More on an American Hero

Here’s a little more about Donald Koelper, who was mentioned in the piece by Sally Bush Lynch (“Perspectives,” April). Captain Koelper, a U.S. Marine Corps adviser to the South Vietnamese military, was killed while saving lives at the Kinh Do Movie Theatre on April 16, 1964, when a National Liberation Front terrorist threw a bomb into the auditorium. The attack on the Kinh Do was part of a concerted campaign by the NLF directed against U.S. targets within Saigon, with the intention of killing or maiming as many American civilians and servicemen as possible.

A special screening of a movie called The List of Adrian Messenger had been arranged for U.S. servicemen and their guests. Koelper saw one terrorist shoot and fatally wound the military policeman who was guarding the door as another terrorist ran into the theater. Koelper and U.S. Navy Lieutenant William Greeves ran across the street and into the theater in an attempt to tackle the second terrorist. When it was clear it was too late, they shouted a warning to those in the theater, giving them vital moments to get down on the floor. When the device detonated, Koelper was hit by debris and buried under a collapsed balcony. He was rushed to a hospital, but died on the operating table.

Because of his swift actions, only three Americans were killed: Koelper, Pfc Peter Feierabend (the MP shot twice by the attackers) and Spc. 5 William Reid, who was in the theater. Fifty-one other Americans were injured, and at least one Vietnamese passerby was killed along with an unknown number of Vietnamese injured. Koelper was posthumously promoted to major and awarded the Navy Cross—the first approved for the Vietnam War.

James McNeill
Scotland, Great Britain

One-Year Tour of Duty

This is in reply to a letter to the editor from Robert J. Wilensky, M.D., Ph.D. (Letters, June). Dr. Wilensky was making a point of the requirement of a “one-year tour” of duty in Vietnam. I fully agree with Dr. Wilensky’s assessment that the one-year tour was not a good program and for the reasons he points out in his letter. The only question I have about Dr. Wilensky’s letter is where he says officers only spent six months in-country because General William Westmoreland wanted as many officers as possible to get combat experience.

What officers were these? I served a full “one-year tour” twice in Vietnam, as did all the other officers in my unit. My second tour was as a helicopter pilot in an air cavalry unit with C-Troop 2-17th Cavalry of the 101st Airborne Division. The majority of the men in this unit were officers, both commissioned and warrant, and they all served a minimum one-year tour of duty, including the field grade officers. Maybe General Westmoreland made the six-month tour a requirement of the immediate officers working in his head­quarters.

I can definitely tell you that if the “six month” rule applied only to officers, I would have extended my tour to equal the one-year tour the enlisted and non­com­missioned officers (NCOs) had to serve. And I know that all the other officers I served with would have done the same thing. I spent 39 years associated with the United States Army: 19 years as an Army brat, five years as an enlisted/NCO and the remaining active duty time of 15 years as a commissioned officer. Add to that 27 years in Retired Army status, for an overall total of 66 years, I am pretty well in tune to the heartbeat of the military. Officers lead by example and by taking care of the men and women assigned to them. I cannot think of a more destructive morale issue than to have officers serve only six months and all non-officers serve 12 months. In fact, officers served a minimum of one year, as did all the other military men and women in Vietnam.

Lee Brooks
President, Condors Association
Bethlehem, Pa.

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