All across America and around the world, welcome
to America's number one veterans program, the
voice of Americans veterans, Veterans Radio.
And now your host for today's program, former
CB, July 66, Republic of Vietnam, Gary Lilly.
Good morning, Bob. Representing the 101st Airborne,
trained as a forward observer, put to work as
a medic, it's the military way. Hoorah! Good
morning to that thin green and blue line out
there protecting us and the rest of the world.
That's our military of today. You're doing a
great job. We older veterans are proud of you.
My veteran brothers and sisters, welcome home.
And to you folks down under, thanks for listening
in. And good morning America. Welcome to Veterans
Radio. This is about our 270th. Over five years.
How many programs, Bob? About 270, 275? Oh no,
we're over 300. Over 300? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm
flys. I'm flys. It's beautiful. I love it. A
lot of things. It's a great day for veterans
and when you see a veteran, thank them. When
you see somebody in a uniform, active duty military,
thank them. and make it sincere. These people
are good. You and I went up to Camp Grayling
and watched them train the Michigan National
Guard. You know, it has changed, not that my
perspective hadn't been toward professional,
but to see it firsthand and to watch the professional.
I was looking at my photographs that I took there,
and all the things that I saw reminded me, reminded
me on how confident I felt being around those
troops. how professional they were. America,
you can rest easy and be comfortable. We're in
good hands. Those troops today are superb. Well,
what a great segue because I was watching television
yesterday and, oh, I know, saw the movie Stripes.
I'm telling you, folks, that's not the way it
is. That's the Beatle Bailey Army. That certainly
is not the way it is. The disrespect and all
you veterans that are out there know that that
Never ever ever happen at any of the repo stations
absolutely never but now to see the soldiers
Being professional going out risking their lives
risking their very selves For America and then
seeing that kind of garbage on television If
you get a chance write your station tell them
what you feel about they don't need to show programs
like that Hollywood ought to start making themselves
because it would be more appropriate Our troops
should not be mocked. When you take that oath,
just signing a blank check, that includes your
life. Who are we to mock them? I don't believe
that that's really comedy or humor. It's sort
of high school scatological. We can joke about
ourselves, but not you. Not you. Exactly. So,
anyway. What's going on over there in EMU? What's
coming up? Well, there's another great segue
I want to tell everybody about. September the
5th. Saturday, September the 5th at Reinerson
Stadium. It's going to be West Point versus the
Eastern Michigan Eagles. Yes, a football game.
kick off at seven o 'clock. And who's going to
be there? We're going to be there and we're going
to be doing a program. That's right. If you want
to get yourself on Veterans Radio and be a part
of this wonderful event, we have a hundred tickets
to the tailgate party, hundred tickets. And we'd
like you all who would be interested in going,
starting with going onto our website, www .veteransradio
.net. Be sure it's dot net. and email us, tell
us how many tickets you'd like. Tailgate party
starts at four. There will be refreshments, there'll
be hot dogs, hamburgers, tater chips, pop, water.
Did I miss anything besides us? You missed priorities.
Our priorities are going to be to the troops
of today and their families and to hospitalized
veterans, right? Yes. Parking, by the way, for
the tailgate, which begins at four o 'clock.
This is our tailgate. We're going to have a tent.
As I said, the refreshments, et cetera, the parking
is free. You'll be directed to parking. Admission
to the tailgate is free for the veterans and
their families. As I said, we have 100 tickets,
100 tickets to give away, and we certainly like
to give them away as soon as possible. Our program
will be recording approximately 5 to 6 in the
afternoon. Come on down and be a part of it.
And if you happen to not be one of the first
100... that we give away the tickets to, there's
going to be a special price of $3 to get in the
game and to be part of the tailgate. And every
ticket that's sold as part of this particular
project slash program, $1 will benefit the EMU
ROTC program. So once again, we're going to be
telling you lots about this Saturday, September
5th, happens to be Labor Day weekend, right here
in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The Army vs. Eastern
Michigan. The Army Cadets. Eastern Michigan Eagles.
Kickoff at 7 o 'clock. And we're going to have
tailgate at 4. We'll be giving you more information.
It's going to be fun. We got troops coming home
today, do we? Yes, we do. Each week on Veterans.
Thank you, Gary. Each week. Oh, I know. I'm shuffling
papers there as we go along. Each week on Veterans
Radio we welcome home servicemen and women who
have been stationed around the world. in the
service of our country. After a year overseas,
Fort Benning, Georgia saw the 988th Military
Company coming home. Approximately 50 soldiers
with the 988th will return from Iraq and arrive
at Fort Benning, Georgia. While deployed, the
988th mentored and trained Iraqi police force.
This was the Military Police Company's third
deployment. The company also spent six months
in 2002 guarding prisoners at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba. Dateline, the Keystone State, the largest
Pennsylvania National Guard contingent sent into
combat since World War II, will stream home from
Iraq one plane load at a time. Advanced elements
of the 4 ,000 -member 56th Stryker Brigade combat
team will start the homeward journey within days.
The entire brigade should be back by late next
month. Colonel Mark Ferraro said yesterday in
an interview from Camp Tajid, northwest of Baghdad,
said his troops, and I quote, have exceeded every
expectation in carrying a heavy load of responsibility
rarely given to a guard unit. That fits right
in, Gary, what we talked about when we were covering
the guard there at Graylands. Exactly. Isn't
that something? Yep. Since late February, the
56th has been in charge of security in a wide
swath of territory northwest of Baghdad. They
were working to put down a diminishing Iraqi
insurgency. They also built up the capabilities
of the Iraqi army and even expanded the electrical
supply in the region. That's another thing, too.
I wanted to point out this National Guard unit,
the engineers, they're bringing electricity,
bringing comfort back to civilians. Water, bringing
water. Absolutely. Water. electricity. I'm going
to further quote the Colonel, I think our major
accomplishment is our partnership with the Iraqi
Army. We have seen them grow in many areas. That's
also good to hear, great stuff. The 56 is the
only one of the Army's seven elite striker brigades
to be contained within a guard division. The
striker is a recent type of combat vehicle that
looks like a tank but rolls on wheels instead
of tracks. Once again the Colonel and I quote,
I think we have proven the concept that a striker
brigade can exist within the National Guard.
Everybody's back home can be extremely proud
of these soldiers. Duty, honor, country. The
world is supported by four things only. The learning
of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers
of the righteous, the valor of the brave. To
your own self be true. Medal of Honor recipient,
Samuel Davis. 2001. Sammy, welcome to Veterans
Radio. Thank you, sir. Good to join you. And
I want to point out to people it is not a winner.
You do not win the Medal of Honor. It was not
a sporting contest. You are a recipient of the
Medal of Honor. Is that right, Sammy? That's
fact, sir. Yes, sir. That was pointed out to
me one time and I have never forgotten it. A
fellow from the Korean War who was awarded the
Medal of Honor. I said that. I understand you
won the Medal of Honor. He said, I was a recipient
of the Medal of Honor, son. It was not a sporting
contest. Yes, sir. Very true. Sam, you're from
Kansas, aren't you? No, sir. I'm from Flat Rock,
Illinois. Oh, really? Not far away from here.
Not too far. You enlisted in the Army right out
of high school? Yes, sir. I went to Vietnam on
my senior trip. Some people go to Cancun. A lot
of people don't realize this, but between two
-thirds and three -quarters of those who served
in Vietnam and closer to three -quarters were
volunteers. The popular image is that everybody
was dragged over there kicking and screaming.
You were in the artillery. Your dad was in World
War II, and so you volunteered for the artillery,
did you? Yes, sir. I wanted to follow in my dad's
footsteps. Where did he serve? In Korea, or excuse
me, in Europe. World War II. What unit was he
with, do you remember? What Army? No, sir, not
at the moment. Okay, good. Listen, I should be
calling you, sir. What are some of the honors
that are extended to a Medal of Honor recipient,
Sammy? Some of the honors that are extended to
it? Well, it's obligations more than honors,
I believe. I have attended every presidential
inauguration since Lyndon Johnson, and there
again, it's not... Well, I guess it is an honor
to attend, but they expect you to attend to represent
We the People. That's how it was described by
me many, many years ago by Eddie Rickenbacker,
actually. Really? You miss him? Yes, sir. Oh,
certainly, yes, sir. Does somebody in the military
salute the Medal of Honor? I don't remember that
anymore. Even the President salutes the Medal
of Honor first. Isn't that amazing? For people
to get an idea of... Well, you're a part of a
very select group of a very select group. What's
the percentage of Medal of Honor recipients that
receive it posthumously? Do you know that? Currently,
I believe we have 98 living recipients, and there's
been 3 ,470, I believe. Don't quote me exactly
on that number, but there's been several received,
but only 98 living. Right. Going back to the
Civil War. In the Civil War, most of them were
awarded for capturing the other side's flag,
which was quite important, especially in those
days. Do I remember right that over fifty percent
of those awarded the Medal of Honor receive it
posthumously? Well, at least that, yes, sir.
Again, when I say that, you're part of an elite
group of an elite group. a minority of an elite
group. But tell us about, let's jump right into
what happened. It was in, how do you pronounce
it, Keelai? What was the town that you were west
of down in, you were in South Vietnam? Kailay.
South of the most portion of Vietnam, down in
Kailay, right off the Mekong River. And that's
that far from the Cambodian border. You were
with your artillery unit. As I read, 11 guns
and 42 men were helicoptered into an area west
of Kailay to set up a fire support base. How
many of you all told were there at that fire
support base? In our unit, there were 42. We
only had four guns. D -Battery, which was the
battery that they had devised these platforms
that had hydraulic legs on them. and they moved
in just off our port side and set them up in
a rice paddy and now they were four or five hundred
yards at least from us and then we were set up
right on Riverbank and we had four 105 howitzers.
How many men were there besides your 42? I didn't
know how many was in B battery while we We had
42 with us, that's what was running our guns.
You started taking mortar fire, heavy mortar
fire, about 2 in the morning, is that right?
Yes, sir. And that was followed immediately or
concurrently by an attack from the... At 2 .30
exactly, the mortar stopped and the ground assault
waves started. It was Viet Cong, and they were
good fighters too. The NBA was... We were fighting
two armies. Most people don't know that. We were
fighting the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet
Cong, which were the South Vietnamese guerrillas.
How many hit you? Do you know? It was a reinforced
heavy weapons battalion of NVA. I know it says
in the citation that they were Viet Cong. You
did not ever see 1 ,500 Viet Cong in one spot,
all dressed in uniforms. That caught me by surprise,
and I thought, well, there it is in writing,
so they were NVA. Just politically expedient.
It was not politically expedient in 1967 to admit
that there were that many NVA in the southernmost
portion of Vietnam. They became Viet Cong. Okay,
that makes sense. Political correctness even
then, or politics even then, not political correctness,
but politics. We accounted for at least 20 red
Chinese advisors. In that battle? Yes, sir. Okay,
so you were hit by roughly how many North Vietnamese
soldiers? Reinforced battalion, about 1 ,500.
1 ,500. All attacking your battery of four guns
and 42 men? Yes, sir. That's a fierce battle.
Tell us what happened then. Where did they come
from? Were they coming from the other side of
the river or were they all around you? Originally
they started from just across the river and then
they started coming in from all sides. If it
had not been for the Beehive round, which is
a plachette round that the 105 Howitzer has,
none of us would have been able to make it through.
But the Beehive round accomplished its mission.
For the folks out there that don't know what
Sammy's talking about, there was a round that
was similar to the grape shot of the Civil War
days, except that it had 18 ,000 beehive darts
in each shell, little darts. They're just little
arrows is what they look like, got little fins
on them and everything. Right, and the guns were,
the barrels were lowered to horizontal position
and fired directly into the into the enemy and
they were destructive. Extremely destructive.
How many rounds a minute could your guns fire
doing that? I believe under sustained fire you
can fire three a minute but when you're getting
overrun by fifteen hundred of the enemy you don't
pay a lot of attention to how many you're supposed
to be able to fire a minute and you fire and
load them as quick The adrenaline speeds up the
process a little bit, I guess. Yes, sir. But
you took over a machine gun at that point, did
you, Matt? Yes, sir. That was what I grabbed
the hold of first because they had hit my howitzer
with a rocket and had blown it up and blown us
away from the gun. So my first response was,
I've got to do something, so I grabbed the machine
gun. ammunition for the machine gun. I fired
my M16 until I ran out of bullets and the only
thing left was the 105 howitzer that was all
blown up and burning and I thought well maybe
I can just get one round out of it. So I found
the beehive round and assembled it and put it
together and on the next mass assault wave I
fired the beehive round and the howitzer came
back over me. because the recoil mechanism was
totally blown off of the weapon. So it ran over
me, but it seemed that it had done its job. It
had taken the brunt of the enemy and wiped them
out. So I thought, well, maybe I can do one more
round. So I didn't put quite as much powder in
the succeeding rounds, and it worked much better.
With guns of that size, you put in the projectile
and then you put in bags of powder behind it,
right? Yes, sir. So it's kind of amazing. I think
the bags of powder are in strings of five bags
and you cut off what you want to use and you
discard the rest. In a 105 Howitzer, there are
seven bags of powder sewn together on a cotton
string. And it depends on how far you want to
shoot. is how many bags of powder you put in.
How many did you put in with that first round?
Well, because I could not find any of the bags
of powder, which that's the way we had been trained.
I'd never put loose powder in. All of the powder
had been hit by the bullets and the mortars,
and there was no bags. It was just loose powder.
So I was scooping it up, and the first round
that I fired, I filled the canister full of loose
powder, When you put the seven bags of powder
in the canister, it does fill the canister, but
there's a lot of air holes because of the bags.
But when I filled it full, that's one of the
reasons why it ran over me so aggressively. And
later, Fort Stale, Oklahoma, the home of the
artillery for the Army, said that, well, son,
you probably fired a charge 20 in a cannon that
in excellent condition, seven is a maximum charge.
So that's why. The first round was a duel. I
thought he fired out to the horizon. So you fired
the second round and you kept on firing until
you ran out of rounds, is that correct? Yes sir,
I fired everything that I could find. And you
ended up, what was the last one you fired? A
propaganda round. So your last, this is almost
like a The last round you fired was a bunch of
leaflets? Yes, sir. Did it do anything? Most
definitely. Changed the mind of some of them,
I guess. I changed the mind of several of them,
yes, sir. All right, so then when you ran out
of ammunition for the howitzer, where was your
crew at that point? You were the only one firing.
Is that operating? Is that right? Yes, sir. What
happened to your crew? Some had fallen back on
one of the other guns to help them. In that extent
of a combat situation, your world becomes very,
very small. I know I thought that I was the only
one left alive from my unit. I thought everybody
else was gone. In talking with the other men
the next morning, they were each concerned with
their own small bit of the perimeter. You didn't
have time to stand up and look around and say,
well, I wonder what Sam's doing, or whatever.
You were busy tending to business at your area.
And that's what I was doing, and that's what
they were doing. And the noise is ferocious?
Oh, the noise is unreal. And they had tracers,
right? Were they green? Well, their tracers were
white, blue or green. Okay. And on which Communist
nation was supporting that particular effort,
and that night, It must have been well supported
because we could see red, white, blue, green
tracers going everywhere. The reds were ours.
The reds were ours, right. I remember having
a green tracer go by me one time, and I kind
of was afraid to say that later on to people
because I thought, well, tracers are red. And
then I learned that that was one of their tracers.
Yes, sir. Yeah. We didn't get shot at very often,
thankfully. So, in a combat situation, it's kind
of like controlled madness. And you guys were
all doing... Not so controlled. What's that?
Sometimes it's not so controlled. It's just madness.
And you guys were just reacting to your training
and the will to live. We were doing our job.
Taking care of each other and doing our job.
You know, I've said that more times on this program.
Someday I'm going to figure out what that term,
just doing our job, means. When it involves machine
gun fire coming at you and doing the things that
you guys do. I've heard more guys say, I was
just doing my job. That really works my mind.
I really want to tell you. You're taking care
of your brother in the same manner that you would
want them to take care of you. That is your job.
There you go. The brother. The brother alongside
of you. That's what you're fighting for, right?
Sure. So then speaking of the brother alongside
of you and taking care of your brother alongside
of you, at some point you heard yelling from
the other side of the river? Yes, sir. Gwindale
Holloway stood up and said, don't shoot, I'm
a GI. And I just was devastated to the fact that
I'd been firing beehive all night at my brother.
What were they doing on the other side of the
river? They were with 50th to 60th recon. They
had set up the perimeter around our fire support
base. They were providing our security. So that's
why they were over there. You weren't aware that
they were over there? Yes, sir. We knew they
were over there, but we had been told that when
the enemy attacked us that all of our guys were
back within our circle. Okay. So they started
yelling, and what took place then? I had to go
get them. You don't leave your brother across
the river. You can't swim. So I devised a method
to go get them, which by that point my body was
in pretty sad shape. I'd been shot with bullets
and beehives and had shrapnel wounds all over
me. I thought, well, I'd better find a piece
of an air mattress. So I found an air mattress
and blew it up and tied it off. Closest to the
blow up novel that I could that didn't have any
bullet holes or any holes in it and sure enough
I thought well that'll hold enough air to get
me across the river and it did and I made my
way to where I had last seen Gwendolyn standing
wavy's boonie hat at me and when I reached that
location there were two more men in a foxhole.
So there were three guys instead of just one
and it had taken me about 45 minutes to make
my way across the river and then crawl up Through
the jungle back to where I'd seen Wendell and
I knew I didn't have the physical strength to
Left to make three separate trips So I asked
the man above to give me the strength to carry
all three of my brothers at one time So the worst
wounded Jim Deister Was shot right through the
head. I picked him up and put him across my shoulders
Billy Ray Crawford from Alvin, Texas picked up
Billy Billy Ray now Billy Ray had lost I think
it was his left leg, but Gwindale had put a tourniquet
on it so he could still help. Gwindale had been
shot in the back and had been shot in the head,
or had a shrapnel wound in the head, but he was
still doing okay. We all helped each other back
across the battlefield until I got to the river,
and then I started ferrying them back across
one at a time. Now, did you take a weapon with
you because I understand you stood up and fired
into the jungle to suppress the enemy at that
point? At that time, I did not have a weapon.
I did not have any ammunition. It wasn't until
I got to Gwindel's Foxhole. He still had three
quips of ammunition left for his 16 because he
didn't think it was too wise to... He is dead
in the middle of 1500 NVA. He didn't think it
was a good idea for one man to stand up and start
shooting at him, so he was just trying to hide.
You were exercising a little bit of common sense.
Yes, sir. You were badly wounded. You had holes
all over your body. You took an air mattress
that had holes all over it, and you went across
the river to retrieve these badly wounded guys,
and on top of everything else, you can't swim.
Oh, no, sir. I've always swam like a fish. It
was just because my body was in bad shape that
I couldn't swim. Okay, okay. I'd always heard
you couldn't swim. Well, we heard. Unbelievable.
I had an inability to swim. I believe in the
citation, that's what it says. My inability to
swim doesn't mean I didn't know how. It just
means my body wasn't working good. All right.
All right. You're listening to Veterans Radio.
We're coming up on a break. We'll be right back.
Staff Sergeant Rudolf De Villa landed at Enzio
to little resistance, but that didn't last. Details
after this. De Villa's unit moved quickly into
a mountain pass leading to Rome. When the supply
lines became overextended, they were ordered
back to the beach. German artillery began firing
down on the Americans, making Anzio a bloody
battleground for weeks. On May 28th, Davila's
squad had moved back into the mountains and was
ambushed by Germans dug into high ground. Davila
scrambled toward the crest of the hill, yelling
for his men to follow, but they continued to
hug the ground. He ordered them to pass him a
tripod, machine gun, and ammunition. He assembled
the weapon and raked the enemy position until
he'd used up several 250 -round ammo containers.
He jumped on a disabled tank to use the .50 caliper,
but it had been re - We're back on Veterans Radio
with Sammy Davis, Medal of Honor recipient for
action in Vietnam. 31 March 2000, this email
was sent by Jim Deaster. Hello, I tuned into
your website on Sam at the advice of one of my
friends. It is a very good website. I was the
most seriously wounded soldier that he brought
back across the river. Sam is one of the bravest
individuals that I know, although he will only
tell you that he was doing what was right. He
has a lot of integrity. Thanks again, Jim Deaster,
Salina, Kansas. So the one who was the most seriously
wounded lived? Yes sir, he did. Thanks to you
and the docs and the nurses, but thanks to you
he got a chance to go to the docs and nurses.
That's a fact, yes sir. Have you met Jim Deaster
since the war? Oh, yes sir. We've definitely
become brothers. We see each other a couple times
a year, sometimes more often. What does it make
you feel when you see him? Like seeing family?
This May I was out in Stockton, California where
Gwindale Holloway lives. I got to spend some
time with Gwindale. I don't get to see him as
often as I do Jim Deister, but it was good. One
of the lieutenants that was across the river,
he was the lieutenant in charge of the 5th or
the 6th, Lee Alley from Wheatland, Wyoming. I
get to see Lee. Every year or two anyway So all
three of those men lived Say again all three
of those men lived. Oh, yes, sir. No, sir. I
apologize Lee was not one of the three men that
I swim across the river for Lee was their commander
Okay, and he survived no sir Billy Ray Crawford
from Alvin, Texas did not Survive the people
he survived the war. He did not survive the peace
he came home and He self -medicated himself.
He was a black man from Alvin, Texas. He had
come home a disabled veteran. I would call down
and talk to him and he would say, �Yeah, Sam,
everything is doing good.� It wasn't until later
that I found out that things weren't doing that
good. You got all three of them across at the
same time? No, sir. I carried Jim Deister across
first, and then when I got to our bank, Bill
Murray and Frank Gage jumped in the river and
helped get Jim Deister up out of the water, and
then I immediately went back across. Gwindel
and Billy Ray could both hold on to the air mattress,
so my job was somewhat easier and I frayed them
back across, and then once again, Bill Murray
from the North Carolina and Frank Gage from Buffalo,
New York helped get them out and got us all squared
away and we kind of took care of each other medically
and then that's when I decided I'd try to crawl
on back and help one of the other artillery pieces
that was still firing. So that's what I did.
I couldn't do much but I did help. Okay, you
were full of holes. You rescued three guys. You
went across that river a couple of times. You
stood up and fired on the other side of the river.
All this time the attack was still going on,
is that right? Oh, certainly, yes, sir. Well,
you wouldn't have had to go help the other artillery
crew if it wasn't. How long did that attack last,
Sammy? They didn't break contact until about
8 o 'clock in the morning. As I recall and I
believe by nine o 'clock we were starting to
get dust -offs in and so we had to do triage
you know as kids with absolutely no medical experience
we had to evaluate Who's going to live if they
got medical treatment right now, and that's that's
one of my nightmares Did I make the right decisions?
How old were you? I had just turned 21 years
old just a few days before that night awesome
responsibilities and experience that our young
people carried out in those days and still do.
I think we're a little bit younger than the troops
today with the all -volunteer army. It's hard
for me to imagine looking at young people today.
I hear a lot of guys say, I look at my son and
I think, I was killing bad guys at that age or
carrying an M16 at that age. I remember looking
around at the... Well, I was old. I was 25. My
squad leader was 25, but nobody else in the squad
was old enough to drink. Go through a war and
come back and you're not even old enough to drink.
And in those days, not old enough to vote. My
Sergeant, James Gant, he was an old man. He had
been in the Army all of his life and he was 27.
I'm going to skip around a little bit right now.
You played the harmonica over there. Yes sir,
that's where I learned how to play the harmonica.
My mother had sent me one because of the letters
that I was writing home. I didn't want to worry
mom so I would write about the beautiful sunrises
and the beautiful sunsets and how the mud smelled
and what she thought was that I was bored. So
she sent me a harmonica. I hope this helps you
be not quite so bored. That note should still
be on the original harmonica in the Medal of
Honor Museum at Patriot's Point, South Carolina.
Is that right? Well, I remember with my folks,
I would ask for socks in every letter that I
wrote home and years later, my dad said, well,
you know, we were always asking if you needed
anything, but you never needed anything. And
I said, well, that's not true. I asked you for
socks. Every letter I sent home he said, ìYeah,
we saw that, but we figured if you wanted socks,
why didnít you just go buy some ?î People donít
understand. No, thankfully. You had a sergeant
that asked you to learn to play Shenandoah. Yes,
sir. Johnston had done a lot. What would he say
to you when he would walk past? He would say,
ìPlay it again, Sam .î So he would sit down.
John and I went through basic training together.
He was prior service. So immediately out of basic
training he made E -5. And then in Vietnam we
met up again and he was with the 5th Cav, 9th
Infantry Division. And John was the one going
out and gathering the intelligence that would
ultimately end up sending us to a certain location
because the enemy was there. So John would come
into our perimeter and find me and say, Sam,
play it for me. So I would sit there and I would
play Shenandoah. John was from New York, Avery,
New York as I recall, and he would drive down
to the Shenandoah River Valley when he was a
young man and sit on this same rock and hang
his feet over the ledge and look down into the
water below and he said, Sam, you can see trout
this big. And the water was just so clean and
clear. And he would mention the soft hint of
pine. He says, not real strong, but just a soft
hint of pine and always the cool breeze and that's
where I go in my heart when I want to relax.
And when you play the song Shenandoah in your
harmonica, it helps my heart get there quicker.
We're awfully lonesome days and what happened
to John? Johnston was killed in Vietnam. So many
good people. Is there anything else you wanted
to say about the battle that took place in the
last two and a half minutes of this segment?
Although I am the one that received the Medal
of Honor, I think it's so unfair to the rest
of the men that were there that night. Because
if one Medal of Honor was awarded, they all deserved
a Medal of Honor because we all took care of
each other. We all did what we had to do in our
immediate area to take care of each other. I
don't know why. Of course it was the other 11
men that put me in for the Medal of Honor. But
I think they all should have the Medal of Honor.
I think Lee Alley should have the Medal of Honor.
They all earned it. If I earned it, they earned
it because we were all doing the same thing.
But you must have done a little bit different
if the men that you were with put you in for
the Medal of Honor. Well, yes sir. You guess
you did, huh? I deeply appreciated their belief
in me. You were told that you were going back
to the United States, is that right? When I woke
up in the hospital in Yokohama, Japan, yesterday
they told me they were going to send me home
and retire me from the Army because of my injuries.
I told them I didn't want to go home, I didn't
want to retire from the Army. I wanted to go
back to Vietnam and be with my brothers. General
Westmoreland had just given me a pair of boots
a few weeks before. for that night. And that's
what I was basing this great friendship between
General Westmoreland and I on at that time. And
I told them, I said, General Westmoreland and
I are close friends. You call him, he won't send
me home. Well, they did. And Westy called back
and they came on a stretcher and carried me down
to the colonel's office. And I spoke to Westmoreland
and he kind of let me ramble on for a little
while. And then he said, well son, what is it
that I can do for you? And I explained to him,
I said, well sir, they're going to send me home
and retire me from the Army and I just want to
go back to Vietnam and be with my brothers. And
he said, well son, let me talk to your Colonel.
We'll see if we can do that. And I got to go
back to Vietnam and I spent my remaining tour
with my guys. What do you think of General Westmoreland?
He was a friend, a confidant. He treated me like
a son and I loved him like a father. He had a
hard job and there's a lot of Vietnam vets that
are You know, I think it's natural you're going
to the guy on top, you know He takes the blame
and he takes the credit but when you're on the
bottom, it's the blame when you're on the top
I guess it's the credit but he was well loved
to stay by the troops We're coming up on a break
and we'll be right back with our last segment
We're back on veterans radio with Sammy Davis
the a Medal of Honor recipient from the Vietnam
War amazing story Anyone that won, anybody that
received the Medal of Honor, it's an amazing
story. I've met a few. Did you ever meet Roy
Benavides, Sammy? Certainly, yes sir. Roy and
I went on several speaking tours together. I've
always pictured a Medal of Honor recipient as
this giant of a man. Boy, I met Roy and he didn't
come up to my shoulders. But he was a giant of
a man. There you go. I guess it's how tall you
are inside your insides. It's your heart. Yes,
sir. Yep. Westmoreland, going back to him, I
just wanted to make a comment after the comments
I made before. Pretty interesting. I've heard
from people that knew General Westmoreland that
even though he served in World War II Korea and
Vietnam, he always considered himself a Vietnam
vet. Yes, sir. And I guess we were his boys.
Another thing about the man that you rescued
who later on committed suicide, I guess, whether
it was the slow or the fast method, society,
it's up to you to help these people coming home
from war to heal. And we've got people coming
home from war right now, and one of the things
that helps them heal is simply saying thank you
for the job you've done. And that way you know...
It wasn't just in vain that there are people
who appreciate it. Yes sir, it's important that
we get them to talk about it. Because one of
the mistakes that was made with the Vietnam veterans,
I remember the VA telling me to just forget about
it. It wasn't important. And because I could
not forget about it, I thought I was defective.
I thought I was crazy. And when you think you're
crazy, you will do crazy things. So let's circumvent
all these problems and let our kids coming home
today know that It is okay to talk about it.
In fact, we need to talk about it so we can move
it from in front of us and put it beside us.
Because you will carry it with you all of your
life, but you don't want it to be in front of
you to keep you from going forward. You want
it beside you so you can drag it with you because
you do indeed drag it with you everywhere you
go. It is with you every day of your life. And
the funny thing about it is, I don't know if
you've noticed it, but the word Vietnam comes
to me every day in my life, whether it's somebody
making a comment, whether it's somebody on the
radio or a movie or in the newspaper, the word
Vietnam is always there. It'll leap out at us
like a mountain, whereas nobody else will even
notice it. When I talk to kids in high school,
I say when you meet somebody coming home, a troop
coming home from the war, there are two words
that you use. Thank you. That's fact we've got
I believe Monday the 333rd MPs out of Freeport,
Illinois is coming home And I hope to be able
to go up and give each one of them a hearty welcome
and a hug tell them I love them. I'm proud of
them That yeah, I get chills even thinking about
that you've you've stayed pretty close to the
troops you did a Tour over in the Balkans in
2000 to remember that Yes, sir I told as many
as I could how proud I was of them and gave them
a hug. I just did for them what I would have
wanted someone to do for me when I came home
from Vietnam. What precipitated that tour and
what brought it about? Secretary of Defense Bill
Cohen asked me if I wanted to go over and I said,
well, of course, and he made it happen. You were
also a Navy SEAL scout. Sniper graduation class
in February of 2002. Yes, sir. I have had the
privilege of addressing every graduating class
since the late 90s. I found this kind of interesting.
You were with them on Friday. They had the graduation
party then. You were with them Saturday. And
you said that, well, I guess on Friday, we sat
up until 2 .30 a .m. Sunday morning talking.
and I tried to answer their questions. I really
got to know them on a personal level, and this
is the one thing that really made me smile. They
were asking you questions that they were too
shy to ask you earlier. It's hard to imagine
Navy SEALs, scout snipers, being shy. They're
just good kids. But they are kids. There was
a great story about the SEALs. I don't remember
if it was the Gulf War or this current war where
they had to go in and take some platforms. It
had to be this war because they were afraid that
Saddam Hussein was going to blow up the platforms,
the oil platforms out in the sea. They sent SEALs
in there and they captured the platforms without
the platforms being blown up. The Navy officer
giving the briefing to the media, somebody asked
him, How were they able to do that? And the guy
stopped and with a puzzled look in his face,
he said, what kind of a question is that? And
he said, gentlemen, you have to understand, these
are Olympic class athletes with guns. Most indeed.
We've got about three and a half minutes left.
What would you like to talk about? What would
I like to talk about? I'd like to talk about
our kids coming home, our troops. Sometimes when
you call them kids they become offended and I
don't mean that in an offensive way because they
are my kids, all of them are my kids. The duty,
honor, country that's in the heart of all those
young men and women that are serving and have
served over there is just most excellent. The
highest praise goes to them. You know, you were
mentioned on an earlier program on Veterans Radio.
It was something about the ethics of war. I can't
remember it. An officer, a female officer from
the Naval War College said that one of her most
memorable moments was when you spoke to one of
the classes and you said, an officer's duty is
to see that his men don't lose their humanity.
Yes, sir. True to our own hearts. You have a
friend and I have a friend named Michael J. Martin
and he said to me one time in talking about me
life which was his unit a year earlier and he
said I can understand the rage that would make
you want to do it but that's what you have officers
for to see that you don't. Yes sir. And that
ties in exactly with what you said an officer's
duty is to see that his men don't lose their
humanity. When we're off to a war were there
actually to rescue people, not to take territory.
Sure, that's a fact. And it's hard to keep sight
of the fact sometimes when the sheer weariness
and the hunger and the loneliness, the fright,
you experienced it. There had to be times when
you didn't think that you could go on another
step. Most definitely, but you do. You don't
lose until you quit trying. I learned that in
Vietnam and I have carried that with me the rest
of my life. That's what I try to share with all
the young people that I speak to today is the
fact that no matter what you are faced with,
truly you don't lose until you get to that point
where you go, I quit. As long as you don't quit,
you don't lose. You got it. Sammy, I know that
you held off on leaving for a trip, you and your
wife. to do this interview and truly, truly do
appreciate it. So thank you very much for being
on Veterans Radio. It's been an honor, sir. Thank
you for everything that you do for our country
and for our troops. I can never do enough as
far as I'm concerned. Thank you very much. Yes,
sir. Thank you. Bye -bye. Safe trip. Bye now.
Bob, can you imagine doing the things that these
people do that Sammy did that night? Oh yeah,
yeah, Gary, that was quite a story, quite a story.
I'm glad that we... You know, and we also do
our little welcome home, too. So, you know, he
was talking about getting hugs. Well, we do our
welcome home. Yeah, we do. And we're down at
the end of the program next week. Who's coming
up next week? Do you recall? Not at the moment.
Alright, we'll let you know next week. We'll
let you know next week. In the meantime, you
are dismissed. All programs are not part of or
necessarily the views on this station or WDEO
or Veterans Radio LLC.