incident on hill 192 where are they now

At the time, Eriksson told me, he had no idea that the Captain had chewed them out. Learn more about Incident On Hill 192 Where Are They Now The guys would back him up, of course. It didnt take many further interrogations to convince the law-enforcement officers that they had a case, for Rafe and Manuel readily signed affidavits whose substance supported Erikssons account of the incident on Hill 192the name by which Maos murder became known among the military. had shown for Erikssons safety be explained unless those cracks existed. I had to know whether he could at least be trusted to keep quiet about what I was up to. As indirectly and offhandedly as he could, Eriksson sounded out various members of the work detail about Greenacrenone of whom, he remarked, he knew any better than he knew the Arizonan. They lingered in it longer than they had in the other hootches, but since Eriksson was standing outside the hut he is unable to describe what went on inside. He told me that beatings were commonrandom, routine kicks and cuffings that he saw G.I.s administer to the Vietnamese. Not sitting next to each other anymore, are they now standing opposite each other, with the frightened girl in the middle, separating them visually, just as she is the matter dividing them ideologically. In mild contrast, Rafe was capable of questioning authority, Eriksson said, but he generally wound up by going along with whoever seemed to be the leaderjust to keep from making trouble.. Manuel admitted to C.I.D. The novel was published in 1969. It was just like when you stick a deer with a knifesort of a thudor something like this, sir.. For protective custody, they said., From that point on, Erikssons life in the Army was radically changed. The C.I.D. He told me that their bond was religion and that the interest each of them took in it had been heightened by their experiences in the war. They werent shocked, or anything like that, Eriksson recalls. Deciding that he was looking at a V.C., Rafe let fly with a couple of rounds from his M-16 rifle. That word handle! Eriksson said reminiscently. It had nothing to do with a mans being responsible for his own behavior. 1/4 Fifty-four years ago today four US army soldiers murdered Phan Thi Mao, whom they had kidnapped and gang-raped in what is now called the incident on hill 192. en.wikipedia.org. Clark, who was several metres in front of Rafe, yelled back to him that it was the girl. They were cousins named DiazRafael, known as Rafe, whose home was near Amarillo, Texas, and Manuel, who came from a town some distance north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Its a part of the country where we pride ourselves on not being demonstrative, she said. Eriksson replied that he wouldnt mind a changenot that it would deter him from pressing charges. Besides, Eriksson said, none of the M.P.s at Fort Carson asked him about Maovery likely, he assumed, because they didnt connect him with her. These varying decisions, it seemed, were attributable to a variety of factors, among them considerations of the defendants character and background. As he was leaving, he told me, the Captain called out reassuringly, Ill handle everything!, When Eriksson heard nothing from Vorst for four days, he sought an interview, which was granted. 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. So now its only the father whos leftor is he? interrogators had apprised him of various rights he had, among them the right to remain silent and to have a lawyer, the interrogators had neglected to mention that he was entitled to have an appointed lawyer, meaning one whose services would be free of charge. For Eriksson, the trials were totally unlike anything he had anticipated. 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. When Meserve ended his testimony, the prosecutor inquired how many times and to whom he had told the story you just told on the witness stand., Numerous times, sir, the Sergeant replied. The corpse itself was placed in an Army casualty baga rubberized olive-drab shroud, originally designed for fallen soldiers. Sometimes you have your disagreements, and sometimes you dont voice them, you keep them to yourself.. 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. Thinking like thatwell, as I say, it could change some fellows. If he said no, he would appear to be disowning the defendants, his comrades-in-arms; if he said yes, he would in effect be telling the jury that he regarded the war as a public-works project for criminals. He first asked Sergeant Meserve, Do you know anything about this? To which Meserve said, We dont know what youre talking about. He then directed the same question to all of us, Do you people know what youve done up there? Captain Vorst then asked me did I know what would or could happen to me. Lang later turned the article into a book entitled "Casualties of War". Q : Well, you feel you are not involved in any way? Eriksson shook his head. From the minute I got to Radcliff, I was on the lookout for him, whoever he might turn out to be, Eriksson said. He said, We all figured we might be dead in the next minute, so what difference did it make what we did? It was certainly possible to do so, as I knew for myself from having read the court record of the trials he had brought about: seven bulky volumes in the offices of the Clerk of Courts, U.S. Army Judiciary, in Falls Church, Virginia, which included Erikssons testimony against the members of the patrol; their convictions and appeals; interminable correspondence between judges and opposing counsel; and depositions concerning the character of individual defendants. wouldnt let me become a door gunner, Eriksson told me. It had to be him, and no other chaplain, he recalled, smiling. Then I thought of taking off together with her. Q: You dont believe the military gives a choice between rules, orders, and conscience? But, as Eriksson unhesitatingly acknowledges, the fact is that when he thinks of his tour of duty in Vietnam it is always a single image that comes to his mind. Clark appeared to be beside himself with anticipation, Eriksson told me, and Manuel and Rafe appeared less so. The poor guys guts were out, Eriksson said. The holed-up V.C. incident on hill 192 where are they now - pamelahudson.net Id been there a month or three weeks longer., When he went on to imply that Eriksson might be chicken, the prosecutor asked, How come he stood up to Meserve? [6] The court, however, sentenced Thomas to life imprisonment with hard labor. Yes or no? Interested in "Incident On Hill 192 Where Are They Now" find IP Addresses, Websites, IP Tools, Articles, and other useful resources on IPAddress.com. Based on the actual events of the incident on Hill 192 in 1966, we follow . Greenacre was present throughout the talk, at Erikssons insistence. Q: Isnt it true you were so afraid you could hardly move? Looking back, Eriksson thinks that the small band of V.C. It repeated itself in waves, broken only, Eriksson assumed, by Maos need to summon fresh breath. To Erikssons surprise, the trial, which occurred in June, 1969, resulted in Rafes second conviction, an inevitable finding, in view of the fact that Rafe pleaded guilty to the charge of unpremeditated murder. Technically, I myself was a suspect, Eriksson told me. 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. When you go out on a patrol, you aint going to be as good as you want to be, because these guys aint helping you do anything. Do you consider yourself braver than Eriksson?. 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. INCIDENT ON HILL 192 (from my war diary) Moving in on the bush, Clark blazed away with his M-16, and at once the rustling foliage grew still. Rowan listened with astonishment as Eriksson apprised him of the Sergeants plan, but when Eriksson asked his friend whether he thought Meserves statements should be reported to an officer before the patrol left camp, Rowan immediately shook his head, replying, as the court record shows, Meserve wouldnt dare do such a fool thing. This incredulity notwithstanding, the news of Meserves briefing left Rowan unhappy. Besides, she was in no condition to reach home or anywhere else. Departing from the hamlet with their prize, the soldiers moved west toward the main trail they should have been on. Flying back to Carson, I thought to myself, So Manuels out. However, Maos sister, Phan Thi Loc, who was present, has done this at one of the trials. Impressed though he may have been, he heard Eriksson out with some skepticism, for before Kirk entered the Mormon priesthood he had spent ten years as a policeman on the Salt Lake City force. The weather had turned hot and dry, Eriksson remembers, and the interior of the courtroom throbbed with the whirr of electric fans. 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. . 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. The girl looked so innocent, so calm, he testified. 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 While Eriksson, Manuel, and the now wretched Rafe hovered outside, Meserve and Clark entered the hutMaos home. You Are Here: ross dress for less throw blankets apprentissage des lettres de l'alphabet incident on hill 192 where are they now. fellows knew about law, Eriksson said. And I told her, in English, I cant understand you. I wanted to tell her other things. All right, go ahead, Meserve said, and he instantly turned his attention to the enemy, ordering Eriksson to the lower ledge of rock while he and Manuel returned to the upper one, with Rafe to their rear. Eriksson was now with them, and he saw that Mao had retreated to a corner of the hut, frightened, watchful, her eyes glistening with tears, her presence made known chiefly by a cough that had grown more pronounced since morning. Eriksson wouldnt be going along, though; the Lieutenant had assigned another G.I. Q: Did he endeavor to actively join in with the free-time activity of the rest of the people, or did he have to be coaxed. incident on hill 192 where are they now | Posted on May 31, 2022 | exemple de mise en situation professionnelle fonction publique distribution sacs poubelles la rochelle 2021 Posted on May 31, 2022 | exemple de mise en situation professionnelle fonction publique distribution sacs poubelles la rochelle 2021 With Mao out of the way, he was able to concentrate on the action at hand, managing his patrol, working in concert with the other squads, and helping to guide the diving gunships, whose presence he now welcomed. Inasmuch as the board may only affirm or reduce Rafes sentence, any changes that it makes will necessarily fall under the heading of good news for him; for example, the board may decide that Rafe served too long a sentence by five or six months, in which event it will be incumbent upon the Army to restore back pay for that period; it is also within the boards power to reverse Rafes dishonorable discharge. They set you brooding about them for days. Eriksson saw Vorst shortly after the three soldiers left the company command post. De Palma wanted to make the movie after reading Daniel Lang's article in The New Yorker in 1969. He made one particular friend at Fort Carson, a Marine captain who had seen eighteen months of combat in Vietnam and was also about to become a civilian. The hootch contained a table, a low bench built against a wall, and tattered remnants of a straw mat strewn in a dark corner, and the dirt floor was littered with scrap metal, rocks, and cans. I told him I was being wrongly brought to trial. "[7], At approximately 05:00 on the morning of 18 November, the squad entered the tiny village of Cat Tuong, in the Phu My District, looking for a woman. 7 years ago. He was twenty-two, a stringbean in physique, and blond, with eyes that were a pale, cold blue. argo parts amazon. As Mao stood listening, mute and uncomprehending, Meserve said that she had to be got out of the way; if they ran into action, he pointed out, she would be a hindrance, and even if they didnt, helicopter crews scouting the area might want to know who she was. Now, watching the chaplain depart, Eriksson decided that Greenacre was very much worth cultivating. When she tried to flee, three of the soldiers chased after her. Eriksson said to me, his voice urgent, as though he had just heard the news, Charlie kidnapped her, just as he did Maos mother. They obscured her figure, Eriksson says, but he has the impression that she was slender and slight, and was perhaps five feet two or three inches tall. He was asked, Couldnt you have thought up a story [for Meserve] to the effect that you heard some noises or heard some V.C. Invariably, Eriksson said, he found himself reproved for the deed. His questions didnt take longmaybe twenty minutesand when they were over he wrote down on a piece of paper, Has no speech defects, steady manner. Offering an evaluation of his own, Eriksson added, He seemed like a nice guy. The girl was dressed and her hands had been freed. Lets kill her and get it over with, he said, according to the court record. At the time the fifth V.C. Q: I didnt ask you for a long elaboration. They hadnt ever heard Maos voice or seen her carrying Manuels pack.. Then he proceeded to tell us that if anything happened to Eriksson, our souls would belong to him. Possibly to help them retain their souls, Vorst announced that he was breaking up the patrol. 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. incident on hill 192 where are they now - sniscaffolding.com Im not saying that every fellow who roughed up a civilian liked himself for itnot that hed admit in so many words that he didnt. Sitting by himself on a sofa, Eriksson smiled somewhat ruefully, a deep dimple forming in one cheek. The group walked from the airstrip to Hill 192. 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. The men found her feverish and coughing, and Clark was all for rescheduling her death hour to that evening. I was operating in a forward area and probably seeing the war at its ugliest. 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. De Palma handles this unsettling & disturbing fare with ruthlessness, making it an experience to remember. She looked weary and ill, and she seemed to be getting more so by the minute. The incident on Hill 192 refers to the kidnapping, gang rape, and murder of Phan Thi Mao, a young Vietnamese woman [1] on 19 November 1966 [2] by an American squad during the Vietnam War. He is a short man of fair complexion, blond and blue-eyed, and he is not voluble. Transitory though their show of character may have been, he said, it encouraged him in reaching a private resolve, for as he kept watch above the cave complex, Eriksson told me, he was suddenly seized with the overwhelming realization that unless he took it upon himself to speak out, the fact of Maos death would remain a secret. For as long as she lived, Eriksson did not know her name. the bunker in the hootch. Sprawled on the ground after the meal, Meserve, refreshed, glanced at his fellows and then, with a knowing smile, indicated the partly ruined structure. Casualties Of War Analysis - 971 Words | Internet Public Library be ambushed. A. Oh, no, sir, it was not that he was disliked in any way. 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. He called me back in a few minutes, or a couple of minutes, and informed me that he could not catch the girl, that he had had to shoot her. It was still dark in the area, and no civilians attempted to stop us. Leaving the mother behind, the patrol resumed its march, prodding Mao to match its stride. 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. whose ammunition pouch, girding his midriff, had exploded as the result of a hit. making slow progress toward the refuge of the cave complex, which was three hundred metres away, almost at the bottom of the ravine. The decision was not easily arrived at, for two days before Clarks trial was to begin, and when Rafe had already been convicted, Clark approached Rafe in the stockade at Long Binh, where both were jailed, and, appealing to Rafes conscience, told him that if he gave unfriendly testimony against his comrades, he would have it on his mind the rest of his life. Troubled by this, Rafe sought, and heeded, the counsel of a Catholic chaplain at Camp Radcliff in resolving the dilemma of choosing between his moral obligation, as Rafe put it to the chaplain, and loyalty to the patrol. Summoned to the stand by Clarks lawyer, the priest said he had advised Rafe that, as opposed to defending Clarks interest, he had a greater obligation to his wife and his child and the young woman who, supposedly, I assume, was killed, and to justice and society. The priest also said he was asking a Franciscan brother in Texas to break the news of Rafes conviction to his wife, to help her absorb the initial shock., By contrast, the general demeanor of the other defendants was that of incredulity at being tried; the impression they gave was that they thought only the sheerest, most improbable sort of accident could explain their being haled before a tribunal. It could keep them from believing that life was so valuableanyones life, I mean, even their own. 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. An infantryman, Eriksson saw a fair amount of action, so, if he chose, he could reminisce about strong points he helped take and fire fights in which he was pinned down, and one ambush, in particular, in which half his unit was wounded. Straggling uphill, he said, they gravitated toward their leader, who stood, unflustered, near the jutting rock formation, surveying the combat situation. It was as much a part of us as our legs and arms.. The search party was a smaller one this time, Eriksson said, its assignment to make certain that nothing of any conceivable courtroom value still lay hidden in the area around Maos body; eventually, a C.I.D. He still has a tendency to fight off its memory, he said, and he thinks the reason for this is that although the experience he had may have revealed certain strengths in himself, he is far more concerned with the limitations it exposed. All were dishonorably discharged, reduced in rank to private, and deprived of all pay, with the exception of Rafe, who was to go on receiving pay but forfeit fifty dollars monthly for eight years. Late one afternoon, when he and about twenty other G.I.s putting up a barracks were about to knock off for the day, he saw a fellow-carpenter, Boyd Greenacre, detach himself from the crew to have a talk with a passing chaplain, a blond, long-nosed six-footer wearing a captains bars; the two men, Eriksson could see, were on cordial terms. In addition to the occasional remarks he heard in the police barracks, a train of other developments served to remind him of the girl. He himself, he imagines, must have looked glum. about Mao, and three times he used itIll handle everything, Ill handle everything, Ill handle everything. Maybe he did, but not in a way that had anything to do with anyones making amends. At his meeting with Vorst the day of the Captains return, he went on, he noticed thatlike Reilly, who was presentthe company commander failed to deplore the murder, and instead stressed its potentialities as a scandal. I thought again of letting her go, but what would I tell Meserve when he got back? The mother wept and pleaded, and her daughters, clinging to one another, cowered against the wall. 1. 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. Everything around him, he said, impressed him as pointless and aridhis fellow-workers, the monotony of clock punching, and even, at times, his beloved carpentry. 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. After fifteen or twenty minutes, Meserve, as though he were finally bored with the topic, abruptly reminded the unit of its mission; he wanted the men to do some more reconnoitring that afternoon. Helicopter crews might spot her. Before the patrol left the hamlet, a swarm of local children materialized, chattering agitatedly in a circle around Mao, and then out of the white hootch came Loc. When he stopped asking me questions, he started talking about Meserve and the others, sort of thinking aloud what it was that came over fellows in wartime. It certainly was not the Army's finest hour, given the reticence. It was based on an actual incident known as "the incident on Hill 192" which occurred in 1966. David Edward Gervase (1946-1981) - Find a Grave Memorial Given this confusion of values, the legalistic consideration of Maos death sometimes bordered on the incongruous. That guy, hes scared of doing this, hes scared of doing that. Everybody is going to make fun of you. They locked me up in a steel box, in solitary. 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. Unreasonably, he granted, he had come into court with the idea that he and the others on hand would wonder aloud, in a kind of corporate searching, how it was possible for the young girl to meet the end she did. Vorst was in the group, and Eriksson, detaching himself from his unit, went up to the Captain and told him about Mao. Besides, as the defense could not dispute, the jacket containing the explosive charge of a grenade launcher is made not of lead but of copper, and the search parties experts had found only the lead of numerous bullets from an M-16 rifle littering the immediate vicinity of Maos body. As the court transcript shows, Reilly didnt let matters rest there. At the very outset, Eriksson told me that the last thing he wished to do was discuss Maos murder in any legalistic vein. When I got up to the girl, I saw that her head was partially blown away, he testified. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories, Like their predecessors in all wars, American veterans of the Vietnamese campaign who are coming home to civilian life have their heads filled with memories that may last the rest of their days, for, no matter how far from the front a man may have spent his time as a soldier, he will remember it as a special time, when, fleetingly, his daily existence appeared to approach the heroic. At times, Eriksson displayed a certain poise on the stand. As if his family had any money! Between us, weve taken care of that whole family., Eriksson never did become a door gunner. Film rights were bought by David Susskind who was to produce the film for Warner Bros. Pete Hamill wrote a script and Jack Clayton was to direct. 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. It had to be on one of the two rocks that the girl lay, Eriksson knew, and to spare the others in the party unnecessary exertion he screened out the nearer rock by himself, doggedly plunging through formidable brush to reach it.
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