New Year's Eve reflections

On New Year's Eve 50 years ago, in 1964, we were closing out a year in which 216 Americans died in Vietnam. That number went to about 1,900 in 1965 and 6,300 in 1966, and then skyrocketed for the following three years.

Today, as we mark the end of another year, I reflect on the sacrifice of the first group of Americans who died in Vietnam on a New Year's Eve.

In researching my book about men who died in Vietnam on a Fourth of July, I determined that 1965 was the first year in which an American died there on Independence Day. The same is true of New Year’s Eve; the first American casualties on a December 31 were in 1965. They are:

  

• Sergeant Donald Raymond Duffy; Ayer, Massachusetts 
• Specialist Fourth Class James Rush Hickman; Philippi, West Virginia
• Specialist Fourth Class Robert Lee Kraus; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 
•  Captain Jack Dale Mc Clure; Modesto, California 
•  Major Robert Michael Sweeney; Chicago, Illinois
• Corporal Emil Jerome Tadevich; Waltham, Massachusetts 
•  Sergeant First Class Louis Bell Twinn; Victoria, Texas 
•  Warrant Officer Alvin Richard Woods; Washington, Indiana

Three Air Force sergeants who were captured by the Vietcong October 31, 1965, are believed to have died in captivity on or about New Year’s Eve 1965:

• Staff Sergeant Samuel Adams; Goldenrod, Florida
• Staff Sergeant Charles G. Dusing; Charleston, South Carolina
• Technical Sergeant Thomas Moore; Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 Their remains were not recovered. All three were promoted to Chief Master Sergeant while missing.

A fourth man captured with them, Staff Sergeant Jasper N. Page of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, escaped on Nov. 2 and made his way back to U.S. forces on Nov. 4. He continued his career and retired from the Air Force in 1971.

Remembering Corporal Paul Laszlo Kapp on His Birthday -- KIA Vietnam July 4, 1968

Today would be the 68^th birthday of Marine Lance Corporal Paul Laszlo Kapp, who died serving our country in Vietnam on the Fourth of July, 1968. He and another Marine, PFC Jerry Norman Ellis, were killed when a 106mm recoilless rifle accidentally exploded. He was 21. Corporal Kapp’s home of record was Cleveland, Ohio. He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Brook Park, Ohio.

Caleb Mills, Quiet Hero

While researching my book "Died on the Fourth of July" I decided to see what I could find about some of the Vietnam veterans I served with in the Army. I hasten to add I'm not a Vietnam vet. I served as a wet-behind-the-ears Second Lieutenant after the war, 1974-76, stationed at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. I was initially the Race Relations/Equal Opportunity Officer and then the Executive Officer of Headquarters Company.

Many of my counterparts at Dugway had served in Vietnam. One whose memory stands out is Caleb R. Mills, who was a Captain at the time. We played softball together on an officers’ team.

One day as we were warming up for a game, the bugle call of Retreat came over the post loudspeaker, as it did every day at 1700 hours. Protocol dictates that you face the main post flagpole and stand quietly at attention, hand over heart. Caleb, who was wearing a ragged t-shirt and sweat pants, didn’t just put his hand over his heart, he rendered a snappy salute.

When the music stopped, one of the other officers said to him, “You don’t have to salute.” Caleb replied with a smile, “I got shot for that flag. I’ll salute it if I want to.”

Even though I lived down the street from Caleb and we worked in the same building, I never knew he had been wounded during the first of his two tours in Vietnam. Only when I was researching this book did I learn that Caleb’s heroism earned him a Silver Star. When he was an infantry platoon leader, a mortar round landed in his command post, wounding him, his platoon sergeant, and his radio-telephone operator. Although he suffered severe neck wounds, Caleb gave medical treatment to others.  After he evacuated the wounded men he continued to command his platoon and help evacuate casualties from adjacent units.

Although Caleb was a bona fide hero, he never bragged about his combat record. When I tracked him down at his home in Nevada, he was just as patriotic and just as self-effacing as ever. He retired from the Army and then had a successful career in business. To me, Caleb Mills exemplifies the bravery, modesty and patriotism I saw in the Vietnam veterans with whom I served.