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Meserve stated that we would get the woman for the purpose of boom boom, or sexual intercourse, and at the end of five days we would kill her. And in Manuels testimony one finds: After we were briefed by Meserve, he said that we would take a girl with us on patrol, or that we would try to take a girl with us to have some fun. After the young woman was murdered, Pfc. In a sample encomium, Lieutenant Reilly declared that the Sergeants character and reputation are the best I have seen, and [he is] one of the best combat soldiers I have known. Reilly also called him a fine soldier, and went on to say, He never failed to accomplish the mission. Meserve asked him if he had finished the girl. Clark had just replied yes when Mao, like a wounded apparition, was seen crawling rapidly downhill and then disappearing into the thick foliage. bus that collected G.I.s who had fallen on hard times in Sin City, a section of bars and bordellos in An Khe, two miles away. Q: How did you react to this particular ambush, Eriksson? He has no idea to what extent that may operate, however; nor is he prepared, he said, to bank on anything so abstract. In that season, Eriksson told me, when the M.P.s yakked the hours away together in their quarters, one or another of his fellow-cops would periodically recall what Eriksson had chosen to do. The Sergeant seemed more attracted by the possibility of military action, to judge by the speed with which he had his charges break camp. It was another case of people doing their job, he told me. [11] In 1968, Joseph Garcia was acquitted on the appeal of his initial 15-year sentence and his dishonorable discharge was reversed after it was determined that his Fifth Amendment rights were violated, and his confession was ruled as inadmissible. The prosecutor, it appeared, counted it a safe bet that the defense attorneys would attempt to portray Eriksson as some kind of repressed nut for having failed to join in the festivities on Hill 192. He felt even wearier on arriving in Kansas, when he learned that there was little point to his presence. FLORIDA HIGHWAY PATROL'S LIVE TRAFFIC CRASH AND ROAD CONDITION REPORTClick Here For Additional Information | Click Here for FDOT Emergency Real Time Traffic4/30/2023, 3:20:59 AM. Commenting on this, Eriksson told me, I realized that nothing definite had happened yet, but I had the feeling it was the first sign that things were going to work out the way Captain Vorst had warned me they wouldI mean, that the sentences would get shorter and shorter, maybe even disappear.. As Mao stood listening, mute and uncomprehending, Meserve said that she had to be got out of the way; if they ran into action, he pointed out, she would be a hindrance, and even if they didnt, helicopter crews scouting the area might want to know who she was. recognized that there were forces of conscience that might have to be contended with? The four soldiers visitation lasted nearly an hour and a half, and two minutes after it was terminated the men, to conceal themselves from any Vietcong who might be in the vicinity, rentered the hootch together. Even though the two were alone, Eriksson remained cautious, revealing nothing about Maos murder. We all looked at the paper, and he asked us what this was all about. "[7], At approximately 05:00 on the morning of 18 November, the squad entered the tiny village of Cat Tuong, in the Phu My District, looking for a woman. The five-man squad, led by a 20-year-old sergeant, Tony Meserve, had been sent on patrol. Eriksson talked with me at his home in (I shall say) Minneapolis, where, since leaving the Army, he has been earning his living as a cabinetmaker at a local department store. Unfortunately they do nothing but settle for him to be relocated in order to not be killed by his fellow squad members. Casualties of War - Wikipedia Casualties of War (Film) - TV Tropes I knew I wouldnt rest until something was done about Maos murder. It was like claiming that just because a drunken driver hit your friend, you had a right to get in your car and aim it at some pedestrian. He had scarcely landed in Vietnam, in October, 1966, when he was made aware of these occurrences, each of them apparently impulsive and unrelated to military strategy. He was at his wits end for a way to circumvent the system, Eriksson told me, because he was convinced that it was this system that lay at the heart of his difficulties. Their eyes were terrified, Eriksson remembers. Since returning to civilian life, a year and a half ago, Eriksson has been concerned primarily with what his wife calls sorting things out. Once he had been separated from the service at Fort Carson, he came back to Minneapolis determined to find employment at something other than carpentry. I couldnt tell who was supposed to have the hard feelingsManuel or myself, Eriksson told me. Before long, Eriksson told me, his sleuthing established that Greenacre was well thought of, and one evening, after the carpenters had finished eating, he invited Greenacre to take a walk with him. At four-thirty the following morning, Meserve diligently checked his mens gear at the edge of camp, seeing to it that their chow, star clusters, rounds of ammunition, smoke and hand grenades, and other supplies were in order. He was paroled on June 18, 1970. Undeterred by Erikssons denial, the lawyer persevered with his line of questioning. So now its only the father whos leftor is he? . This is how it is with Casualties of War, Brian DePalma's tale of an atrocity . Throughout, he told me, the single belief that sustained him was that in serving as the defendants principal accuser he was carrying out the resolve he had made as he trained his grenade launcher on the cave complex; namely, to let the world know of Maos fate. Later, after setting up camp in an abandoned hooch, four of the soldiers (excluding Storeby) took turns raping Mao. Needless to say, the question was not examined philosophically in the Camp Radcliff courthouse; instead, it was employed narrowly as a government gambit for stumping a witness. Rafe received a punishment of four years imprisonment, plus a monthly forfeiture of fifty dollars in pay. Clark came back to where we were. It didnt take many further interrogations to convince the law-enforcement officers that they had a case, for Rafe and Manuel readily signed affidavits whose substance supported Erikssons account of the incident on Hill 192the name by which Maos murder became known among the military. Here, the C.O. Eriksson was confident, though, he told me, that the older he grew, the more accepting he would be of his memory. Mostly to my lawyer.. The first of them, he told me, was that Mao woke up less alluring than when she had gone to bed. The novel was published in 1969. Some Vietnamese people were bringing children out of. he could control his aggressions in the future, like a professional prizefighter. In Clarks case, the commanding general, who was responsible for deciding whether the evidence supported Clarks conviction and whether Clarks sentence should be lowered, was informed by a staff lawyer who had interviewed Clark that the soldier in the Disciplinary Barracks was articulate and above average in intelligence, and that, if given a chance to renter society, he hoped to earn a college degree in either English or philosophy. We were each acting the way we had to, he told me. they said if you were fortunate enough to get in a group where you had an old-timer who had been in Vietnam like six months longer than you had, if you followed what he said, you would live longer. Besides, Manuel testified, If he had not gone into the hootch he would have risked becoming an outcast. Though news of the incident reached the U.S. shortly after the soldiers' trials, the story gained widespread notoriety through Daniel Lang's 1969 article for The New Yorker and his subsequent book. [12] He was paroled on August 9, 1969. incident on hill 192 where are they now - jbgetfit.com On November 22nd, Meserve, Clark, and Manuel, weary from their five-day stint (Rafe was still hospitalized), had scarcely dropped into their foxholes back in the platoon area when they were ordered to appear at Captain Vorsts command posta hootch somewhat larger than Reillys but equally bare. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. David Edward Gervase (1946-1981) - Find a Grave Memorial Vorst filled out transfer forms, and Eriksson signed them. . Incident on Hill 192 | Military Wiki | Fandom The men were to be gone five days, the Sergeant revealeda fairly long time for a reconnaissance missionand on hearing this Eriksson experienced a sense of exhilaration, just as he had at the prospect of far shorter patrols in which he had taken part. In court, Rafe said that he found Mao naked, lying on the table, her hands bound behind her back. He had no impulse to talk about Maocertainly not with his fellow-policemen. He had no illusion, though, that Rowan himself could do much about what he had just learned, but at that, Eriksson said, his friend did what he could, immediately relaying news of the murder to the sergeant of his own squad. The trials were held in a courthouse at Camp Radcliff, a frame structure measuring thirty feet by thirty and roofed with tin. On the way, Greenacre told Eriksson that the chaplain, Captain Gerald Kirk, came from Ogden, Utah; he was a Mormon, Eriksson learned, and so was Greenacre. This was about 1400 hours, Manuel stated. I was operating in a forward area and probably seeing the war at its ugliest. Testifying later in court, Lieutenant Reilly characterized the mission as extremely dangerous, and said that to carry it out he had picked members of the best of the four squads in the platoon. Other soldiers, he said, might just as easily have betrayed the weakness that the four men had betrayed on Hill 192, but it had fallen to Meserve and Clark and Rafe and Manuel in particular to act as they had. His break came after just a weekby accident, which was the only way it could come. Platoon True Story: How Accurate Is The Vietnam War Movie - Screen Rant I wanted to get out of the whole company, because I could not see staying in a company that would do anything such as here. During his months leave, he was always with her and with relatives and friends and, in a way, Eriksson said, with Mao. gcdc on Twitter The ideas that came to him, he said, had less to do with jobs than they had to do with life, and he attributed this to the incident on Hill 192. Inasmuch as the board may only affirm or reduce Rafes sentence, any changes that it makes will necessarily fall under the heading of good news for him; for example, the board may decide that Rafe served too long a sentence by five or six months, in which event it will be incumbent upon the Army to restore back pay for that period; it is also within the boards power to reverse Rafes dishonorable discharge. Small artillery spotter planes had arrived, heralding the imminent use of ground-artillery support. Eriksson continued as an M.P., his duties generally less onerous than they had been in Vietnam, and his existence certainly more relaxed, since, as he observed to me, he was waking up every morning not only in his own country but in the presence of the Rockies. Incident on Hill 192 - Wikipedia They may be out in a few months, he said. Eriksson and four other enlisted men were then on a reconnaissance patrol in the vicinity of the girls home. incident on hill 192 where are they now - sniscaffolding.com Besides, Eriksson said, none of the M.P.s at Fort Carson asked him about Maovery likely, he assumed, because they didnt connect him with her. They were alone this time, Eriksson told me, and when Eriksson inquired what progress there had been in the murder case, the Captain seemed not to hear but posed a series of questions. Rowan listened with astonishment as Eriksson apprised him of the Sergeants plan, but when Eriksson asked his friend whether he thought Meserves statements should be reported to an officer before the patrol left camp, Rowan immediately shook his head, replying, as the court record shows, Meserve wouldnt dare do such a fool thing. This incredulity notwithstanding, the news of Meserves briefing left Rowan unhappy. It was just that he was less than average as far as being one of the guys, should we say? The structure was in a state of extreme disrepair, and had a number of large holes in its mud walls. I was afraid of being ridiculed, sir, he told the prosecutor. . Manuel gave similar testimony. In an affidavit that Manuel later signed, he stated, Clark gagged the girl to keep her from yelling out. Looking back, Eriksson thinks that the small band of V.C. Thus, Vorst concluded, coming to the last of his questions, if the men in the patrol were actually convicted, Eriksson could anticipate their being freed in short order, and when that happened Eriksson himself might not feel so freefor was it really inconceivable that one or more of the ex-convicts would seek revenge? Sven wasnt raised churchy, Mrs. Eriksson remarked. She was pleased, she told me, that I had asked to hear about the episode involving Mao. Another defense attorney repeatedly taxed Eriksson with having fabricated his charges against Meserve and the others in order to escape further assignments to hazardous infantry missions. 1945-1989 (content) Creator. At times, Eriksson displayed a certain poise on the stand. They obscured her figure, Eriksson says, but he has the impression that she was slender and slight, and was perhaps five feet two or three inches tall. Necessarily, he said, he was in a position to speak only of the behavior of American soldiers, since they were the people he fought and lived with. The hamlet was barely out of sight when Manuel, perhaps competing with Clark, untied Maos hands, then slipped his pack from his shoulders and loaded it onto the girls. Eriksson was bound for Minnesota, for a month at home before his discharge in the spring, but when his plane put down at Seattle he found that he was ten dollars short for the final leg of his journey. An infantryman, Eriksson saw a fair amount of action, so, if he chose, he could reminisce about strong points he helped take and fire fights in which he was pinned down, and one ambush, in particular, in which half his unit was wounded. But. Yes or no? agent, poking through leaves with a bayonet, found teeth, finger bones, and yet more bullet fragments, all of which he deposited in a plastic bag. In our part of Minnesota, just about everyone is., It was ten at night when Eriksson sat down to talk with Kirk, and he found he was able to speak more freely than he had even to Curly Rowan. Rafes sentence of eight years had been cut to four, and Meserves ten years had been trimmed to eight. The incident on Hill 192 refers to the kidnapping, gang rape, and murder of Phan Thi Mao, a young Vietnamese woman, [1] on November 19, 1966 [2] by an American squad during the Vietnam War. He saw now how wrong he had been in thinking that a report of rape and murder would evoke instant action, as in civilian life. As Clark and Rafe left, Eriksson told me, he realized that he was about to exchange one kind of excitement for anotherthe encounter with the three Vietnamese, that is, for the quieter, more complicated ordeal of being alone with Mao. I had this picture that when we did, theyd fire at us, or, at least, Meserve would have me up on charges of desertion. But, as Eriksson pointed out, he could not give me many such first-hand accounts of V.C. . Rebuffed a second time, Meserve lashed out with an attack on Erikssons manliness, deriding him as queer and chicken. The attack didnt bother him, Eriksson told me, but it appears from the court record that it did affect Rafe, who testified that he could not have withstood the epithets he heard Meserve heap on Eriksson; it was his fear of such derision, Rafe stated, that caused him to join those who entered the hootch he had helped make tidy. I realize that we are over here fighting a war, but to go out and kill an innocent person has nothing to do with the war., Accused of shrewdness in seeking to evade infantry duty, Eriksson found himself also accused of a lack of shrewdness in failing to let Mao escape when he was alone with her in the hootch. or did he just refuse at all times? He said it would be good for the morale of the squad.. He was uncertain how he would act with her, he said, even though, oddly, he felt he knew her well; her cries, he said, had thrown him into a turmoil he had never before experienced. I didnt know then that they were four hundred metres away, at the top of Hill 192, or that it would be a whole hour before they returned. When he stopped asking me questions, he started talking about Meserve and the others, sort of thinking aloud what it was that came over fellows in wartime. interrogators had apprised him of various rights he had, among them the right to remain silent and to have a lawyer, the interrogators had neglected to mention that he was entitled to have an appointed lawyer, meaning one whose services would be free of charge. After half an hour, their watch on the stream paid off, producing a more interesting sight than Rafes water buffalo. Gervase was found guilty on the count of premeditated murder. Three Vietnamese were spotted walking along the edge of the water, and though they wore no uniforms, Meserve assumed they were V.C., and he and his men, including Eriksson, opened fire on them. And, in fact, Eriksson told me, a C.I.D. Reporting another of Locs answers at the trial, the court interpreter stated, She said her sister have gold tooth, right side in lower jaw.. That occurred in February, 1968, when Manuel was granted a retrial on the ground that although his C.I.D. down a trail between two hedgerows when the patrol was suddenly fired upon from one side. Perhaps as an earnest of his friendship, Eriksson told the Marine about Mao one afternoon, and the captain was shocked to hear what had happened to her. I had no idea where my unit was. Seeing him and Greenacre chatting together, Eriksson went on, had made him realize that the only chance he had of escaping the chain of command was through a chaplain. Related period. In daylight it was search-and-destroy missions, and at night it was setting ambushes for the enemy. Moreover, Eriksson told me, the enemy soldier inflicted casualties on the infantrymen deployed around the cave complex, which was some two hundred metres long and had numerous mouths. who was murdered, but how could I do it for a Vietnamese? They send you reeling from the theatre. We made up something to get him to go away, Eriksson told me. But then I dont know how much the C.I.D. A good nights rest might do wonders for Maos health, he pointed out, in which case he, for one, wouldnt mind revisiting her in the morning. It might have influenced my thinking if Id had that information, but Im not sure. Fortunately, he said, his assignments involved no murder or rape cases. Just who, I wanted to ask, was the man in Manuels patrol who started the shooting? Eriksson was fond of his uncle, Mrs. Eriksson said, but, reluctantly, he answered, Im afraid I dont want to talk about her., When Erikssons leave was over, he finished out his two-year hitch at Fort Carson, Colorado, where many of the men were either completing their service, like him, or departing for war. At first, the chain of command, including the company commander, took no action. [1] Although news of the incident reached the U.S. shortly after the soldiers' trials,[3] the story gained widespread notoriety through Daniel Lang's 1969 article for The New Yorker[4] and his subsequent book. When I got up to the girl, I saw that her head was partially blown away, he testified. De Palma handles this unsettling & disturbing fare with ruthlessness, making it an experience to remember. Erikssons patrol leader delivered a tongue-lashing to his counterpart, who apologized. Manuel showed no initiative in that regard, Eriksson told me, his attitude toward authority being simple and automatic: he heeded it devoutly. Though news of the incident reached state-side shortly after the soldiers' trials the story gained widespread notoriety through Daniel Lang's 1969 article for The New . As the court transcript shows, Reilly didnt let matters rest there. Incident On Hill 192 Paperback - Import, January 1, 1970 by Daniel Lang (Author) 1 rating Hardcover from $198.24 2 Used from $198.24 Paperback from $36.18 3 Used from $36.18 Print length 128 pages Language English Publisher Pan Books Publication date January 1, 1970 ISBN-10 033002518X ISBN-13 978-0330025188 See all details The Amazon Book Review