thedrifter
05-28-09, 06:40 AM
Coin man still haunted by Vietnam experience
by TESS GRUBER NELSON
World-Herald News Service
Published: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 11:16 AM CDT
Gary Pitt of Coin is reluctant to talk about the Vietnam War.
A member of the Marine Corps H&S Company 1-4 (1st battalion 4th Marines), Pitt was a member of one of the first Marine detachments sent to Vietnam.
The things he saw and did as a soldier stationed at Chu Lai still haunt him more than 40 years later.
"There is no humanity in war. There is no romance in war. It is a horrific way for humans to treat one another," said Pitt.
A 1962 graduate of Sweetwater High School in Texas, Pitt attended college at the University of Texas-Austin. However, he soon found out college wasn't for him and decided to enlist in the Marines in 1964.
"It was the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis," said Pitt. "I was going to go fight Castro."
Twelve weeks of boot camp were completed in San Diego. He was then sent to Camp Pendleton, Calif. for five weeks of Second Infantry Training Regiment (SIRT) where he learned field tactics and maneuvers.
"All of my uncles on my father's side are Marines. I came from a long line of about seven other former Marines who let me know I'd make it through or not come home."
Pitt was squad leader in basic training and SITR. From Camp Pendleton, he and two others from his platoon received orders to Kaneohe, Hawaii.
"It's across the island from Honolulu. I was attached to the 4th Marine Brigade, which is an assault force."
A combat assault force, said Pitt is the first unit in when problems come up in the world.
When Pitt hit the beachhead at Chu Lai in June 1965, he was 20-years-old.
"We were given no notice. I was at Kaneohe and we are doing all this beachhead assault training. We always looked at a map of California during briefings and were preparing for a large war game exercise on California. We were going to assault California and the Marines in California would be on the counterforce to stop the assault. I had never even heard of Vietnam. I didn't know there was a country called Vietnam."
Pitt said he and others in the brigade were excited about the war game and even more anxious about heading back to the mainland.
"We thought after it was over maybe we'd get furlough and get to go home."
One evening Pitt said they were in the base theatre watching the movie, "Ben Hur" when they got the word to move out.
"It was at the part of the chariot race, which by the way I haven't seen the end of yet, and the lights came on and film ended. We were told to return to our barracks, we were moving out, but we didn't think anything about it; that's how it would be in a real situation."
Gear was retrieved and the men were loaded on busses enroute to Pearl Harbor.
"We got on a ship and away we went. We thought we were going to California and boy was everybody happy," Pitt explained. "About the second night out, where the sun had been going down when we went to bed that night, the sun was coming up. We had turned around in the middle of the night. From there we went to Okinawa where we got supplies, food and ammunition and from there, to Vietnam."
Keeping their destination secret from the soldiers Pitt understood. However, it still bothers him.
"One of the sad parts about that is married guys not telling their wives and kids goodbye. That was one of the things that bothered me a lot. They never got to say goodbye, but there was a reason. There was no way to keep it quiet if people knew."
Besides providing security when other brigades of Marines were preparing a runway for air support, Pitt said they also patrolled the area in search of Viet Cong (VC).
"The VC had excursions every night, trying to blow up the tracks, facility or anything. We worked from that area north and to the west on patrols. I was involved with the M-track patrols, before fast boats for patrols up and down the rivers. We were using M-tracks to patrol the Mekong Delta."
Because he was single, Pitt volunteered to go on night patrols on numerous occasions.
"We'd get off a patrol and I'd have to find out where my unit was and they didn't know where I was. I'd have to hike or hitchhike with someone in a Jeep to get back to my unit. It wasn't until later I figured out that if something happened to me, they wouldn't know I was gone for a couple days, and if we all got zapped, who would know it? We operated in the Delta area going back toward Cambodia and north into the hill area."
Pitt said he had some very unique situations in Vietnam in the beginning days that later troops would not have to face.
"We were in some really remote bad situations without support for extended periods of time."
Although assigned to a 13-month tour, Pitt suffered a head wound after five-and-a-half months and was sent back to the states.
"I don't want to go there."
Even more shocking than his tour in Vietnam was Pitt's welcome back to the states. After arriving at Travis Air Force Base in California, Pitt was bussed to Oakland Naval Hospital.
"I didn't even know there was a problem in the states with Vietnam. Protestors were throwing eggs and other things at the bus and screaming all kinds of profanities. We made it back (from Vietnam) and our own people were treating us like that."
Upon recovery, Pitt became an instructor at Treasure Island Marine Brig, training guards. He also served as the duty warden at Treasure Island, located in San Francisco. From there, he was sent to the Pearl Harbor Brig as an instructor and was selected for burial escort detail.
"When a Marine dies and is sent home, that body never goes to the family unescorted. A fellow Marine takes that body to the family. I'd stay with casket until it's in the ground," he explained. "Not only did I carry with me my own scars, I also took abuse of a lot of families. I was alive and their family member wasn't; they had no object except me to take it out on."
Later in his military career, Pitt was sent to Quantico, Vir. for unarmed hand-to-hand combat instructor training, where he graduated top in the class. He returned to
Pearl Harbor and taught those same skills to other Marines heading off to Vietnam from February 1969 until November 1969 .
"It was an issue to get troops resupplied and reinforcements in Vietnam. That's why it was needed for me to teach them unarmed hand-to-hand combat. The Marine Corp realized they needed instructors to teach men to fight."
Pitt added the government later stopped the program citing it was too dangerous.
Pitt was in the Marine Corps for five years and 11 months.
Flashbacks and nightmares still haunt Pitt. He said if it weren't for the love and support of his wife, Janice, he wouldn't make it. He also has a strong faith in God.
"I only got out of Vietnam with all I got left because of God. I'm a great believer that God has a purpose for us."
Very proud to have been a Marine and to have served his country, Pitt can't say enough about his fellow soldiers.
"I never saw a single act of cowardice," he said. "Valor was common."
The Pitts have six children, Sean, a Marine; Sarah; Phillip, who retired from the Air Force after 20 years; Vickie, Kellie and Kim. They also have nine grandchildren.
They have lived in Coin since 1997, when they moved to the area to be near Janice's elderly parents.
"Regardless of what people think about the Vietnam War, those people needed help and we really screwed them over when we left them. We promised we wouldn't desert them and then we just walked off. We didn't lose the war we quit and walked away, but it's a part of me and who I am."
Ellie
by TESS GRUBER NELSON
World-Herald News Service
Published: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 11:16 AM CDT
Gary Pitt of Coin is reluctant to talk about the Vietnam War.
A member of the Marine Corps H&S Company 1-4 (1st battalion 4th Marines), Pitt was a member of one of the first Marine detachments sent to Vietnam.
The things he saw and did as a soldier stationed at Chu Lai still haunt him more than 40 years later.
"There is no humanity in war. There is no romance in war. It is a horrific way for humans to treat one another," said Pitt.
A 1962 graduate of Sweetwater High School in Texas, Pitt attended college at the University of Texas-Austin. However, he soon found out college wasn't for him and decided to enlist in the Marines in 1964.
"It was the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis," said Pitt. "I was going to go fight Castro."
Twelve weeks of boot camp were completed in San Diego. He was then sent to Camp Pendleton, Calif. for five weeks of Second Infantry Training Regiment (SIRT) where he learned field tactics and maneuvers.
"All of my uncles on my father's side are Marines. I came from a long line of about seven other former Marines who let me know I'd make it through or not come home."
Pitt was squad leader in basic training and SITR. From Camp Pendleton, he and two others from his platoon received orders to Kaneohe, Hawaii.
"It's across the island from Honolulu. I was attached to the 4th Marine Brigade, which is an assault force."
A combat assault force, said Pitt is the first unit in when problems come up in the world.
When Pitt hit the beachhead at Chu Lai in June 1965, he was 20-years-old.
"We were given no notice. I was at Kaneohe and we are doing all this beachhead assault training. We always looked at a map of California during briefings and were preparing for a large war game exercise on California. We were going to assault California and the Marines in California would be on the counterforce to stop the assault. I had never even heard of Vietnam. I didn't know there was a country called Vietnam."
Pitt said he and others in the brigade were excited about the war game and even more anxious about heading back to the mainland.
"We thought after it was over maybe we'd get furlough and get to go home."
One evening Pitt said they were in the base theatre watching the movie, "Ben Hur" when they got the word to move out.
"It was at the part of the chariot race, which by the way I haven't seen the end of yet, and the lights came on and film ended. We were told to return to our barracks, we were moving out, but we didn't think anything about it; that's how it would be in a real situation."
Gear was retrieved and the men were loaded on busses enroute to Pearl Harbor.
"We got on a ship and away we went. We thought we were going to California and boy was everybody happy," Pitt explained. "About the second night out, where the sun had been going down when we went to bed that night, the sun was coming up. We had turned around in the middle of the night. From there we went to Okinawa where we got supplies, food and ammunition and from there, to Vietnam."
Keeping their destination secret from the soldiers Pitt understood. However, it still bothers him.
"One of the sad parts about that is married guys not telling their wives and kids goodbye. That was one of the things that bothered me a lot. They never got to say goodbye, but there was a reason. There was no way to keep it quiet if people knew."
Besides providing security when other brigades of Marines were preparing a runway for air support, Pitt said they also patrolled the area in search of Viet Cong (VC).
"The VC had excursions every night, trying to blow up the tracks, facility or anything. We worked from that area north and to the west on patrols. I was involved with the M-track patrols, before fast boats for patrols up and down the rivers. We were using M-tracks to patrol the Mekong Delta."
Because he was single, Pitt volunteered to go on night patrols on numerous occasions.
"We'd get off a patrol and I'd have to find out where my unit was and they didn't know where I was. I'd have to hike or hitchhike with someone in a Jeep to get back to my unit. It wasn't until later I figured out that if something happened to me, they wouldn't know I was gone for a couple days, and if we all got zapped, who would know it? We operated in the Delta area going back toward Cambodia and north into the hill area."
Pitt said he had some very unique situations in Vietnam in the beginning days that later troops would not have to face.
"We were in some really remote bad situations without support for extended periods of time."
Although assigned to a 13-month tour, Pitt suffered a head wound after five-and-a-half months and was sent back to the states.
"I don't want to go there."
Even more shocking than his tour in Vietnam was Pitt's welcome back to the states. After arriving at Travis Air Force Base in California, Pitt was bussed to Oakland Naval Hospital.
"I didn't even know there was a problem in the states with Vietnam. Protestors were throwing eggs and other things at the bus and screaming all kinds of profanities. We made it back (from Vietnam) and our own people were treating us like that."
Upon recovery, Pitt became an instructor at Treasure Island Marine Brig, training guards. He also served as the duty warden at Treasure Island, located in San Francisco. From there, he was sent to the Pearl Harbor Brig as an instructor and was selected for burial escort detail.
"When a Marine dies and is sent home, that body never goes to the family unescorted. A fellow Marine takes that body to the family. I'd stay with casket until it's in the ground," he explained. "Not only did I carry with me my own scars, I also took abuse of a lot of families. I was alive and their family member wasn't; they had no object except me to take it out on."
Later in his military career, Pitt was sent to Quantico, Vir. for unarmed hand-to-hand combat instructor training, where he graduated top in the class. He returned to
Pearl Harbor and taught those same skills to other Marines heading off to Vietnam from February 1969 until November 1969 .
"It was an issue to get troops resupplied and reinforcements in Vietnam. That's why it was needed for me to teach them unarmed hand-to-hand combat. The Marine Corp realized they needed instructors to teach men to fight."
Pitt added the government later stopped the program citing it was too dangerous.
Pitt was in the Marine Corps for five years and 11 months.
Flashbacks and nightmares still haunt Pitt. He said if it weren't for the love and support of his wife, Janice, he wouldn't make it. He also has a strong faith in God.
"I only got out of Vietnam with all I got left because of God. I'm a great believer that God has a purpose for us."
Very proud to have been a Marine and to have served his country, Pitt can't say enough about his fellow soldiers.
"I never saw a single act of cowardice," he said. "Valor was common."
The Pitts have six children, Sean, a Marine; Sarah; Phillip, who retired from the Air Force after 20 years; Vickie, Kellie and Kim. They also have nine grandchildren.
They have lived in Coin since 1997, when they moved to the area to be near Janice's elderly parents.
"Regardless of what people think about the Vietnam War, those people needed help and we really screwed them over when we left them. We promised we wouldn't desert them and then we just walked off. We didn't lose the war we quit and walked away, but it's a part of me and who I am."
Ellie