Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:53 | You were supposed to get three choices of duty station when you return from your Vietnam tour but John Blair was awarded the Silver Star while he was there. So they gave him no choice and sent him to Parris island to be a DI with several other Silver Star recipients. He didn't care for that at all but after one cycle, he got a much better assignment.
Keywords : John Blair Vietnam Parris Island Drill Instructor (DI) Silver Star Washington DC decoding American University Arlington VA top secret security clearance Commendation Medal supply sergeant
Hailing from South Carolina, John Blair is a true son of the South but his younger years were spent in Hawaii, where his father was stationed. He was an Army officer but when the younger Blair came of age, he took a different path, the Marines.
It was a mystery to him but John Blair had a top secret security clearance when he graduated from advanced infantry training. His first assignment was guarding a warhead depot. That only lasted a few months and then he got orders for Vietnam
Like all Marines, John Blair wanted a part of any war that was going on and he got his wish. When he arrived at Da Nang, he was impressed with the strange look on the faces of Marines who were going the other way, back home. He was based up at Con Thien where he immediately got sick trying to get used to eating C-Rations.
I want that guy. Bob Espinola was looking over the new guys and he saw that John Blair had an 8-Track player. They were up near the DMZ and on one of Blair's first patrols, he was made point man and killed two NVA soldiers. (Caution: strong language)
The Marines were set up on three hills near Khe Sanh. They were there to protect a bridge vital to trucks supplying the base. NVA could be seen in the distance moving in so they knew something was about to happen. John Blair heard the shooting begin over at another hill and then his platoon was ordered to move out on the road and come to reinforce. The road? Well that's dumb. We're not coming back. Part 1 of 2.
The NVA soldiers were setting up an ambush and John Blair, who was cut off and alone, saw them. Not going to let that happen, he crept up and took care of it. Then his buddy Bob Espinola appeared and the two of them saw that an enemy machine gun was mowing down Marines. We're not going to survive this but let's go get 'em. They hugged each other and began a rampage that resulted in a Silver Star for each of them. Part 2 of 2. (Caution: strong language)
After the ferocious Battle of Mike's Hill, John Blair and his fellow Marines moved to Khe Sanh, which was a total mess. The siege had left dead NVA all around and there were rats as big as cats. What followed was a series of small battles, one of which put him uncomfortably close to a friendly 500 pound bomb.
Blair, take your squad and clear the bad guys off that hill. Well, John Blair set out to do just that but that effort ended with becoming a human bulldozer through bamboo. There were too many of them. Then, there was a sniper. Blair, take your squad and go get that guy. Did they get him? Depends on who you ask.
It wasn't blood and guts all the time. John Blair relates some of the humorous things that he saw in Vietnam, like the time he boiled some roots to make broth and the time the air drop had something ridiculous instead of the C-Rations they needed. (Caution: strong language)
It was at a place called Foxtrot Ridge. The first thing that happened to John Blair was that the man with the flame thrower next to him was consumed by his own weapon. Then, he was spared from the enemy's hand grenades only because they didn't use them correctly. Then, he saw his company commander rise to the occasion in a big way.
John Blair describes some of the strange things he experienced in Vietnam. They ranged from the horrible, like the dead GIs they found that had been tortured, to the delightful, like the time some cold Cokes appeared where they were totally unexpected.
Most guys had two R&Rs if they were lucky. John Blair wound up with three. One he earned by taking out two NVA on one of his first patrols. What he didn't get was a Purple Heart even though he earned it by taking some shrapnel. He turned it down not knowing the grief it would cause him later.
What do you want in your care package from home? For John Blair, it was socks, sardines and Spam. You can round it out with liquor and Vienna sausages. Too bad you can't send water because that was one thing it seemed the Marines were always short on.
When John Blair became a short timer he was sent to the rear but then was, inexplicably, called back to the field. Once that was straightened out, he did return to the states and landed in LA where a hippie poured his own beer on him. Welcome home. (Caution: strong language)
The Marines molded him into a man. John Blair is thankful for that and for all his fellow Marines, not only the grunts but the truck drivers and the clerks and everyone who makes the Marine Corps work.
While in Vietnam, a Marine was able to tag three captured weapons and they were supposed to ship them home to you. There was just one problem, none of them ever arrived. At least John Blair had the knife he took from an NVA officer. Regarding a different problem, he explains how the supply sergeant is the most powerful Marine there is.
It's a brotherhood. It's how you get through a war and how you deal with the aftermath. John Blair explains why that's important to him. He wears his Silver Star for all the friends who didn't make it.
