Jerry Vinson was born and raised in Otto. His childhood home is within 50 yards of his current one, separated by his son’s house in between. Vinson has spent nearly his entire life here save for a couple years fighting Viet Cong in southeast Asia.
However, in many ways, it was those 24 or so months that shaped his and his comrades-in-arms’ entire lives, whether those lives outlasted the war or not. Those old enough or schooled adequately in history may remember the end of the Vietnam conflict and how our country as a whole treated returning soldiers – many, who in some ways, left one war in Asia only to encounter another one back home.
Whether it was the attitude of many Americans toward the entire conduct of the war or internal demons and trauma soldiers themselves battled upon returning to the U.S., the struggle was real. And then there were those who were among the 58,000 casualties who returned home in a box, alone and seemingly forgotten.
After many years had passed following the end of the war, Vinson and some of his fellow Vietnam combat veterans began getting together to honor those who have passed. In 2015, they gathered in Rockport, Me., to remember a team member who died in 2005, from complications attributed to exposure to Agent Orange. They assembled again on March 16 of this year in Quincy, Ill., to pay their respects to SPC (E4) Bradley Kent Gaus. The date was 55 years to the day Gaus was killed in action in Vietnam on the Cambodian border at the age of 21.
Once they found out where Gaus was buried, Vinson and fellow veteran Chuck Robinson (who resides in San Antonio, Texas) determined to get as many of their team together as they could and travel to Gaus’s grave, pay their respects, and welcome him home. Vinson revealed that when Gaus originally came home, there was no ceremony; he did not have any family to speak of, so no one honored him then.
Robinson shared how he felt about attending the memorial after so many years had gone by.
“He finally got the recognition he deserved. He didn’t get it in 1970. He had no family, but all his brothers showed up [in March],” said Robinson.
Gaus was a Light Weapons Infantryman with Company Alpha, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He, Vinson, and others in their squad were known by the moniker “Wolfhounds.” Their group commanding officer (C.O.) was none other than George Armstrong Custer III. Custer served in World War II, Korea and in Vietnam. His great-grand uncle was the famous colonel who died at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. The latter Custer passed away in 1991.
Remembering builds camaraderie
When the veterans gather to memorialize someone, their stories and remembrances connect them.
Vinson and Robinson reminisced on their lost comrades, their famous C.O., and shared other memories from back in 1969-70, when they were stationed together as part of the Company Alpha.
“I want to tell you a little bit about Custer,” Vinson began. “He was not the average colonel. He flew his own chopper and he had his own door gunners. He did bombing raids in Korea and in WWII. This man had some age on him. But he came into Vietnam and told us, ‘Get ready – in three days I’m coming to see you.’ He’d give us certain grid coordinates and say ‘have security set for me.’ He’d come in and land that chopper … Sometimes we’d get in a firefight and he’d fly in over top of us to provide cover. He was hard core.”
Regarding the size of their team, both men emphasized the low number of members.
“It varied and depended on what we were doing but most times somewhere between three and eight people,” offered Robinson.
Although their team was small, Vinson and Robinson remembered that around 11 Purple Heart medals were awarded to the seven members on their team. Vinson himself has two and Robinson one. One of their assistant gunners was wounded six times and was awarded three Purple Hearts.
“I think we had one of the toughest jobs in Vietnam; we lived in the jungle,” Vinson recalled.
Robinson continued, “Out of all the people who went to Vietnam, approximately three percent were combat veterans – Jerry and I are part of that three percent. Every night we were in the jungle, the rice paddies, the swamps – and our mission was search and destroy.”
“The weather over there was terrible,” said Vinson. “The monsoons would come in and it would rain for about six months. … the skin would come off our fingers, we’d stay so wet and we’d get jungle rot on our feet. The skin would come off our legs up to about our knees. Then in the dry season sometimes the dust was up to your knees – and that was when the booby traps were bad.”
Robinson spoke of the sense of duty generally held by the team.
“We were out there doing a job that they told us to do, that we really didn’t want to do.”
Vinson added, “We went, we did it – no questions asked.”
“I am proud of what we (Company A) did in Vietnam. Our bond is like no other,” said Robinson.
While so much time has passed since they served together in the Vietnam War, surviving Wolfhound members do what they can to stay in touch and remember how they served their country in southeast Asia so many years ago.