Cleland's Time At The Front

Various | Hon

[Hon]

Sen. Joseph Maxwell Cleland

Sen. Max Cleland, U.S. senator from Georgia, served in the Army from 1965 to 1968 and as a Signal Corps officer from Oct. 18, 1967 to Dec. 23, 1968 in Vietnam, where he was severely wounded in a grenade explosion. Sen. Cleland was an aide to then-BG Tom Rienzi at Fort Monmouth, N.J., when he volunteered for duty with 1^st Air Cavalry Division in Vietnam. First assigned to 1^st Cavalry’s Signal battalion, CPT Cleland then volunteered as communications officer for 2d Battalion, 12^th Cavalry, which had been chosen for Operation Pegasus – the relief of Khe Sanh – in April 1968. CPT Cleland was on a mountaintop with his Signal team to set up a radio relay when he lost his legs and right arm to a grenade explosion. For Khe Sanh he received the Bronze Star for meritorious service and Silver Star for gallantry in action.

http://www.gordon.army.mil/ocos/rdiv/REGTNCO/cleland.asp

From Khe San Chronology 1962-1972:

Apr 1 [1968] - Operation PEGASUS begins; 2/1 and 2/3 (1st Marines) attack west from Ca Lu along Route 9. Elements of 3d Bde, 1st ACD conduct helo assaults into LZ Mike and Cates. Joint engineer task force begins repair of Route 9 from Ca Lu to Khe Sanh.

Apr 3 - 2d Bde, 1st ACD assaults LZs Tom and Wharton.

Apr 4 - 1/5 CavSqd moves northwest from LZ Wharton and attacks enemy units near old French fort; 1st Battalion, 9th Marines moves southeast from rock quarry and assaults Hill 471.

Apr 5 - 1/9 repulses enemy counterattack on Hill 471 and kills 122 North Vietnamese. 1st Bde, 1st ACD departs Ca Lu and assaults LZ Snapper.

Apr 6 - One company of 3d ARVN Airborne Task Force airlifted to KSCB for the initial link up with defenders. Elements of 2d Bde, 1st ACD relieve 1st Battalion, 9th Marines on Hill 471; 1/9 commences sweep to northwest toward Hill 689.

1st Bde, 1st ACD helilifted north of KSCB. 2/26 and 3/26 push north of combat base; Company G, 2/26 engages enemy force and kills 48 NVA.

Apr 8 - 2/7 CavSqd links up with 26th Marines and conducts official relief of combat base. 1/26 attacks to the west. 3d ARVN Airborne Task Force air assaults into LZ Snake west of Khe Sanh and kills 78 North Vietnamese.

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/4867/timeline.html

From Doxagora (a post that is meant to be very laudatory of Cleland):

While an aide [to a general] at Forth Monmouth, NJ, Cleland volunteered for a combat tour with the 1st Air Cavalry Division. Once in-theatre, then-Captain Cleland volunteered for a post as communications officer with 2d Battalion, 12th Cavalry in April, 1968. This is meaningful because Cleland knowingly volunteered for Operation PEGASUS.

Some context: At 5:30 AM on January 21st, an NVA artillery barrage hammered away at the forward base of Khe Sanh in what would prove to be a grim foreshadowing of the Tet Offensive, nine days away. By February, enemy fire made it impossible to supply Khe Sanh by C-130, and the military was forced to use paradrops and helicopters in concert with sustained attacks against NVA anti-air emplacements. Outside Khe Sanh, 20,000 NVA soldiers prepared for assault, testing Marine lines with hundreds of men at a time.

Operation PEGASUS was an air assault operation designed to break the back of the NVA at Khe Sanh. 2d Battalion, 12th Cavalry was one of the first two forces into the area, landing on April 1st at LZ WHARTON, just south of a ruined French fort (used by the NVA as the main stronghold for their attacks on the Marines) and the road leading north to Khe Sanh. 2/12 Cav and 1/5 Cav secured WHARTON, which would serve as the staging area for the assault on the fort.

On April 4, two days before the 2/5 Cav attacked the fort from LZ WHARTON, Cleland won his Silver Star. Cleland was at the battalion command post at WHARTON when NVA forces began a rocket and mortar barrage in an attempt to dislodge the Americans from their position. According to Cleland's Silver Star Order:

Capt. Cleland, disregarding his own safety, exposed himself to the rocket barrage as he left his covered position to administer first aid to his wounded comrades. He then assisted in moving the injured personnel to covered positions. Continuing to expose himself, Capt. Cleland organized his men into a work party to repair the battalion communications equipment which had been damaged by enemy fire. His gallant action is in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

Three days later, the Old French Fort fell. On April 8, American forces set up within the defenses of Khe Sanh. 2/7 Cav moved from LZ THOR (east of WHARTON) and cleared a road to Khe Sanh, allowing American forces to link up with the Marines in the base.

Cleland was ordered to set up a radio relay on a nearby mountain. He and his signals team were airlifted to the site. While disembarking from the helicopter, Cleland saw a grenade that he thought had fallen from his webbing. Cleland tells what happened:

On April 8, 1968, I volunteered for one last mission. The helicopter moved in low. The troops jumped out with M16 rifles in hand as we crouched low to the ground to avoid the helicopter blades. Then I saw the grenade. It was where the chopper had lifted off. It must be mine, I thought. Grenades had fallen off my web gear before. Shifting the M16 to my left hand and holding it behind me, I bent down to pick up the grenade.

A blinding explosion threw me backwards.

The grenade turned out to belong to an inexperienced soldier who had incorrectly set the pin for a hair-trigger detonation.

Seven days later, Operation PEGASUS was ended as the NVA was forced out of the area. From the beginning of the siege to the end of PEGASUS, 730 Americans were killed in action, 2,642 were wounded, and 7 were officially classified as missing in action. A few months later, Khe Sanh was officially abandoned.

Although Cleland's injury occurred in a combat zone, during general combat operations, Cleland was not eligible for a Purple Heart, as his injury did not occur while in direct combat with the enemy. ("Friendly fire" injuries qualify for the Purple Heart only if the fire was directed at an enemy.)

http://www.doxagora.com/

[familyofman]

"Then I take it you are spitting on Cleland for his belittling of George W. Bush's service?"

Yes, as a matter of fact. I don't take it lightly when anyone's service is disparaged & I hope you do the same.

[Hon]

"Here's one point. You claim, "I don't see why people should be offended by the truth." Do you stand by your statement that you don't understand why anyone is offended here?"

I still see no "point." I see a question. Kind of a dumb question at that. Yes, I don't see why anyone would be offended by the truth.

As I have said here and my last posts indicate, Cleland himself *used to* minimize his war record. Now he is inflating it so as to be used as a bludgeon against Bush.

"Here's another. Are you saying that when you posted this, the idea that you were minimizing Cleland's sacrifice to our country honestly didn't occur to you at all? Even with your original title?"

No, it's still not a point. It's a question. And the answer is still, no. I did not think that pointing out the facts of Cleland's service was minimizing it. How can it be?

It is no more minimizing his service to state the length as it is minimizing Bush's service to say he was in the National Guard. Facts are stubborn things.

What I do see is a bunch of people, including you, who can't wait to jump on people with your self-righteousness.

I don't mind that. But an important element to effective self-righteousness is being right. Better luck next time!

[Hon]

"Yes, as a matter of fact. I don't take it lightly when anyone's service is disparaged & I hope you do the same."

Who doesn't? Do you want a medal?

You show me where I have disparaged Cleland's service and I will ask the mods to remove the remarks and apologize.

Until then I will think you are a self-rightous blowhard who seizes every opportunity--no matter how fallacious--to get huffy.

BTW, I'd love to see some of your posts where you attack Cleland for disparaging Bush's service. Got any?

[Stone Mountain]

Fine. If you want to claim that you were completely unaware of anything you were implying by what you posted, I guess there is no point in discussing any of this. Sounds awfully disingenuous to me though...