I didn’t served with this man, but I wish I had. Amazing, wonderful man. One of those men that every body likes at the first encounter. I missed being with John in Vietnam by almost two years as he arrived in country and joined the wolfhounds during September 1968. (The year of the TET offensive. I had left December 30th 1966. However, we were both Wolfhounds, but we had much different experiences. The war had changed, the enemy had changed and the way the US Army was taking care of business had changed. But the Wolfhounds have never changed. That special attitude, that feeling, that pride just never wavered. The Wolfhounds in Iraq have the same air about them as those in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Their tactics and weapons will evolve, but always they will have that thing inside them that they all have had before them, that thing we can’t exactly describe, but that thing that makes them go a little farther and do a little more than 100%.
My wife and I first met John and his wife, Sherry, at my first Wolfhound reunion in Philadelphia several years ago. That special bond that Vietnam vets have had some to do with it, but seconds after we met I felt we were “brothers”, truly brothers. I’ll tell you some of what I’ve learned from this modest and very spiritual man.
John was a drafted kid from Michigan and West Virginia and other places he says, but is really “from” West Virginia. He and his wonderful wife were married after his AIT just before he left for the war. Now, these guys that were married in Vietnam had some more of a load to carry than everyone else. The strain of worrying about their life partner back home wore on them and you could see it in their faces constantly.
John and Sherry’s union was evidently a good one proven by the fact that after 41 years they are still in love and together.
I asked John for his story and I was glad he gave it to me. His is like many who went into harms way for their country, but ended up doing what they did mainly for their buddies.
John Babbitt was lucky. He headed into this war with buddies that he had gone through both basic and AIT with. John, Jimmy Antrobius, Fred Cox and Craig Neal were all drafted from the Detroit area. Many guys arrived alone and having a buddy along made all the difference. Fred Cox went over to 1st Cav anfd the rest went to the Wolfhounds.
AWOL?
They all had a 15 day leave before their departure for Vietnam and agreed to meet for the flight to San Francisco, California. One of the group, Fred Cox, had this great idea, “Why don’t we take an extra 4 days.” Great idea and then it was said, “What can they do, send us to Vietnam?” That was good for John because he was getting married while on leave. When they finally arrived in San Francisco they decided to take one more day off there as well. Well, no harm done and no punishment when they finally arrived. All that was said was that they each had pay coming and since John was married, he had to fill out some extra papers and then off to war they went.
John arrived in Vietnam in September 1968. It was after the major offense the enemy had mounted during TET of that year. By comparing stories from “old timers”, TET had changed everything in the way things were done. John arrived at Tan Son Nhut Airfield a newly married man not really knowing what to expect in this blistering hot, stinking new land.
He was immediately assigned to the 25th Division (Tropic Lightning) based at Cu Chi. When He got there he started a one week indoctrination course training the newbie’s a little more on Vietnam. He was assigned to Company D of the 1st Battalion of the 27th Regiment “Wolfhounds” of that Division. (1/27th)
Part of that “school” was an AP (ambush Patrol) on the out side of the wire. The temporary team/squad went out 100 meters and set up out in the open in the camp’s open and cleared fire lane where it had been defoliated. They didn’t go as far as the jungle this first time out. This was practice for the new guys. Some of the class included map reading refresher courses and such. After school was over each were assigned to their respective squads and that’s where John first met one of his new life long friends, Dave Hunt. More stories on him later.
John joined lots of new people that he soon started “learning”. He met Dave Hunt, Karl Shepard and Ed Bryson and Ben Frankel, Tom “Curley” Boyles, Robert Herrimgton. These men would soon become his family, and with them 24/7, working with them day after day.
John is no different than most of the Vietnam vets that you try to get stories out of. They have lots to say about the things their buddies did and said, but little about themselves. It is pretty common that they all believe their buddies were the heroes and on their own behavior under fire, they “just don’t remember”.
First wound
October ’68, during a mortar attack, John was hit with shrapnel. He had small pieces in his scalp, back and left leg. Like many men, he carries some of these today. John had a boil on his left knee at the time that had become badly infected, but not wanting to be accused of goldbricking, had not complained. The Doc said when he looked at all of the wounds told John that him getting hit saved his leg. If he had waited a few more days he would have the lost leg from infection.
John’s first Platoon leader in Vietnam was Lt Jay Frietas who was also wounded in that attack. They never saw each other again til that great Wolfhound reunion in Philly when they and John’s last Platoon leader, Lt Don Yates all hooked up after all those years.
Ambush patrol
John was one of a few on AP (ambush patrol) not a long way from the wire (camp perimeter). They had moved in a circular path, swung back parallel and had gotten about 300 meters deep into the jungle past the edge of the cleared fire lane. They heard the blump…blump of a motor tube pretty close and then heard the voices of the enemy that were working the tube. The enemy was set up between them and the Fire Base and they were firing on the Fire Base. LT Yates called in artillery on the bad guy mortar position and everything quieted down after that. They weren’t there very long at all until Karl Sheppard had to wake up John and Ed Bryson, telling them that they could fall asleep faster than anyone he knew they were snoring so bad that he was afraid they were going to give away their positioning. They wound up spending the night in that location and never made it to the planned ambush site.
Best point man in Nam
When John Babbitt first started working with this new family he had joined, they started out on a patrol and Ed Bryson told John not to worry, Curly Boyles is on point. He smokes a lot of pot, but never while he’s on point, He’s the best there is at walking point!
Albert “Cookie” Cook
Cookie was cleaning some claymores up and had pulled the detonator blasting cap out of one. He was cleaning it and it blew up in his face. It burned him so bad that it left so many “pot marks” all over his face you would have thought it was from a grenade, not a little blasting cap. Cookie said they had to scrub his face with a wire brush to get all the metal out.
I Quit
A little about “Curly” Boyles, a very funny guy. When things were bad, maybe as bad as they could get, Curly would just declare, ‘I resign!” Sometimes he would exclaim that he was just going to quit right then and go home. Another favorite exclamation was that, “Well Damn it, now my hair is all messed up”.
Right on through
Most will tell the funny stories first and that is what John did as he started with Karl Sheppard. Karl was the M 79 man. This weapon shot a big, heavy round the size of a grenade. A single shot, very deadly machine by any standards. He, like all “79” men, carried lots of ammo for this contraption in a bag sometimes weighing 50 plus lbs and when coupled with the already heavy gear he had made him real heavy guy. After one operation the men were running to a slick to evacuate an area when Karl ran into the chopper and his momentum carried him straight through the machine and out the other side. He managed to get control, pick himself up and back on board before lift off. Of course that was a belly laugh moment for all and a good story to bring up many times later. Even 40 years later.
Joe the new guy. Just wants to go to the field
This next short story about an encounter with one certain soldier was written by John in his own words.
I don't know the name of the guy. We went out on Eagle Flight to some village across the river from FSB Mahone and he was on one of the choppers that picked us up. The story was that he was a clerk back at Division and wanted to see combat. Guess he was persistent in his request and a drinker that would get even more persistent when he drank. He finally aggravated someone with authority enough that he got his wish.
He was at the least enjoying a "good buzz" when he got to us and had a bottle of hooch with him and was willing to pass it around. He had a few takers and seemed to be about the happiest fellow any of us had seen in Viet Nam. Seems we weren't really needed where we were at and after cooling our heals for a couple hours we were ordered to our PU (Pick Up) zone.
I guess someone wanted to teach him a lesson about what being a grunt was all about and stuck him out on flank for our little hike to the PU zone. The village we had just left seemed so peaceful and friendly that I don't think anyone thought Charlie was anywhere near us. That was usually when something happened...when you least suspected it.
I remember seeing a "coolie hat" pop up out of the ground to my left where "Joe the new guy" was walking flank. All I saw was a flash, less than a second, of that coolie hat popping up and then it was gone, but one shot from an AK rang out and "Joe the new guy" was dead. You know I may have seen that flash of coolie hat after the shot was fired, not sure after 41 years. I do know I didn't see it long enough to react and remember thinking that I wish I would have had time to open up on it with my M-60.
He was tagged and bagged and we continued to the PU zone. Nobody was laughing anymore at the drunk antics of "Joe the new guy." it was dead quiet the rest of the hike, right up to the time we entered the PU zone and the first lift was coming in, then we got hit with a lot of small arms fire. The fire continued until the 2nd. lift, the one I was on, came in. That was when Karl Sheppard, the 79 man in our squad, was running so fast for our chopper that he jumped in that bird and flew right out the other side. I remember we all got a good laugh out of how comical he looked. Guess Karl took our minds off "Joe the new guy" cause I don't think we ever mentioned him again
Tropic Lightning Soldier
John Babbitt was chosen “Tropic Lightning Division soldier of the day” and was given a stand down back at Cu Chi base camp. Kind of a thank you for job well done. This break, offered to two soldiers picked, was the brainchild of 25th Division commander General Williamson. Why it was called “Soldier of the day” when they picked two, only the Army could answer that one.
He was picked up by General Williamsonin his personal chopper and flew to Cu Chi and given quarters to stay in. He was given PX opportunity, hot chow, showers and clean clothes. When he got in and landed at the heli pad he met Dave Hunt who had been wounded three times and given base camp duties because of the three Purple Hearts. Dave was wounded his third time the day that John was wounded the first time. John had not seen him since he was transferred and his great friend had been given the driver job for General Williamson. The General told Dave to drive John where he needed to go in his jeep.
One of the unexpected treats was the meal with General Williamson. John describes him as a very Spiritual man and remembers that the man said grace before they all ate.
Over ran at the battle of Dau Tieng
The battle lasted from the night of February 21, 1968 until the afternoon the 22nd. This was during the Vietnamese observance of TET.
The company had been out for several days in the bush and had a break coming, so they were allowed to stand down at the base at Dau Tieng. The 1st Battalion was headquartered there at the time. That night after they had all got settled down for a much needed catch-up of sleep, as they say, all hell broke loose at the wire. Jimmy Antrobius was the one that woke everyone up in the hootch. The whole platoon was in a hootch by the airstrip. The good guy’s base camp was under attack and it was a big one. Most of the men in the bunkers had stripped down to their skivvies in an attempt to air out. The guys scrambled to put on some clothes and gear. John grabbed his M-60 (machine gun), a few belts of ammo and ran outside with Jimmy, Ed Bryson, Karl Sheppard, Ben Frankel and Robert Herrington that only moments before had been enjoying the rest and quiet. The NVA were already inside the wire because sappers had blown three line bunkers in a row which killed or wounded their inhabitants before they could react to the onslaught. That let a big hole open up for the NVA to funnel through. The artillery flares were lighting the area well enough to see that the place was swarming with NVA.
LT Yates was caught on the other side of the air strip so John’s group had no orders and no leader in charge. The small group could see lots of figures moving inside the wire, the NVA was mixed in with friendlies and John was afraid to open up with the 60 for fear of killing good guys. John then suggested they move close to the wire to “plug” up the hole as the NVA were still coming through. Just then they spotted a bunch of NVA down in and along a ditch by the wire. John opened up with the 60 and it immediately had a stoppage. Two rounds tried to chamber at once and all John needed was a bayonet to dislodge it, but like everyone else caught off guard, he had no bayonet or anything to fix it with. So John pulled his .45 pistol and commenced to do battle. That’s right, no clip in it.
About this time two APC’s (Armored Personnel Carriers) rolled up and just as they turned to head toward the breach in the perimeter, they both blew up from satchel charges and were disabled. This was rapidly becoming a situation where everything that could go wrong … was. John’s fellow bunk mates were doing OK with their M 16’s but John was momentary out of the fray. About then, the artillery pieces shot more parachute flares and they were going off overhead lighting up the place like day. Just then one of the engineers came up to the small group with a case of grenades. The men immediately started pitching them into the enemy, but not one of them went off. Soon they started coming back from the bad guys, but this time they were working just fine. Thankfully every one of the returning grenades was falling short. More flares, more noise and chaos everywhere. One of the guys noticed that all the grenades had a safety wire around them. That was the trouble. The enemy had figured it all out quick enough, but this new trick with the grenades took a while for the Wolfhounds to figure out in the dark, the noise of battle and the confusion. With that little mishap corrected, the battle continued. About then is when a sapper got close to a bunker that the men had formed up next to, he threw his satchel charge toward the observation slit in the bunker. The charge missed the hole and detonated after it bounced back off the bunker next to the good guys. This killed the sapper, but wounded a few of the guys including John whose left eye was injured.
He left Vietnam in March and that was the end of the war for John. He spent the next several weeks in hospitals as they tried to save his eye. He eventually lost his eye from the wound.
This battle was when Jimmy Antrobius’s got his third purple Heart and John earned his second. Both of John’s wounds came at the same time as two of Jimmy’s. John spent a week in the hospital in Japan, and then was transferred to an Army hospital in Valley Forge General in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.
Before he left to go to the Army, the workers at his job had presented him with a small Bible to keep with him. He kept it in an old ammo box so the weather and elements couldn’t get to it. Bryson sent all his stuff to him from Nam, but the Bible he treasured so much wasn’t among the items.
