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The FReeper Foxhole Remembers MACV HQ and the TET Offensive (1968) - July 21st, 2005
Vietnam Magazine | February 2001 | LTC James Jay Carafano

Posted on 07/20/2005 9:37:05 PM PDT by SAMWolf



Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


.................................................................. .................... ...........................................

U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

Where Duty, Honor and Country
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The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.

In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support.

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If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions.

We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.

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Desperate Hours During TET:
Inside MACV Headquarters

As General William Westmoreland's chief of staff at the time of the 1968 Tet Offensive, Maj. Gen. Walter 'Dutch' Kerwin had a key seat with the military inner circle during one of the most critical events of the war.

A general's chief of staff requires a diverse set of skills -- tactical, supervisory, coordinating, leading and negotiating. He must fulfill many roles, on occasion acting as the commander's most ardent advocate, harshest critic, closest adviser and alter ego. Major General Walter T. "Dutch" Kerwin, who served as General William C. Westmoreland's chief of staff during the 1968 Tet Offensive, understood those challenges very well.



Even today, General Kerwin can vividly recall how U.S. forces fought their biggest battle since the end of the Korean War. Twenty-three years of retirement have not dulled the 84-year-old Kerwin's remembrance of the harrowing days following the outbreak of the battle or the grueling weeks of fighting that turned back the North Vietnamese invasion.

Kerwin's assignment as MACV chief of staff topped an action-filled career. He graduated from West Point in 1939 and received a commission in the field artillery. When World War II broke out, Kerwin rose quickly to become the 3rd Infantry Division's artillery operations officer, participating in campaigns in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and southern France. No operation was more trying than the landings at Anzio, Italy, in 1944. After an almost effortless landing, the Allies found that well-dug-in Germans were holding the Alban Hills, blocking the route to Rome and claiming an unrestricted view of the beachhead. The German advantage in observation made artillery fire a significant threat to Allied troops. The challenge of organizing effective counterbattery fire against the enemy guns thoroughly tested Kerwin, bringing out the best of his organizational and tactical skills.

Wounded in southern France, Kerwin returned to the United States. After World War II he rose through the ranks of America's postwar Army to command the 3rd Armored Division and serve as assistant deputy chief of staff for operations on the Army Staff before deploying to Vietnam.


Maj. Gen. Walter 'Dutch' Kerwin


In a recent interview conducted by Lt. Col. James Jay Carafano, General Kerwin recalled the difficult and complicated world of the MACV chief of staff. Kerwin's May 1967 assignment was no matter of chance. He previously had served under MACV's deputy commanding general, Creighton Abrams, who had a reputation as a difficult and demanding boss. Kerwin, however, thrived on pressure and challenges. The two officers had long ago earned each other's respect and confidence, and Abrams had become a friend and mentor. When Abrams was posted to South Vietnam, Kerwin received three days' notice to follow him.

Dutch Kerwin arrived in Vietnam as the level of the U.S. Army's involvement in the war was nearing its peak. While military operations were expanding throughout South Vietnam, the theater's complicated organizational arrangements strained to keep up. Although General Westmoreland, or "Westy," was the military leader most visibly connected with the war, his command, MACV, did not directly control all the forces involved. The air and naval units, for example, answered in part to the theater commander in chief in Hawaii.


MACV headquarters complex


Kerwin was appalled by the inefficiency of the organization when he arrived in-country. "The Marines were sitting up there in I Corps almost entirely by themselves," Kerwin recalled. "The bombing and other fire support was being run out of many other organizations. It was split...initially MACV was in a small headquarters downtown [in Saigon], and, in my opinion, not organized to get the best out of everything." According to him, the staff was simply not taking full advantage of the preponderance of power available from the various forces crammed into the theater. Theater rotation policies that moved officers through the MACV staff in less than a year did not help. "In retrospect," Kerwin said, "the one-year tours were a mistake." The staffs were never as cohesive and competent as the ones he had seen in his service with the 3rd Infantry Division during World War II.

Nor did Kerwin find the command relationships at MACV as strong as they should have been. Abrams had left for Vietnam believing that he would shortly relieve Westmoreland as MACV commander, with Kerwin as his own hand-picked chief of staff at his side. The change in command, however, was delayed for more than a year. "Although General Abrams was completely loyal to Westmoreland," Kerwin recalled, "there was not the closeness that there probably should have been between the two of them. There were many times -- which I knew of, being the chief of staff -- that General Westmoreland did not take General Abrams into his confidence. General Abrams knew that he wasn't being utilized in the true sense of being a deputy commander."


The MACV compound at Hué


In addition to supporting both generals, Kerwin was called on to perform chief-of-staff duties for the ambassador to South Vietnam, Ellsworth Bunker, and Ambassador Robert William Komer, MACV's civilian deputy commander in charge of Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support programs. Although Kerwin remained fiercely loyal to all four of his bosses, his duties were complex and difficult, considering that these men seemed to have different agendas, personalities, philosophies and priorities.

Moreover, as Kerwin lamented, his bosses "didn't necessarily speak the same language." From the quiet and introspective Westmoreland, to the blunt and down-to-earth Abrams, to the abrasive and volatile Komer, it was usually Kerwin who was caught in the cross-fire. "It took an inordinate amount of time," the MACV chief of staff recalled, "before I, as the chief of the whole headquarters, was able to exercise some sort of coordination and staff functioning, and all those things that should be done in that headquarters got done." Moving MACV from its cramped facilities in Saigon to larger and better organized quarters near Tan Son Nhut helped, but staff coordination remained a chronic challenge in his new position.



TOPICS: VetsCoR
KEYWORDS: abrams; freeperfoxhole; generalkerwin; macv; northvietnam; southvietnam; tetoffensive; veterans; vietcong; vietnam; westmoreland
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To: Johnny Gage

WOW. It's so good to see an old friend. Glad to hear things are going good. I'm frying donuts at 3 a.m. part-time before we open the store so I know what you mean about getting used to strange hours! What the heck, who needs sleep? ;-)


41 posted on 07/21/2005 2:29:54 PM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: bentfeather; Professional Engineer; bkwells
Oh, I used to have a Sailor hat. I have pictures, too.

Mind you, I love my Tarawa ball cap my favorite sailors gave me however, a "dixie cup" sailor hat would be cool to have! No bell bottoms though. ;-)

42 posted on 07/21/2005 2:34:04 PM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: bentfeather

Cutie pie!


43 posted on 07/21/2005 2:35:04 PM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: Diver Dave

Hi DD.


44 posted on 07/21/2005 2:39:05 PM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: Iris7

Troops are still in Korea. Good afternoon Iris7.


45 posted on 07/21/2005 2:40:10 PM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: snippy_about_it; Professional Engineer; SAMWolf; All

Here's me and my Sailor hat. How do ya like that Sailor I am with??

46 posted on 07/21/2005 2:50:23 PM PDT by Soaring Feather (This Little Light of Mine...)
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To: w_over_w

Hiya sweets.

Mike Wallace is scum, I wish the MSM would just go away.


47 posted on 07/21/2005 2:51:23 PM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: Johnny Gage
HEY! Johnny!

It's the "shift work" that's hard to adjust to, after almost 10 years in the white collar world.

Know that feeling, talk about different worlds and attitudes. Good to hear things are going well.

48 posted on 07/21/2005 2:54:44 PM PDT by SAMWolf (t+h838 *f#*D (SMACK!) MEEYOW!...and STAY off my keyboard!)
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To: bentfeather

You and Uncle Fran look awful cute!


49 posted on 07/21/2005 3:03:46 PM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: snippy_about_it

The little boy peeking out is my youngest brother, he just had a stint put in yesterday. I talked to him a few moments ago, he is fine and at home.


50 posted on 07/21/2005 3:21:53 PM PDT by Soaring Feather (This Little Light of Mine...)
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To: Johnny Gage

Hyvää päivää, Johnny!!


Nice to see you.


51 posted on 07/21/2005 3:27:30 PM PDT by Soaring Feather (This Little Light of Mine...)
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To: snippy_about_it
I wish the MSM would just go away.

What a wonderful world it would be . . .

52 posted on 07/21/2005 3:29:36 PM PDT by w_over_w (If you wash camels for a living . . . which day of the week is "hump day"?)
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To: snippy_about_it

Hi snippy! Just got back earlier today from Gulfport, MS. Boy was it humid! Reminded me of Guam but without the breeze from the trade winds!

I don't have any dixie cups anymore (Chiefs wear different headgear), but I can swing by the uniform shop and get one for ya!

Oh yeah... did you hear TARAWA left for another deployment the other day?


53 posted on 07/21/2005 5:26:51 PM PDT by bkwells
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To: SAMWolf; snippy_about_it; PhilDragoo
Howdy all.


54 posted on 07/21/2005 5:51:29 PM PDT by Victoria Delsoul
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To: Valin; All
1836 1st Canadian RR opens, between Laprairie & St John, Quebec

Canadian Railroad Triology by Gordon Lightfoot

There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run

When the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun
Long before the white man and long before the wheel
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real
But time has no beginnings and hist’ry has no bounds
As to this verdant country they came from all around
They sailed upon her waterways and they walked the forests tall
And they built the mines the mills and the factories for the good of us all

And when the young man’s fancy was turnin’ to the spring
The railroad men grew restless for to hear the hammers ring
Their minds were overflowing with the visions of their day
And many a fortune lost and won and many a debt to pay

For they looked in the future and what did they see
They saw an iron road runnin’ from sea to the sea
Bringin’ the goods to a young growin’ land
All up through the seaports and into their hands

Look away said they across this mighty land
From the eastern shore to the western strand
Bring in the workers and bring up the rails
We gotta lay down the tracks and tear up the trails
Open ’er heart let the life blood flow
Gotta get on our way ’cause we’re movin’ too slow

Bring in the workers and bring up the rails
We’re gonna lay down the tracks and tear up the trails
Open ’er heart let the life blood flow
Gotta get on our way ’cause we’re movin’ too slow
Get on our way ’cause we’re movin’ too slow

Behind the blue rockies the sun is declinin’
The stars, they come stealin’ at the close of the day
Across the wide prairie our loved ones lie sleeping
Beyond the dark oceans in a place far away

We are the navvies who work upon the railway
Swingin’ our hammers in the bright blazin’ sun
Livin’ on stew and drinkin’ bad whiskey
Bendin’ our old backs ’til the long days are done

We are the navvies who work upon the railway
Swingin’ our hammers in the bright blazin’ sun
Layin’ down track and buildin’ the bridges
Bendin’ our old backs ’til the railroad is done

So over the mountains and over the plains
Into the muskeg and into the rain
Up the st. lawrence all the way to gaspe
Swingin’ our hammers and drawin’ our pay
Drivin’ ’em in and tyin’ ’em down
Away to the bunkhouse and into the town
A dollar a day and a place for my head
A drink to the livin’ and a toast to the dead

Oh the song of the future has been sung
All the battles have been won
O’er the mountain tops we stand
All the world at our command
We have opened up the soil
With our teardrops and our toil

For there was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run
When the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun
Long before the white man and long before the wheel
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real
When the green dark forest was too silent to be real
And many are the dead men too silent to be real

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

55 posted on 07/21/2005 7:43:48 PM PDT by alfa6
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To: Valin; Darksheare; Professional Engineer; PhilDragoo; SAMWolf; All
1973 Ali Landry, Louisiana, Miss Universe-USA (1996)

YOWZERS

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

56 posted on 07/21/2005 7:50:05 PM PDT by alfa6
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To: alfa6

One more proof that there is a God...and he loves me.


57 posted on 07/21/2005 8:02:05 PM PDT by Valin (The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.)
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To: Professional Engineer

SUPER FRIGATES - AMERICA'S HIGH TECH WEAPONS OF THE 1790's
by Steve McQuillan
http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/Alley/5443/supfrig.htm

(snip)
The largest ships in the U.S. fleet in 1812 were the 44 gun frigates, the Constitution, United States and President. Launched between 1798 and 1800 these three ships were built principally to protect U.S. commerce from the Barbary pirates. Because of the threat presented by the Barbary states, the United States' Congress voted in 1794 to build four 44 gun and two 38 gun frigates. (That number was decided on the fact that the Portuguese had adequately blockaded the Barbary states with three ships of the line)
(snip)


58 posted on 07/21/2005 8:24:45 PM PDT by Valin (The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.)
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To: alfa6

That's easy on the eyes. :-)


59 posted on 07/21/2005 8:52:21 PM PDT by SAMWolf (t+h838 *f#*D (SMACK!) MEEYOW!...and STAY off my keyboard!)
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To: bkwells

Hi bkwells.

Thanks for the update on the TARAWA's status, I didn't hear she was be deployed again.


60 posted on 07/21/2005 8:53:48 PM PDT by SAMWolf (t+h838 *f#*D (SMACK!) MEEYOW!...and STAY off my keyboard!)
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