively resisting producer and co-writer of the film. Included in this issue is that Hitler and plotting against him from as early as the 1930s. interview, which focuses on bringing one of the most incredible stories – and great tragedies – of World War II to the big screen. Tim Holbert: That is what is so interesting about this plot – that Operation Valkyrie was a plan that Hitler had signed off on, and Tim Holbert: Many of our readers will already know of the it was used against him. attempt on Hitler’s life on July 20, 1944. However, I would guess that few know just how involved the plot was and how many I saw the film at a recent screening and it struck me as being men were involved. Can you tell us a bit about the German remarkably accurate. How did you get involved in the project resistance and Operation Valkyrie? and what interested you in the subject? Also, please tell us about the research that goes into a film like this, based on a largely Christopher McQuarrie: Well, Operation Valkyrie was not unrecognized true story. actually the plot to overthrow Hitler. It was actually a plan that Hitler had designed to protect his government from any sort of Christopher McQuarrie: I had been in Germany in early 2002. internal uprising should he be cut off or killed. There was a concern A tour guide was showing me the city, and the last place he took that foreign workers and those opposed to him could rise up me was the Bendlerblock on the Stauffenberg-Strasse, or Bendler and overthrow the government should anything happen to him. Strasse during the war. That was the site of the German Army Hitler had Valkyrie designed as a contingency plan to protect his High Command, and is now a monument to the German government in that event. resistance. I knew a little bit about the story, and had seen other movies that referenced it. There is a subplot about it in The Desert The resistance secretly retooled that order to enable them to take Fox and a subplot in The Winds of War, and there are other German over the government. They were going to create the impression movies that have been made about the subject.

This plot is always something that has fascinated me. What I did not really know about was the extent to which they had gone to actually overthrow Hitler. The real challenge was not killing Hitler (though that was a significant challenge) the real challenge was overthrowing the government once he was gone. That is what really interested me. Like many, I had always assumed that one who was in the German Army during World War II was a Nazi or a member of the Nazi party. What I discovered was that a great many people within the German Army were not Nazis, but were former aristocrats who actually opposed the Nazis. There was a great deal of conflict within the German Army, and between the German Army – the Wehrmacht – and the SS. There was also conflict among members of the German High Command, between those The Bendlerblock in Berlin. The statue in the center of the courtyard commemo- who supported and those who opposed the Nazis. It was rates the spot at which several of the conspirators in the July 20 plot were Carr Adam executed. Today, the site serves as a memorial to the German resistance. AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 9 be a hero, or believe that what he did was heroic. He believed what he did was his duty. It was his responsibility to reconcile his word as a soldier – his oath as a soldier – and his duty to his country. And it took a great deal of personal anguish for him to come to the decision where the only solution for a loyal soldier to save his country was to participate in the assassination of his leader. It was a very difficult decision to make, even considering who the leader was.

There has been a great deal of controversy surrounding these characters, Stauffenberg along with many others in the resistance. Throughout the last sixty years, they have certainly been painted in a number of different lights. People have said that they were Nazis and the real reason they were killing Hitler was because he was managing the war poorly, and they thought Tom Cruise as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and Kenneth Branagh as they could run it better. They argue that they were really trying Major General Henning von Tresckow watch over a meeting of key figures to save their own skin; they were rats leaving a sinking ship. in the German resistance movement, as portrayed in the film, VALKYRIE. When you read their writings, when you read what these people said, what some of the surviving people said or what some of The film has been regarded by historians as remarkably accurate. Though them said in their trials before being executed, you realize that some characters and events had to be compressed to make the story clear, there was actually a much greater moral urgency going on within McQuarrie says they strove to be as painstakingly accurate as possible. As he told us, “Whenever there was a creative dispute on the set on how to handle many members of the resistance, including men like a scene, we always turned to the actual history as our guide.” Stauffenberg, Tresckow, Goerdeler, and Beck. When you read what they had to say, all of those people were morally opposed a much more complex picture than what is usually painted of the to what Hitler was doing, not just militarily, but on a humanitarian Germans who were in the military during World War II. level.

That is what drew me in. I worked with Nathan Alexander, who It was a very difficult and complex time for that country, and the did a phenomenal amount of research learning about the German only way one could affect change was from within. The result of resistance. We focused primarily on the events of July 20, 1944. that is you were then a member of that war machine and associated We initially were not really focused on making a film about Claus with that ideology. AVQ von Stauffenberg or the greater scope of the German resistance. That all came out of the research. We discovered that Stauffenberg Learn More About the Inner was this key figure. There was no way to tell the story of July 20 Workings of the Third Reich without telling his story. What drove men and women to support Hitler and Tim Holbert: That brings us to the question of Stauffenberg. his fanatical plans for world domination? And once the Nazis were in power, who among the German As you said, he is the man most identified with that particular people were brave enough to oppose them? plot, and he has become the face of the German resistance and is often seen as a hero today. If you could, tell us a little about him, Some of these questions can be answered in two im- what your research found out about him, and how you chose to portant works on Nazi Germany. In Hitler’s War Poets: Literature and Politics in the Third Reich, portray him in the film. Jay W. Baird examines the literature of the Nazi era, and how poets and writers answered Hitler’s call to Christopher McQuarrie: Well “hero” is an interesting word. create a cultural revolution that tied into his own One thing we learned is that the Germans are very sensitive to the political radicalism. Baird demonstrates how a number of these writers word “hero.” In our country, the word is used quite commonly helped to build support for Hitler among the population, and how their writings led to an atmosphere that accepted Nazi barbarism and, ulti- to depict any brave and noble person, whereas in Germany, “hero” mately, the Holocaust. was a word abused by the fascists and still has a fascist connotation. “Hero” has a real fascist connotation to it, and they are very Written by Peter Hoffman, recognized as the authority on reluctant to call someone like Claus von Stauffenberg a “hero.” the opposition movement to Hitler, The History of the Ger- man Resistance, 1933-1945, chronicles the resistance movement from Hitler’s early days in power all the way up to Phillip von Schulthess, who appears in an early scene in the film the bombing on July 20, 1944. Focusing heavily on the with Kenneth Branagh, is actually Stauffenberg’s grandson. And story of Stauffenberg, Hoffman demonstrates that oppo- in speaking to him and several members of the family, they said sition to Hitler was, from the beginning, strongest among that Stauffenberg would not really believe or consider himself to the military, who feared he would lead the country into another war in which Germany would be destroyed. Top: Courtesy of MGM Distribution Co.; Book covers from Cambridge University Press and McGill-Queen’s AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 10 The Ice Diaries

The Untold Story of the USS Nautilus and the Cold War’s Most Daring Mission By Captain William R. Anderson

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched into space Sputnik hero in the United States. Just prior to his death in 2007, Captain 1, the first satellite to orbit Earth. Meanwhile, the United States’ Anderson completed work on The Ice Diaries, which chronicles space program was languishing behind, and it appeared to the the voyage of the Nautilus. In this issue, we are proud to share a world that the Soviets were gaining a technological advantage part of the epic story of Captain Anderson and the crew of the over the West. Around the world, free countries were beginning Nautilus. to question the long-term value of being aligned with the U.S. in what was becoming an increasingly heated Cold War. Friday, August 1, 1958 President Dwight D. Eisenhower was determined to demonstrate to the world that the United States was just as capable of great We continued to feel our way back southeast toward Point Barrow, technological feats as the Soviets. In response to Sputnik, he ordered the northernmost part of Alaska, still skirting the boundary of a top-secret mission in which the USS Nautilus – the world’s first the ice pack. Hopefully we would soon run across the deeper nuclear-powered submarine – to travel underneath the Arctic ice water we sought that would allow us to speed northward once cap to go where no man had gone before: the North Pole. again. The sea remained calm, but intermittent patches of dense fog visited us, making visibility very poor. Sometimes we Commanding that mission was William R. Anderson, the second maintained just enough speed to be able to steer the submarine skipper of the Nautilus. Anderson graduated from the United safely. When the fog allowed, we could easily see the pack States Naval Academy in 1942, and was a decorated veteran of boundary to our left. Medium-sized blocks of ice were adrift World War II, earning the Bronze Star and participating in eleven from the floes, and we had to avoid those at all costs. That combat patrols. He was personally selected by Admiral Hyman sometimes took us farther south than we really wanted to go. Rickover as commander of the Nautilus, a position he held from 1957-1959. Captain Anderson would go on to serve as a four- It was interesting to note that some of our systems had taken a term congressman from Tennessee. great leap forward in development – nuclear power, for example. Other systems had lagged, and they would have to be further Following their trek to the North Pole, the crew of the Nautilus developed before comfortable penetration of the ice pack in gained international fame, and its commander was hailed as a shallow water would be feasible. I made notes and hoped that, even if we failed, the things we learned in our attempt could be applied to future missions to the Arctic.

Then just north of Point Franklin, Alaska, we found what we had been looking for – deep water.

We first established our position by very short radar sweeps. Then we headed northeastward. We had rounded the corner of the pack and were now headed directly toward the Barrow Sea Valley and what we hope was the true deepwater gateway to the western Arctic Basin.

The USS Nautilus in New York Harbor,

August 25, 1958. U.S. Navy Photo Navy U.S.

AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 11 No one knew for sure, of course. We were still relying on of ice. Doggie Rayl and Shep Jenks had gotten one last fix through soundings and reports that were suspect at best. But right now a moon sight and the one LORAN line that was available at our that was our best and only hope to proceed beneath the solid sea remote location. of ice that lay between the North Pole and us. I watched the fathometer closely. It confirmed for me that the Finally, I heard the sweetest song I had ever heard. ocean floor was gradually deepening. I told the diving officer to take Nautilus even farther down to avoid any possible ice. As the “Captain, the water is getting deeper,” the fathometer operator valley deepened and widened, we increased speed accordingly. calmly reported. “It’s now 180 feet and still going down. Two hundred feet. Three hundred feet. Four hundred feet. Still getting We had just pulled from a crowded surface street onto the deeper!” expressway and we intended to make up for lost time.

I quietly thanked the Almighty and allowed myself a deep sigh 0715: Crossed 100-Fathom Curve. of relief. The men on watch cheered so loudly I am surprised they did not hear us all the way to Barrow. At long last we were in the Artic Ocean. Nautilus was a cruising depth, and I ordered speed increased to eighteen knots. Stu Nelson 0425: Commenced High Speed Ventilation for a Long Dive. again came by the periscope station and requested “going home turns,” so I obliged and authorized twenty knots. Soon we were With ice in sight on our port side and dead ahead of us, we were in plenty deep water. I ordered the ship to 713 feet to test for at long last in water deep enough that we could slide beneath the leaks before we got too far beneath the pack. As ever, Nautilus most impressive keels. We had managed to locate the very head was tight. of the Barrow Sea Valley. Lieutenant Bob Kassel, who had just joined us in Hawaii before this cruise, dived the boat for the first It was almost as if you could hear the ship hum, happy to once time and leveled off at two hundred feet. again be in her natural element – deep water. All equipment seemed to finally be working perfectly At last I was able to issue the Just before water covered the top of the periscope, I caught a order I had been waiting for throughout our maddeningly erratic glimpse of the sky. It was a beautiful, clear morning with a full meanderings along the edge of the ice pack: moon, the sun rising, and a soft but certainly chilly southerly breeze “Come left to 000,” I told helmsman Dave Greenhill, a torpedo- blowing. man from San Francisco. We were soon pointed true north. I noted it was 8:52 am and we were on the 155th meridian. The I ordered a course to follow the sea valley northeastward until North Pole was dead ahead of us, a mere 1,094 miles away. we found even deeper water. The conning officer, Ken Carr, had all sonars manned to keep a careful watch to avoid deeper drafts Frank Adams and I were now on “watch and watch.” One of us was up and about at all times. Frank was in every sense a “co-skipper.” Whenever he took over, I could turn in and rest without worry, knowing the ship was in the best of hands. I had served with Frank when we were both officers on USS Tang. Even though his wife, Novie, was pregnant at the time of our 1959 cruises to the Arctic, I never saw Frank’s attention waver from the job at hand.

We still observed menacing shafts of ice above us on sonar but now it was more a curiosity than a threat. We were traveling at a safe depth, well below any possible ice formation.

Hospitalman Robert Jarvis from Centralia, Illinois, was taking a break from his job of keeping track of the quality of our atmosphere inside Nautilus. He eased back, a pipe in one hand and fresh cup of hot coffee in the other, and smiled contentedly.

“Here we are, pinging up and down and all around, running President Harry S. Truman signs his name on the keel of the USS Nautilus as along at twenty knots, fresh air all day long, a warm boat, construction begins on the first vessel of its kind. June 1952. and good hot food,” he observed, raising the steaming U.S. Navy Photo AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 12 cup of coffee. “We sure have the situation in hand.” Then he nodded his head slightly. “I’m just glad we don’t have to walk all the way across that ice up there to the Pole, the way Admiral Peary did it.

No one disagreed with Doc.

Point of No Return

Saturday, August 2, 1958

As I watched Lyon’s gear trace the bottom of the ice above us and observed the steady work of the watch standers all around me, A chart depicting the route taken by the Nautilus during Operation Sunshine - its journey to the North Pole. I began to wonder about the The Nautilus left Seattle on June 9, 1958, entering the Chukchi Sea north of the Bering Strait on June 19. mythical “point of no return.” Deep draft ice forced the submarine to turn back, however, and the Nautilus removed to Pearl Harbor to That was the spot where, if we await better ice conditions. They finally re-embarked on their journey on July 23. had trouble, it would be better to continue on northward than Navigating through the Arctic would be treacherous. In addition to its remoteness and the danger of ice, to try to return to Point Barrow magnetic compasses and gyrocompasses become inaccurate. The Nautilus was fitted with a special gyrocom- behind us. pass built by the Sperry Rand company just prior to the mission in the hopes that it would work. Otherwise, the submarine would be forced to completely estimate its location and course. I had calculated that such a point would be at the “Pole of Inaccessibility,” the geographic center of the ice pack, the point eighty feet or more from the surface. That jagged ceiling averaged that was the most difficult to get to from any direction. From at least eight to ten feet thick. We knew that we had to remain where we were at that time, it was about four hundred miles our vigilant while standing watch, even if the deeper water now gave side of the geographic Pole. us some room to duck if need be.

With 116 people aboard, Nautilus ran at six hundred feet below Admiral Robert Peary poetically described the polar ice pack the surface at eighteen to twenty knots, following a course of near the North Pole as a “trackless, colorless, chaos of broken 000 degrees true, just about forty-four hours away from reaching and heaved-up ice.” our first objective. With our television monitor, we could watch the ice scudding past overhead like wind-blown summer clouds. Sir John Ross left for those of us who followed him a cogent We worked in our shirtsleeves in the air-conditioned comfort of reminder: “Let them remember that sea ice is stone, a floating our remarkable vessel. Reaching the North Pole would be the rock in the stream, a promontory or an island when aground, not culmination of one of the most thrilling and fantastic adventures less solid than if it were a land of granite.” upon which any sailor had ever embarked. I think I know how the crew of Christopher Columbus’s ships felt – and those who Waldo continued to monitor his equipment hour after hour, sailed with Magellan and Captain Cook. The sense of being in a watching the recording pens dance hypnotically as they traced the place where no man had ever been before, of fulfilling the dream underside contour of the ice above us. We were having a wonderful of so many who had attempted it before and failed, was not lost look, a scientifically and tactically invaluable examination of on us. something no man had ever enjoyed before. Lyon’s upward- beamed fathometers were greatly improved over what we had We also were more than aware that we could not cruise with used for our previous two cruises. total abandon. Comfortable and confident as we were, we still had to be as alert as we would have been had we been at battle Waldo was elated at what he was seeing. It would take two months stations attacking an enemy. to analyze his now-priceless recordings. It was original data, like a first close-up and accurate look at the surface of a strange, distant

Overhead was incredibly rough, almost solid ice with upside- planet. During each hour he collected more data than had been Navy U.S. down pinnacles that already projected downward as much as gathered about the ice in this region in all of history.

AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 13 of these spectacular undersea mountains appeared phenomenally rugged, equal to, if not more acute than, the peaks of the Rocky Mountains or the Himalayas. We later learned that we were cruising along over the Alpha-Mendeleev, an underwater mountain range with a surface area estimated to be greater than that of the Alps, and only recently discovered by an American ice station.

There were times when this undersea range kept coming up so relentlessly on the fathometer trace that I feared it might rise to the point of blocking our way or force us to probe slowly for a way around it. Fortunately, the roughly nine-thousand-foot heights they reached left us with a clearance of several hundred feet, but each peak gave us reason for concern.

I remember taking a brief turn around the ship to see how Wardroom meeting aboard the Nautilus during its 1958 mission. Captain Anderson is seated center. everyone was doing. Jack “Mother” Baird, the chief cook, was busy making doughnuts for breakfast.

Then he made a tentative, disconcerting finding. “The estimate “Care to try one, Captain?” he asked. for ice in the Arctic basin may have to be increased by a considerable factor.” He was by then seeing ice keels jutting “I don’t mind if I do,” I answered. I could not resist. I have a downward more than one hundred feet. sweet tooth. That may have been the best doughnut I have ever put in my mouth. Of course, we had to continue scanning ahead of our bow and looking downward toward the sea floor as well. There were no In the torpedo room I saw torpedo batteries on charge to keep charts in existence of the ocean floor over which we now traveled. them at maximum readiness. We knew there was little chance of Would a peak abruptly rise up in front of us, ominously echoing encountering any kind of hostile vessel way up there, but Richard our sonar pings? What if the ocean floor suddenly began to rise Jackman, torpedoman first class from Massachusetts, could beneath us and to squeeze us toward the sharp-toothed ice pack prepare the tubes for firing on an instant’s notice if a target above? appeared or for blasting holes in the ice if we should suddenly need to surface. Also on watch in the compartment was What a disappointment – and what a mammoth navigation Torpedoman First Class James H. Prater, a Kentuckian who, like problem – that would be! There was still so much for man to Jackman, was making his third Arctic cruise aboard Nautilus. He learn before undertaking routine transpolar voyages. We would maintained the oxygen bleed from the storage tanks into the ship’s discover much of that firsthand during the next few amazing atmosphere, making sure the air we breathed had the right amount hours. That is what exploration is all about. I could only hope we of oxygen for healthful breathing. would gather that knowledge more by trial than by error! “Prater, how’s everything up forward?” I asked him. 0100: Soundings, Which Had Been Running Along at 2,100 Fathoms, Jumped Up Suddenly. “Just fine, Captain,” he replied. “Seems like the closer we get to the Pole, the better Nautilus runs.” We were at seventy-six degrees, twenty-two minutes north – about one-third of the way between Point Barrow on the northern It was true. If a submarine could purr, our ship was certainly Alaska coast and the geographic North Pole. Almost before we doing so. Next I walked aft to the periscope station. Shep Jenks could catch our breaths, our readings rapidly decreased to a depth was pouring over his track chart, plotting our position. of about five hundred fathoms – about three thousand feet. That was certainly not a problem yet, but how much more shallow “Are we still on track, Shep?” I inquired, knowing the answer would it go? already.

I camped alongside the fathometer for several hours, and watched “Yes sir, Captain!” he said with a big smile. “We’re not off even as the surprisingly rugged terrain unfolded beneath us. I saw by a gnat’s eyelash.” fantastically steep cliffs rise thousands of feet above the basic ocean floor. Two or three times I ordered speed slackened as a He told me that the new high-latitude compass and the inertial promontory seemed to be rising right up to meet us, then resumed navigator were making navigation much easier than it had been as it topped out safely below us and we left it behind. The shape on the previous year’s trip. John Krawczyk AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 14 As I toured the ship, someone mentioned the possible reaction The day went by with no problems. No faults to rectify, no of the scientific personnel working on one of the ice islands casualties to overcome. The ice was continually monitored, and it overhead if we suddenly zoomed underneath at close to twenty showed almost complete coverage, broken only by occasional knots. It was an interesting thing to ponder. cracks between the giant floes. Even with the thick canopy over us, there was still some light filtering through. When I looked I ran into Chief Hospitalman John Aberle with the latest through the periscopes, I could see something surprising: atmosphere readings. Our air revitalization components were phosphorescent streaks in the water. This was something we saw working efficiently enough to maintain us in the recommended in tropical waters all the time, but I was amazed to see the atmospheric conditions. Our air was likely as clean or cleaner phenomenon here. It was so cold that the outside of some of than that at the surface. our engine-room seawater pipes was caked with thick layers of rime ice. Other men kept a sharp eye on the ice, charting everyone one of the infrequent leads and polynyas During the night we passed they saw, just in case we needed to underneath some prime surfacing make a sudden dash for the surface. opportunities, but we left them In an emergency we might have to behind after noting them on our spin around and attempt to thread charts. Time was a factor. We still one of those needles in a hurry. We did not know if Skate was ahead could have surfaced in one of them of us, coming our way. And and reported our position, but I did everyone in Washington who knew not want to take the time or the risk about Operation Sunshine would unless we had to. assume now that we were under the ice, plying toward the Pole. They A lot of interest had developed on most wanted to hear from us when the contest to design a cachet or we had successfully accomplished postal mark for envelopes that were our mission, not necessarily when to be mailed at the North Pole. I we were still hours away. had reasoned that we could assume and later get confirmation of We made plans to place our authority to act as an official post auxiliary gyrocompass in a office at the North Pole, which directional gyro mode, which meant that the stamps on the meant that instead of seeking north, envelopes could be canceled with the instrument would tend to seek the ship’s name and date and our the line that we were following very interesting location at the time already. That line was on a great of their mailing. There were two circle course up the Western superb entries in the competition. Hemisphere, across the North Pole, One was done by Bill McNally, a and then due south again but then very talented artist, and John Kurrus, The North Pole’s most recognizable resident - who bears a we would be in the Eastern who was almost as good a cachet remarkable resemblance to Nautilus crewman Bill McNeely, Hemisphere. If our master designer as he was a periscope welcomes the submarine as it approaches his gyrocompass lost its north-seeking neighborhood. welder. The other entry was ability, as we fully expected it to do developed by John Krawczyk and was a bit more adaptable to as we drew nearer the northernmost point on the planet, then we the face of an envelope. I thought both were worthy of winning would shift to the auxiliary compass and have something by which the seventy-two hours of liberty in England. I told the judging to we could reliably steer in the darkness below the ice pack. award all three men the prize. We had two other navigational aids that would provide further 2000: Passed the “Ice Pole.” checks. Our North American inertial navigator and the Sperry Gyrosyn, which was also in gyro mode, would let us know if we At 83.5 degrees north, we passed abeam the “Ice Pole” or “Pole veered off our intended heading. We were lucky that Tom Curtis of Inaccessibility.” It is so named because this is the geographical and George Bristow were traveling with us, continually monitoring center of the Arctic ice pack, the most remote point in the Arctic the N6A inertial navigation system better. We still made extremely Ocean. Someone mentioned that “Pole of Inaccessibility” was slow course and depth changes in order to ensure that all the no longer such an apt name, thanks to a nuclear submarine named gyrocompasses remained properly oriented. Krawczyk John Nautilus. Continued on page 17 AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 15 Thanking Our Wounded Warriors

After Operation Enduring Freedom began and the United States found itself at war in Afghanistan, Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Wash- ington, DC began treating wounded Soldiers brought home from the front lines. The numbers swelled after Operation Iraqi Freedom commenced in March 2003. To make the experience of rehabilitation a bit more pleasant, the owners of Fran O’Brien’s Steakhouse began bringing the injured Soldiers and their families in for Friday evening steak dinners, free of charge. The time away from the hospital proved invaluable to these young men and women as they sought to enjoy a How You Can Help normal evening out, sometimes for the first time in months. If you would like to contribute directly to future In 2006, Fran O’Brien’s lost its lease and was forced to close. Rather Wounded Warrior Dinners, or to any of the other than let the tradition of Friday evening steak dinners for the wounded programs of the American Veterans Center, we troops end, charitable organizations stepped up to the plate to help, encourage you to enclose your donation in the and leading the way was the American Veterans Center. attached envelope. For the past two years, the Center has sponsored a number of Fri- To donate via Visa or MasterCard or to request day dinners for the Soldiers and their families. At these events, these more information on the Wounded Warrior brave men and women have been given the opportunity to enjoy an Dinners, please contact James Michels with the evening out with friends and family while meeting distinguished vet- American Veterans Center erans from earlier generations, many of whom went through the same experience during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. at 703-302-1012 ext. 214 or e-mail [email protected]. The dinners are not cheap – each costs us about $4,000 to put on. But considering what these men and women have sacrificed for each of us, it is an effort worth every penny. As we continue this tradition into the New Year, we welcome your support in thanking our brave young wounded warriors.

As part of the American Veterans Center’s 11th Annual Conference, the wounded warriors were treated to a reception at the Presidents Club at In addition to soldiers from Walter Reed Army Washington Nationals Park. There they had a Medical Center, the dinners now also welcome chance to meet several Major League Baseball Marines and sailors from the National Naval players who served in WWII, including Hall of Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Wounded warriors meet with Col. Gordon Famers Bob Feller, Monte Irvin, and Ralph Kiner. Above, a Marine recovering at Bethesda is greeted Roberts, United States Army and recipient of the Pictured above are several Soldiers with Lou by Maj. Gen. John K. Singlaub at a dinner held at Medal of Honor for valor in Vietnam. Col. Brissie, who was severely wounded in Italy during the Army & Navy Club in Washington, DC. Roberts is the youngest living recipient of the WWII. After dozens of surgeries and years of General Singlaub was a decorated veteran of Medal of Honor and is the only one currently on rehabilitation, Brissie returned to baseball and WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, and the American active duty. The American Veterans Center hopes enjoyed a successful career with the Athletics and Veterans Center donated copies of his book, that by meeting the heroes of the past, the current the Indians, and was selected to the Hazardous Duty, to be given to each of the generation of servicemen and women will carry 1949 American League All-Star Team. wounded warriors in attendance. their legacy into the future. AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 16 we were proceeding farther north than any other ship in history had ventured under its own power.

As we grew nearer to the Pole, the navigation party scrutinized their data almost continually, recommending small course changes to send us directly across that specific point on the globe. After so many weeks of frustration and so many miles of steaming, I am not sure any of us could have handled finding out later that we missed the Pole – even by a mile or two. We watched our instruments very closely. Shep told me years later that he did every calculation twice to make sure no mistakes President Eisenhower pins the Legion of Merit on the lapel of Captain Anderson at a were made. press conference announcing the successful completion of Operation Sunshine and the Nautilus’s trek from the Pacific to the Atlantic via the North Pole. Frank Adams and I spent our time either at the Someone suggested that when we reached the North Pole, we conning station in the attack center or at the base of the grand put the rudder hard over and make twenty-five tight circles, like staircase in the control room. That was where the navigator and some kind of nuclear propelled carousel. That would make quartermasters did their work and the ship control party Nautilus the first ship to circle the earth twenty-five times. It was a maintained course, speed, depth, and angle on the boat. From dizzying thought! these spots, Frank and I were able to keep an eye on the nerve centers of the ship and remain within arm’s reach of Lyon’s Tempted as I might have been to authorize it, I knew it was out overhead sounders located at the top of the grand staircase. of the question. This was no time for stunts. I did not want to delay the completion of our true mission, the full transit from the I was primarily interested in navigational accuracy, something so Pacific to the Atlantic through the no longer mythical Northwest difficult to attain and maintain in the high latitude regions where Passage. Man had waited centuries for such a feat. I did not want to take any longer than was necessary to get it accomplished.

The North Pole. Latitude: ninety degrees north. Longitude: you name it! Anything from zero to 180 degrees, east or west.

Down through the centuries, writers and explorers have painted it as the point of ultimate difficulty and mystery. Actually it is a point of ultimate truth. For example, as an axis point of the earth’s rotation, does it stay fixed in location, always pointing to the same point in space, or does it wander like the magnetic pole does? The answer appears to be that it wanders. The amazing thing is that it deviates so little. By some estimates, its meandering draws an irregular circle less than twenty-five feet across.

If the Pole were to move appreciable, the earth’s tilt would reflect that movement, which would certainly result in significant weather and climatic changes.

Let us be thankful the earth’s wobbles are so small, and that the constancy of the North Pole is immutable.

Nautilus 90 North

Sunday, August 3, 1958 1007: Crossed Latitude 87 North. The men of the Nautilus are honored with a tickertape parade along the streets of New York City after returning home from their voyage to the Tom Curtis’s N6A confirmed that Nautilus had just broken our North Pole. Leading the procession are Captain Anderson and Admiral Photo Navy U.S. own record of highest northern latitude attained. With every mile Hyman G. Rickover, who is known as the “Father of the Nuclear Navy.”

AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 17 everything is “south.” Like Shep Jenks and his team, I wanted to thought if they could have experienced our seventy-two-degree be very precise in reporting our exact arrival at the North Pole. I comfort, with very little immediate danger, and witnessed this knew that the disputes still raged regarding the claims of others magnificent crew and our superb, tried-and-true ship. At this to be the first to reach the Pole across the ice or to fly over it with historic moment I wanted to recognize those brave, far-thinking an airplane. There was no room for controversy over which ship men, but first I had another thank you to offer. got there first. “All hands, this is the captain,” I said. “We are about to achieve a If Shep Jenks took time off to sleep during our transit, I was not goal long sought by men who have sailed the seas – the attainment aware of it. His attention to detail and meticulous planning were by ship of the geographic North Pole. As we approach the Pole, a true inspiration to the members of his navigating team, as well I suggest we observe a moment of silence dedicated, first, to as to me. Later Shep observed, “Our Nav team, by the grace of Him who has guided us so truly.” God, had individual personalities and gifts that perfectly fit the challenge we had on each of The ship was completely the voyages north.” silent except for the constant pinging of the sonars, Doggie Rayl was a probing for ice or other perfectionist, and a man obstacles in our path. I lucky to be alive to make the could feel the emotion of trip to the North Pole. Rayl the men who stood around was a signalman aboard the me in the control room. I battleship USS Arizona (BB- know there were many 39) at Pearl Harbor on prayers of thanks offered December 7, 1941. He was up at that quiet moment. sleeping topside to escape the heat below when the “Let us pause also in tribute Japanese attacked. The to those who have explosions blew him preceded us, whether to overboard and he managed victory or failure,” I spoke to scramble to another ship. into the microphone, “and That is how he survived in our earnest hope for Arizona’s sinking. world peace.” I glanced at Captain William R. Anderson on the bridge of the USS Nautilus as it enters the Jenks and took a deep The other quartermaster, Arctic on its historic mission. breath. “Now stand by, Ronald Kloch, not only was Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, good at navigation but also had a sense of humor that could five, four, three, two, one. Mark! 2315 Eastern Daylight Savings defuse the most tense situation. He liked to pop out a false front Time, August 3, 1958. For the USA and the U.S. Navy – the tooth and let it hang like a fang. That never failed to crack up North Pole!” Jenks and the team. Just that quickly, the first ship in history to be “under way on Richard Williamson as the steady hand, the one who never got nuclear power” became the first ship in history to reach and cross excited, and was the best liked of them all. Williamson would go the North Pole. And just that swiftly, we were no longer headed on to serve as chief of the boat on USS Jack (SSN-605). north.

This diversity and perfect mix of talents and personalities was The bow of USS Nautilus was now typical of the crew with which I served on Nautilus. Everyone heading away from the Pole, pointed was absolutely different and a great man in his own right. due south.

2315 Eastern Daylight Time (1915 Shipboard Time): Passed The Ice Diaries by Captain William R. Under Geographical North Pole. Anderson with Don Keith can be purchased at bookstores nationwide, online outlets, I made my way deliberately to the ship’s microphone. I intended and from the publisher, Thomas Nelson. to announce our crossing as we received exact distances to the Pole, called off to me by Jenks. I could not help but think of AVQ Peary, Cook, Byrd, Amudsen, and all the others who had braved this inhospitable frontier. I wondered what they would have Photo by John Krawczyk; Book cover from Thomas Nelson AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 18 Counterinsurgency in Vietnam Lessons Learned, Ignored, Then Revived By Rufus Phillips Rufus Phillips, the author of Why Vietnam Matters: An Eyewitness Account of Lessons Not Learned recently published by the Naval Institute Press, spent the better part of the years 1954 to 1968 in carrying out counterinsurgency in Vietnam while trying to influence U.S. policies in Saigon and back in Washington. Successively, as an Army officer detailed to the CIA, a CIA Case Officer, USAID director of an on-the-ground, unconventional, economic and social rural development program in support of counterinsurgency, and as a consultant to the State Department, he was involved from the rice paddy level to the President’s National Security Council in implementing U.S. policies and programs while trying to make changes. His efforts brought him into contact with all the major players of that era: President Ngo Dinh Diem, his brother Nhu, four American ambassadors to Vietnam including Henry Cabot Lodge and General Maxwell Taylor, Secretary McNamara, Secretary Rusk, Director of USAID Bell, and Generals Harkins and Westmoreland as well as President Kennedy. The author (standing right) with President of the Philippines Ramon Why Vietnam Matters (www.whyvietnammatters.com) is a first hand Magsaysay (center) at a meeting at Malacanang Palace, Manila, October account from which this article is derived. A review of this book 1954. Also pictured are (left to right) Nguyen Thai (of President Diem’s in the November-December issue of the VVA Veteran says the office), Lt. Nguyen Hung Vuong (army psywar), Bui Han (social services last chapter, which deals with Vietnam’s lessons applied to Iraq organizer), Do Trong Chu (interpreter), and Capt. Nguyen Huu Man (General Hinh’s press officer). and Afghanistan, “should be mandatory reading in Washington, D.C.” the Huk guerillas. This was combined with a surrender program offering the Huks resettlement in peace on farms they could own Beginning in the summer of 1954, after the Geneva Accords had with government help. During a crucial congressional election, divided Vietnam at the 17th Parallel into North and South, there which his own President was illegally trying to fix, Magsaysay had was a tenuous chance for the South Vietnamese to build an the army guard the polls to ensure voters would not be intimidated, independent government and to develop a new military and either by the President’s goon squads or the Huks. The President’s political approach to pacification of the rural areas where the party lost the elections but the faith of the average Filipino in communist dominated Vietminh guerrilla movement remained their democratic system was restored and Magsaysay became so strong. I arrived in Saigon, an inexperienced U.S. Army Infantry popular he eventually ran for President, winning in a landslide. second lieutenant, just as Geneva went into effect. The South was in political turmoil. My boss, the legendary Colonel, later Major Protecting the civilian population and ensuring their security and General Edward G. Lansdale, USAF, had earlier developed a well-being were put ahead of other military objectives such as winning counterinsurgency strategy and set of tactics in the killing Huks and force protection. Military civic action in which Philippines against the rural based communist led Huk Balahap each soldier was indoctrinated to believe he derived his authority (Huk) movement. In 1948 the Huks were on the verge of winning from the people and was honor bound to protect and help them control of the Philippines. The Philippine government was corrupt became both the order and the practice of the day. Popular support and incompetent. Its army was poorly led, taking on the Huks for the Huks was winnowed away, and the movement collapsed with conventional military tactics and, in the process, often when their hard core communist leader, Luis Taruc, turned himself alienating the civilian population. in, saying he no longer had a cause worth fighting for.

Lansdale became the advisor to an extraordinary Filipino leader, Lansdale undertook a similar approach to establishing security in Ramon Magsaysay, who as Secretary of Defense changed the the South Vietnamese countryside. I was assigned to work with army’s approach. Adopting a policy he called “all-out friendship the Vietnamese army and became the sole advisor accompanying or all-out force,” Magsaysay persuaded the army to put the security that army on two large pacification operations occupying large and well-being of the population first while aggressively using swaths of South Vietnam territory previously controlled for nine Phillips Rufus small unit combat operations and psychological warfare to defeat years by the communist Vietminh. Under the terms of the Geneva

AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 19 Accords, the communists were supposed to evacuate their guerrilla prevailed. The population’s initial fear and indifference turned troops north while the French Army evacuated south. There was into active support as the local people began identifying arms an obvious need for the South Vietnamese to extend government caches left behind by the Vietminh (the existence of these caches into areas formerly under communist control. The only institution clearly indicated they intended to return), as well as fingering active available for this purpose was the South Vietnamese army which Vietminh stay-behind cadre. had never conducted independent operations under the French in less than battalion size, was demoralized with many desertions After Lansdale left in 1956, the Vietnamese Army was taken out and whose chief of staff was spending his time during most of of its territorial security role to be organized and trained as regular 1954 plotting a coup against the newly arrived Prime Minister, infantry divisions to oppose an overt North Vietnamese invasion Ngo Dinh Diem. over the 17th parallel. This left a security vacuum in the rural areas which was supposed to be filled by provincial Civil Guard units, By the end of 1954, coup plotting was foiled so the army could but they were ill-trained and ill-equipped. At the village level a begin seriously considering its pacification assignment. No one self defense corps was recruited, but received little training while knew whether the Vietminh might reinitiate active resistance with owning even worse weapons (an occasional pistol and shotgun stay-behind cadre in the zones they were evacuating so we had to along with a few old French rifles). When the North Vietnamese help prepare the army for possible combat as well as for an reignited the insurgency in South Vietnam in 1959-1960, the South active pacification campaign to Vietnamese armed forces (the win the support of the civilian army, the civil guard and the self- population which had only defense corps) were not known communist rule. During organized or prepared to ensure the first occupation operation we population security while taking tried to improve troop behavior on the newly labeled Vietcong mainly through lectures. One (Vietnamese communists). Thus such lecture was given to army the insurgency thrived. truck drivers to stop them from running over people and their Enter the Americans in 1961 livestock when they passed under President Kennedy’s through villages. After that orders to help the South lecture, I witnessed these same Vietnamese foil the attempted drivers getting back into their takeover by the Vietcong. An trucks only to go off barreling overall American Military The author and Bert Fraleigh of AID (seated at far end) go by boat to through villages scattering Assistance Command, Vietnam visit experimental soybean growers in An Giang Province in 1967. people and chickens right and (MACV) was set up, headed by left. Obviously a few lectures were not going to do the job. The General Paul Harkins over the existing Military Assistance Advisory first occupation was a learn-as-you-go affair. Communist resistance Group (MAAG) which was beefed up. American officers were was passive not active and the operation went off without serious inserted as advisors down to battalion level of the Vietnamese adverse consequences but without creating a strongly positive National Army (ARVN) and at the military sector (provincial) relationship between the army and the population. level. The last American war experience had been in Korea, a conventional war. Lansdale, by this time a general in the Pentagon Consequently, in preparing for the next occupation of a large (Chief of Special Operations, OSD), had tried to convince zone in Central Vietnam containing about two million people, McNamara and the Joint Chiefs in 1961 that what was needed the army leadership with our help undertook much more intensive was a people first approach to counterinsurgency, the buzz-word training in troop behavior and civic action all the way down to of the time. Few understood this, and the counterinsurgency the platoon level with skits illustrating good and bad behavior as effort would become largely a traditional military approach to well repeated lectures. The army as servant of the people and killing insurgents as the main objective. Typical of Secretary Robert civic action – actively helping the population – was instilled as McNamara’s outlook, he once asked Lansdale for comments on every soldier’s duty down to the lowest private. As a consequence, an evaluation system he was creating to determine if our side the entire occupation came off without a single untoward incident was winning. It was all body counts, weapons captured and other between the troops and the population. Towards the end of the numerical factors. When Lansdale looked at it he said, “Something’s operation, people were actually coming out of their houses missing, the x factor.” McNamara was perplexed as Lansdale voluntarily offering drinking water to the soldiers (it was the dry explained that the “x factor” consisted of the “the feelings of the season when daily temperatures climbed over 100 degrees). The Vietnamese people.” McNamara couldn’t put a number on it so popular response in turn generated real pride down in the ranks. he put it out of his mind. Bean counting was substituted for While there was no active combat, had it occurred, I believe, the practical indicators that meant something in an unconventional positive attitude of the army towards civilians would have Calvin Mehlert AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 20 (“irregular” to use the current term) war. An intelligent approach trapped, but for the most part they evaded the sweeps, fading to counterinsurgency started to disappear. back into their base areas. While our military MAAG provincial advisors were clearly tied in with the strategic hamlets, MACV I became re-involved in Vietnam in 1962 when I was asked by headquarters and the corps and division advisory levels were not, the Director of USAID in Washington to take a month’s leave and with few exceptions were more interested in traditional combat of absence from the family engineering business to go back to operations. There was an over-reliance on air support and South Vietnam to survey how our Saigon economic aid office, indiscriminate artillery interdiction, too often striking civilians but the U.S. Operations Mission (USOM), could constructively become hitting few Vietcong. There was little understanding that the war involved in counterinsurgency. The Vietnamese had adopted the could be fought more effectively by protecting and winning over Strategic Hamlet Program, which was at its heart a village self- the population, and little appreciation, particularly at the top, of defense, self-government and self-development program, as their its political and psychological aspects. main response to the Vietcong insurgency. I found the program promising but generally under funded, poorly planned in a number The disconnect between regular army units and the civilian of provinces with too much uncompensated population population was also in large measure responsible for troop relocation and lacking sufficient security support. Except for one misbehavior, alienating the people we needed to win over. The experimental province in the Center, there was little tie-in between people first doctrine instilled in the army back in 1955 and 1956 combat operations by regular ARVN units and the strategic had been lost. There was talk of civic action but few American hamlets. While senior American advisors at the Corps and Division military advisors to ARVN knew what it meant or thought it level were pushing ARVN units of never less than battalion size important. Things were different with our military advisors at the to conduct sweeps (the predecessor to “search and destroy” provincial level as they could see first hand the connection between operations), the provinces had inadequate security forces to keep good troop behavior, civic action and the positive reaction of larger Vietcong guerrilla units away from the hamlets. the population which would then start providing intelligence about the Vietcong and participating willingly in their own self-defense. Based on what I saw I recommended a decentralized economic, Unfortunately, these provincial advisors could only serve a year social and security assistance program to be funded by AID and were mandatorily replaced by new advisors with little overlap focused on the hamlet level and administered at the province or prior orientation and training. By the time most got read into level where a troika of the Vietnamese province chief, the American the local situation they were late into their assigned tour. military advisor and a USOM provincial representative would jointly decide how to expend funds in support of the hamlet In many provinces the lack of effective backup military support program. Activities to be supported included hamlet and hamlet for the hamlets made permanent security difficult if not defense construction, hamlet civic action teams, hamlet militia impossible. When properly armed and at least minimally trained, training and a surrender program as well as agricultural and the hamlet militia could resist small-scale, local VC incursions. livestock development, the building and equipping of schools, The village-level Self-Defense Corps (SDC) was the next line of and village self-help projects (wells, roads, irrigation works, fish defense, but it was often poorly trained and under armed, at a ponds) for which the population furnished the labor and the time when more and more VC were armed with AK-47s government furnished the materials. To be eligible for such projects smuggled in from Cambodia or down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. the hamlet had first to conduct an election for hamlet chief and While most MAAG provincial advisors understood the council, a step towards active self-governance and self-defense. importance of the SDC, at higher levels its needs received little attention. At the next highest level in the provinces, the Civil Guard When I came back to Washington I was asked by the White House was mainly employed in static duty, guarding bridges and to run the program so I quit my job. By September 1962, I was provincial and district headquarters. back out there in charge of the special USOM office of Rural Affairs, putting funds and representatives into the provinces in Though General Harkins, as head of MACV, issued an order in active collaboration with the Vietnamese. Rural security improved February 1963 explaining the importance of “clear and hold” as our support took hold in those provinces where the province operations and support for the Strategic Hamlet Program, chief had a real concern for the security and well being of the declaring that it was “absolutely essential” that Vietnamese army population. The problem persisted, however, of inadequate resources be applied to this effort, the main emphasis at division security resources at the provincial level with the exception of a and corps remained on large-unit sweeps. Most of these operations few provinces where the Vietcong were weak or where a regular were ineffective and not worth the side effect of driving more army regiment had been specifically assigned to a province. With recruits to the Vietcong. A MAAG “lessons learned” report of that exception, however, ARVN divisions were kept intact and June 1962 had condemned sweep operations as “indicative of had areas of responsibility covering several provinces. These forces poor intelligence,” recommending that they “should be avoided.” were habitually deployed in battalion-sized or larger sweeps This was obviously being ignored, as was another recommendation looking for regular VC forces, based on intelligence – often that “participating troops and commanders must be “Civic Action twenty-four hours old. Sometimes larger VC units would be minded.” Troop abuses continued. It was hard to figure out why

AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 21 results from our verbal or written warnings. I told him personally how back in 1955 the Vietnamese had taken two much less disciplined and untrained army divisions, and after three weeks of intensive indoctrination, had occupied an area previously controlled by the Vietminh for nine years without a single civilian/ soldier incident. Comprehensive civic-action indoctrination was again needed, I urged. Stilwell seemed to agree, but the idea received no priority within MACV.

In the first systematic attempt to induce a change in military tactics, Rural Affairs focused on the largely indiscriminate use of firepower by our planes and helicopters when fired upon even from friendly villages, as well as on the bombing and shelling of suspected VC locations when they included villages with civilians. I sent a memo to Ambassador Nolting with a copy to General Stilwell emphasizing that winning the support of the people was the only way to defeat the insurgency. What that meant “was [that] . . . so A school is constructed in a strategic hamlet in South Vietnam. Phillips long as actions taken in the war contribute to winning the people, saw the strategic hamlet program as having potential in the larger they contribute to winning the war. When they do not contribute counterinsurgency effort, which needed to focus on protecting the to winning the people, they contribute to losing the war.” A population and winning them over to the South Vietnamese mistaken view, all too prevalent in practice, was that “those who government’s side. do not support the government, or are not in government- the top level of MACV remained so impervious to its own controlled areas, must suffer for this (after all, war is hell). . . . firsthand, field-based recommendations. [A]fter suffering enough they will either blame the VC or will come over to government controlled areas to escape the bombs, To question military tactics openly would have brought Rural shells, . . . their lot when the VC are around.” Affairs into direct conflict with General Harkins about a subject on which civilians were thought not qualified to speak. A further Consistent with American principles, I argued, there were two complication was Ambassador Nolting’s endorsement in April reasons why the U.S. should neither countenance nor support of increased air interdiction, arguing it had few unfavorable side such actions. First, “No one should be punished for actions beyond effects. Typically, Rural Affairs had not been asked to comment his control or forced on him by fear of his life . . . [and] when on these operations, although we were better informed about punishment is possibly unjust, as well as excessive, it is certain to the side effects than others, with the exception of the MAAG create hatred for those that inflict it.” Second, we should, provincial advisors, who also believed that air support and artillery “absolutely prohibit any attacks by U.S. aircraft or pilots on . . . interdiction were much too loosely controlled, but they also were targets where the absence of women and children cannot be not consulted. . positively determined. So called ‘Free Fire Zones,’ which could be shelled or bombed indiscriminately, should be eliminated.” I hoped the assignment of Brig. Gen. Richard Stilwell to MACV The memo concluded, “This war is not an isolated phenomenon. as J-3 (Operations) in April 1963, would change the orientation The actions that we take, or support, here in Vietnam, must be at the top. Lt. Col. Charles Bohannon, (USA ret), whom I brought viewed in that context, and as they may be made to appear long over from the Philippines to help start the Vietnamese government’s after our major involvement here has ended.” surrender program (Chieu Hoi), had been deeply involved in the anti-Huk campaign as Lansdale’s Deputy. He had led Filipino The difference in outlook and understanding of the reality of the guerrillas during World War II, and had even written a book insurgency and the effectiveness of our counterinsurgency efforts, about how the Huk campaign was won (Counter Guerrilla particularly in the critical area of the Delta, came to a head at a Operations, republished in 2008 by Praeger). Bohannon had known September 1963 meeting at the White House. As a prelude, there Stilwell when Stilwell had been involved in supporting Lansdale’s had been a political uprising of the Buddhists resulting in a raid efforts against the Huks. We thought Bohannon might influence on the Pagodas in early July which had, in turn, convinced newly changes in the MACV’s approach. arrived Ambassador Lodge that the only solution to increasing Vietnamese political unrest and a diminishing war effort was the My office began giving Stilwell verbal reports about harmful removal from office of both President Diem and his brother Vietnamese army actions. He listened, but little happened. Later Nhu. An early effort to organize a coup by the generals had written memos were sent which Stilwell was reading but without failed and President Kennedy was trying to figure out what policy much reaction. He said he had warned some of the American to follow, either continuing Lodge’s effort to give covert support advisors about improper ARVN troop behavior, but I saw few to a coup, or to soldier on with both Diem and Nhu in power. Rufus Phillips AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 22 To find out whether we were winning the war, President Kennedy Tet,” in the spring of 1968, after the major Tet Offensive in January. sent two emissaries to Saigon, one from the State Department, General Lansdale had been back in Saigon since 1965 as a State Joseph Mendenhall, and one from the Pentagon, Major General Department civilian in our Embassy trying to implement Victor Krulak, to report back on the “true” state of affairs. Their pacification and political development and was still there. I had reports were so at variance that President Kennedy asked, “The been coming out periodically to help. In May, as part of mini- two of you did visit the same country, didn’t you?” I was in Tet, a small Vietcong unit invaded a heavily populated, poor but Washington because my father was gravely ill and was called into pro-government area, on the south side of the Saigon River called the same meeting and asked to report directly to the President District Eight and began lobbing mortar shells into Saigon. Under right after Mendenhall and Krulak. I told him every thing I knew Westmoreland’s orders U.S. forces replied with intense shelling about the current situation and recommended he send my old and bombing. Through Lansdale’s intercession the bombardment boss, General Lansdale, the only American Diem really trusted, was stopped, but not before destroying over five thousand to see if Diem could be persuaded to send his brother Nhu out dwellings, killing two hundred civilians, wounding two thousand of the country so relations could be patched up with the army and creating forty thousand refugees. Incredibly, some of the and the Buddhists. Kennedy thanked me about Vietcong were still there until arms were given recommending Lansdale but then asked what I to the local population who drove them out. I thought of the military situation. I responded visited District Eight in June to see what had that I had just been in Long An Province south happened. Afterwards I reported the unhappy of Saigon where some 60 strategic hamlets had news directly to Vice President Humphrey, who been overrun by the Vietcong because had a special interest in the area. In 1967, he had Vietnamese troops were confined to barracks visited District Eight as an example of how the over fears of a coup. We were not winning the slum dwellers of Saigon could be converted war, particularly in the Delta, I said. This caused into supporters of the government. a sensation because General Krulak had just claimed we were winning the war handily, As he was taking over command from particularly in the Delta. I knew this was what Westmoreland, General Abrams had seen the General Harkins thought because he only listened immense destruction wrought by American to favorable reports, but the Vietnamese firepower while flying over the city. He decreed Secretary of Defense had confirmed my that no further bombing would be conducted conclusions as had the ARVN officer in charge in the greater Saigon area without his personal of the strategic hamlet program at the national Rufus Phillips, in uniform, permission. This started the change in military level. This generated attempts by General December 1953. operations to an emphasis on pacification, giving Harkins to have me replaced, but when Secretary McNamara priority to population security and protection with compatible and General Taylor paid a visit about a month later what I had combat tactics, which began a major shift in the way the war was said was completely confirmed. This was the degree to which being fought. This change has been most ably chronicled by Dr. the wrong tactics and a willingness at the top to listen only to Lewis Sorley in his book, A Better War, and described in his article good news had skewed official military views. in the Summer 2008 issue of this magazine entitled “Principled Leadership.” By 1970, practically all of the countryside had been Over the next five years nothing ever came of my memo about pacified. Unfortunately, this came too late to affect the ultimate controlling the use of largely indiscriminate bombing and shelling. course of the war. The “we had to destroy it to save it” approach would intensify during the later American direct-intervention phase of the war We have recently seen a workable doctrine of counterinsurgency under Gen. William Westmoreland. This turned too much of being implemented by General Petraeus in Iraq, giving population South Vietnam, according to one critic, into “a lush tropical protection a priority over killing insurgents and even over force bombing range,” alienating not only many Vietnamese but the protection. Also, we seem to have come full circle with a recently American public as well. We were going to win the war ourselves issued (Dec. 1, 2008) Department of Defense policy directive which by attriting the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese who elevates the mission of “irregular warfare” to an equal footing presumably were going to give up so we could then turn the with traditional combat. With this focus and an understanding that country back to the South Vietnamese. All the lessons about Maoist protecting and securing the population must revolutionary warfare were forgotten if they had ever been learned. have priority in our combat operations, we can Press Institute Naval U.S. cover: Book Phillips Rufus Top: As General Maxwell Taylor would later reflect just before he hope that a better model of counterinsurgency died, we failed to understand our enemy, the North Vietnamese, will soon be implemented in Afghanistan. our South Vietnamese allies or ourselves. Why Vietnam Matters by Rufus Phillips can be purchased at bookstores nationwide and online at The damaging effect of such highly destructive tactics came to a www.whyvietnammatters.com. head in Saigon during a second Vietcong offensive called “Mini- AVQ

AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 23 Valor in Anbar An Excerpt From Veterans Chronicles

Veterans Chronicles, the American Veterans Center’s weekly radio fellow Soldiers were seriously wounded. Instinctively, Jackson series, features the stories of America’s greatest military heroes, in immediately went to provide aid before being shot himself. their own words. The program is hosted by Gene Pell, former Despite his wounds, he continued to alternate between fighting NBC Pentagon Correspondent and Moscow Bureau Chief, as off the enemy and tending to his fellow Soldier. It was not until well as Director for Voice of America and President of Radio the others were treated and evacuated that Jackson allowed himself Free Europe/Radio Liberty. to receive aid.

Each week, Gene talks to distinguished service members from Captain Jackson would spend a year recovering from his wounds World War II all the way through Operation Iraqi Freedom, in Walter Reed Army Medical Center before returning to duty allowing them to share their insights on the great and tragic overseas in Korea. In this issue, we are proud to share his story moments in American military history. Veterans Chronicles airs of valor. nationwide on the Radio America network, downloaded via podcast, and heard online at www.americanveteranscenter.org. Captain Walter Bryan Jackson: At the time we were responding to a mortar attack against one of our combat outposts, and I was with my company commander, Captain Eric Stainbrook, as In this issue of American Valor Quarterly, we feature the story of his support officer. We were rounding up a couple of detainees U.S. Army Captain Walter Bryan Jackson, recipient of the who we thought were responsible for attacking that base, and as Distinguished Service Cross - second only to the Medal of Honor we were about to pull away from the house where we found - for valor in Operation Iraqi Freedom. them, one of our Humvees became stuck in the mud. So we dismounted from the vehicles and were pulling security while Captain Jackson graduated from the United States Military other Soldiers attempted to free the Humvee. Academy at West Point in 2005. On September 26, 2006 as a young second lieutenant, Jackson and his fellow Soldiers of Within short order we came under attack, and my commander Company A, Task Force 1-36 came under attack from insurgents and first sergeant were both injured from machine gun fire. My in the al-Anbar province of Iraq - what was then the deadliest first reaction was to take cover. From there, everything happened region of the country. In the ensuing action, two of Jackson’s very quickly and it is kind of hazy, so a lot of what I remember has been told to me second-hand from other people. I do remember moving out across the road and assisting First Sergeant David Sapp, one of the two Soldiers who was injured. About a minute later, I was hit by the machine gun fire as well.

An American Soldier stands guard outside a meeting of Al Anbar’s Emergency Response Unit in February 2007. By early 2007, the “Awakening” had firmly taken root in Anbar province, which had previously been the most dangerous in Iraq. Iraqi Sunnis, once the heart of the insurgency, had become weary of the violence of al- Qaida terrorists in their midst and threw their support behind the Americans. The Emergency Response Units consist of local Sunnis who are skilled at identifying terrorists and assisting in the protection of the people of Anbar. U.S. Army Photo AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 24 I had been returning fire toward the position where I thought the A combat lifesaver came over and started to stabilize me, which insurgents were shooting from when I was hit. I slouched over was the first time somebody actually treated any of my injuries. I and lost consciousness, from what I have been told. When I came don’t remember, but I am told by Sergeant Newlin that I looked to, I began returning fire again. However, I was unable to reload at him and asked, “Are you a medic?” He said no, and I guess I the magazine because of the loss of blood and I guess the shock told him, “I don’t want a combat lifesaver, I want a medic!” of the injury, so I went back to providing first aid to First Sergeant because at that point, I knew everybody had been taken care of Sapp. I looked over and saw Sergeant First Class Mark Newlin, so now I wanted somebody who was trained and qualified, not one of the other Soldiers who had been towing the Humvee out somebody who just knew some first aid. It was kind of a funny, of the mud; he was directing the gunners inside the Bradley fighting surreal moment that I do not remember one bit. vehicles and ordering the Soldiers from inside the vehicles to come over to assist me and evacuate the commander and the What I was really proud of was that even after all that had first sergeant due to the severity of their wounds. happened – which was only about an hour into an eight-hour battle that ensued that day – Sergeant Newlin and Lieutenant Vo They moved over and picked up the got back into their vehicles and drove back commander, who had an injury to his left out to the battlefield. Even after we had leg – the femoral artery had been hit, so he been evacuated, they went back to keep was bleeding profusely. As they loaded him fighting the enemy despite seeing what had in the vehicle, Lieutenant Diem Vo, a platoon happened to us. I was really proud to see leader on the ground, noticed his them keep on fighting. commander’s weapon still out in the open, so he ran over to retrieve it and was hit in When it was all said and done, they had the arm by machine gun fire. He was able rounded up fifteen insurgents from a to move and was ambulatory, so he got mosque that the enemy was trying to use as back in the vehicle. Sergeant First Class a safe haven. They thought they were safe Newlin came back a second time under fire from us there, since they know we will not to assist me in picking up First Sergeant shoot at a mosque, but we had sent in the Sapp. Iraqi Quick Reaction Force to take them out. For their actions that day, Sergeant At that point, nobody knew that I was Newlin and Lieutenant Vo were both injured. I knew I was hurt, but I also knew awarded the Silver Star. I still had to help evacuate First Sergeant Sapp. So I stood up and helped carry him Gene Pell: What happened to Sergeant back to the Bradley vehicle, which was about Sapp, the first sergeant? thirty feet away. Captain Walter Bryan Jackson, United States Army. Captain Jackson: The captain and first Gene Pell: But you were still under fire? sergeant both recovered from their injuries. They both are actually still undergoing surgeries to this day. I am Captain Jackson: Exactly. The entire time we were under fire the most fortunate of the three of us, actually, but they survived from two different machine gun positions. We did not know that day and are doing well. where they were at, but returned fire in their general direction. So we picked up First Sergeant Sapp – there were four of us – Gene Pell: And you were at Walter Reed for how long? myself, Sergeant Newlon, our medic, and another Soldier. We started moving him and, I don’t recall this, but I am told that I Captain Jackson: I was there for an entire year. was hit a third time from enemy fire as we made our way toward the Humvee. But we kept pushing on and got in the back of the Gene Pell: There was a lot of controversy in the press about vehicle. They laid First Sergeant Sapp down, and I grabbed his Walter Reed and the treatment and care that patients were being hand to comfort him. offered. What was your experience?

The medic looked me over and noticed that I was injured, but I Captain Jackson: I was there both before and after that told him to not worry about it and to help to stabilize First Washington Post article had come out. But when I initially arrived

Sergeant Sapp. Once we were all loaded in, we pushed out to the there, I had a great experience with the doctors and staff – I was Jackson Bryan Walter of Courtesy field hospital, which took about five minutes or so. They treated like a rock star. It could not have been better as an inpatient. offloaded us and laid us all down on the beds, and the doctor The problems came when I was discharged as an outpatient. started categorizing us based on the priority of our injuries.

AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 25 Gene Pell: And from there you were assigned to Asia?

Captain Jackson: Yes. Initially when I went to Korea, I was a platoon leader for a rocket artillery battalion and my second job was as a personnel officer.

Gene Pell: How do you feel about the award that you were eventually given for your service in Iraq?

Captain Jackson: It was a very humbling experience, but the way I view it, it is a representation of all the service that my unit had provided. It is important to point out that in my task force in the 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry, there were seven soldiers that were awarded Silver Stars. You don’t hear about that very often. The heroism that I witnessed every day was amazing and inspirational to me. I hope that is what defines me as a leader. I Then-1st Lt. Walter Bryan Jackson (above center) becomes only the will never forget those people I served with, who made me seventh soldier since the Vietnam War to receive the Distinguished who I am today. Service Cross, November 2, 2007. Captain Walter Bryan Jackson was honored with the American Veterans Also pictured are Secretary of the Army Pete Geren and Center’s 2008 Paul Ray Smith Award, presented at its annual conference Lt. Col. Thomas C. Graves, Jackson’s commander in Anbar. on November 8, 2008. To read the award citation or to listen to this There were a number of problems that I experienced from the interview, visit www.americanveteranscenter.org. AVQ second I was sent home to live with my parents.

There were a lot of issues that I had with the bureaucratic side of things – from the financial situation to the accountability of where I was supposed to be living at. When I was discharged, my civilian case manager was aware of where I was living, but the Army had somehow let it slip through the cracks and as far as they were Integrated Management Solutions concerned, I was still back in Germany. There were some real issues accounting for where I actually was. to the Information Enterprise

Gene Pell: That would have some advantages, one might think! Organizational Planning and Program Management Business Analysis and Process Engineering Captain Jackson: It was a little frustrating for me to go into Walter Reed day in and day out and be my own advocate. My Systems and Requirements Analysis parents were actually my best providers for my care. After awhile, Systems Architecture and Evaluation I began to speak out about the issues, telling them that if this was happening to an Army lieutenant, I could only imagine what it Information Processing Technology and Analysis Expertise was like for a private.

But by March of 2007, after this article had come to light and the Army had revamped a lot of these broken systems, things started to get better. Over time, Walter Reed became the cornerstone of what the Army healthcare system would look like. So today, the Army is definitely in a better position in terms of the care they National Security Emergency Preparedness Law Enforcement provide for all the other wounded Soldiers in different Army bases. Walter Reed is now the best representation of what the Thank you for your service! system should look like. from a grateful veteran-owned small business Gene Pell: When did you return to active duty? 4018-B Plank Road Fredericksburg, VA 22407 (540) 548-1414 www.intelliwaresystems.com Captain Jackson: I was active duty the whole time, but I finished

U.S. Army Photo my convalescent leave at the end of November 2007. AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 26 Thank You For Your Support

The American Veterans Center, with its two divisions - the World War II Veterans Committee and the National Vietnam Veterans Committee - is grateful for your continued support in our shared mission of preserving the history and legacy of America’s veterans and service members. Through its various programs, the Center has sought to provide an outlet for veterans to share their experiences with the public, and to teach their lessons to the younger generation. The support of thousands of individuals across America has allowed the Center to expand its efforts over the years, instituting a number of quality projects, including: The National Memorial Day Parade American Valor Quarterly Our nation’s largest Memorial Day commemorative event Our magazine devoted entirely to first-hand accounts from the along Constitution Avenue on the National Mall. eyewitnesses to the great and tragic moments in military history. Annual Veterans Conference Youth Activities and Educational Outreach A gathering of America’s greatest military heroes, where their Including scholarships, internships, and opportunities for stories are recorded for posterity. students to learn from our military men and women. Documentaries and Radio Series Supporting Our Troops Programs including Veterans Chronicles, Proudly We Hail, and the Featuring regular steak dinners for our wounded warriors upcoming Medal of Honor Moment. recuperating at Walter Reed and Bethesda Medical Center. Visit our website at www.americanveteranscenter.org

AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 27 The American Veterans Center 1100 N. Glebe Rd. Suite 910 Arlington, VA 22201