American soldier’s story

Some American soldiers who were held as prisoners during the American War did not think it was a good idea for their country to be in Viet Nam.

One such soldier, Walter Eugene Wilber, ended up as a prisoner of war after his plane was shot down.

While in prison, he thought a lot about things and sent messages to authorities back home to stop the war.

by Thomas Eugene Wilber

On March 19, a special exhibition commemorating an important element of the US movement against the American war in Viet Nam will open in Ho Chi Minh City. It is called “Waging Peace: US Soldiers and Veterans Who Opposed America’s War in Viet Nam”. The exhibit will feature details that have been “missing in action” from public memory about antiwar activities that arose within the military itself.

A special section of the display will recall the voices raised against the war by American POWs held in Ha Noi. The exhibit will have special meaning to me because my father, Walter Eugene Wilber’s voice was one of those.

On June 16, 1968, flying off the aircraft carrier AMERICA on his twenty-first mission over North Viet Nam, Dad parachuted from the spent hulk of his burning F-4J, which had been hit by a missile. He landed on the bank of a rice paddy in Nghe An Province. A week later, he was in Ha Noi, beginning his 56 months of internment, the first 20 months living in solitary confinement at Hoa Lo Prison. He was 38 years old.

My father was born in rural Bradford County in north central Pennsylvania.  The son of sharecroppers, he joined the Navy in 1948 hoping he would be trained to fly. In his early twenties he made two deployments to Korea and continued to fly and deploy over the years. Always eager to do his job, Dad was confident in the Navy’s system of accountability for mission assignments and target choices, the chain of command that rose to the civilian leadership level of the President as Commander-in-Chief. “I was fighting for peace,” he would later remember.

However, in the mid 1960s things began to change for him.

By the time my father deployed to Southeast Asia, he was well aware of the questions and criticisms mounting among American citizens and the calls to end the war. He listened to the critical words of Martin Luther King, Jr, in 1967. In succession, he saw Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara inexplicably depart his post, and he watched his Commander-in-Chief, Lyndon Johnson, “quit”.

Imprisoned in Ha Noi, Dad had time to listen to his conscience. He thought through the things that he knew and examined them word by word: passages from the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, his King James Bible, and the words of the commissioning oath he took to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. He wanted to make sure he was fulfilling the obligations inherent in those words.

The religious, conservative, right-leaning, career military officer that he was, Dad worked through his own thoughts and concluded that the war was wrong: it was not declared through international or national protocols; it was being directed and sustained by a succession of executive orders, not by legal declaration of Congress.

To support and defend the Constitution of the United States as best he could from his room in Ha Noi, he decided to speak out. Through letters, taped broadcasts, and interviews, he called on Congress to stop the war, urged US citizens to voice their opinions, and exhorted all who might hear him to work for peace. On my 15th birthday in 1970, his taped voice, broadcast over Radio Ha Noi, told me that I was “old enough now to work for peace”.

On February 12, 1973, my father left Ha Noi with 115 other newly freed captives. Four days later my family and I greeted him at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital. Over the next few weeks and months, the state of our family would remain strong. However, Dad’s story had challenged the “official story” of the POW experience. While other prisoners who had spoken out against the war accepted an “amnesty” when they recanted before they returned, Dad did not recant; moreover, he announced publicly that the statements he made while in captivity were voluntary.

That is when the real controversy began. A fellow returnee initiated formal charges for collaboration with the enemy against my father and one other returnee. The charges were later dropped, although Dad was prepared for the trial. He remained steadfast; certain that we never should have gone to Viet Nam and that speaking out against the war had been the right thing to do. He remained steadfast in his personal values as well: religious, conservative, and always believing in the higher principles that our country stood for. At 85, Dad died three years ago in Bradford County, Pennsylvania.

Now 50 years from the tumult of 1968 and 45 years from the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, we need to remember the dominating presence that the war in Viet Nam had over people’s lives, and the courage that it took to speak out for peace. The “voices of conscience” that came out of Hoa Lo Prison have a special place in that story. The Waging Peace exhibit in Ho Chi Minh City will help restore those voices to our memory of the war years.

Following the exhibit opening, American and Vietnamese veterans of the war will gather at a meeting to share experiences. I will attend both events. Our next generations need to know the sacrifices that active duty servicemen were willing to make to help end the war, as we seek to wage peace today.

Tom Wilber researches documentation regarding US prisoners held in the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam from 1964 until 1973. His career includes 20 years of naval service. He has made dozens of trips to Viet Nam, locating sites and conducting interviews. Wilber is a visiting lecturer at Ha Noi University in the undergraduate course on American Foreign Policy. He assists Hoa Lo Prison Museum with exhibits on POWs, and he has facilitated the return of  memorabilia from former prisoners to Hoa Lo’s permanent collection for use in future displays.

GLOSSARY

On March 19, a special exhibition commemorating an important element of the US movement against the American war in Viet Nam will open in Ho Chi Minh City.

An exhibition is a display.

Commemorating means honouring.

On June 16, 1968, flying off the aircraft carrier AMERICA on his twenty-first mission over North Viet Nam, Dad parachuted from the spent hulk of his burning F-4J, which had been hit by a missile.

Spent, in this case, means no longer powerful

A hulk is a big body (in this case of an aircraft).

A missile is something that is shot out of a gun to hit and harm a target.

A week later, he was in Ha Noi, beginning his 56 months of internment, the first 20 months living in solitary confinement at Hoa Lo Prison.

An internment is a time of imprisonment.

Solitary confinement means living alone in prison cell and not having anyone to talk to.

My father was born in rural Bradford County in north central Pennsylvania.  

Rural means, in the country.

States in the United States are divided into counties much like provinces in Viet Nam are divided into communes and wards.

Pennsylvania is a state in the United States.

The son of sharecroppers, he joined the Navy in 1948 hoping he would be trained to fly.

A sharecropper is a farmer who does not own the land he farms but pays rent to the owner in the form of a part of the crops he harvests.

In his early twenties he made two deployments to Korea and continued to fly and deploy over the years.

Deployment means taking troops and military equipment to a place in order to be ready for military action.

Always eager to do his job, Dad was confident in the Navy’s system of accountability for mission assignments and target choices, the chain of command that rose to the civilian leadership level of the President as Commander-in-Chief.

Eager means keen.

To be confident in the Navy’s system of accountability means to believe it works and to trust it.

Accountability means being able to give a correct answer to why you do things.

By the time my father deployed to Southeast Asia, he was well aware of the questions and criticisms mounting among American citizens and the calls to end the war.

Criticisms are things people say about you when they think you are doing something wrong.

If criticisms are mounting, it means that people are saying what you are doing wrong more and more often.

In succession, he saw Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara inexplicably depart his post, and he watched his Commander-in-Chief, Lyndon Johnson, “quit”.

In succession means one after the other.

The Secretary of Defense in the United States is a top government called the Minister of Defense in  many other countries.

Inexplicably means “in such a way that cannot be explained”.

Imprisoned in Ha Noi, Dad had time to listen to his conscience.

Your conscience is what tells your mind what is right and wrong, and therefore it guides how you behave.

He thought through the things that he knew and examined them word by word: passages from the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, his King James Bible, and the words of the commissioning oath he took to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

A country’s Constitution is its set of values that guides how it should be run and which changes to the law should be acceptable and which should not.

An oath is a promise. A commissioning oath is a promise a soldier will make when he, or she, is given powers of authority.

He wanted to make sure he was fulfilling the obligations inherent in those words.

Obligations are things you are expected to do.

Inherent in those words means “deeply rooted in those words”.

The religious, conservative, right-leaning, career military officer that he was, Dad worked through his own thoughts and concluded that the war was wrong: it was not declared through international or national protocols; it was being directed and sustained by a succession of executive orders, not by legal declaration of Congress.

Protocols are official procedures.

Through letters, taped broadcasts, and interviews, he called on Congress to stop the war, urged US citizens to voice their opinions, and exhorted all who might hear him to work for peace.

Exhorted means urged.

On February 12, 1973, my father left Ha Noi with 115 other newly freed captives.

 Captives are prisoners.

However, Dad’s story had challenged the “official story” of the POW experience.

POW stands for Prisoner of War.

While other prisoners who had spoken out against the war accepted an “amnesty” when they recanted before they returned, Dad did not recant; moreover, he announced publicly that the statements he made while in captivity were voluntary.

To recant means to say you no longer have a certain belief.

To do something voluntarily means to do it without expecting to be paid.

That is when the real controversy began.

A controversy is an issue people feel strongly about, both in support of it and against it.

A fellow returnee initiated formal charges for collaboration with the enemy against my father and one other returnee.

A returnee is someone who returns to somewhere after having been away a long time.

Initiated means started.

Collaboration means holding talks with an idea to doing something wrong.

He remained steadfast; certain that we never should have gone to Viet Nam and that speaking out against the war had been the right thing to do.

Steadfast means dedicated.

Now 50 years from the tumult of 1968 and 45 years from the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, we need to remember the dominating presence that the war in Viet Nam had over people’s lives, and the courage that it took to speak out for peace.

Tumult means chaos.

WORKSHEET

Find words that mean the following  in the Word Search:

1. The county in Pennsylvania where Walter Eugene Wilber came from.
2. The month in 1973 when Walter Eugene Wilber left Ha Noi.
3. A city in France where peace accords were signed forty-five years ago.
4. The force within the United States military that Walter Eugene Wilber was part of.
5. The letters that stand for Prisoner of War.

ANSWERS:

1. Bradford; 2. February; 3. Paris; 4. Navy; 5. POW