A smile spreading on his face, he took the scarf and stuffed it into Maos mouth. But the longer I was over there, the more I became convinced that it was the other way around that countedthat because we might not be around much longer, we had to take extra care how we behaved. (He got a break. Later, after setting up camp in an abandoned hooch, four of the soldiers (excluding Storeby) took turns raping Mao. Arrested by military policemen at scattered points, the four soldiers passed through Vorsts area in the late afternoon and saw the Captain briefly. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Late in July, Eriksson was handed a communication from the commanding officer of his division, the 1st Cavalry (Airmobile). Vorsts executive officer, by contrast, could not countenance the thought of Meserves being cashiered. He was uncertain how he would act with her, he said, even though, oddly, he felt he knew her well; her cries, he said, had thrown him into a turmoil he had never before experienced. She kept looking at me, as though she was trying to guess what my game could be. He is now on duty as a soldier in the United States while awaiting further word on his case, which since September has been in the hands of a board of review. They werent shocked, or anything like that, Eriksson recalls. If hed kept quiet, he would have been impossible to live with., Regardless of when Meserve and Clark get out, Eriksson thinks, the atmosphere of civilian life may exert a moderating influence on their outlook. At ten-thirty, a short distance below the summit of Hill 192, Meserve found what he was looking fora command post for the day. They were very definite. For as long as she lived, Eriksson did not know her name. Manuel later told agents of the Armys Criminal Investigation Division, Meserve said to Eriksson that inasmuch as he did not do anything to the girl [the day before], Eriksson would have to kill the girl, but Eriksson said that he would not have anything to do with that. Meserve, however, didnt follow through on his threat. Leave it to me. His persistence in reporting the crime to higher authorities eventually resulted in general courts-martial against his four fellow squad mates. I stepped outside the hootch to be by myself awhile, and out there I could hear the muffled noise of artillery off in the distance. His spirits on the upswing, Eriksson set about trying to meet the chaplain. None of the four hit anything, and the Sergeant radioed the platoon command for artillery support, which was quickly granted; the coperation, Eriksson recalled, pleased Meserve no end, since it implicitly conferred an importance on the skirmish. During his first hour back in camp, he recalls, no one could have persuaded him otherwise. Former Private First Class Sven Erikssonas I shall call him, since to use his actual name might add to the danger he may be inhas also come back with his memories, but he has no idea what the future will do to them. Sometimes you have your disagreements, and sometimes you dont voice them, you keep them to yourself.. We made up something to get him to go away, Eriksson told me. . The men found her feverish and coughing, and Clark was all for rescheduling her death hour to that evening. There was to be an autopsy at the United States Army mortuary in Saigon, by a Japanese anthropologist, Professor Tadao Furue, of Tokyo University, and Colonel Pierre A. Finck, commanding officer of the 9th Medical Laboratory. man attending the sessions assured him that this was highly improper. Continually, Eriksson recalls, he heard the familiar argument that the V.C. After his last talk with Vorst, he told me, that frustration was always with himeating at him, keeping him remote from his fellow-G.I.s, costing him sleep. I knew I had cut myself off from the rest of my patrol, refusing to go into that hootch, and I had this idea that the fellows were watching the place from the brush, waiting for me to make just one false move with Mao. I thought he wanted to destroy living evidence., In the morning, everyone got up shortly after six, and it wasnt long before Maos fate was sealed. Though news of the incident reached state-side shortly after the soldiers' trials the story gained widespread notoriety through Daniel Lang's 1969 article for The New . I wanted to say, I apologize to you for whats happened, but dont ever accept my apology or anyone elses for that. . For protective custody, they said., From that point on, Erikssons life in the Army was radically changed. man, Who raped or had sexual intercourse with the girl?, Manuel replied, Sergeant Meserve, Clark, R. Diaz, and myself. It was six in morning and dark. The father was away in Phu My market, the interpreter went on. This is how it is with Casualties of War, Brian DePalma's tale of an atrocity . Looking back, Eriksson thinks that the small band of V.C. From the minute I got to Radcliff, I was on the lookout for him, whoever he might turn out to be, Eriksson said. He was twenty-two, a stringbean in physique, and blond, with eyes that were a pale, cold blue. Why else had Vorst seen fit to reshuffle the patrol, leaving only Manuel within shooting distance, so to speak? Sometimes I didnt see what kept the stick from snapping. He was just more serious-minded. His interest in religion still strong, Eriksson took part in church activities, he told me; he had recently supervised a group of high-school-age boys and girls making a two-week retreat on an island in a lake between Minnesota and Canada. Who says we dont get along with Charlie? The incident on Hill 192 refers to the kidnapping, gang rape, and murder of Phan Thi Mao, a young Vietnamese woman,[1] on November 19, 1966[2] by an American squad during the Vietnam War. Q: I didnt ask you for a long elaboration. A: Well, in general, sir, [but] in this specific case. No such thing happened. . That was a bum rap. Smiling, Eriksson remarked to me, We were thirty thousand feet up by then, or he might have asked for his money back., In Minnesota, Eriksson returned to the small apartment in Minneapolis where we were sitting, his wife having maintained it while he was gone. It is going to be yourself. Then the C.O. Eriksson and four other enlisted men were then on a reconnaissance patrol in the vicinity of the girls home. Its obey the man over you, follow the chain of command, or into the stockade you go. Something that added to his feeling of frustration in those trying weeks was that he could not find it within himself to single out Vorst as the arch-villain, from whom all evil flowed. It took him a while to realize this, he said, and, curiously, he became persuaded of its prevalence as a result of thinking about Vorst s negative handling. As he went over it in his mind for the hundredth time, he began to suspect the existence of cracks in the Captains seemingly certain, untroubled faade. Fortunately, he said, his assignments involved no murder or rape cases. He stated at the trial, From where I was, I observed Clark grab the girl by the arm and take her into the bushes nearby. I mean, if I let you go, do you think you can make it home? I wish Mao and I could have talked, Eriksson said, his voice tightening. [1] Although news of the incident reached the U.S. shortly after the soldiers' trials,[3] the story gained widespread notoriety through Daniel Lang's 1969 article for The New Yorker[4] and his subsequent book. I knew I wouldnt rest until something was done about Maos murder. The corpse itself was placed in an Army casualty baga rubberized olive-drab shroud, originally designed for fallen soldiers. I wanted to find out first what Meserve and Clark might do. The fire fight in the ravine lasted several hours, the attackers finally breaking off after dark. Apocalypse Now 1979. Some Vietnamese people were bringing children out of. Rafe later testified, There were helicopters flying around, and everyone was getting jumpy about having the girl.. As a disciplined soldier, I knew I wouldnt abandon the weapons in the hootch to the enemy, but, just the same, I was dizzy with thinking how to save Mao. Whatever I could do about her depended on finding someone with both the rank and the conscience to help me, he told me. Thats where the woman was going in the early morning, but it was peacetime and it wasnt necessary either for her or for the peasant women she was with to smell the bodies that were always rotting for miles around, no one knew where, when I was in the Central Highlands. Lang later turned the article into a book entitled "Casualties of War". I am not afraid of him if he has no weapons. Eriksson answered, That is negative, sir, when a defense counsel, taking up the pre-Hill 192 patrol in which half of Erikssons squad had been wounded, inquired, Isnt it true, Eriksson, that you allowed the squad to walk into the ambush area without warning, because you were hiding in the bushes?. Meserve at once radioed the platoon command, reaching Lieutenant Reilly, to whom he suggested that the V.C. went on, it was mild sentences that were the order of the day, and, what was more, they became even milder when they were up for review; safe and professionally idealistic back home, he said, the legal experts of military appellate bodies invariably looked with suspicion upon the administration of justice in war zones. Plot The young woman was abducted, not a prostitute. He hopes to open a small carpentry shop of his own in several years, but, ideally, he would like to be a farmera career that he doubts he will ever be able to afford. Recurrently, the court records show, witnesses found it deplorable that the defendants should have to fight for their survival in a prisoners dock when they might be far better employed doing that on the battlefield; in their every utterance these witnesses reflected the view that losing soldiers of Meserves calibre could result only in gaining a stronger enemy. An edition of Incident on Hill 192 (1970) Incident on Hill 192 by Daniel Lang 0 Ratings 0 Want to read 0 Currently reading 0 Have read Overview View 1 Edition Details Reviews Lists Related Books Publish Date 1970 Publisher Pan Books Language English Pages 124 This edition doesn't have a description yet. She was real goodpretty clean, he said. Since returning to civilian life, a year and a half ago, Eriksson has been concerned primarily with what his wife calls sorting things out. Once he had been separated from the service at Fort Carson, he came back to Minneapolis determined to find employment at something other than carpentry. However, it was essentially intact, and Meserve quickly converted it into a weapons depot, dumping ammunition stocks, and also food supplies, on its dirt floor. The group walked from the airstrip to Hill 192. Far from where the daily, relentless fighting was going on, he pointed out, Radcliff was probably less disposed to take gratuitous violence in stride; besides, there were infinitely more people at the division base, and that gave him a better chance of finding the effective ally he needed. Of course, I never bring up the girl now, because I know how much shes still on his mind, but Sven brings her up, and usually when I dont expect it. Eriksson and his wife spent Christmas of 1967 with members of their families in the small farm town up north that they both came from, and while they were there, an uncle of Erikssons asked him about Mao. They were just doing their job. Once the pair had assessed the gravity of the crimes being charged, they moved swiftly. At one point, Eriksson recalled, the Captain warned him that if the incident did result in courts-martial, he might face rough going on the witness stand. The man was never captured, Eriksson said, despite the fact that he became the single target of the gunships rockets and the infantrys bullets and grenades. FLORIDA HIGHWAY PATROL'S LIVE TRAFFIC CRASH AND ROAD CONDITION REPORTClick Here For Additional Information | Click Here for FDOT Emergency Real Time Traffic4/30/2023, 3:20:59 AM. Between us, weve taken care of that whole family., Eriksson never did become a door gunner. They were married four years ago, shortly after Eriksson was drafted. [9], Thomas, Cipriano Garcia, and Joseph Garcia were each convicted of unpremeditated murder in March and April 1967. Accordingly, at nine the group struck out for the cliff. That just shows you it isnt all combat over here. Meserves lawyer, pleading for his client immediately after this, spoke of the pressures on twenty-year-old sergeants. In ten minutes, a pair of agents entered the chaplains quarters, and Eriksson, as his affidavit shows, told them, in a signal example of understatement, This [the rape and murder] has been bothering me since it happened, and I went to the chaplain tonight and told him what had happened. The agents interrogated him with a cool, neutral competence. At four-thirty the following morning, Meserve diligently checked his mens gear at the edge of camp, seeing to it that their chow, star clusters, rounds of ammunition, smoke and hand grenades, and other supplies were in order. For the film, all names and some details of the true story were altered. Asked why, he answered, O.K., lets say you are on a patrol. be ambushed. But here was this Marine, who had put in much more combat service than Meserve or Clark or anyone else Id met, and he felt exactly as I did about the crime., Eriksson now fell into one of his silences, and I imagined he was contemplating the mystery of human character. Eriksson told me that he felt weary at the mere prospect of reappearing as a witness a year after the Radcliff trials. He was all of seven when he was driving a tractor on the farm. Erikssons patrol leader delivered a tongue-lashing to his counterpart, who apologized. They were alone this time, Eriksson told me, and when Eriksson inquired what progress there had been in the murder case, the Captain seemed not to hear but posed a series of questions. June 17, 2022 . I give him max rating as a soldier. In other connections, it was brought out that the Sergeant had not waited to be drafted, that he was currently in line for the Bronze Star, and that in the course of his overseas duty he had been awarded five medals, of varying importance, and had a conduct rating of Excellent. As far as he was concerned, Eriksson said, it had all seemed a morass of cleverness, but then, he conceded, he may well have entered the military courtroom in the Central Highlands, where the four trials were held, with unwarranted expectations, for it had been his hope that the trials would help him unravel his reactions to Maos fate. Your prompt reporting of this serious incident to your superiors and subsequent testimony in court were essential elements in the apprehension and trials of the men responsible for this brutal crime. Eriksson said to me, It only looked as though he was the one out to do everything in, but the C.O., I knew, had someone over him, and his superior had a superior. Eriksson was determined to meet the Arizonans friend, he told me, for he had a feeling that the long-nosed chaplain was the man who would help him bring Maos case to light. [6], Storeby initially reported the crime. It repeated itself in waves, broken only, Eriksson assumed, by Maos need to summon fresh breath. She had stopped whimpering, and there was even a little look of trust in her eyes. Reillys immediate superior, Captain Otto Vorst, as was later brought out in court, was out in the field at the time on a tactical problem. He was not due back until November 22nd, the day Meserves patrol was scheduled to conclude its mission. We were each acting the way we had to, he told me. Ill never know. . Actually, Eriksson told me, he had once asked Reilly for permission to discuss Maos murder with a chaplain, but the Lieutenant had discouraged the idea. If he had known this, he thinks, he might have realized then, as he did later, that the Captain was in a bind; that is, he was torn between the dictates of his conscience, which condemned the crime, and concern for his Army career, which, Eriksson later discovered, the battalion commanderwho outranked Vorst, and who was also a liferwas in the habit of admonishing the Captain to bear in mind. Only Manuel would remain anywhere near Eriksson; he was being reassigned to a different squad in the same platoon. After the young woman was murdered, Pfc. It was just like when you stick a deer with a knifesort of a thudor something like this, sir.. stockport council wards map; 0 comments. Rafe, hospitalized at Qui Nhon, was already accounted for; Clark was to take a relatively rear-area post, at battalion headquarters; Meserve was to be shifted to another platoon. Vorst filled out transfer forms, and Eriksson signed them. The Sergeant had made his announcement with a straight face, leaving his men to interpret it as they would. Moving in on the bush, Clark blazed away with his M-16, and at once the rustling foliage grew still. leading men on fifty, sixty, seventy patrols, and gave it as his opinion that this incident did not occur as the normal incident. Making his chief point, Meserves lawyer told the court, Theres one thing that stands out about this particular offense. Thinking like thatwell, as I say, it could change some fellows. Two escaped, and the fifth man made it to the caves, where he holed up for a last-ditch stand. Out on a search-and-destroy mission the morning after leaving Meserves command, Eriksson told me, he encountered a small group of American military men reconnoitring the vicinity of the cave complex. Even the prosecutor predicted defeat, Eriksson told me, and during a short break Eriksson heard the judge remark to the court reporter that the trial was a waste of the taxpayers money. I called him back and commended him on the job that he did and reported it, in turn, to the company headquarters.. Q : You feel that the government has done you a grave injustice in bringing you here today for trial? Incident On Hill 192 Paperback - Import, January 1, 1970 by Daniel Lang (Author) 1 rating Hardcover from $198.24 2 Used from $198.24 Paperback from $36.18 3 Used from $36.18 Print length 128 pages Language English Publisher Pan Books Publication date January 1, 1970 ISBN-10 033002518X ISBN-13 978-0330025188 See all details The Amazon Book Review At last, someone outside the patrol knew of Mao, he said. His reaction interested me, Eriksson said. Perhaps because Meserve had been the leader of the four accused, he came in for particularly heavy praise. Eriksson had considered the jutting and twisted rock a highly unusual one, but now, refamiliarizing himself with his surroundings, he saw, to his surprise, that it had a practically identical twin close by. Though the men had to struggle for footing, Eriksson related, they made a point of keeping an eye on the stream that ran near the hootch; it had its source high up on the mountain, flowing down past a number of rice fields. On November 22nd, Meserve, Clark, and Manuel, weary from their five-day stint (Rafe was still hospitalized), had scarcely dropped into their foxholes back in the platoon area when they were ordered to appear at Captain Vorsts command posta hootch somewhat larger than Reillys but equally bare. When Eriksson reaffirmed that he was, Kirk picked up his phone and called the Criminal Investigation Division office at Camp Radcliff. In a sample encomium, Lieutenant Reilly declared that the Sergeants character and reputation are the best I have seen, and [he is] one of the best combat soldiers I have known. Reilly also called him a fine soldier, and went on to say, He never failed to accomplish the mission. Both Thomas and Loeb were leaders of the white supremacist World Church of the Creator. see review David rated it liked it Nov 11, 2021 Glen rated it liked it Jan 29, 2014 At any rate, he felt that he was on the right track, since chaplains were professionally concerned with conscience. He was Sergeant Tony Meserve, a slim, black-haired man of medium height who was twenty years old and came from a town in upstate New York, near the Canadian border. The five men and Mao kept up a steady pace. We all looked at the paper, and he asked us what this was all about. Manuel gave similar testimony. As for himself, Eriksson told me, Meserve had ordered him to a ledge from which he could overlook the complex as he trained his grenade launcher on two cave mouths in particular, either one of which, the Sergeant thought, could afford the entombed V.C. Yes or no? Eriksson told me that he himself reacted silently but that after Meserve and the men had broken up to go their separate ways until morning he sought out his friend Corporal Curly Rowan, a West Virginian, who had been in Vietnam, and with the platoon, just as long as Meserve had. It was to take them, ultimately, to Hill 192a height, in the Bong Son valley, that overlooked a ravine laced with a cave complex, which was suspected of serving as a Vietcong hideout. Departing from the hamlet with their prize, the soldiers moved west toward the main trail they should have been on. Coming to me, the way he did, he might have been trying to save his neck by turning states evidence, so to speak. Kirk therefore interrupted Eriksson frequently, challenging him to tie together details that at first seemed contradictory. His break came after just a weekby accident, which was the only way it could come. Acknowledging the danger in which Eriksson had placed himself, the Lieutenant told him, If I sent you out with that patrol, youd never make it back.. Rafe later testified at his court-martial, Meserve stated we would leave an hour ahead of time so that we would have time to find a woman to take with us on the mission. argo parts amazon. That was how my hunch went, and I didnt dare change it in any way. Eriksson moved cautiously. He was brand-new. had shown for Erikssons safety be explained unless those cracks existed. Before Eriksson was through, even his possession of a sense of humor became an issue. They put a hold on my transfer forms. At first, the chain of command, including the company commander, took no action. Its time for some fun, he said. Commenting on this, Eriksson told me, I realized that nothing definite had happened yet, but I had the feeling it was the first sign that things were going to work out the way Captain Vorst had warned me they wouldI mean, that the sentences would get shorter and shorter, maybe even disappear.. He was shirtless; his face wore an expression of swaggering irresistibility. . Here, the C.O. Necessarily, he said, he was in a position to speak only of the behavior of American soldiers, since they were the people he fought and lived with. It was the same sentence he had been serving, but now, having been transformed into a new verdict, it was subject to another review, the effects of which soon worked to Rafes advantage, for in August, 1969, the commanding general at Fort Leavenworth shortened his term to twenty-two months. Mao seemed to figure constantly in his thoughts, he said, which were concerned mostly with how he would earn his livelihood after he left the Army, the following April. [1], On November 17, 1966, Sergeant David Edward Gervase (aged 20) and Private First Class Steven Cabbot Thomas (21)both members of C Company, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 8th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Divisiontalked to three other squad members (Privates First Class Robert M. Storeby, 22; cousins Cipriano S. Garcia, 21, and Joseph C. Garcia, 20)[3] about plans to kidnap a "pretty girl" during their reconnaissance mission planned for the next day,[6] and "at the end of five days we would kill her." Their testimony indicates that they were so inured to the epidemic, occupational violence of war that they found it hard to recognize their judicial plight as a type of retribution. They set you brooding about them for days. It was ten inches long, and its handle was wrapped with tape that bore a pattern of tiny diamonds. Locs mother was now missing. This sentence was first commuted to 20 years, then reduced to eight, which made him eligible for parole after half that time. Now, watching the chaplain depart, Eriksson decided that Greenacre was very much worth cultivating. Other soldiers, he said, might just as easily have betrayed the weakness that the four men had betrayed on Hill 192, but it had fallen to Meserve and Clark and Rafe and Manuel in particular to act as they had. Mao coughed throughout the night, and at one point, Eriksson recalls, Clark again urged that the girl be finished off forthwith. He did, however, speak of her abduction and rape, and that, it turned out, was quite enough to make Greenacre propose that he and Eriksson walk over to the chaplains quarters immediately. Seeing him and Greenacre chatting together, Eriksson went on, had made him realize that the only chance he had of escaping the chain of command was through a chaplain. No matter how close the questioning, and no matter how detailed the testimony he gave, or heard, it all seemed related to Maos murder in only a surface sense.

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