I saw this article that I posted 5 years ago and thought it was worthy of repost, I had linked it to the story I posted Yesterday.
Yes Virginia, this is an unfiltered rant....Be warned...
I saw this on my Dads facebook page, and it struck a chord as they say. I have commented that in the past 20 years we have had generations of students that have been taught that the United States is the source of all evil in the world. I have seen the videos on the campuses, all the protesting against the United States, They protest using our own system against us, they decry our system and rail against the system but anywhere else but here, they would not have the same rights, matter of fact, they would have a tire wrapped around them and set on fire. These same students that have grown into adults and having families continue their belief that the United States is evil and that the West is evil. And what really concerns me is that these people have no loyalty to this country and that they would undermine this in their honest belief that this country deserves to be humbled or conquered to atone for the past sins. This belief is ideologically based,kinda like the Rosenbergs who betrayed the United States even though they lived here but they were loyal to the Soviets, this follows the usual methods for disloyalty "MICE" or Money, Ideology, Compromise or Ego, the Rosenbergs fell under the "Ideology" part because they believed in the image of future socialism. This crap comes straight out of the "Frankfurt School" where part of the lessons is to denigrate the traditions of a target country and replace them with values that are comparable of the goal of socialism/communism. You see some of this on campus where the boys and especially white boys are being told that they are the source of all evil in the world and that they have to atone for the sins of their ancestors. This is part of the cultural Marxism that is prevalent in the western based world, where people believe that the west is the scourge of the world and needs to be eradicated. You are seeing this in Europe where they are importing their own destruction. What I am getting at is that there are a new generation of "Rosenbergs" that actually will work to undermine the United States, they hope to see a world where the United States no longer exist and the new utopia for the Earth will arrive in a beam of light as the new awakening. I don't know what the future will hold but I do know that if the United States fades away, there will be no place else where western based thoughts on the sanctity of the individual is paramount, but where your caste, your family your tribe is more important.
This is another Vietnam War article from "CherryWriters" that I get in my email. I had done a post of "Martha Raye" back in 2014 from an email from my "Dad". Another little factoid that we both had found humorous was that we both know a certain Australian Entertainer that was partially responsible for busting up a huge gambling ring of the Enlisted clubs in Vietnam. She provided the background that got a lot of people in jail except the SMA the first one "William O Woolridge" he managed to avoid jail, but a lot of his underling got sent to "Leavenworth" but he managed to skate out of. My Dad was one of the CID agents that were investigating the clubs when this broke so he knew a bit about it and they were getting a lot of command pressure to "step off" from the Provost Marshall office at that time and this infuriated my Dad and the other agents who wanted to "get everyone involved" because of the massive betrayal of trust and malfeasance involved.
My Copy of the book, I also have Dads copy of the book. I am friends with June Collins on Farcebook believe it or not, I had "friended" her years ago and I had talked to her on messenger. She lives in Australia now and she remembers my Dad, funny that, LOL. My Dad of course remembers her when I mentioned her to him, he chuckled and said " That lady, She is a Pistol", which is a compliment. I keep wanting to send my copy of my book to her and have her sign it, but I haven't done that. She is a really nice lady and I do like talking to her.
Most
of us that served in Vietnam were occasionally treated to some
entertainment in the form of Go-Go Dancers, singers and musicians who
would come to Vietnam and entertain us.
The
best known was the Bob Hope Shows, but few of us were ever actually
able to attend one of his Christmas Specials. Instead, we were treated
to shows by Filipino bands and occasional Australian or American
entertainers.
Not
until today did I know that many of those entertainers were not under
the USO, but were booked privately to play at various Military Clubs and
remote bases, being largely left to their own accord for security and
protection, except of course when at a Base camp performing.
Some lost their lives or sustained wounds while touring. Here are their stories:
Martha Raye
Martha Raye. known as “The Big Mouth” was considered the female equivalent of Bob Hope. Martha Raye was
an American icon. It was well-recognized that she endured less comfort
and more danger than any other Vietnam entertainer.
“Colonel
Maggie,” Martha Raye, was an honorary member of the Special Forces. She
had received her prized Green Beret and the title of Lieutenant Colonel
from President Lyndon B. Johnson, himself.
From
1964 to 1973, Martha traveled from camp to camp in isolated areas
throughout Vietnam, making eight (8) visits. She would stay “in-country”
from four to six months at a time–usually at her own expense–to be with
the troops she so dearly loved. She used the nurse’s aide skills she
learned back in the 1930s, and surgical techniques she picked up during
World War II to help treat the wounded. Whatever her official nursing
qualifications, her help was often needed and very much appreciated. Her
presence, whether as an entertainer or as a nurse, helped to make life
bearable for so many enlisted troops and officers.
Hollywood
blacklisted her as a warmonger for working ten years on and off with
the medics under fire in the field. She was wounded twice while visiting
these remote bases, but didn't let it interfere with taking care of her
troops. Maggie died in 1994 at 78 and is the only non-military person
buried in Fort Bragg.
Joe Martin and Cathy Wayne with Leslie Uggams on TV Special
The
teenage pop star from Australia ignored the warnings and embarked on a
tour of military bases in Vietnam. Things were going well with her
“Sweethearts On Parade” tour until one night, 50 years ago, at a U.S.
Marine Corps base in Da Nang. Burt Kearns and Jeff Abraham chronicle how
the unthinkable happened: Someone got away with murder.
Cathy
Wayne, a pretty teenage Australian pop star, made history on July 20,
1969. Fifty years ago, on the day Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 crew
landed on the moon, Cathy Wayne became the first Australian woman to die
in the Vietnam war. She was nineteen years old. A bullet killed her
while performing on stage.
Born
Catherine Anne Warnes in Arncliffe, an outer suburb of Sydney, she soon
became Cathy Wayne. She made records and recorded advertising jingles.
She toured around Australia with the Bandstand Family, and though she
was under the legal age to enter the joints, performed in nightclubs.
SWEETHEARTS ON PARADE arrived
at the United States Marine Corps’ 1st Reconnaissance Battalion base,
four miles southeast of Da Nang, on July 20. That evening, they
performed at a club for non-commissioned officers. This meant that the
other enlisted men on the base — the grunts, the infantrymen — were not
allowed to be among the 75 higher-ranked soldiers and staff members
enchanted by the charms of sweetheart Cathy Wayne and the go-go girls.
Corporal
Robert Stockham was one of the Marines who wasn’t invited. He
remembered the night and the events that transpired in his barracks.
There were several people in the hooch and we were in there talking and
drinking beer. Sgt. Jim Killen came in. We referred to him as ‘Pappy’
because he was so old. He was twenty-eight years old and the rest of us
were nineteen or twenty. He had heard that I had a .22 high-standard
automatic with a silencer. This was the type of pistol that we’d taken
out on patrols with us to do prisoner snatches. Pappy asked me if I
still had the gun, said he wanted to use it. I asked him what he was
gonna do with it. He told me that he was going to go down to the
perimeter and shoot at some feral dogs that would hang out around
there.”
Sgt.
James Killen headed out with Cpl. Stockham’s gun and silencer. Not far
away, the Sweethearts on Parade were giving the noncoms and staff
members some good old Caucasian stimulation.
It
was around 9:15 pm. Inside the officers’ club, Cathy Wayne, wearing a
pink miniskirt, had finished a song and was introducing some of the
other Sweethearts when she stopped short — and suddenly dropped like a
marionette with severed strings.
“We
were halfway through the show and I was playing the organ and all of a
sudden she fell down!” Jimmy Taylor said. “And I thought she’s got an
electric shock from the microphone, and I thought, ‘Hang on’ — and I
knew then that she’d been shot. And, of course, I just fell to pieces. I
wiped all the beer off the top of the organ — there were about twelve
cans of beer that went everywhere — and I said, ‘My God!’ I just lost
control. There were no lights on. Everyone was running around screaming
and it was just awful.”
Cathy
Wayne had been shot in the chest. Blood spread across her breasts and
seeped through her sexy costume. She died almost immediately because the
bullet had severed her aorta. Clive Cavanagh, who’d climbed over his
drum kit as soon as Cathy collapsed, now cradled his lover’s body in his
arms, his tears splashing across her ashen face.
What made the scene even more chaotic was that nobody heard the shot. No one knew where the bullet came from.
WHO SHOT CATHY WAYNE? An
investigation revealed that the bullet was fired from behind a Jeep
about 35 yards away from the club and had passed through the insect
screen of an open window before entering the left side of Cathy Wayne’s
body and exiting the right side. No one heard the shot, Marine Corps
investigators explained, because the .22 caliber pistol that was fired
outside was equipped with a silencer. So who did it? The finger pointed
to Pappy, Sgt. James W. Killen of Winter Haven, Florida. He allegedly
had been trying to kill his commanding officer, Major Roger E. Simmons,
who was inside the club, watching the show from the front row.
Killing
your superior during a time of war? Not so unusual, Cpl. Stockham
admitted. “There were officers that were fragged in Vietnam. If you’re
in combat and you blindly follow your leader and he’s incompetent,
something’s got to give somewhere. Cathy Wayne was an innocent party who
was voluntarily there to entertain the military.”
Marine
Corps Sgt. James W. Killen was court-martialed later that year in Da
Nang for the killing of Cathy Wayne. He insisted from the start that he
didn’t do it and pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree
premeditated murder. Two corporals, including Robert Stockham, testified
that on the night Cathy Wayne was shot, Killen had entered “Hooch Six”
demanding a weapon and ammunition. They said he found the pistol under a
rubber air mattress. A sergeant testified that Killen entered his room
and pulled up his shirt to show off a pistol in his belt. “Look at what
I’ve got,” he supposedly said, pointing to the silencer.
All three witnesses said this occurred around 9:15 pm, the time Cathy Wayne was shot.
Killen,
who’d been in Vietnam three years and had received a Purple Heart and
the South Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, testified in his own defense.
He admitted taking the pistol from the hooch. He claimed that he went
out to shoot the dogs that had been running into the barbed wire on the
base’s perimeter, but didn’t see any. He said he returned to the
Enlisted Men’s Club, where he drank eleven or twelve beers before
leaving around 9:30.
Lance
Corporal Ronald Prohaska testified, however, that Killen returned to
the hooch while the search for a presumed enemy sniper was still
ongoing. “Why in the hell did you do something like that for?” Prohaska
said he asked. He said that Killen replied, “She was just winged.” When
he asked about the gun, Prohaska said Killen told him it was “taken care
of.” The weapon was later found in a ditch. There were no fingerprints,
and no witnesses.
On
October 29, an eight-man court-martial panel convicted James Killen of
un-premeditated murder in the second degree. Sentencing took place the
following day. The panel ordered that Killen receive a dishonorable
discharge, busted to the rank of private, and forfeit all pay and
allowances. Then they sentenced him to 20 years of hard labor.
Killen
went to prison. A year and a half later, the Navy Court of Military
Review looked at the case and found that the two corporals had altered
their testimony after an offer of immunity from prosecution. Killen’s
verdict and sentence were set aside. On August 4 and 5, a new trial took
place at Camp Pendleton in southern California. This time, James Killen
was cleared of all charges. He was released after serving two years and
nine days in prison.
He told Shane Green of the Sydney Morning Herald:
“Were they aiming at Cathy? Well, they may have been aiming in the
general direction and pulled the trigger because that was the only real
noise in the camp that night, a band playing, and that’s where the
lights were.”
Cathy
Wayne — Catherine Anne Warnes — was one of three Australian women
killed in Vietnam during the war. The other two, Lee Makk and Margaret
Moses, were welfare workers who died in a plane crash in 1975.
Brandi Perry & The Bubble Machine
When
Dorothy sang about going over the rainbow, she was imagining a place
where there isn’t any trouble. Paula Sargent used to imagine that place
too until she found it.
“For me, it’s here," she told a class of high school students in Lake Balboa.
Born
Paula-Sue Levine, Sargent has been teaching for roughly 30 years – more
than half of them at Birmingham Community Charter High School. Even
after retiring, she continued to substitute.
Teaching,
however, wasn’t always her goal. In the late 1960s, when she was barely
older than the students she teaches now, Sargent was hired as the lead
singer of a pop music group.
“We were called Brandi Perry and the Bubble Machine," she said, "They changed my name to Brandi.”
She
and her bandmates, none of them older than 20, traveled overseas to
entertain the troops in Vietnam. They were there for less than a month
when their vehicle was attacked.
It was July 5, 1968, their truck left Saigon for Vung Tau near the end of the day and were halfway
to their destination when they were ambushed from the side of the road
by VC sympathizers. The attack caused the truck to run off the road and
turn over in a ditch. The drummer and keyboard player Phil Willis + Kurt
Pill, both only 17 years old, were killed, and the bassist and vocalist Jack Bone + Paula “Brandi Perry,” Levine were wounded.
SP4
David K.Hamilton U.S.Army was assigned to the HQ Company, 1St.
Logistics Command volunteered to drive the pickup truck with the band
and Brandi (Paula Levine) to a camp for a performance when they were
ambushed by Viet Cong forces on Highway 15 in the middle of a combat
zone, according to Miss Levine, Hamilton, a Malden MA. native was
covered with wounds when he threw himself over the actress and ordered
the rest of the troupe to “play dead”. Two band members died and two
survived, the survivors credited SP4 Hamilton with their survival by
listening to his commands to stay still and play dead so the enemy
wouldn’t kill them. The actress Paula Levine flew from Hollywood to
Malden MA to attend the funeral and bring Hamilton’s belongings that he
entrusted to her before he died. Hamilton was 19 years old, his name is
etched on the VietNam Memorial Wall along with over 58,000 of our brave
American heroes.
Their vehicle was repeatedly fired upon and looted. “We couldn’t do anything," she recalled.
They
hid there waiting for help for hours. Army Sargent David Hamilton, who
was escorting the group, was also shot and unconscious. He later died at
a hospital in Japan.
“His name is on the wall," she said, pulling a rubbing of his name from her scrapbook.
After
that, Brandi went back to being Paula and 50 years later, she still
sings. Sargent has a regular gig performing with her brother at Las
Hadas in Northridge.
But
her best performance is still in the classroom. She is not just
teaching kids about musicals, but about strength and survival. Even they
ask her to sing and then surprise her with a show of appreciation when
eventually she gave in. She says she gets the same joy from teaching
that she does from singing.
“I love the people contact," said Sargent. "Everybody is with you and you are with them. That’s what I love about it.”
So much so that after 30 years, it’s more than a career. It’s her home.
“And as Dorothy would say, and you know she’s going to say it," she told the students, "there’s no place like home.”
The following entertainersperformed for U.S. military personnel and their allies in the combat theatre during the Vietnam War (1959–1975). How many do you remember?
I want to wish all the Dads out there that are doing all the things out there and being all the things for their kids a Happy Fathers Day, you know the guys, they are the ones that are involved with their kids from all the football practices, homework, baseball practices, taking the kids fishing, shooting, camping, and being involved. that takes a special person to do all those things. The job continued after the kids are grown and the Dads are still the ones that can help fix things or give advice because how matter how old you are, you still talk to your Dad, as I did until very recently when St Peter Cut Orders for my Dad to report to Fiddlers Green, this Fathers Day will be more difficult for it will be my first Fathers Day without my Dad and it feels strange, I am used to picking up the phone and "rattling his cage" as the saying went and talking to him about most anything from politics, to regular things to one of my blog post, I used him as an "unofficial" advisor on my Vietnam post because I tried to be accurate,( especially with those post to honor that generation that served and got shat upon by the Hippie scum and other democrats) to how my son is doing, both of them likes to fish, whereas I didn't see the attraction... I guess the fishing gene missed a generation it seems.
I would also like to throw an "Attaboy" to the Moms out there that are doing the double duty because the "Dad" ain't in the picture, I see it because as part of my scout duties, there are a lot of single moms and they put their boys in Scouts because they want to see their boys have a positive role model in their lives and we guys try our best to provide one.
Again, I want to wish all my friend a "Happy Fathers Day".
