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Project Jenny KLIK - 1st Inf Di v Women in Vietnam RELATED-- To AFVN To Saigon To Vietnam Further Afield Index
From: Harry Ettmueller
Date: March 20, 2017
No, I do not but it was great to get aboard and leave. LT Linda Jenellie (?) wa aboard and from the Atlantic City Area
From: Benjamine DirtyRedd
Date: March 20, 2017
Welcome home, do you remember the tail number of the C-141A you flew on out of Hanoi?
From: Michael Groucher
Date: March 20, 2017
Any duration in captivity is a long time to be in captivity, but this length of time was horrendous! Admire your resilience in returning to the crime scene.
From: Bruce Eaton
Date: March 20, 2017
Welcome home. Very interesting trip report...brought back some memories....and I'm sure you have some new vivid new memories
From: David Summers
Date: March 20, 2017
Glad you made it home again.
From: Bob Morecook
Date: March 20, 2017
Hi Harry, Glad you set them straight. Welcome home too [again]l.
From: Bob Mays
Date: March 20, 2017
Welcome home Harry. Can't imagine what all had to go through your mind as you were planning the trip...let alone going...and BEING there again Hope the result of your trip is some "peace."
From: Harry Ettmueller
Date: March 23, 2017
Thanks for the correction.
JimVan was located on the same compound. We were located on the next street over behind the station. We fought from the billets for 5 days then tried to make a break for macv compound., we were over run next to the burned out u.s.i.s. library where tom young kia and steven stroub was executed right after capture.
The below photo is of Harry in 2017 or so.
From: Craig Prosser
Date: March 20, 2017
Welcome home AGAIN Harry. Enjoyed meeting you at the reunion in Raleigh last Fall.
From: Jim White
Date: March 23, 2017
Thanks for the correction.
Jim
From: Harry Ettmueller
Date: March 21, 2017
I viewed Don Gouin's photos but corrections need to be made. The concrete was a pad for the van, not an antenna. That was the first site we set up at a CORDS building. The others show the van strapped for moving. We ended up on Dong Da Street and took over the U.S. Consulate Residence and transmitted from there. SEABEES added on to the building a studio for THVN. We were sent to Hue to test the waters as the USIS Library was burned a year before. No security. [Had] Difficulty getting the TOE desiignated for the detachment. We were, in my opinion, expendable.
From: Minh Tam Dang
Date: March 20, 2017
It took up a lot of courage to come back and revisit the hell and you had wisdom not to say anything to be "jailed again." Thank you for your service and story. Thank God that you are alive and can be with us. I was a Saigonese and was a "boat people" . But I wish to come back to a FREE SAIGON some day.
From: Jim White
Date: March 21, 2017
Dennis, here is a picture from the AFVN website of one of the buildings. There is a #3 on a sign, as though it is a street number, but no street name. They had, I believe, three buildings. (One was the residence where they made the last stand). I think the actual TV trailer was relocated at some point, within Hue. The battle site was south of the river and Citadel, on the western fringe of that southern area. It was practically outside the city then. (I've never been there.) I would go to an old timer, or government official or Vietnamese broadcaster and have someone lead you there. Might also send your request to the AFVN Yahoo site to reach more of our people and maybe Harry Ettmueller (survivor of Hue) would respond, but unlikely. One more thing: I don't know if the building. pictured is the one attacked.
With David Burford.
From: Jim White
Date: March 21, 2017
Harry, I have put the above on a Photos & Stories page in your name. Would greatly appreciate any more comments, stories and photos. I'm sure the trip was both interesting and upsetting to you.
Individual Photo Albums & Stories
Harry L. Ettmueller, SFC, USA
Engineer, Hue (67-68) and POW [Page 2]
"FaceBook Conversation"
From: Harry Ettmueller
Date: March 20, 2017
Subject: I Returned from Vietnam After a Long Absence
I returned from Vietnam after a long absence..lol.... Started in Saigon, then to Hue, and last stop Hanoi was my last departure. Hanoi Hilton was the last duty assignment so to speak. Visited the Hoa Lo museum found my picture on the wall. Had a huge crowd of folks taking snaps of me pointing to me and the other Det 5 crew getting ready to leave.... Had the honcho of the place show up and wanted to discuss the photo, had to let him know all the pictures showing Americans were nothing more than propaganda. I was released 5 March 1973. The photo caption had us listed as pilots. Had a lengthy discussion with the folks that run the place along with the party official hovering nearby. Made sure not to make any comments that would get me jailed again, as it seems we were arrested in SVN. Other than that, the Hanoi was the only reason to go was to check out the picture of me and the gang...
From: Jim White
Date: March 21, 2017
Harry,
I can't vouch for the correctness of the titles with Don Gouin's photos. I think I got them from the old GEOCITES site. I'll change the title for the "pad" construction. However, the only photo of the van on Gouin's page shows him sitting on the steps and with lots of sandbags forming a "foundation" or "barrier". That photo also shows a much smaller "pad" for the antenna. Whether those of you at Det 5, Hue, were considered "expendable" or not may be debatable but the fact that you were "expended" is solid! A small request. Can you see if your caps lock key will unlock your ALL CAPS or not? As it is, I can't use cut and paste but have to retype your comments. (SMILE, PLEASE).
Jim W
From: Harry Eattmueller
Date: March 21, 2017
That picture of Don was at the later site on Dong Da.
From: Harry Ettmueller
Date: March 21, 2017
Just a little nervous inside that place. Found the picture of DET 5 and saw we were listed as pilots. LOL.... Drew a crowd of folks snapping my picture of me pointing to the picture. The honchos were not pleased when I told them all of the pictures of the "pilots" were nothing more than propaganda. Did not show Americans being tortured like the bass relief on the wals depicting the French treatment of the Vietnamese political prisoners. I had a crowd listening to what I had to stay. Did tone down my rhetoric. Did not want to be arrested. LOL....
From: Harry Ettmueller
Date: March 23, 2017
We were at CORDS for about 2 months then moved to the consulate compound. MACV was on the main drag into hue along Highway 1. The bridge that the NVA dropped during TET was just up the street from MACVv. You misunderstood. We set up at Number 3 Dong Da Street after moving from the CORDS. compound. In Hue we were shuffled about as no one wanted the station in their "o called back yard." LOL Hue had a mortar attack the first night we went on the air . Lt Novak, our CO had the gunny relieved and sent back to Saigon. for cowardice and for his lack of composure and leadership. Jjohn Anderson SFC, USAa was sent [o us] in his place. i knew John from Korea as he was my station commander in Pusan, ROK. i was chief engineer at the YV station in Pusan. Don Gouin was one of my instructors at Ft Monmouth, NJ. So it was us three against a "sea of green all Marine." LOL A couple of marines left right after that first attack as they were scared shit-less of being in Hue. Lt Novak transferred them out to Saigon.
From: Jim White
Date: March 21, 2017
Harry, I never realized that Det 5, Hue, was first set up in Dong Ha. [NB: This is in error, see Harry's comments dated March 23rd, 2017, below.] Was that the CORDS area? Where was it in relation to the main MACV Hue,compound? Also, when was it set up there and then when did it move to the former Consulate Residence?
Jim W
PS: Notice that you still haven't found your Cap Lock key.