thedrifter
05-04-09, 07:13 AM
High School students get the real facts about Vietnam War
By Julia LeDoux
Published: May 4, 2009
Rain and heat that you had to experience to believe.
Walking in water up to your knees in rice paddies, in 100-degree temperatures, while being weighed down with combat gear.
Fighting the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese Army.
Making friends with those caught in the middle.
Retired Marine Major Bill Peters recently brought his memories of the Vietnam War to life for a group of about 30 students from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Prince George’s County, Md., at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
“A lot of them were sort of stunned,” he said.
Peters said many of the students, from an advanced American History class, had grandfathers who served in the conflict but did not know a lot about the war or what led up to it.
“The kids, they know their granddad served, but never really talked to them about that,” said Peters.
Peters was a young lieutenant who commanded 2nd Platoon, Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, nicknamed the Delta Death Dealers, from February 1969 to February 1970. At the time, Peters’ company was stationed in the area of Vietnam southwest of Da Nang.
“We were fighting mostly in the rice paddies, against the NVA [the North Vietnamese Army] and Vietcong guerillas” he recalled.
Peters began his lesson with an overview of Vietnam’s history from the end of World War II through what became known as the Vietnam War.
“I took them through the war,” Peters said. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there.”
Peters told the students about some of the firefights he and his men took part in. He recalled carrying one of his Marines who had been mortally wounded in his arms through a rice paddy to a landing zone for medevac.
“I’ll never forget that experience,” he told the students.
Peters told the teens that kids younger than themselves were strapped with bombs by the Vietcong and used to blow up American troops and South Vietnamese forces.
During his discussion, Peters also showed the students a series of 30 slides from his personal collection that depicted his part of the Vietnam War.
“The people of Vietnam were so dirt poor, their rice harvest was really all they had,” he said.
Peters also stressed that the Marines had seen the type of guerilla warfare they fought against in Vietnam before when fighting the “Banana Wars” and even had a guide, called “The Small Wars Manual” that provided them with a blueprint of past successes.
During the early 20th Century, while fighting guerillas in Central America and the Caribbean, Marines learned that they had to gain the trust of the native peoples if they were going to win the conflict.
“You have to protect the people,” Peters said. “If you protect the people, they will trust you. That’s what we did in Vietnam.”
As the conflict wore on, Marines lived with those they were protecting and built up trust and friendships among the Vietnamese people, he continued. Those friendships and trust led to tips about what the NVA and Vietcong were planning and helped the Marines to score victories in the war, Peters said.
“We used the same tactics in Anbar [Province, Iraq],” he said.
Peters, who volunteers as a docent at the museum, has been giving talks about the Vietnam War for more than three decades.
Ellie
By Julia LeDoux
Published: May 4, 2009
Rain and heat that you had to experience to believe.
Walking in water up to your knees in rice paddies, in 100-degree temperatures, while being weighed down with combat gear.
Fighting the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese Army.
Making friends with those caught in the middle.
Retired Marine Major Bill Peters recently brought his memories of the Vietnam War to life for a group of about 30 students from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Prince George’s County, Md., at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
“A lot of them were sort of stunned,” he said.
Peters said many of the students, from an advanced American History class, had grandfathers who served in the conflict but did not know a lot about the war or what led up to it.
“The kids, they know their granddad served, but never really talked to them about that,” said Peters.
Peters was a young lieutenant who commanded 2nd Platoon, Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, nicknamed the Delta Death Dealers, from February 1969 to February 1970. At the time, Peters’ company was stationed in the area of Vietnam southwest of Da Nang.
“We were fighting mostly in the rice paddies, against the NVA [the North Vietnamese Army] and Vietcong guerillas” he recalled.
Peters began his lesson with an overview of Vietnam’s history from the end of World War II through what became known as the Vietnam War.
“I took them through the war,” Peters said. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there.”
Peters told the students about some of the firefights he and his men took part in. He recalled carrying one of his Marines who had been mortally wounded in his arms through a rice paddy to a landing zone for medevac.
“I’ll never forget that experience,” he told the students.
Peters told the teens that kids younger than themselves were strapped with bombs by the Vietcong and used to blow up American troops and South Vietnamese forces.
During his discussion, Peters also showed the students a series of 30 slides from his personal collection that depicted his part of the Vietnam War.
“The people of Vietnam were so dirt poor, their rice harvest was really all they had,” he said.
Peters also stressed that the Marines had seen the type of guerilla warfare they fought against in Vietnam before when fighting the “Banana Wars” and even had a guide, called “The Small Wars Manual” that provided them with a blueprint of past successes.
During the early 20th Century, while fighting guerillas in Central America and the Caribbean, Marines learned that they had to gain the trust of the native peoples if they were going to win the conflict.
“You have to protect the people,” Peters said. “If you protect the people, they will trust you. That’s what we did in Vietnam.”
As the conflict wore on, Marines lived with those they were protecting and built up trust and friendships among the Vietnamese people, he continued. Those friendships and trust led to tips about what the NVA and Vietcong were planning and helped the Marines to score victories in the war, Peters said.
“We used the same tactics in Anbar [Province, Iraq],” he said.
Peters, who volunteers as a docent at the museum, has been giving talks about the Vietnam War for more than three decades.
Ellie