1966 - Vietnam Briefing #2

This is a short story, not so much about Hughie Don, but one in which he was a part of and enjoyed telling.

There was a Marine briefer who was very interesting.

You need to understand the Marines. They believe they are an elite fighting force second to none and act like it. In my limited experience with Marines and reading US history, it is a well-earned reputation.

This particular Marine officer in Vietnam was a large, barrel-chested man would give his briefing very authoritatively and loudly. When the briefing was done, he would stand in front of Admiral, bend his pointer stick in front of him and ask in an intimidating manner, "Does the Admiral have any questions?"

One time, after the Marine left, the Admiral confided in Hughie, "I'm afraid to ask him questions." 

Another notch in the Marines persona and lore!

End note: I think Hughie was proud that one of his grandsons served in the US Navy, and the other one served in the...wait for it...US Marines. You go, Devil Dog! Uncle Hugh* was proud of you too!

*A whole different story. :-)

1966 - Vietnam Briefing

When Hughie was sent to Vietnam, he was assigned to General Westmoreland's staff. General Westmoreland was the general in charge of the whole theater of operation. Meaning, he was in charge of the war against the Viet commies. Hughie was the General's Navy liaison for his assignment.

Having watched a documentary of the battle of Dai Do just south of the DMZ in 1968, there was a lot of coordination between the different branches of the military for battles; ship guns when near the coast or carrier-based airplanes for close support in Army and/or Marine land battles, for example.

At one point, Hughie was assigned to give a briefing to the big mucky-mucks in Honolulu, HI. So, he went to Hawaii.

After all his preparations and trip to Hawaii, Hughie was ready to brief the aforementioned mucky-mucks. Before he started the briefing, Hughie in his Navy uniform with his Navy wings on his chest, one of the top generals stood up and stopped him from starting.

The General asked, "How it was that a Navy pilot is giving a briefing to an Army General about Army actions in Vietnam.?" (I think this is a very good question, yeah?)

Hughie responded, "General, I am on a joint staff and I am very aware of what the Army is doing in Vietnam."

The General thought for a second or two, then said emphatically, "I am on a joint staff too. Carry on." Then he sat down for the briefing.

According to Hughie, the briefing went well and the General was satisfied.

Notes:

*Quotations, obviously, are best recollections and may not be exact, but the main idea is preserved and since I am the writer, I chose to do quotations. If you don't like it, well then...

Side Note: Marilyn got to go visit Hughie in Hawaii on one of his briefing "vacations" and she left us back on the mainland. How rude!