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From Frank Clynes, Aug 1, 2017
In the earliest days of WTEV-6, our first news director had previously worked at the Standard Times, in charge of recycling press releases. He never understood the need for news photographers. Want a free plug for your cause? Send your request to WTEV. Whenever Fernandes Supermarkets had another grand opening, WTEV was there. It was around that time, I began pushing the envelope. At the weekly news meetings, I'd suggest we cover important social issues and anti-war demonstrations. The news director would cut me off. ''Nobody's interested in that stuff.'' Then the general manager would interject. ''Let's hear him out.'' I'd make my pitch and we'd generally cover the story. In 1964, America began sending troops to Vietnam and by 1965, it was becoming clear we weren't going to win this one. I suggested we stop recycling General Westmoreland's press releases, and start talking to the soldiers rotating home. The news director threw a grand mal seizure. That was treasonable! The general manager liked the concept. It was agreed I could interview the next returning G.I. who had won a significant battlefield medal. It came in the form of a U.S. Marine who had won the Bronze Star. He and I had attended Holy Name Grammar School together. But he wouldn't talk about it, unless I bought him a beer. We went into the Ambassador Lounge where he announced, ''Belly up to the bar. When Bobby drinks, everybody drinks.'' This was going to get expensive. I ordered a glass of Dawson's beer but he ordered a pitcher. Sufficiently anesthetized, he began his story. He and another Marine were in a sandbagged machine gun position at the end of an airforce runway. Beyond the tarred surface was a long stretch of dirt, which was used mostly as a dump. It was filled with spent brass, artillary shell casings, metal strips and broken Jeep parts. The local villages were allowed to forage into the section closest to the jungle, looking for brass casings they could fashion into ash trays and later sell back, to the G.I.s. The two Marines were assigned to keep them from getting too close to the airstrip itself, which was used as an airplane parking lot. It was a boring job, and they brought along several liquor bottles to pass the time. They drew an imaginary line through the dump, and whenever a villager got too close, they'd fire a burst of machine gun fire to brush them back. It amused them. At 110°F, they had become quite drunk and distracted. Suddenly Bobby looked up and saw a Vietnamese woman was picking up brass, past their invisible line. He instinctly fired a burst of 30mm shells, killing her instantly. Their most immediate problem was, Marines never kill civilians. This was not going to look good on their resume.' Worse, it had been observed by an officer. They were looking at a general court-marshall, at the very least. Cooler heads prevailed, and a cover story was contrived. It was decided the dead woman was actually VC, and the Marines had kept her from destroying the parked fighter jets. This deserved a medal. There was no formal awards ceremony. They were handed their medals and sent back to the states. Bobby told me this was a common occurrence in Vietnam. But he was willing to go on-camera and talk about it. But the news director was not willing to air it. He felt it would hurt morale, both at home and on the battlefield. Many more years would pass, before America would hear about the massacre of Vietnamese civilians. John Kerry was one of the first to alert Congress about the military free-fire zones. Too little - too late. |
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