We lost another good man today

I just learned that my former brother-in-law died today. He was a helicopter pilot in the 361st and served in Vietnam. His helicopter was shot down by enemy fire and the round that went through the instrument panel hit him in the chest. He survived, and continued to serve in the army.

He made it to the rank of lieutenant and was on duty at the Pentagon on 9/11/2001. He survived that, too.

He was a good man, he treated me better than my own brother and I will miss him.

You served your nation well, Forrest, you will be missed by those who knew you.

Update: specifically he served in the 1st Aviation Brigade, 52nd Combat Assault Battalion, 361st Aerial Weapons Company. They called themselves The Pink Panthers, thereby predicting what Chip Ahoy was talking about, sort of. 

The Best and the Brightest Part Duex

“Among those dazzled by the Administration team was Vice-President Lyndon Johnson. After attending his first Cabinet meeting he went back to his mentor Sam Rayburn and told him with great enthusiasm how extraordinary they were, each brighter than the next, and that the smartest of them all was that fellow with the Stacomb on his hair from the Ford Motor Company, McNamara. “Well, Lyndon,” Mister Sam answered, “you may be right and they may be every bit as intelligent as you say, but I’d feel a whole lot better about them if just one of them had run for sheriff once.” It is my favorite story in the book, for it underlines the weakness of the Kennedy team, the difference between intelligence and wisdom, between the abstract quickness and verbal fluency which the team exuded, and the true wisdom, which is the product of hard-won, often bitter experience. Wisdom for a few of them came after Vietnam.” David Halberstam.

Those were the guys who got us into Vietnam. Those are the guys that got us in war after endless war. In Asia. In the Middle East. They told us that Russia was a monolithic great power. That we needed to depose the Shah of Iran. That we should invade the Bay of Pigs to overthrow Castro. That we should use th Mob to kill Castro. That Saddam Hussien was a threat to us when all he was was a threat to the House of Saud and their oil billions. That we needed to support the Muslim Brotherhood in the "Arab Spring." That we needed to depose Qaddafi. That Iran will not develop nuclear weapons if we bribe them with millions in cash. On and on and on. They have been wrong just about every time.

KLEM FM

linky

My folks had that 45 rpm when I was a kid. I think my brother has it now. I haven't listened to it in maybe 40 years.  I vaguely recall it had something appropriate for Memorial Day and sure enough, Wiki delivered:

The lyrics were written in honor of Green Beret US Army Specialist 5 James Gabriel, Jr., the first native Hawaiian to die in Vietnam, who was killed by Viet Cong gunfire while on a training mission on April 8, 1962. One verse mentioned Gabriel by name, but it wasn't included in the recorded version. link

CNN Jake Tapper and Instapundit Glenn Reynolds duke it out over John Fogerty and the Vietnam war

For background covering what the fracas was about click this Link...

Bruce Springsteen took some hits on social media during Tuesday’s Concert for Valor in Washington,  D.C., for singing John Fogerty’s Creedence Clearwater Revival hit “Fortunate Son.” Some viewers argued that the song was an inappropriate choice for the event honoring the nation’s military veterans.

 

Link to the Twitter feed when it all happened.