Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:18 | Jack Swallows remembers two things from his Vietnam tour that he probably shouldn't have done. One involved birthday cake and one involved an unexploded artillery round.
Keywords : Jack Swallows Vietnam monsoon Salt Flats birthday cake rice paddies artillery dud Viet Cong (VC)
It appealed to him that the Marines were considered the toughest so Jack Swallows signed up in high school for the Marine officer training course and he received a commission after college ROTC. He chose the artillery because they had things the infantry didn't have.
Jack Swallows joined the 12th Marine Regiment on Okinawa in 1965. The artillery unit was training for a certain deployment to Vietnam and on July 1, he shipped out. The first thing he noticed when he got there was the usual thing everyone remembers.
It was just south of Da Nang where Jack Swallows began his Vietnam tour and, right away, it was sniper fire and booby traps. He learned to avoid the improvised explosives and was shocked to learn how much of the populace was on the other side.
In the area known as the Salt Flats, Marine forward observer Jack Swallows just tried to stay out of the relentless monsoon rain. Then he was attached to a unit that did recon on an area that was slated for a Marine base and reported no enemy or booby traps. By the time the Marines moved to that hill, it was no longer clear.
Operation Harvest Moon was the largest action that Jack Swallows participated in during his Vietnam tour. The Marine forward observer moved out south of Da Nang to help a South Vietnamese unit that had been overrun. He made it through a ferocious firefight, but was unable to call in artillery fire because of orders. Part 1 of 3.
After a fierce firefight the night before, the Marines located the stranded South Vietnamese unit and found a forward observer team that had lost their officer, but had continued calling in artillery fire that saved the survivors. Jack Swallows was in the relieving unit and has a regret about that day. Part 2 of 3
When the Viet Cong fire started, Marine forward observer Jack Swallows sought refuge behind a big boulder. When he returned to Vietnam in 2003, he was almost ready to give up looking for that boulder when he decide to go just a little further. Part 3 of 3.
It was fairly good living at Hill 22 for Jack Swallows. He was sleeping in the peaceful supply tent. But one day he did his job as forward observer just a little too well and the company commander decided he liked him.
He had done his time as a forward observer. From his last forward post on Hill 22, Jack Swallows was moved back to the battery to become the fire direction officer. At Da Nang and An Hoa, he used his skills to direct fire on a number of missions, all of which had their own challenges.
Only one letter home to his mom from Vietnam has survived, and in that letter, Marine forward observer Jack Swallows said that tomorrow's patrol was going to be nothing, a cakewalk. It didn't work out that way.
His last post as a fire direction officer was at An Hoa. Jack Swallows remembers a mission there which had a small battery moving to a ridiculously exposed position. It was close to time to go home and he was inundated with pleas to extend his tour.
It was early in his tour when Jack Swallows ran into a fellow Marine officer he knew in basic school. He gave him his best advice on what he would face in Vietnam, but it did no good.
Artillery guys never got time off. Forward observer Jack Swallows had to move to a new infantry unit when the unit he was attached to was moved to the the rear. At least his Vietnam tour was early in the war and he did not have to face the fierce fighting that Marines were confronted with later in the war.
They tried everything to get him to return to active duty, but Jack Swallows was done with Vietnam. He remembers how the South Vietnamese Army let him down every time, and how the other side had flawless intelligence.
