A Vietnam veteran who developed high blood pressure years after returning from service used to face a brutal catch-22 when filing a VA disability claim: prove that herbicide sprayed in a jungle 50 years ago caused a condition that millions of Americans develop for other reasons. The medical evidence was nearly impossible to produce, and the VA denied claims like these for decades.

That changed when Congress added hypertension, hypothyroidism, and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) to the VA’s presumptive list for Agent Orange exposure. Veterans who served in qualifying locations no longer need to establish a direct causal link between their diagnosis and herbicide contact. The VA now presumes the connection exists.

But the three conditions did not all arrive through the same law, and that distinction creates a split system that determines whether a previously denied veteran gets an automatic second look or has to refile on their own. Continue reading →

In Vietnam, Medevac pilots flew into places most people were trying to escape. Their job was simple on paper: get the wounded out. In reality, it meant flying low into active combat zones, landing under fire, and risking everything to save soldiers they often had never met.

This video looks at why Medevac pilots had one of the most terrifying jobs in the Vietnam War — from dangerous extractions and jungle landings to the constant pressure of flying missions where seconds meant life or death. Continue reading →

We pray that The Wall Song will honor our surviving and fallen heroes of the Vietnam War as well as any who have served in the Armed Forces.

The Wall Song is a tribute born out of the kindred creative spirits of poet Judy Gorman King and songwriters Mitch Townley and Brad Dunse. Mitch heard Judy present her poem, The Spirit Of The Wall, at a Nashville benefit for homeless veterans in March, 2008. She gave him permission to use the poem as the inspirational foundation for the song. Mitch invited his good friend, singer/songwriter Brad Dunse to collaborate with him and the project was underway. The Wall Song was recorded in Nashville in July, 2008 by artist J.P. Williams and produced by Chip Martin.

My Company – the 498th ~ Editor

Why were medevac helicopters in Vietnam more than three times as likely to be shot down? Why did one out of every three crew members become a casualty, even though they were supposed to be non-combatants? This is the story of Dust Off, and how it became one of the most dangerous roles of the entire war.

NOTE: Having served 21 month in the Nam and having now lived in Arizona for 49 years – allow me to state that I was NEVER a fan of McCain. As a prisoner – he was given better treatment than the rest of those who were held. Click on the link at the bottom of the column.  ~ Editor

He was held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for a staggering six years. An Air Force pilot who shared a bond – and a prison cell – with the late Sen. John McCain is now sharing his story, as the nation marks 50 years since the fall of Saigon.

It was supposed to be his final scheduled flight over Vietnam. On Nov. 11, 1966, Orson Swindle was piloting an F-8 Crusader. He had already completed 205 missions when he was shot down and captured by the North Vietnamese.

“And we knew we were going to be beaten down. That was a given,” Swindle said.

He would spend the next 2,305 days as a prisoner at the infamous Hanoi Hilton, confined in brutal conditions where torture and starvation were common. He shared a cell with McCain, sleeping side by side for years. Continue reading →

May 27, 2018 ~ While searching for specific information earlier in the week, I came across the following. To say the least – it left me in shock for several reasons – the first of which because Memorial day is upon us. Secondly because, next week – June 6, 2018 I will look back exactly 50 years ago to my first landing in Vietnam, where within a week I would be assigned to the 498th Medical Co. (Dust Off) – the company for which a part of the following story took place. Although I do not specifically remember David Hertle, our stories overlapped during the same time frame, to the point where we both left the company and Vietnam within two weeks of one another – but there are others….

One final note: The author makes reference within the following about his story having taken place some 30 years before his writings, which now makes this story 55 years old.

To all of my Brothers who served in the 498th out of Lane Army Heliport – our time and story is nearing its end… I’ll see you at Sundown.

Jeffrey Bennett, Publisher/Editor Continue reading →

I happen to be in the camp that the U.S. actually should have been there helping the South Vietnamese to stop the communists, but like so many other wars we have subsequently entered, I’ve always thought we should have taken the lead and executed the military strategy to win definitively and quickly rather than allow it to drag out as it did. Continue reading →

In 1968 and ’69 – I was privileged to witness – LIVE – the Bob Hope Christmas special in-Country. Both years Hope’s musical band was the Les Brown Band – where I met the band’s drummer – who became a life-long friend. The sad thing is, that he has been gone for a very long time – but we met again in 1969 in Wisconsin while I was home on leave from the Jungle – when he was playing with Lanie Kazan at the Lake Geneva Playboy Club. We got together again in California when they were playing out there. Two weeks later – I headed back to the ‘Nam. The sad thing is – that I can no longer remember his name. But the memories are strong. ~ Editor

Cpl. Larry G. Nabb finds a moment of peace in front of a decorated Christmas tree in December 1968 at Quang Tri Combat Base, Vietnam. (Staff Sgt. D.L. Shearer/U.S. Marine Corps photo)

Christmas in the military is certainly different than celebrating the holidays as a civilian. And Christmas during war is an entirely unique experience from anything else. When we asked for your most prized stories of the holidays in uniform, our Vietnam-era veteran readers responded in force.

These stories made us laugh, cry and take stock of the sacrifices made by so many from the Vietnam generation. From holidays spent in locales from Greenland to Thailand, dodging enemy mortars, friendly fire or beer cans, or listening to perennial favorite Bob Hope, these Vietnam-era stories deliver poignant memories from yesteryear. Continue reading →

56 years ago I spent my first Christmas in Vietnam. I have never regretted one day of my 21 months of service. ~ Editor

Putting his philosophy of ‘Leave No Veteran Behind’ into practice…

      A commanding officer presents 1st Lt. Michael Jackson with the Bronze Star Medal in 1969. ~ Courtesy Judge Jackson

Judge Michael Jackson, a combat veteran, had the power to send veterans convicted of crimes to prison. But he had a better idea about how to return them to their status of upstanding citizens.

Working as a Common Pleas Judge in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Judge Jackson, now 80, decided it was better to customize a rehabilitation program for veterans who had offended — and surround them with other veterans. Continue reading →

“Dustoff inbound” was the message crackling over the radio that troops wounded in Vietnam most wanted to hear.

                …and I was there as well – as a Patient Protector with the 498th Dustoff Unit! – Jeffrey Bennett, Editor

The message using the “Dustoff” call sign meant that an unarmed UH-1 “Huey” helicopter air ambulance with a red cross painted on the nose was coming for them no matter the weather, no matter whether the landing zone was “hot,” no matter whether there even was a landing zone – some 8,000 hoists while the aircraft hovered were conducted during the war.

To honor those who flew more than 496,000 Army medevac missions from May 1962 through March 1973, the House last week passed the Dustoff Crews of the Vietnam War Congressional Gold Medal Act. Continue reading →

I couldn’t go to Woodstock, because I was training for a tour in Vietnam. I was 20 years old and had no idea what I was getting into. On the chartered flight to DaNang, we sang this song over and over. The lyrics were so true. The military industrial complex is who wanted this war. It had nothing to do with preserving freedom in the U.S.. ~ David Holst
Continue reading →