When you visit the Vietnam Wall, go down where the two walls come together, and the last name is Lt. Rich Vandegeer. Rich died May 15th, 1975 on a small island off the Cambodian coast named Koh Tang. Rich was actually one of the first to die that day, but, by the luck of the alphabet, he gets to be the last name on the wall.
Rich died because of failed intelligence, as did others that day.
I know because I was there.
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On May 12th, 1975, the Khmer Rouge seized the
SS Mayaquez off the coast of Cambodia and anchored it near Koh Tang Island. A full account of the action is in the book by John Guilmartin, "A Very Short War".
On May 15th, I was one of the young airmen and marines sent to recover the Mayaguez and its crew. That morning, a Colonel gave us our intelligence briefing - He told us the island was lightly defended by a few troops, no real resistance was expected. As marines were boarding our helicopter, one asked me, "Where am I?" I told him "You're at Utapao Air Base." He answered "I know that. But what country am I in?" Young marines, going into battle, hadn't even been told what country they were in.
I was copilot of a helicopter offloading marines onto a navy destroyer by the Mayaguez. Meanwhile, Rich's helicopter was landing on Koh Tang island. Within seconds, two helicopters were burning on the beach, and Rich's was damaged and trying to get airborne. It made it off shore and then it sank.
We were the first helicopter to try to get the crews and marines off the island. I can still remember looking out my window and watching the muzzle flashes from a .50 caliber machine gun in a bunker as it shot up the left side of our helicopter. They hit our fuel tank and it went up in flames. Time to leave.
We made it back to a controlled landing in a rice patty in Rayong, Thailand. Later, maintenance came out by truck and patched us up well enough to make it back to base. We were the last ones in that night.
The first question in our intelligence debriefing was, "Why did you do that?"
We asked, "Why did we do what?"
"Why did you go in and land on the island that way?" asked intel.
"We were told the island was lightly defended, no problem."
Intel told us they had known for over three months that the island was heavily defended with over 300 Cambodian regulars who had dug in with heavy weapons.
We trusted our leaders to get us the information we needed to go into battle. But they didn't ask the right experts. And the right intelligence didn't get to the people who needed it.
I know that once again we have gotten bad intelligence on a war. I know that Rich Vandegeer is the last name on the wall.
- Charlie
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