Page 32 - Senior Link Magazine Winter 2018- Online Magazine
P. 32

Thomas Brown
                                                               Going and Going


                                                               By Gwen Morgan




               homas L. Brown was born                                                     Brown’s unit fought
               in 1942 in Plainview, Texas.   From March                                   against the Viet Cong
         THe and his wife of 54 years,        1967 to July                                 units that attacked
         Rosemary Hyde Brown, have four       1968, Brown                                  outposts and dropped
         children (Amy, Andy, Angela, and     completed                                    mortars in or on villages.
         Aaron), three of whom followed in    infantry training                            These units were civilian
         their father’s footsteps, serving in   at Ft. Polk                                by day and Viet Cong
         the Army.                            and was sent                                 at night.  In one year,
                                              to Vietnam,                                  over 30 outposts had
         On September 15, 1966, after just    assigned                                     been overrun by Viet
         two years of marriage, Tom was       to the 90th                                  Cong, but his unit
         drafted into the U.S. Army. Sent     Replacement                                  managed to strengthen
         to Ft. Bliss in El Paso, Texas for   Depot-MACV                                   these outposts and
         three months of Basic Training,      (Military                                    cut down Viet Cong
         he became a Squad Leader at the      Assistance                                   activity. The men
         young age of 24. By November, he     Command                                      often ate fish, chicken,
         was assigned to Light Weapons        Vietnam) in Vinh Long province.     duck, rat, dog and rice with the
         Infantry Training at Ft. Polk,       He was the radio man in Minh        South Vietnamese soldiers. These
         Louisiana. Shortly afterward, he     Duc for the American Advisory       experiences taught Tom about
         was assigned two weeks of Squad      Unit, a five- man team of American   the Vietnamese people and their
         Leader training before starting      Advisors with three battalions of   customs and culture, and because
         Infantry Advanced Training.          South Vietnamese. Tom explains      he came to have many Vietnamese
         When he arrived back in Lubbock      that they had one Major, one CPT,   friends, he learned to speak their
         for Christmas leave, people were     one Sgt. 1st Class, one Staff Sgt.-  language. The TET Offensive of
         surprised to see that he was 25      Medic and Tom, the PFC radio        1968 took place while Tom was
         pounds heavier than when he left     man. He carried a 35 lb. radio      in Vietnam, but fortunately, he
         in September!                        and all its bulky equipment. As     survived without even being
                                                    the Advisory Unit, they       wounded. One of the highlights of
                                                    accompanied Vietnamese        his service in the Army was when
                                                    troops on operations          he met Commander-in-Charge,
                                                    and were responsible          General Westmoreland.
                                                    for keeping bridges and
                                                    roads open and secure
                                                    in a heavily-populated,
                                                    triangular area surrounded
                                                    by large rivers and canals,
                                                    rice paddies, and farmland.
                                                    Tom laughs that he was
                                                    the “gofer” for everyone
                                                    in the unit because officers
                                                    and upper NCOs weren’t
                                                    supposed to work; he
                                                    cooked, hauled water, filled
                                                    sandbags, carried the radio,
                                                    drove the jeep, and made all
                                                    the needed repairs!







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