Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
1:54 | Marvin Cole had several R&R's in Vietnam but the time he went to Vung Tau was memorable. A casual conversation with a stranger there led to a startling revelation.
Keywords : Marvin Cole Vietnam Rest and Relaxation (R&R) Vung Tau
Marvin Cole's mother wrote him and said he needed to come home and talk his brother out of joining the military. When his brother joined the Army anyway, she told him to enlist as well and take care of him. The brother was in for three years and Marvin stayed for thirty five.
Marvin Cole was put in charge of a medical platoon when he arrived in Vietnam. He was lucky to have some highly experienced medics in his unit who brought him up to speed on the hazards of this war, specifically where the booby traps were hidden.
Marvin Cole's medical platoon was sent to the aid of a sister battalion which was involved in a heavy firefight. His cool headed management of the scene, and his great team, meant that only three of the thirty five wounded didn't make it.
It could be tough getting resupplied in the field in Vietnam. Medic Marvin Cole nearly had a Chinook land on top of him in the fog. He and his medical platoon performed missions treating civilians in their villages and he relates a chilling story of a child used by the enemy to attack one of these operations.
There was a long range patrol group In Marvin Cole's battalion that was comprised of men who had maybe been in the jungle too long. They committed some savage acts while in the field, but back in camp, they were just colorful characters.
The 101st Airborne Division is noted for many distinguishing actions, but medic Marvin Cole remembers a newly arrived unit from the 101st whose commander obviously didn't realize that the area around Cu Chi was a combat zone.
The enemy was certainly angered by the civilian medical outreach performed by medics like Marvin Cole. His reward for giving medical aid to the Vietnamese in their villages was getting his face plastered on a "wanted" poster. He saw that just as he was about to rotate out.
Marvin Cole is still wondering why a man in his unit could not get boots, but they were available on the black market in Saigon. Mismanagement of the war aside, he has warm feelings for the Vietnamese people and the country itself.
It was a very difficult program to get into, but Marvin Cole persisted and was one of the final candidates standing to be admitted to the Army's physician assistant training program. After that, he was sent to Germany where his management ability got him noticed.
He was twenty years into his Army career when Marvin Cole returned to Japan. It turned out to be the longest assignment he ever had, plus he got to move into his greatest area of interest in the medical field.
