Everything around him, he said, impressed him as pointless and aridhis fellow-workers, the monotony of clock punching, and even, at times, his beloved carpentry. and went out to check, and she got away from you, right out of the hootch?. As far as he was concerned, Eriksson said, it had all seemed a morass of cleverness, but then, he conceded, he may well have entered the military courtroom in the Central Highlands, where the four trials were held, with unwarranted expectations, for it had been his hope that the trials would help him unravel his reactions to Maos fate. What if he refused to arrange an introduction for me? The girl looked so innocent, so calm, he testified. Among its members were C.I.D. They were her last. He said it was only human to make mistakes., Erikssons attempt to forget Mao proved futile, as he had really known it would. Commanding, Erikssons tour of duty in Vietnam came to an end on November 28, 1967, a year after the patrol paid its visit to Maos hamlet. The corpse itself was placed in an Army casualty baga rubberized olive-drab shroud, originally designed for fallen soldiers. Outside, according to the court record, Clark was watching his comrade through a hole in the mud faade and letting out whoops of delight that mingled with Maos cries. In addition, the hootch served as a place to hide Mao. Uninitiated though he was in the ways of jurisprudence, Eriksson said, he found it odd that defense lawyers could freely engage him in conversation during court recesses, questioning him on subjects that he was later asked about under oath when the court session was resumed. I wanted to get out of the whole company, because I could not see staying in a company that would do anything such as here. The land was very changeable. Then I thought of taking off together with her. But the Sergeant did nothing about the escaping V.C., for he was now powerfully distracted from the enemy; in the distance, still inaudible and looking miniaturized, were four approaching gunships. they said if you were fortunate enough to get in a group where you had an old-timer who had been in Vietnam like six months longer than you had, if you followed what he said, you would live longer. Besides, Manuel testified, If he had not gone into the hootch he would have risked becoming an outcast. In any event, Eriksson went on, he lost little time in seeking out his friend Curly Rowan to tell him the story of Mao. He sounded as though the war would have to come to an end before his work could make much sense.. The film was based on the real-life incident on Hill 192, and on Daniel Lang's book of the same title, but all names and some details of the story were altered. Eriksson continued as an M.P., his duties generally less onerous than they had been in Vietnam, and his existence certainly more relaxed, since, as he observed to me, he was waking up every morning not only in his own country but in the presence of the Rockies. It describes in detail the 1968 events that made up what the U.S. Army called the Incident on Hill 192, in which a forward patrol was found to have kidnapped a Vietnamese girl, raped her repeatedly, then murdered her to avoid being found out. All the others in the patrol had raped or killed her. Explaining his choice of the patrol, Reilly testified, These people, I felt, knew what they were doing, and a second reason was because the company commanding officer asked for good people. On the following afternoon, November 17th, the members of the newly formed patrol met in a corner of the platoons headquarters area, near the village of My Tho, where, relaxed as they stood or sat on the ground, they listened to a briefing from their leader, who was seated on a low stool. This is how it is with Casualties of War, Brian DePalma's tale of an atrocity . A smile spreading on his face, he took the scarf and stuffed it into Maos mouth. Eriksson told me that he felt weary at the mere prospect of reappearing as a witness a year after the Radcliff trials. All that awaited decision, Meserve went on, was the moment and method of the girls murder, but, whatever was settled on, the Sergeants thought was to have Eriksson do the job; if Eriksson refused, Meserve said, he would be reported as K.I.A.killed in action. The only thing you could count on out there was that the unexpected would happen. Usually, Eriksson said, it took time for the unexpected to develop, but nowmore than half a day before the patrol was to leave platoon headquartersit happened with stunning abruptness. We made up something to get him to go away, Eriksson told me. Calmly and easily, he told Eriksson about an experience that he had undergone three years earlier, when he drove his wife, also a Negro, to an Alabama hospital to have their first child. Manuel admitted to C.I.D. Eriksson had considered the jutting and twisted rock a highly unusual one, but now, refamiliarizing himself with his surroundings, he saw, to his surprise, that it had a practically identical twin close by. Eriksson decides to do something about her death and reports it to his superiors. When Eriksson reaffirmed that he was, Kirk picked up his phone and called the Criminal Investigation Division office at Camp Radcliff. As Clark and Rafe left, Eriksson told me, he realized that he was about to exchange one kind of excitement for anotherthe encounter with the three Vietnamese, that is, for the quieter, more complicated ordeal of being alone with Mao. It was an abandoned hootch, eight feet square and eight feet high, with a window on the east side, a door on the west, and two slits facing north and south; there was a stream a few metres away, giving the patrol a ready source of water. leading men on fifty, sixty, seventy patrols, and gave it as his opinion that this incident did not occur as the normal incident. Making his chief point, Meserves lawyer told the court, Theres one thing that stands out about this particular offense. Did Eriksson know that military judges and jurors were notoriously lenient in their sentencing? Clark came back to where we were. For Eriksson, the trials were totally unlike anything he had anticipated. Of those who were asked the question, only Captain Vorst, lifer though he was, stated that if Meserve was guilty of rape and murder, then he did not care to have the Sergeant in his command. [9], Thomas, Cipriano Garcia, and Joseph Garcia were each convicted of unpremeditated murder in March and April 1967. All of us in the patrol had long ago stopped pretending nothing horrible had happened. Though the men had to struggle for footing, Eriksson related, they made a point of keeping an eye on the stream that ran near the hootch; it had its source high up on the mountain, flowing down past a number of rice fields. If he said no, he would appear to be disowning the defendants, his comrades-in-arms; if he said yes, he would in effect be telling the jury that he regarded the war as a public-works project for criminals. Storeby also recalled that Gervase claimed it would be "good for the morale of the squad. Departing from the hamlet with their prize, the soldiers moved west toward the main trail they should have been on. June 17, 2022 . The five-man squad, led by a 20-year-old sergeant, Tony Meserve, had been sent on patrol. I didnt know Eriksson brought it up. Instead, to Erikssons astonishment, Reilly chose that moment to offer a reminiscence. Eriksson now believes he should have foreseen that sooner or later one of these incidents was bound to strike him with special, climactic force. The country we were moving through was mostly all shades of green, but we also passed arid stretches and, here and there, places that had been browned by napalm. Like Clark, he was given to quick movements, but his behavior had nothing to do with embellishing Meserves thinking. No such dismay was expressed. Well, during this Operation Thayer II, which started [last October], we ran into a hootch that was burned down. Im not saying that every fellow who roughed up a civilian liked himself for itnot that hed admit in so many words that he didnt. At four-thirty the following morning, Meserve diligently checked his mens gear at the edge of camp, seeing to it that their chow, star clusters, rounds of ammunition, smoke and hand grenades, and other supplies were in order. Arriving at the platoon area, Eriksson told me, he felt as though he had reached the promised land; the anxiety in which he had lived the past two days yielded to what he described as an almost tangible sense of safety. The two other G.I.s in the combat team were a year younger than Eriksson, who was then twenty-two. He does remember, though, that she had a prominent gold tooth, and that her eyes, which were dark brown, could be particularly expressive. A: Sir, Sergeant Meserve, he joined the unit in approximately February of last year, and he served under me when I was a rifle-platoon leader, and the reason he is a sergeant today is because we put the duties of squad leader upon him. Clark at once greeted it with enthusiasm. They were cousins named DiazRafael, known as Rafe, whose home was near Amarillo, Texas, and Manuel, who came from a town some distance north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Maos sister, Phan Thi Loc, appeared as a prosecution witness, her very presence irrefutable evidence that Mao was not in fact living happily in her hamlet. "Casualties of War" is Brian De Palma's entry into the Vietnam War movies competition. Reilly was aware that if it came to public knowledge it would tarnish the image of the officers commanding the platoon, the company, the battalion, perhaps even the regiment; the officers might be made to appear incapable of controlling the conduct of the men in their commands. A: Well, yes, sir, I think if someone has been found guilty of murder, they should be punished, but, knowing Meserve as an individual, I would accept him back in the unit, yes, sir. In court, Rafe said that he found Mao naked, lying on the table, her hands bound behind her back. I can assure you I wasnt being paranoid in thinking he might be shot in the back for seeing me. The climb took longer than it had the day before, the mens pace slowed by the packs they bore. They were very definite. At ten-thirty, a short distance below the summit of Hill 192, Meserve found what he was looking fora command post for the day. Had he stopped to think of the consequences to himself of accusing four fellow-G.I.sthereby adding to that suffering? Straggling uphill, he said, they gravitated toward their leader, who stood, unflustered, near the jutting rock formation, surveying the combat situation. But I couldnt think any of my brainstorms through. Asked why, he answered, O.K., lets say you are on a patrol. Before long, Eriksson told me, his sleuthing established that Greenacre was well thought of, and one evening, after the carpenters had finished eating, he invited Greenacre to take a walk with him. I simply asked, do you think a murderer should be retained in the United States Army? Meserve was now an ally, he and his second-in-command apparently having arrived at a meeting of minds while the others were filling the patrols canteens. Rafes case, I learned, had taken a fresh turn in recent weeks. Lang later turned the article into a book entitled "Casualties of War". I discovered its not difficult to kill a human beingin combat its as instinctive as ducking bullets. Accordingly, at nine the group struck out for the cliff. Eriksson tries to rescue the girl, but the squad . We were on a plateau in the Highlands, and all around us were small mountain ranges, hazy and green. If he had known this, he thinks, he might have realized then, as he did later, that the Captain was in a bind; that is, he was torn between the dictates of his conscience, which condemned the crime, and concern for his Army career, which, Eriksson later discovered, the battalion commanderwho outranked Vorst, and who was also a liferwas in the habit of admonishing the Captain to bear in mind. They hadnt ever heard Maos voice or seen her carrying Manuels pack.. No doubt, Eriksson said, the close brushes that he and his friend had been through had something to do with this, but in his own case he had been deeply impressed while he was overseas by what he called an upside-down mentality, which he believed explained the general unconcern there about incidents like the one he had taken part in. It had nothing to do with a mans being responsible for his own behavior. I wanted to get out of the platoon, he stated. All four soldiers were sentenced to hard labor at the United States Army Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. When he spoke, however, it was about his friendship with the Marine. He had no idea how long this feeling would continue, but for the present, he knew, he lived with the charge daily, often wondering how Mao might have fared in a time of peace. Reilly later testified in court, Captain Vorst stated to Eriksson, I guess you realize how serious this incident is, and that it could cause an international issue. Eriksson stated thats why he reported the incidentbecause he knew it was serious. Clark appeared to be beside himself with anticipation, Eriksson told me, and Manuel and Rafe appeared less so. Small artillery spotter planes had arrived, heralding the imminent use of ground-artillery support. Thus, defense lawyers raised no objections when the prosecutor asked the defendants and the defense witnesses whether a soldier who was condemned for having committed civilian homicide, such as the killing of Mao, should be kept on as a member of the armed forcesthat is, should be permitted to go on committing military homicide. By the time he concluded his last appearance on the stand, he had been accused of lying, of cowardice, and even of Maos murder. The men found her feverish and coughing, and Clark was all for rescheduling her death hour to that evening. They locked me up in a steel box, in solitary. He still has a tendency to fight off its memory, he said, and he thinks the reason for this is that although the experience he had may have revealed certain strengths in himself, he is far more concerned with the limitations it exposed. Her fever and coughing had increased overnight, he said, and that didnt do her cause any good. The pair had emerged empty-handed from five or six of the huts when Rafe, ever his amiable, accommodating self, pointed to a white hootch ahead and called out, Theres a pretty girl in there! Besides, as the defense could not dispute, the jacket containing the explosive charge of a grenade launcher is made not of lead but of copper, and the search parties experts had found only the lead of numerous bullets from an M-16 rifle littering the immediate vicinity of Maos body. Just seeing an Asian country, for instance, was an adventure, Eriksson says, its landscape so different from the frozen plains of his corner of Minnesota; he had never before splashed through paddy fields, he told me, or stood blinking in the sudden sunlessness of lush, entangled jungle, or wandered uncertainly through imprisoning fields of towering elephant grass. Thinking along these lines, Eriksson said, he arrived at a kind of strategy in regard to Mao. A: The Army expects you to do it the Army way, and thats follow orders. The decision was not easily arrived at, for two days before Clarks trial was to begin, and when Rafe had already been convicted, Clark approached Rafe in the stockade at Long Binh, where both were jailed, and, appealing to Rafes conscience, told him that if he gave unfriendly testimony against his comrades, he would have it on his mind the rest of his life. Troubled by this, Rafe sought, and heeded, the counsel of a Catholic chaplain at Camp Radcliff in resolving the dilemma of choosing between his moral obligation, as Rafe put it to the chaplain, and loyalty to the patrol. Summoned to the stand by Clarks lawyer, the priest said he had advised Rafe that, as opposed to defending Clarks interest, he had a greater obligation to his wife and his child and the young woman who, supposedly, I assume, was killed, and to justice and society. The priest also said he was asking a Franciscan brother in Texas to break the news of Rafes conviction to his wife, to help her absorb the initial shock., By contrast, the general demeanor of the other defendants was that of incredulity at being tried; the impression they gave was that they thought only the sheerest, most improbable sort of accident could explain their being haled before a tribunal. I wanted to be very sure that he himself hadnt taken part in the rape. When he first got back from Hill 192, he said, he had imagined that it might have been his peculiar misfortune to draw a patrol made up of psychopaths, but now each time a new G.I. She had no idea the kind of place she was helping to prepare, Eriksson said. Listening to the fellows, I had the feeling there might be any number of Meserves and Clarks around me, he said. Reillys immediate superior, Captain Otto Vorst, as was later brought out in court, was out in the field at the time on a tactical problem. He was not due back until November 22nd, the day Meserves patrol was scheduled to conclude its mission. Similarly, it was permissible to shoot at any Vietnamese seen running, but, as Eriksson put it, the line between walking and running could be very thin. The day after the one on which his squad was ambushed and half its members were wounded, several enemy prisoners were taken, and, in retaliation, two were summarily killed, to serve as an example. A corporal who was still enraged over the ambush tried to strangle another of the prisoners; he had knotted a poncho, nooselike, around the captives neck and was tightening it when a merciful lieutenant commanded him to desist. Cross-examining, the prosecutor asked, When you say he didnt have a sense of humor, you mean he wasnt a jokester, running around making or seeing the funny side of everything?. We just tell them to dee deemeaning to go away. In the hootch, Eriksson recalled, Mao, now relieved of Manuels pack, watched him and Rafe heave out junk for a while, and then, unasked, the girl lent the G.I.s a hand. . [11] In 1968, Joseph Garcia was acquitted on the appeal of his initial 15-year sentence and his dishonorable discharge was reversed after it was determined that his Fifth Amendment rights were violated, and his confession was ruled as inadmissible.
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incident on hill 192 where are they now