Read A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam Online
Authors: Neil Sheehan
Tags: #General, #Vietnam War; 1961-1975, #History, #United States, #Vietnam War, #Military, #Biography & Autobiography, #Southeast Asia, #Asia, #United States - Officers, #Vietnam War; 1961-1975 - United States, #Vann; John Paul, #Biography, #Soldiers, #Soldiers - United States
A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam (140 page)
The Vietnamese Communists did not kill John Vann. The ARVN soldiers at the bridge heard no shooting prior to the crash, nor was there any other indication Vann’s Ranger had been crippled by bullets before it hit the trees. The force of the impact and the way the whirling rotor blades sheared off tree branches indicated that the helicopter had flown into the grove under power at cruising speed. The technical analysis of the engine and other components recovered from the wreckage confirmed this.
The explanation of the crash did not lie in gunfire. Vann had drained the last of the courage out of his regular pilot, Bob Richards, with the rescue of the advisors at Tan Canh. He had been forced to let Richards stay in Nhatrang in May to try to recover his nerve. Richards had then taken leave in Bangkok and gone AWOL. As a replacement, Vann had recruited a twenty-six-year-old aviator, Lt. Ronald Doughtie. He was a capable and a daring pilot, but he did not have Richards’s experience and judgment. While the weather was fine that night in the valley of the Bla River where Kontum is located, it was bad in the Pleiku region south of the Chu Pao Pass, with rain squalls and a lot of haze to hinder visibility. The verdict of the official investigation was that Doughtie may have suddenly found himself in a patch of blinding weather and instead of instantly switching to his instruments for guidance, attempted to continue to fly visually. When a pilot does this he is overcome by vertigo. He may think he is flying level, when actually he is turning and descending steeply in what airmen call “the graveyard spiral.” The fact
that Doughtie flew into the trees at a 45-degree angle was taken as substantial evidence that this had occurred. Colonel Anderson had guessed at vertigo when he stood amid the wreckage and looked up at the slash marks down through the trees while the Night Hawk ship illuminated them with the searchlight. Doughtie was also killed instantly by the shock of the impact, as was a captain from the Pleiku headquarters who was riding along in the backseat. The captain was interested in becoming a pilot, and Doughtie was going to give him an informal lesson on the way back from Kontum.
Anderson and some of the other aviators wondered why Vann and Doughtie were following the road up to Kontum. It was the hazardous way. One had to fly fairly low to keep the road in sight, and one ran the additional risk of being shot at going through the Chu Pao Pass. A regiment of NVA had occupied bunkers and caves on its ridges in May to prevent overland resupply and reinforcement of Kontum, and despite B-52 strikes, some of them were still there, including the crew of a 12.7mm antiaircraft machine gun who fired at anything flying low. There was a safe route that circled around to the west of Chu Pao. It avoided bullets, and in case of bad weather one could get landing instructions from a U.S. Air Force Ground Control Approach team that had been stationed with its radar equipment at Kontum Airfield to guide C-130S carrying supplies in at night, when there was less danger of shelling. Another senior Army aviator flew to Kontum along this westerly route the same night, leaving Pleiku shortly after Vann did, and he encountered no trouble.
If one understood John Vann, one was not puzzled. The road was the quickest way, and Vann would have preferred it for fun. In his mood of jubilation he would have enjoyed taunting his enemies in the pass as his helicopter raced by them in the dark. Doughtie had either ignored the risks too or had not understood them because of his inexperience, and so he had not resisted Vann as Richards might have done.
Four months after Vann died, on October 9, 1972, I found the grove of trees. I had gone to the Highlands to interview Rhotenberry and Ba and others who had fought his last battle with him, and I felt that I could not leave without seeing the place where his helicopter had crashed. I had read the official reports. I knew by then that official reports were never enough to explain John Vann. There was always more to his story.
The CORDS advisors at Pleiku let me hitch a ride out to the fire base
nearest the crash site on the Huey assigned to them. An advisor to the task force of ARVN Rangers there, Capt. Dennis Franson, offered to help me look. We ran across a second lieutenant at a company position down the road who was a Montagnard. He said he knew where a crash like the one I was seeking had occurred. He took a soldier as a bodyguard and led us down a trail toward the hamlet of Ro Uay.
The day was hot and sunny, with a sky of white clouds. One could see for miles in every direction. The grove was just 550 yards off the road on the northwest side of the hamlet and was the only clump of high trees in the whole vicinity. The Montagnards practice the crude system of slash-and-burn agriculture. They kill the trees by cutting around the trunk, burn the undergrowth, and plant crops until the soil is exhausted in three or four years. Then they move on to another section of forest while the original planting renews itself. All of the other trees in the vicinity were lower, second-growth ones coming up in abandoned plantings. It seemed strange that Vann’s helicopter had somehow found this one patch of tall trees in the darkness and rain.
The wreckage was scattered around the grove for fifty to sixty yards. The speed at which the machine had hit the trees and the explosion of the fuel cells had shattered the little helicopter. The sole recognizable fragment was the twisted tail boom. The grove was beautiful. The trees were majestic in their natural state. The canopy of their branches gave deep shade. The sun came down in rays of gentled light. I wondered why the tribal people had left this grove of trees untouched.
I saw a small, low square of hewn logs planted upright in the ground nearby and asked the Montagnard lieutenant what it was. “Dead men here,” he said. “Dead men here,” he repeated, sweeping his hand about.
Then I saw the figures placed around another, larger square of hewn logs farther into the trees. I had not noticed them before, because I had been concentrating on the wreckage. They were carved of wood in the primitive fashion of the Montagnards, an ancient people who migrated into Indochina earlier than the Vietnamese. The figures were squatting, resting their chins on their hands and staring into space. I had seen figures like them at another tribal hamlet not far from this one nearly ten years before, and I knew now why the trees had not been touched. The grove was the hamlet graveyard. The tribal people had left the trees in their natural state to guard the graves and to provide shade for their burial rites.
Now I also knew what had happened on that night. John Vann had come skylarking up the road, mocking death again, unaware that these figures of death were waiting for him in this grove.
***
Vann’s friend, George Jacobson, stayed until the end. He left on a helicopter from the roof of the embassy not long before dawn on April 30, 1975, to take refuge aboard a Seventh Fleet ship off Vung Tau as the NVA tanks were preparing to move into Saigon. John Vann was not meant to flee to a ship at sea, and he did not miss his exit. He died believing he had won his war.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe research and writing of this book have been like a long voyage of discovery. I would not have completed it without the love and support of my family, the help and encouragement of friends, and the generosity and assistance of those I encountered along the way.
For fellowships to partially defray research costs and living expenses on my sixteen-year odyssey I thank Gordon Ray and The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation; William Polk, Peter Diamandopoulos, and The Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs; Nicholas Rizopoulos, David Calleo, Lewis Lehrman, and The Lehrman Institute; Leslie Dunbar and the Field Foundation; John Bresnan, Reuben Frodin, and The Ford Foundation; Joel Colton and The Rockefeller Foundation; and James Billington, Peter Braestrup, Michael Lacey, and The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Russell Baker, John Fairbank, Leslie Gelb, Brendan Gill, James B. Reston, A. M. Rosenthal, Harrison Salisbury, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Roger Stevens, Seymour Topping, Cyrus Vance, and Tom Wicker wrote fellowship recommendations for me.
The Library of Congress gave me space in which to write and access to its unsurpassed research facilities from 1980 onward. I thank Daniel Boorstin, the former Librarian of Congress; John Broderick; Ellen Hahn; Winston Tabb; Christopher Wright; William Sartain; Joseph Brooks; and in particular Suzanne Thorin and Bruce Martin for being so accommodating.
A. M. Rosenthal, Seymour Topping, Max Frankel, James Greenfield, Craig Whitney, Hedrick Smith, and Bill Kovach extended to me the facilities of the
New York Times
. Vo Tuan Chan and Le Kim Dinh of the Saigon bureau helped with logistics and translation during my research trips to South Vietnam in 1972 and 1973. Sunday Fellows, the librarian of the Washington bureau, always responded to my requests for material from the clip files. Linda Lake of the news research section in New York also located clips for me.Ambassador Tran Kim Phuong granted me a visa to South Vietnam for my 1972 research trip despite the recommendation of a high-ranking State Department official that he refuse. Hoang Due Nha, then commissioner-general for information of the Saigon government, gave Ambassador Phuong permission
to do so. Ambassador Bui Diem, the former envoy in Washington, urged them to grant me the visa.For their hospitality during that 1972 trip I thank Craig Whitney, Frenchy Zois McDaniel and Morris McDaniel, John Swango, Maj. Gen. Michael Healy and Col. Jack Matteson, and former Sgt. Major Charles Eatley; Joseph Treaster and Barbara Gluck and Frank Wisner were especially hospitable during my subsequent trip in 1973.
I am also grateful for the hospitality extended to me during research trips in the United States—to Mary Jane Vann and John Allen Vann, Vince and Ann Davis, Carl and Edith Bernard, and Edward Story.
Robert Osgood granted me the use of an office at Washington’s School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University for the academic year of 1974–75
James Chace served as chairman of four seminars I gave at The Lehrman Institute in the winter and spring of 1976. The rapporteur was John Lax, a young historian of imagination and brilliance whose life and promise were snuffed out by a drunken driver.
Brig. Gen. E. H. Simmons made me welcome at the Marine Corps Historical Center in the Washington Navy Yard. Jack Shulimson and Keith Fleming guided me in locating the documents I needed. Joyce Bonnett found most of those I requested in her archives.
Vincent Demma, George MacGarrigle, Richard Hunt, William Hammond, and Joel Meyerson of the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington were companions along the road, patiently replying to every inquiry.
Col. James Agnew, Col. Donald Shaw, and Dr. Richard Sommers of the U.S. Army Military History Institute at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, facilitated the declassification of the classified portion of John Vann’s papers they held. The Army’s Office of the Adjutant General and the Department of Defense responded swiftly and with little quibbling to my other Freedom of Information Act requests. Harry Eisenstadt of the Defense Mapping Agency helped me to purchase the military maps I needed.
The Office of Air Force History in Washington graciously provided publications and general reference assistance.
Harry Middleton, David Humphrey, Charles Corkran, and Sharon Fawcett of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library in Austin, Texas, were forthcoming with documents from their archives.
Ann Elam of the Fairfax County Police Department located the records of Garland Hopkins’s suicide.
Tess Johnston typed large sections of a semifinal draft of the manuscript. Prosser Gifford, deputy director of The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and William Dunn, the assistant director for administration, arranged for the typing of other sections by Eloise Doane and Pat Sheridan.
Col. Paul Raisig, Jr., an old comrade from 1962 in the Mekong Delta, consented to read the manuscript for technical military accuracy. If any mistakes remain, however, they are mine.
My friend and agent, Robert Lescher, gave me more than his professional help. He kept faith with me down the years.
Other friends, Mitchell and Sheila Rogovin and Gay Tálese, gave me special help when I most needed it.
William Shawn, the former editor of
The New Yorker
, warmly encouraged me and came to my assistance at a critical moment. I am grateful as well to his successor, Robert Gottlieb, for his decision to run four excerpts from the book in the magazine; to John Bennet for editing the excerpts; and to Peter Canby and Hal Espen for checking the excerpts for accuracy.I am thankful for the friendship of Robert Loomis, my editor at Random House, and for his sensitivity and guidance in shaping the manuscript. I thank Victoria Klose and Edward Johnson for copy editing this book and Barbé Hammer for her assistance. I am fortunate to be published by a house headed by Robert Bernstein, and I thank Jason Epstein, Anthony Schulte (formerly with Random House), Gerald Hollingsworth, and Joni Evans for their support.
My daughters, Maria and Catherine, collated my hundreds of interviews and typed a catalogue of them on three-by-five-inch index cards. They extracted news clippings from microfilm and performed numerous research chores uncomplainingly.
My wife, Susan, edited every draft of the manuscript, typed parts of the semifinal draft, listened to all my discussions of John Vann and the war in Vietnam, talked me through my crises, and gave me the love and the grit to press on.
INTERVIEWSInterviews were indispensable to the writing of this book. So much that is important in the life of a man and in the history of a war is recorded only in perishable memory. Three hundred and eighty-five persons were interviewed between 1972 and 1988. I made two three-month trips to South Vietnam, the first in 1972 and the second in 1973, in order to interview as many persons as possible before the fragile world of the South came apart. The rank given for military personnel is that held at the time of the initial interview. When there is no indication for retirement (Ret.), the individual was still on active service. Some of the interviews were brief exchanges, verbal or in correspondence. Most were substantial and some lasted for days. Public men under pressure kindly kept finding an hour to spare from their schedules. The late Ellsworth Bunker, for example, let me interview him on eleven occasions from 1974 to 1976 while he was negotiating the Panama Canal Treaty. People also bore with me down the years as I returned for additional information. I interviewed Gen. Fred Weyand in 1974 when he was chief of staff of the Army and in 1985 and 1986 when he was retired in Hawaii. Nearly 170 of the interviews were tape recorded. I accumulated almost 640 cassettes. These proved invaluable because years later, when writing a particular episode, I could listen to the pertinent sections of the tapes and rescue details and insights that had eluded my note taking in the 186 stenographer’s pads I also accumulated. The names of many of the interviewees listed below do not appear in the narrative because the book is a distillation of a much larger body of research. Nevertheless, I am as grateful to them as I am to those mentioned in the text. The book is a house built with the contributions of all. If there are flaws in the architecture, they are mine alone.
Samuel Adams
Col. Dwight Adams, USA
George Allen
Mary Allen
T. D. Allman
Joseph Alsop
Pham Xuan An
Tran Van An
Lt. Col. Jack Anderson, USA
“Annie” and her father, mother, and sister
Lt. Col. Bob Armentrout, USAF
Peter Arnett
Candidate Gen. Ly Tong Ba, ARVN
Gene Bable
William Bader
Thomas Barnes
Richard Barnet
Col. Nguyen Be, ARVN
Keyes Beech
Charles Benoit
Col. George Benson, USA (Ret.)
Lt. Col. John Bergen, USA
Amb. Samuel Berger
2d Lt. Gary Bergtholdt, USA
Col. Carl Bernard, USA
Edith Bernard
Lt. Gen. Sidney Berry, USA
Lt. Col. Le Nguyen Binh, ARVN
Master Sgt. Edward Black, USA
Brig. Gen. Frank Blazey, USA
Joy Blazey
Robert Borosage
Lt. Col. Louis Borum, USA
Sgt. Major Arnold Bowers, USA (Ret.)
Capt. John Bozin, USA
Col. Francis Bradley, USA (Ret.)
Maj. Noel Brady, USA
Philip Brady
Peter Braestrup
Henry Brandon
Peter Brownback
Malcolm Browne
Jack Buhl
Everet Bumgardner
Amb. Ellsworth Bunker
David Butler
Fox Butterfield
J. Fred Buzhardt
Dorothy Lee Vann Cadorette
1st Lt. Huynh Van Cai, ARVN
Brig. Gen. Huynh Van Cao, ARVN (Ret.)
Maj. Richard Carey, USA
Lt. Col. Verner Carlson, USA
Col. G. Baker Carrington, USA (Ret.)
Jerry Carta
Sgt. First Class Bobby Carter, USA
Capt. Richard Cassidy, USA
James Chace
Bryan Chastain
Nguyen Van Chau
Tran Ngoc Chau
Brig. Gen. Ernie Cheatham, USMC
George Christian
Candidate Gen. Nguyen Van Chuc, ARVN
Maj. Gen. Frank Clay, USA (Ret.)
1st Lt. James Cloninger, USA
William Colby
Tom Coles, Jr.
Donald Colin
Lt. Col. Lucien Conein
Rev. Robert Consolvo
Robert Craig
Edward Crutchfield
Lt. Col. Cleve Cunningham, USA (Ret.)
Patrick Dailey
Brig. Gen. Bui Dinh Dam
Greyson Daughtrey
Peter Davis
Prof. Vincent Davis
Alan Dawson
Amb. John Dean
Dale de Haan
Vincent Demma
Lt. Gen. William DePuy, USA
Brig. Gen. Tran Ba Di, ARVN
Amb. Bui Diem
Col. Huynh Ngoc Diep, ARVN
George Dillard
Lillian Dillard
Tran Van Dinh
Brig. Gen. Pham Van Dong, ARVN
Tom Donohue
Col. James Drummond, USA (Ret.)
Ronnie Dugger
Maj. Gen. John M. Dunn, USA (Ret.)
Capt. Walter Dunn, USA
Maj. Gen. Ngo Dzu, ARVN
Sgt. Major Charles Eatley, USA (Ret.)
Brig. Gen. Howard Eggleston, USA (Ret.)
1st Lt. Thomas Eisenhower, USA
Daniel Ellsberg
Patricia Marx Ellsberg
Gloria Emerson
George Esper
Eugenia Wilson Evans
John Evans, Jr.
Horst Faas
Lt. Col. David Farnham, USA
Col. Elmer Faust, USA (Ret.)
Myrtle Felton
Capt. Bernard Ferguson, USA
Bea Firman
Frances FitzGerald
Lt. Gen. George Forsythe, USA (Ret.)
Tom Fox
Matt Franjóla
Capt. Dennis Franson, USA
Polly Fritchey
Rev. Harold Fuss
Maj. Frank Gall, Jr., USA
Lt. Col. Norbert Gannon, USA
Lt. Col. George Gaspard, USA
Col. Silas Gassett, USA (Ret.)
Leslie Gelb Philip Geyelin
Maj. Nguyen Van Giong, ARVN
Gen. Wallace Greene, Jr., USMC (Ret.)
Lawrence Grinter
Joseph Gulvas
Amb. Philip Habib
Maj. Gary Hacker, USA
David Halberstam
Michael Halberstam, M.D.
Morton Halperin
William Hammond
Nguyen Hieu Hanh
Col. Nguyen Tri Hanh, ARVN
Richard Harrington
Roy Haverkamp
Brig. Gen. Michael Healy, USA
William Heasley
Col. Thomas Henry, USA
Brig. Gen. James Herbert, USA
Seymour Hersh
Capt. John Heslin, USA
Gerald Hickey
Maj. Gen. John Hill, Jr., USA
Richard Holbrooke
Lt. Col. Leslie Holcomb, Jr., USA (Ret.)
Lt. Gen. Harris Hollis, USA (Ret.)
Margaret Hopkins
Capt. Donald Hudson, USA
Maj. Do Huy Hue, ARVN
Dick Hughes
Nguyen Manh Hung
Richard Hunt
Mark Huss
Maj. Charles Ingram, USA
Vice Adm. Andrew Jackson, USN (Ret.)
Col. George Jacobson, USA (Ret.)
Robert Joffe
Lt. Col. Harry Johnson, USA (Ret.)
Ralph Johnson
Tess Johnston
Col. Thomas Jones, USA (Ret.)
Howard Jordan
Robert Josephson
Lt. Col. Peter Kama, USA
Col. Phillip Kaplan, USA
Stanley Karnow
Samuel Katz, M.D.
Col. Francis Kelly, USA (Ret.)
Col. Irvin Kent, USA (Ret.)
Maj. Gen. Le Nguyen Khang, ARVNAF Marines
Maj. Gen. Tran Thien Khiem, ARVN
Dang Due Khoi
Eva Kim
Col. Pham Chi Kim, ARVN
William King
Brig. Gen. Douglas Kinnard, USA (Ret.)
Col. Alfred Kitts, USA (Ret.)
Amb. Akitane Kiuchi
Col. Wendell Knowles, USA (Ret.)
Prof. Gabriel Kolko
Amb. Robert Komer
Lt. Col. Albert Kotzebue, USA (Ret.)
Maj. Gen. William Kraft, Jr., USA
Col. Charles Krulak, USMC
Lt. Gen. Victor Krulak, USMC (Ret.)
Col. Jonathan F. Ladd, USA (Ret.)
Prof. Walter LaFeber
W. Anthony Lake
Maj. John Lang, USA
Maj. Gen. Edward Lansdale, USAF (Ret.)
John Lax
Lorraine Layne
“Lee” and her sister
Jacques Leslie
John Levinson, M.D.
Thomas Lewis
Capt. John Litsinger, USA
Col. Samuel Loboda, USA (Ret.)
Emily Lodge
Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Col. Hoang Ngoc Lung, ARVN
Col. Paul Lunsford, USA
John McAlister, Jr.
George McArthur
Daniel McCreadie
Frenchy Zois McDaniel
Morris McDaniel
Capt. Robert McDonald, USA
Lt. Col. George MacGarrigle, USA (Ret.)
Col. David Maclsaac, USAF (Ret.)
Amb. Allan McLean
Harry McPherson, Jr.
Joachim Maitre
John Malott
Col. Richard Manion, USA
Charles Mann
Robin Mannock
John Marks
Richard Marks, M.D.
Nora Bowling Martin
Col. Jack Matteson, USA
CWO Russell Maxson, USA
Lt. Col. Robert Mays, USA (Ret.)
Robert Mellen
Robert Mendenhall
Gen. Edward Meyer, USA
Harvey Meyerson
Joel Meyerson
Harry Middleton
Lloyd Miller
William Miller
John Modderno
Charles Mohr
Brig. Gen. Robert Montague, USA (Ret.)
Robert Moore
Kenneth Moorfield
Richard Moose
Ron Moreau
Doris Allen Moreland
Maj. Gen. John Murray, USA
Mark Murray
Edmundo Navarro
Amb. John Negroponte
Hoang Due Nha
Col. Ma Sanh Nhon, ARVN
Robert Odom
Minoru Omori
Maj. Gen. Frank Osmanski, USA (Ret.)
Lt. Col. Billy Owen, USMC (Ret.)
Gen. Bruce Palmer, Jr., USA
Lt. Gen. Theodore Parker, USA (Ret.)
Lt. Col. Warren Parker, USA (Ret.)
Richard Parkinson
Maj. Gen. George S. Patton III, USA
Mary Payer
Robert Payette
Maj. Donnie Pearce, USA
Robert Pell
Capt. Tim Petropulos, USA
Rufus Phillips
Douglas Pike
Col. Joseph Pizzi, USA
Thomas Polgar
Col. Daniel Boone Porter, Jr., USA (Ret.)
Thomas Pownall
Col. Herbert Prevost, USAF (Ret.)
Lamar Prosser
Jean Puckett
Col. Ralph Puckett, Jr., USA (Ret.)
Kenneth Quinn
Joseph Raby, Jr.
Melvin Raby
Col. Paul Raisig, Jr., USA
Kathleen (Doughtie) Ralston
Douglas Ramsey
Marcus Raskin
J. Donald Rauth
Benjamin Read
James B. Reston
Col. R. M. Rhotenberry, USA
Sgt. First Class (formerly CWO) Robert Richards, USA
John Roberts
Mitchell Rogovin
Lt. Col. James Rose, USA
Gen. William Rosson, USA (Ret.)
Walt Rostow
Hon. Dean Rusk
Anthony Russo
Harrison Salisbury
Willie Saulters
Lt. Col. James Scanlon, USA (Ret.)
Sydney Schanberg
Jonathan Schell
Frank Scotton
Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, USAF
Capt. Christopher Scudder, USA
Lt. Gen. Jonathan Seaman, USA (Ret.)
Brigadier Francis Serong, Australian Army (Ret.)
Theodore Shackley
Robert Shaplen
James Sheldon
Jack Shulimson
Alvin Shuster
Samuel Shuster, M.D.
Merrill Shutt, M.D.
Maj. Gen. Winant Sidle, USA
Richard Silverstein, Esq.
Col. Ivan Slavich, USA (Ret.)
Col. Edward P. Smith, USA
Lt. Col. J. Lapsley Smith, USA
Frank Snepp
Ed Sprague
CWO Clifford Spry, USA (Ret.)
Col. Alfred Earl Spry, USA (Ret.)
John Paul Spry, Jr.
Vaughn Stapleton
Ralph Stavins
Richard Steadman
Laurence Stern
Steve Stibbins
Lt. Gen. Richard Stilwell, USA
Walter Stoneman
Edward Story
Patricia Vann Stromberg
Lt. Col. John Swango, USA (Ret.)
Norman Sweet
2d Lt. Gary Swingle, USA
Lt. Col. William Taylor, Jr., USA
Col. Doan Van Te, ARVN
Thomas Thayer, Jr.
Sir Robert Thompson
Kieu Mong Thu
Lt. Col. Trinh Tieu, ARVN
Maj. Gen. Charles Timmes, USA (Ret.)
Jerry Tinker
Maj. Gen. Nguyen Van Toan, ARVN
Peter Tomsen
Seymour Topping
Mollie Tosolini
Robert Traister
Archie Treadwell
William Arthur Tripp
Col. John Truby, USA
Amb. William Trueheart
Col. Jack Van Loan, USAF (Ret.)
Aaron Frank Vann, Jr.
Chief Master Sgt. Eugene Vann, USAF
Jo Vann
Jesse Vann
John Allen Vann
Mary Jane Vann
Peter Vann
Thomas Vann
1st Lt. Charles Vasquez
Lt. Gen. Cao Van Vien, ARVN
Paul Warnke
William Watts
Lt. Gen. Richard Weede, USMC (Ret.)
Yao Wei
Cora Weiss
Gen. William Westmoreland, USA (Ret.)
Gen. Fred Weyand, USA
Amb. Charles Whitehouse
Craig Whitney
William Wild
Lt. Gen. Samuel Wilson, USA
Col. Wilbur Wilson, USA (Ret.)
Maj. Jon Wise, USA
Amb. Frank G. Wisner II
Alex Wong
Prof. Alexander Woodside
Lacy Wright
Rev. William Wright, Jr.
Lt. Gen. Robert York, USA (Ret.)
Florence Yonan
Earl Young
Lt. Col. Richard Ziegler, USA (Ret.)
Barry Zorthian