Command Sgt. Maj. Erika Gholar, assigned to U.S. Army Garrison Natick, interviews five local veterans of the Vietnam War era in Hunter Auditorium during an observance of the conflict's 50th anniversary, Nov. 10, 2015. From left, Warren Griffith, Bob ...
NATICK, Mass. (Nov. 17, 2015) -- Fifty years after the United States entered the Vietnam War, five veterans from that era of conflict visited the Natick Soldier Systems Center, or NSSC, to relate their experiences, Nov. 10.
Vietnam was as much about cultural and political upheaval as it was about military strategy. That became apparent as Warren Griffith, Bob Sinclair, Al McLean, Ed Carr and Scott Dixon took turns sharing their memories with Command Sgt. Maj. Erika Gholar and a Hunter Auditorium audience the day before Veterans Day.
"It was cultural shock in a way, but it was growing up time," said Carr, who served in the Marines as an artillery forward observer and later as a Vietnamese language interpreter. "It was a social revolution going on."
"There was a great divide within the country," said Griffith, a fellow former Marine.
Dixon, another Marine Corps veteran who also works at NSSC, said there definitely were racial issues among the troops in Vietnam.
"But when you were in the bush … that went away," Dixon said. "The same people that would not talk to you or get close to you in the rear would give their lives for you in the field.
"Once you're in that situation, it's not about fighting for your country; it's about fighting for each other. And racial lines were crossed almost immediately in that situation."
Sinclair, a retired Army master sergeant, pointed out that the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in which he served, lost 516 men in Vietnam. He added that Natick, alone, lost 11 service members during the war.
"Scott, myself and Warren went to high school with seven of those eleven," Sinclair said. "I honestly felt it was my absolute obligation to defend the United States of America. We all felt that. Natick has always been a very patriotic town."
Which made returning from the war all the more difficult for many veterans. Dixon recalled being greeted by peace activists hurling objects and insults when he arrived on the West Coast.
"When I came home, I was ashamed I was a Vietnam veteran," Dixon said. "I was just a very young man and I was ashamed, and many of my brothers were the same. We were not well taken care of when we came back."
The son of parents who had served in the Pacific during World War II, Dixon was just doing what he considered his duty.
"It had nothing to do with politics," Dixon said. "It had to do with supporting my country."
Griffith had a similar experience upon his return from Vietnam.
"We came home as individuals," Griffith said. "I think that was part of the problem. Our greeting generally wasn't good. The attitude wasn't that great."
Brig. Gen. William Cole, NSSC's senior commander, thanked the veterans for coming to the installation. He recalled the Soldiers with Vietnam experience who were still on active duty when he began his Army career in 1983.
"We looked up to them," Cole said. "They were the Soldiers that had been there and done that, and if they told you to do something or if they gave you advice, you better listen to it because they were speaking from experience."
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