Vietnam Veteran News

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Pen Pals Ned Felder and Kris Feeney. [Photo: South Carolina State University]

Episode 2663 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about how Vietnam Vet Ned Felder met up with a pen pal he corresponded with 56 years while in Vietnam. The featured story appeared on the People.com website and was titled: Vietnam Veteran and Decades-Old Pen Pal Meet for First Time: ‘It’s Unbelievable’ Ned Felder and Kris Feeney met for the first time in November, 56 years after first corresponding during the Vietnam War. The story was submitted by Anna Lazarus Caplan. She has over 20 years of experience working as a journalist, with a focus on lifestyle and features stories.

In her story Caplan reports that: An Army captain in the Vietnam War and a young girl from Michigan struck up an unlikely relationship 56 years ago as pen pals — and now they’ve finally met! Ned Felder received 13-year-old Kristina Olson’s care package almost by accident in 1967, when the teen reached out to “any soldier” fighting in the war as part of a Camp Fire Girls project.

Time went by and Olson and Felder continued to correspond, with the serviceman sending his pen pal birthday cards, a book about Vietnam and even a doll that was inscribed with their names.

Kristina said this about Ned Felder, “He made me want to be a better person, which is the best thing I can say about anyone. I like to be around people who make me want to be the best person I can be.”

Ned Felder said this about their unexpected connection: “There was no requirement to do what we did at all, and it’s real. There was a feeling of wonder, and even today, it just exceeds that feeling.”

Listen to Episode 2663 and discover more about how Vietnam Vet Ned Felder met up with a pen pal he corresponded with 56 years while in Vietnam.

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Vietnam Veteran Jorge Otero- Barreto, the Puerto Rican Rambo.

Episode 2662 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Vietnam Veteran Jorge Otero Barreto who is known as Puerto Rico’s Rambo. The featured story appeared in The Military Times and was titled: This ‘Puerto Rican Rambo’ went on 200 combat missions in Vietnam. It was submitted by Jon Simkins. He is a writer and editor for Military Times, and a USMC veteran.

In his story, Simkins reported that Jorge Otero Barreto joined the Army in 1959 after pursuing biology studies in college. Less than two years later, he embarked on his first deployment, one of five such tours he would make to the embattled nation between 1961 and 1970 as a member of the 101st Airborne, 82nd Airborne and 25th Infantry Division, among others.

Over the course of five deployments, Otero Barreto volunteered for approximately 200 combat missions — a lofty number that eventually earned him the moniker “The Puerto Rican Rambo,” after the fictional death-dealing character made famous by actor Sylvester Stallone.

He would earn 38 total commendations during the five combat tours, including three Silver Stars, five Purple Hearts, five Bronze Stars, five Air Medals and four Army Commendation Medals.

SYNOPSIS of one of his Silver Star awards: Platoon Sergeant Jorge Otero-Barreto (ASN: RA-50156967), United States Army, was awarded the Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy while serving with Company A, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 502d Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, in the Republic of Vietnam. His gallant actions and dedicated devotion to duty, without regard for his own life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

Jorge Otero Barreto is a tremendous representative of the Vietnam Veteran Generation – one as great as any that ever heeded the call of duty from our country.

Listen to Episode 2662 and discover more about Vietnam Jorge Otero Barreto who is known as Puerto Rico’s Rambo.

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Jeremiah Denton was locked up and tortured for seven and a half years. [Credit: Creative Commons]

Episode 2661 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about how Vietnam Vet Jeremiah Denton blinked he way to fame when he was a POW in Hanoi. The featured story comes from, LADbible Group and is titled: Prisoner blinked chilling message in TV interview to save his own life.  The story was submitted by Anish Vij [anish.vij@ladbiblegroup.com]. Anish has an MA in Multimedia Journalism and is passionate about delivering sarcastic/mildly amusing content. After studying business at undergrad, Anish realised that he’d much prefer getting paid to rant about a topic, rather than to find a solution to it. Apart from that, he loves the ‘Four F’s’, as he calls it – family, friends, football and food.

LADbible Group was founded in 2012. It is redefining entertainment and breaking news for a social generation. Its global community engages with its content–spanning editorial, video, documentary and live – billions of times each and every month. Using all major platforms, it has  rapidly risen to become one of the web’s most prominent social video publishers.

Jeremiah Andrew Denton Jr. (July 15, 1924 – March 28, 2014) was an American politician and military officer who served as a U.S. Senator representing Alabama from 1981 to 1987. He was the first Republican to be popularly elected to a Senate seat in Alabama. Denton was previously a United States Navy rear admiral and naval aviator taken captive during the Vietnam War.

Denton was widely known for enduring almost eight years of grueling conditions as an American prisoner of war (POW) in North Vietnam after the A-6 Intruder he was piloting suffered severe damage resulting from a defective bomb, which detonated as he released the weapon(s) in 1965.

While answering questions and feigning trouble with the blinding television lights, Denton blinked his eyes in Morse code, spelling the word “T-O-R-T-U-R-E”—and confirming for the first time to U.S. Naval Intelligence that American POWs were being tortured.

CLICK HERE and watch the notable interview.

Listen to Episode 2661 and discover more about how Vietnam Vet Jeremiah Denton blinked he way to fame when he was a POW in Hanoi.

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Italian General Giulio Douhet

Episode 2660 of the Vietnam Veteran News will feature an article about General Giulio Douhet’s predications relating to the use of air power and their applications in the American Vietnam War. The featured article came from The Eurasia Review News & Analysis and was titled: General Giulio Douhet: Theory Of Air Power – Analysis. It  was submitted by Hafiza Syeda Azkia Batool. She is a student of International Relations at National Defense University (NDU).

In her article Batool referred to the ideas of General Giulio Douhet about wartime aviation. General Giulio Douhet (30 May 1869 – 15 February 1930) was an Italian general and air power theorist.[1] He was a key proponent of strategic bombing in aerial warfare. He was a contemporary of the air warfare advocates Walther Wever, Billy Mitchell, and Hugh Trenchard.

Hafiza Syeda Azkia Batool

Batool wrote that General Giulio Douhet’s advocacy for targeting civilians with a combination of high explosives, incendiary bombs, and chemical weapons calls into doubt his role as a prominent proponent of air power. To fully comprehend his beliefs and the context in which he worked, however, one must first consider the broader historical themes of nationalism and industrialization that dominated the nineteenth century, as well as the early twentieth century development of aviation technology.

She continued: Giulio Douhet’s military theories were built upon several major assumptions that formed the core of his ideas on airpower and warfare. Central to his beliefs was the conviction that airpower stood as the preeminent factor in determining the outcomes of conflicts.

Batool ended her article with this highly flawed conclusion, the US military had a clear advantage in air power during the Vietnam War, this was not enough to secure a victory. The erosion of public support for the conflict ultimately proved to be a significant factor in the failure to achieve victory in the region.

Listen to Episode 2660 and discover more about General Giulio Douhet’s predications relating to the use of air power and their applications in the American Vietnam War.

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John F. Kennedy

The Kennedy Withdrawal

Andy Pham

Episode 2659 will honor the memory of President John F. Kennedy on this day, the 60^th anniversary of his assassination. We will be joined by Andy Pham, a good friend of this podcast to relate how President Kennedy and his death had an effect on all Vietnam Veterans.

To help understand that connection between President Kennedy and Vietnam Veterans, Episode 2430 will be replayed in this episode. In that episode, the book titled: The Kennedy Withdrawal along with its author will be featured.

The book to be discussed in this episode of titled: The Kennedy Withdrawal. It was written by Dr. Marc J. Selverstone. The book provides a major revision of our understanding of JFK’s commitment to Vietnam, revealing that his administration’s plan to withdraw was a political device, the effect of which was to manage public opinion while preserving US military assistance.

Dr. Marc Selverstone is an associate professor in Presidential Studies at the Miller Center and chair of the Center’s Presidential Recordings Program. He earned a BA degree in philosophy from Trinity College (CT), a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University, and a PhD in history from Ohio University. A historian of the Cold War, he is the author of Constructing the Monolith: The United States, Great Britain, and International Communism, 1945-1950 (Harvard), which won the Stuart L. Bernath Book Prize from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.

One of the Professor Meredith H. Lair

Prof. Lair’s work examines warfare and its relationship to American society and culture, with particular emphasis on how knowledge and memories of the past are constructed and disseminated over time. She is the author of Armed with Abundance: Consumerism and Soldiering in the Vietnam War, which examines the non-combat experiences of American soldiers in Vietnam.

One of the interlocutors in this episode is Professor Meredith H. Lair. Her works examine warfare and its relationship to American society and culture, with particular emphasis on how knowledge and memories of the past are constructed and disseminated over time. She is the author of Armed with Abundance: Consumerism and Soldiering in the Vietnam War, which examines the non-combat experiences of American soldiers in Vietnam.

The other interlocutor is Dr. Sean McLaughlin of Murray State University.

Listen to Episode 2659 and honor the memory of President Kennedy.

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The Lyon County Museum

Episode 2658 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Vietnam Vet Joseph Louwagie and his Army adventures. The featured story appeared in The Independent of Marshall, Minnesota and it was titled: The Vietnam War – Joe Louwagie – a training roadblock and deployment to Vietnam. It was submitted by Bill Palmer.

Joe Louwagie is another tremendous represensive of the Vietnam Veteran Generation – one as great as any that ever heeded the call of duty from our country. He served with A Company, 2nd (Battalion) of the 18th Infantry, Big Red 1 Infantry Division.

In his story, Palmer reported this about Joe Louwagie, Joseph Louwagie was born in 1946, the third of six siblings to Marie (Blomme) Louwagie and Gerard Louwagie, who farmed south of Green Valley. Girard wanted Joe to take over the farm after college, but Joe had his heart set on becoming an attorney like family friend, Bob Runchey, and turned down his dad’s offer.

Joe married his fiancé, Jo Schmitz, in Tracy, on June 7, 1968. He planned to attend the University of North Dakota Law School, but the local Draft Board did not give him an additional educational deferment. When Joe learned he would be drafted that August, he enlisted in the Army for three years with further training in Officer Candidate School.

He had a plan to become an Army officer, but did not realize that a prior incident would get in the way.

As part of his story Palmer invited all in the area to please visit our new exhibit, The Vietnam War and Lyon County, at the Lyon County Museum to learn more about the experiences of our area Vietnam veterans.

Discover more about Vietnam Vet Joe Louwagie and others at the Lyon County Museum.

Listen to episode 2658 and discover more about Vietnam Vet Joseph Louwagie and his Army adventures.

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Medal of Honor reciient James McCloughan delivers a speech during a Veterans Day ceremony Saturday in South Haven. [Becky Kark / For The Herald-Palladium]

Episode 2657 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Vietnam War CMH recipient James McCloughan and his important message for us all. The featured story appeared in The South Haven Tribune and was titled: Medal of Honor recipient honored in South Haven. It was submitted by Becky Kark, the editor and general manager of the Tribune.

In her story, she told about the event where Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient James McCloughan was honored.

Parts of the CMH citation for McCloughan read as follows: Private First Class McCloughan distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty from May 13th through 15th, 1969, while serving as a combat medic with Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, Americal Division. The company air assaulted into an area near Tam Ky and Nui Yon Hill. On May 13th, with complete disregard for his life, he ran 100 meters in an open field through heavy fire to rescue a comrade too injured to move and carried him to safety.

The ceremony honoring McCloughan took place at South Haven City hall, attended by more than 100 more people, to honor McCloughan for a memorial that will soon be placed in his honor for the courage he displayed during the Vietnam War serving as a combat medic for the U.S. Army. For Saturday’s ceremony, a temporary plate depicting what the memorial will look like was put in place for the event.

In his speech, McCloughan also suggested that in today’s divisive political climate people should strive to work together rather than going into a wartime conflict, which causes the deaths of those serving in the military along with civilians.

Listen to the episode and discover McCloughan’s important message for us all.

Listen to episode 2657 and discover more about Vietnam War CMH recipient James McCloughan and his important message for us all.

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Robert Menz in Vietnam

Dr. Vivian B. Blevins conducts a program in Ohio to help Vietnam Vets record their War memories.

Episode 2656 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Vietnam Veteran Robert Menz and his tropo commo job in Vietnam. The featured story comes from The Sidney Daily News of Sidney, Ohio and is titled: Another Vietnam War story. The story was submitted by Dr. Vivian B. Blevins [vblevins@edisonohio.edu]. She teaches telecommunication employees from around the country and students at Edison State Community College and works with veterans. You can also reach her at 937-778-3815 or vbblevins@woh.rr.com.

In her featured story she tells about Vietnam Veteran Robert Menz who served in Vietnam in 1970 and 1971. He was assigned to Pr’Line Mountain, the second tallest peak in South Vietnam from 1970-1971, where he provided coded communication via Tropo (Tropospheric Scatter Microwave Communication).

When Robert came home from Vietnam, he wanted to make his life count. He accomplished that goal as a prolific author and employee-assistance counselor, and as a faculty member at Edison State Community College. He currently sponsors a support group at the Miami Valley Veterans Museum  in Troy for area veterans who want to process their military experiences in a safe and confidential environment.

The museum provides a repository for uniforms, equipment, personal effects including photo, letters, oral and written histories, dairies, and other artifacts. It  also provides a meeting place for Veterans and support a multi-county community by presenting Veterans Coffees, museum activities, educational outreach programs, and partnering with other organizations in order to raise awareness of the contributions of those who have served our country.

The museum community includes Veterans, friends, and supporters in the following Ohio counties Miami, Darke, Shelby, Champaign, Clark, Greene, and Montgomery Counties. It also supports a worldwide community with the reach of its website and social media and online outreach presence. It reaches more than 50,000 folks in a seven-county area with our outreach programs every year.

Listen to episode 2656 and discover more about Vietnam Veteran Robert Menz and his tropo commo job in Vietnam.

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Harry Van Riper receiving the Dr. Charles J. Martoni Veterans Service Award

Episode 2655 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Vietnam Veteran Harry Van Riper and his prestigious award. The featured story appeared in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and was titled: Army veteran, 75, honored for his service in Vietnam and at home. It was submitted by Karen Kadilak.

Harry Van Riper is a tremendous representative of the Vietnam Veteran Generation – one as great as any that ever heeded the call of duty from our country. Recently he was awarded the 2023 Dr. Charles J. Martoni Veterans Service Award. https://www.alleghenycounty.us/veterans/veterans-service-award.aspx

Kadilak said this about Van Riper in her story; Just months into combat, Harry Van Riper was gravely wounded when a truck he was driving was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade as the U.S. approached peak involvement in the Vietnam War in August 1968.

Doctors told Van Riper, serving with the Army’s 25th Infantry Division; he had a slim chance to survive. He did, but he lost his left arm.

Earlier this month, the 75-year-old veteran from Hampton received the 2023 Dr. Charles J. Martoni Veterans Service Award. Now in its third year, the award is bestowed annually by Allegheny County upon veterans who continue to serve veterans and civilians alike following their discharge from the military. It was established in 2021 in memory of Martoni, an Army veteran, an original Allegheny County Council member and a longtime Community College of Allegheny County leader, who died in 2019.

Van Riper has also been recognized as part of the U.S. Steel Salute Our Heroes event, an annual program that honors a veteran during each Steelers home game.

Adding to an already full plate, Van Riper has volunteered for a VA feasibility study of a “smart” limb. If he receives it, the limb will allow him to use his hand by sending signals from his brain, potentially giving hope to other amputees.

Listen to episode 2655 and discover more about Vietnam Veteran Harry Van Riper and his prestigious award.

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Vietnam veteran Gene Hart with Gunner, one of his dogs. Hart came to appreciate dogs who assisted soldiers during the Vietnam War, and now he has made a mission out of caring for strays.

Episode 2654 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Marine Vietnam Veteran Gene Hart and his dog story. The featured story comes from The Moulton Advertiser and is titled: Vietnam vet continues service by protecting stray dogs. It was submitted by Wes Tomlinson.

Tomlinson reported in his story about Marine Vietnam Veteran Gene Hart was born in 1945 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, England, known for being the 16th century birthplace of playwright William Shakespeare. Hart’s father was a soldier in the U.S. Army and was stationed there in World War II during the Blitz, an intense German bombing campaign against Britain in 1940 and 1941.

Hart said, “My father met my mother and here I am.”

After the war, the family relocated to Paris, Tennessee, where Hart grew up. Hart wanted to follow in his father and uncle’s footsteps and enlisted in the U.S. military in 1964. He was dispatched to the Dominican Republic the following year to aid the country in fighting rebel forces in a civil war.

After two tours with the Marines in Vietnam he settled in Town Creek, Alabama and began caring for stray dogs. Hart has fed and paid for veterinarian care for dozens of dogs since then and has given several away to good homes. He now has his sights on giving dogs to veterans through a nonprofit organization called Working Dogs for Vets  in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, which trains them to be support dogs for veterans.

Working Dogs For Vets Mission is to provide service dogs and training to disabled heroes in need, empowering them as they return to civilian life with new-found independence;  reducing suicide and overcrowding in animal shelters.

Listen to episode 2654 and discover more about Marine Vietnam Veteran Gene Hart and his dog story.