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Posted: 1/14/2026 1:27:26 AM EDT
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I’ll try to make this as short as I can, but I have made a new friend recently who fought in Vietnam from 1967-1968 and there is a lot to say. He is truly a fascinating person, and I consider myself lucky we have met. It is not often you get Vietnam vets to open up and talk to you, particularly infantrymen, and particularly among infantrymen, those that were wounded. I am purposely going to leave him anonymous by name on the web, but will share what I have learned from him thus far. He was not drafted. He signed up to go because he thought he was on the road to nowhere fast, so he sought the action. He told me that in 1967, all he wanted were girls and a Pontiac GTO and otherwise planned to be a car salesman to make the GTO dream come true. When he went over, he became a member of 1st Squad, 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, 4-31 Infantry, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division (Americal). He referred me to two books that describe the trials and tribulations of those who fought with him and those who fought where he did. The first book is “Through The Valley: Vietnam 1967-1968.” It is an incredibly well researched and well written memoir by a Captain named James F. Humphries that was in 3-21 Infantry. 3-21 was itself part of the 196th LIB along with 4-31, and the book recounts many of the battles and experiences that my new friend fought in. The 196th largely fought in an area immediately south of Da Nang, and directly west of Tam Ky. It is called the Que Son Valley, containing places like Hiep Duc and not too far from a Special Forces camp in Kham Duc. This valley was particularly deadly for the Marines prior to the 196th getting there, and was no cakewalk for the Army either. Since the area was closer to the DMZ, Army units found themselves fighting against NVA regulars, particularly the 3rd Regiment, 2nd Division, a well seasoned, well manned, and well equipped unit. Of note, and relevant to the forum, this book does recount a soldier dead in a fox hole with an “older model M16” (presumably XM16E1) with a cleaning rod jammed down the barrel. I asked my friend if he ever had any problems or witnessed any problems with the M16 and he said no. The other book is called “Twenty Days in May: Vietnam 1968.” This book is written by John L. Mansfield. Mansfield was my friend’s platoon leader, ie the platoon leader of 1/A/4-31 Infantry. Mansfield is mentioned by name in the book above. Mansfield tried to write his own recounting of many of the experiences mentioned in “Through The Valley,” though it focuses specifically on the month of May 1968 (and isn’t nearly as well written). Copies are also very limited, as it was self-published. The book begins with members of my friend’s squad being on point, with my friend being further back in the file. They step on a booby trap that instantly killed 5, and wounded a few others. The majority of those killed were in my friends squad, but also included the platoon leader (before Mansfield). Its a sobering beginning to the book knowing he saw this occur. Toward the end of the book, they became engaged in an ambush climbing a hill called Nui Lon. My friend was carrying an M60 that night. He pretty quickly got hit in the right bicep, and as he laid on his back, another round went through his watch (on his left wrist) and drove his watch into his left leg. As the doc came over to work on him, they were both either hit by a mortar or grenade, as he took shrapnel to the face, and the doc was wounded himself. For a moment that night, my friend did die, as he had no vital signs. When he was evac’d to the field hospital, and as he lay wounded, an officer came in and asked “What the hell is going on out there!?” My friend, thinking it was the BATTALION commander, replied, “Hell Sir, why don’t you get your ass on that bird and go find out for yourself,” or something to that effect. There was also something of a death threat in there, but I forget exactly how that was said. As it turned out, this was the BRIGADE commander. The doctors thought that his willingness to mouth off to senior officers, particularly the Brigade commander, in that moment was the coolest thing they’d seen, and later poured a cool coke down his throat for him, at his request, given that both of his arms were wounded. That was the end of Vietnam for my friend. After many surgeries, and time in Army hospitals at Fort Ord, my friend was released. He asked someone what the most expensive school was in California, and they told him it was USC. Wanting to make the Army/VA pay dearly, he got every cent worth of education he could from USC, attaining a Bachelors, Masters, and a PhD in political science. What is interesting when you talk to him is that you get both perspectives… that of a young, dumb kid who was looking for action, and that of a very well educated PoliSci PhD. When I asked him if he regretted signing up, he said no. He said the experience made him the person he is today. Though, he lost many good friends in the process. What I have come to realize about the war in Vietnam after talking to him and reading these books is that depending on where you were, Vietnam could be a completely different experience. I had always sort-of thought about it more in the “insurgent” or “COIN” context: ie walking around until you bump into a couple of dudes with rifles… lay down fire, call in the arty and kill them, search for intelligence, and maybe take a prisoner in the process if you’re lucky (like in many movies). However, this was not always the case, and these accounts make me realize that if you were fighting the NVA, you were often very much in a conventional fight where on the ground tactical decisions and small unit tactics meant the difference between going home alive or in a body bag. As my friend put it in other words, they were “pretty regularly getting their asses handed…” to them. In “Through the Valley,” there is a recounting of two companies getting into firefights over a period of 3 days. In their respective fights, both companies entered with ~94pax, and left the fight with between ~40-50pax present for duty. Needless to say, they were combat ineffective as a fighting element at that point. Here is a recent email I received from him: ”In retrospect, we were primarily bait. Stroll around the Valley until you get hit, then call in air. But every now and then you bumped into large units and took a real beating. The Que Son was legendary for this. More Marines died in Quang Nam Province than anywhere else… I always remind folks that Vietnam was thousands of different wars depending on where you were and when. 4/31s big success was Nuy Chom in Nov 68. A couple of guys I knew were still around for it. Sam Wetzel, who retired as a general, was Brigade Commander at the time and was a really good guy. He wrote a series of pieces on that fight that you can google.” He isn’t the “they treated us like shit” Vietnam vet. He asks for nothing, and only gives his (very insightful) perspective on his lived experiences during a tragic war in our nation’s history. I feel very lucky to have made my new friend. And if you made it this far in reading this, consider yourself lucky too. Here’s some pictures: Attached File Attached File My friend in the back here: Attached File Here he is about 4 hours before he was wounded: Attached File Nui Lon is the hilltop he was wounded trying to take. Importantly, the top of Nui Lon was covered in trees before the fight began. An FO from a different company gave A Co. a hand with arty fire that night and saved a lot of lives. The photo is from that company’s location: Attached File |
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Coordinates for those interested: Hiep Duc (sort-of the center of the Que Son Valley): 15°34'50.5"N 108°06'30.2"'E Nui Lon (not in the main part of the Que Son, but in the immediate AO, and part of the greater valley): 15°33'20.3"N 108°14'25.1"'E Kham Duc (SF Compound that was overrun): 15°26'13.5"N 107°47'50.0 "E Here’s the books: Attached File Attached File |
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