To additional describe the “bigger than life” soldier, Robert L. Howard, the writer wish to quote a recent of his, Main John L. Plaster, U.S Army Special Forces, “Take all of John Wayne’s movies – throw in Clint Eastwood’s, too- and these fictions couldn’t measure as much as the true Bob Howard. Formally he was awarded eight Purple Hearts, however he truly was wounded 14 occasions. Six of the injuries, he determined, weren’t extreme sufficient to be worthy of the award. Understand that for every time he was wounded, there in all probability had been ten occasions that he was practically wounded, and also you get some concept of his fight service. He was proper up there with America’s best heroes – Davy Crockett, Alvin York, Audie Murphy – the inspiring instance we different Inexperienced Berets tried to reside as much as.”
In late 1968, Robert Howard was again in Vietnam working with a Hatchet Pressure that had been inserted into Laos. Because the group made its manner by the dense vegetation, they came across an open area. The Lieutenant who was marching level within the column radioed that his Montagnard guides refused to cross the sphere. Their inexperienced Captain ordered the lads to cross the sphere anyway. Howard went ahead and joined the Lieutenant and instructed him that he suspected an ambush. The Lieutenant stated that he couldn’t see something out of the unusual. Howard instructed the Lieutenant to look at the tree line throughout the sphere as he raised his M-16 and squeezed off a spherical. An enemy soldier dropped within the tree line throughout the sphere and there was a direct volley of return fireplace that wounded the Lieutenant.
Howard rushed over to use tourniquets and was wounded within the again and legs by an RPG rocket. After he had stabilized the Lieutenant, Howard picked up a Mild Anti-tank Weapon [LAW] and taking a number of Montagnard [the American forces called them “Yards”] with him, proceeded to try to outflank the enemy. By now, they had been taking fireplace from an enemy PT-76 amphibious tank.
Howard circled round and managed to get behind the enemy tank and fireplace a rocket into the turret. It took two rounds earlier than the tank was silenced. More and more, the Hatchet Pressure was taking fireplace from the enemy and Howard’s concern grew as his Captain appeared unclear in his instructions. Whereas they struggled to ascertain a defensive perimeter, a Medevac helicopter approached to evacuate among the wounded. It rapidly got here underneath fireplace and commenced shedding altitude till it crashed, not too removed from the tree line the place the enemy had opened fireplace. Ignoring his personal wounds, Howard sprinted throughout the sphere to assist the crew of the burning Huey.
When he reached the helicopter, he may see that one of many door gunners was useless and the opposite one unable to maneuver. Whereas the pilot helped his co-pilot get freed from the wreck, Howard put one of many door gunners on his again and instructed the pilot to observe him again to his unit. The stays of the Hatchet Pressure poured suppressing fireplace into the tree line as the lads struggled again to their very own traces. After falling a number of occasions from exhaustion, they managed cross the sphere and rejoin Howard’s unit. By now, one other Medevac helicopter had landed and Howard was urged to get onboard with the opposite wounded troopers. He refused as a result of he wished to remain and end the job.
Howard went out on patrol the subsequent day despite the fact that he was nonetheless affected by exhaustion and the injuries from yesterday. He shocked three NVA, killing two and taking one prisoner again to camp for interrogation. They realized from the prisoner that they had been surrounded by a battalion and {that a} regiment was just some miles away. By this time, one other Medevac helicopter had arrived and Howard’s Captain selected to depart regardless of solely having a flesh wound. That left Howard and the remaining NCOs in cost. They managed to outlive one other evening earlier than being extracted the subsequent day. Once more, Howard was really useful for the Medal of Honor. This time he acquired the Silver Star.
There have been many occasions when Howard exhibited a fearless, quick-thinking thoughts. On one event, he was standing in a mess-line in Vietnam when a Vietnamese terrorist drove by on a motorcycle and hurled a grenade. Howard rapidly grabbed an M-16 from a startled safety guard and shot the motive force useless. He then chased down the passenger and killed him too.
On one other event, a SOG platoon [Special Operations Group] and recon group led by Joe Walker had been overrun close to a serious Laotian freeway and most of his males killed or wounded. Howard took one other recon group and was inserted a ways away from the trapped males. After darkish, Howard managed to make his method to the trapped males. He crawled among the many useless our bodies, feeling for a heartbeat till he discovered one. Joe Walker’s lanky legs had been a giveaway as had been his horn-rimmed glasses. Walker remembered saying, “You candy Son of a Gun!” Howard managed to tug Walker out safely. Howard was not nominated for any award this time.
One other of Howard’s exploits appears proper out of the Outdated West. He and his recon group had been inserted close to the Ho Chi Minh Path for an evening operation. Howard may scent the exhaust from the Soviet-built diesel vehicles because the NVA convoy approached within the darkness. Sprinting alongside one of many vehicles, Howard took out a Claymore mine. Twirling the detonation wire overhead like a lasso, he let the mine fly into the again of a truck. Falling down within the bushes beside the street, Howard let a pair extra vehicles go by earlier than detonating the mine. The ensuing explosion created a blazing hulk in the midst of the street, stopping visitors. The wreckage burned for hours earlier than it might be pushed off the street. Within the meantime, Howard and his group had quietly melted again into the jungle and made their escape.
Howard was conscious that recon models had been often underneath surveillance after they had been inserted or extracted. Recon models usually left behind booby-trapped objects after they left, reminiscent of 35mm cameras that blew up when opened. The concept was to make the enemy much less wanting to strip American our bodies. An harmless wanting canteen with a sloshing liquid was set to actuate the second time it was opened. Howard determined to make a booby-trap of his personal.
He discovered an previous foot-locker, painted it purple, stuffed it stuffed with TNT with a time-delay change and left it in an LZ [landing zone] that his group had simply left. Howard and his males circled again to a degree the place they may observe the LZ. Howard recalled, “Certain sufficient, individuals had been coming from in all places….I truly assume a few of them had been within the strategy of opening it when it went off. It blew stuff for 1 / 4 of a mile.”
Most of Sgt. Robert Howard’s exploits occurred earlier than 1970, when he was a part of the secretive U.S. program to interdict NVA personnel and provide infiltrating into South Vietnam by way of the Ho Chi Minh Path. President Richard M. Nixon acknowledged U.S. involvement in Laos for the primary time in March 1970. He estimated that since 1964, greater than a half-million NVA troops had used the path to invade South Vietnam. As quickly because the U.S. involvement was made public, Congress handed the Cooper-Church modification to the 1970 protection appropriations act. It prohibited using U.S. floor troops in Laos.
It’s the writer’s opinion that such an modification hand-cuffed the U.S. army. It allowed the enemy to maneuver troopers and provides into South Vietnam, unimpeded, the place they may conduct assaults and rapidly return to the security of Laos or Cambodia. The ebook, “Dereliction of Responsibility” by H.R. McMaster, is an indictment of that sort of civilian interference that handicapped the U.S. army effort in Vietnam.
In subsequent week’s conclusion, Sergeant First Class Robert L. Howard will lastly obtain the Medal of Honor for which he had been nominated for the third time [To be continued].
John Vick
Sources: Wikipedia; Interview transcript, reminiscence.loc.gov; “SOG – The Secret Wars of America’s Commandos in Vietnam” by John L. Plaster, Main, U.S Army, Particular Operations Group; dmagazine.com; arsof-history.org]
