Camp Holloway Discussion Forum Archive 02 - 05/07/01 to 02/28/03

Re: SP4 Warren Lively, II
In Response To: Re: Why, Thank you, Ma'am... ()

<< ... heard about Warren the day it happened, and heard enough details that I will never forget ... >>

That was, and has remained, the worst day of my life. Warren was a Combat Engineer who rode in helicopters in 'Nam enough to fall in love with them; he extended just so he could fly. He wanted to go to a VA-approved flight school after service, and take up flying as a career.

Normally, he would have been flying with Jerry Branch; but Jerry was hauling around a USO tour in a spare aircraft, and I needed a gunner, and Warren drew me. We were at LZ Armageddon, and were just doing routine resupply; and had just finished a C-rat lunch --- which he and I shared; and talked about flying, and flight school, etc; when an infantry guy came over and asked if we (the 119th) could insert a reaction team to help a LRRP team that had been ambushed and had some casualities. Of course, we agreed. As the senior A/C, I was the Air Mission Commander. We had 3 slicks and a Croc team --- Croc 6, at that time was Capt. Tom Gardner, and Croc 3 (I think), who was Dave Estes. We went down a ravine with steep sides and put down in a small hole that had a big rock in the center and a big dead tree in the rear. Stopped, and with Chris and Warren taking us down carefully, and the Crocs on my left. When Warren yelled that he was hit, I turned and looked over my right shoulder. The medics were laying him down (I had three combat medics, the rest of the reaction team was in the other two a/c), and as I looked out over his M-60 --- I could see "sparkles" in the trees on a level sight line back.

The round that took him entered just above the armor plate, and severed his jugular vein. It splattered me with his blood; it was in the corner of my eye, and in the corner of my mouth, and along my jaw and ear. I have that hot burn, and that salty taste still.

It's a rare day that I do not think of Warren. For over 30 years I have been relieved that it was him and not me; and for over 30 years I have been guilty because he took the round that was meant for me: HE should have lived, not me. If I had put the Crocs on the right instead of the left; or if I'd used a different LZ; if I'd come up the ravine instead of down and faced the snipers; if he'd not had to be out on the skid clearing the tail ---- .

>> ... but I just did my job, like everyone else ... >

One thing to remember is that we were all just kids. At 23, I was an old man. Our combat preparation consisted of Basic Training: they dropped us into a war for a year or so, and then they cut us loose. My Dad, a Navy Hellcat pilot, had 6 years of war --- most of which was just cruising around the Pacific. We had 24-hours a day, 7 days a week for a solid year, minus one skinny week of R&R. And we got zilch by way of repatriation to a civil society. For a long time I thought I was "adjusted" and that the war was behind me; and that I was a normal person. It is only in the past few years that I have come to recognize that I, and pretty much all of us, got terribly screwed up by our traumas. It is now time to finally come home, for real. Some of those steps, particulary the first ones, are very difficult.

You served with honor, stood for you principles, and did the best you could with the resources available. Do NOT apologize for what you did or how you did it. Stand tall and straight and proud; and know this: nobody --- NOBODY --- has earned the right to talk 'down' to you about your Viet Nam service, or what or how you did your job, or any facet thereof.

One thing I never realized until the last couple of years is that none us is alone. We don't have to walk this path by ourselves, wrestling our demons in solitude. We have each other, our Brothers, our Comrades-In-Arms; and we have our families who love us, even if they don't always know how to deal with us. But WE are not alone. YOU are not alone.

I am so glad you are coming back.

Pickett

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WELCOME TOM LUMPKIN
Re: WELCOME TOM LUMPKIN
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Re: WELCOME TOM LUMPKIN
Why, Thank you, Ma'am...
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Re: SP4 Warren Lively, II
Re: SP4 Warren Lively, II
Re: SP4 Warren Lively, II
Re: SP4 Warren Lively, II
Re: SP4 Warren Lively, II
Re: SP4 Warren Lively, II
Re: Why, Thank you, Ma'am...
Re: Why, Thank you, Ma'am...
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Re: Why, Thank you, Ma'am...