FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
Scuttlebutt Radio Network 09/25/24
[THEME MUSIC] Welcome to the Scuttlebutt Radio Program. With your hosts, Tom Clexton and Cal Walters, Radio for Veterans, By Veterans. To get on the line, call 3430106 now. I show four veterans by veterans. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] to the Scuttlebutt Network Radio Program, the Varsity Veteran's Father Veterans. - Transfitting live on 106.5 FM and firing the shots right around the world, at scuttlebuttnetwork.com. Your own board with Tom Clarkson, co-host Hollywood, is on assignment in Florida. Hope he doesn't get blown away down there. But we're both veterans of the United States Marine Corps, and we're glad that you've joined us to discuss the issues facing our veterans today. We've got a great show coming up for you tonight, but first we wanted to thank some of the, our sponsors that helped make this show possible. We'd like to thank the Battleship USS Alabama Momol Park, the law firm of Guardberg and Kimberly, the new head seafood shed at the top of the hill in Spanish Fort, the official sponsor of my tirade, and serenity funeral home and gardens. And thank you to all of our sponsors and all of our great listeners. We cannot do this without your support. So please let them know that you heard it on the Scuttlebutt. SBN is all about giving our veterans a choice, the issues that are important to them. So join the discussion on Facebook or follow Cal on X. That's that Cal underscore SBN. And you could always check out scuttlebuttnetwork.com for more info on the topics of the day. And it is a extreme pleasure of mine tonight to have on board here with us. And we will eliminate our tirade tonight, because we'll probably do one anyway, but it won't be called a tirade. But I have two gentlemen on the air with me here now, and both of them are veterans of the United States Army, and not Marine Corps. But we have my buddy here, Colonel Pat Downing, he's an native of Mobile, retired US Army in August, it's 96, that's a Colonel, 36 year career at Hell. You know, some people aren't even that old, but it's a pleasure to have him on. And he's brought to our attention, a gentleman, that's brother, Major Mark Smith, that retired in 1985. But there's an outstanding feature of Major Smith, and that is that he was the President of War during the Vietnam War. And it's just unbelievable that we have the distinct pleasure and experience of being able to talk to one of our great heroes and warriors that had to be confronted with something of that nature, and give us a little insight about what has gone on during that period of time in his life, and maybe what he's been involved in since then. Gentlemen, I'm glad to have you on board. - Great, great to be with you again, Tom. Tom, if I could, if I could, I'd just go talk a couple of minutes about when I first met Mark and where we were together at Fort Benning, Georgia. - Sure. - As young captains in the 1970s, we were both instructors at the Army Ranger School, and it actually had two committees there for Benning, and what they call the city team and the country team, and we were on the country team out at Camp Darby, which was a field site. The Ranger School was actually in three phases. It was the Benning phase, and then it was the mountain phase up in Bologna, Georgia, and then it was the swamp or jungle phase down at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. So we had the Ranger students when they first started their first patrolling. We did some reconnaissance patrol, combat patrol, raids, ambushes, and they were with us about 12 or 14 days, and then they would go to the mountain phase. So that's where Mark and I met. We were both instructors there. I was there for about 16 or 17 months, and then I left and went to the infantry officer advance course. Mark went back to Vietnam, and he can tell you what tour that was. I kind of lost track of his tour. Went back and was an advisor to the Vietnamese Army, and was involved in one of the largest, last largest battles of the Vietnam War, and that's when he was captured, and I'll let him take over now and tell you about that battle or about whatever he wants to talk about. - Well, Major Smith, I'll give us a little bit insight there about some of your tour duties there in Vietnam. - Yeah, I went to Vietnam as an enlisted man, a buck sergeant from Special Forces, TDY, in December of 1965, and was wounded in June of '66, and was sent to the hospital in Japan. And I came back to overweight Special Forces guys down at Thompson Nuke. Had a verdict on the first infantry division, and they sent me. And it was the greatest favor anyone ever did me. Because the committee general of that division was William DePue, who pretty much set the standard for tactics in the US Army for many years. And he decided he was keeping me, he wasn't sending me back to Special Forces, said I'd never regret it. - Oh. - And by, in '66, at age 20, I became the youngest staff sergeant, according to the Stars and Stripes. - Congratulations, I can imagine. - And the, our division newspaper. And then, in February 1968, General Westmore went and commissioned me a second lieutenant with a battlefield commission. - Also, must die. - For contrary to popular belief, Westmore and can only give battlefield commissions to second lieutenant, so other people applied for direct commissions and they received them. And then I had to come back and go to the infantry officer basic course, and I have asked to go back to Vietnam. And as an advisor to the Vietnamese Rangers, and we called the provincial reconnaissance unit elements. And then I extended and commanded a rifle company in the 101st Airborne Division in 1970. And then we came and joined with Pat in the Ranger Department for about nine months. And I felt strange training all these young guys to go to Vietnam. - Right. - And I always felt that I did it better than most. And so I volunteered to go back. And I did, and I was the advisor to the ninth infantry regiment. And all the special forces had, except for some recon elements had been withdrawn from Vietnam. And I was at Loch Ninne, which is on Route 13 right next to the border. Just before the spring offensive, there was a big controversy. Everyone believed that the NVA would bring their tank. We knew they had some tanks and that they would come to a Tain Inn province. When I said, you know, they'll never go through train. Tain Inn province is too open. They know we'll kill everyone of them. But most didn't buy that. And they came straight to my camp. And I had 900 people. We were hit with the fifth seventh and ninth divisions initially, and then the fifth division of the NVA concentrated on our camp. I had 900 effectives in the entire district. And in my compound there. And we fought for nearly three days. And finally, we were overrun. I just ran out of soldiers. Old General Trampantrop and the North Vietnamese Army had 30,000 troops and I had 900. - Damn. - But also, there's nothing unique happened there. And that's the Vietnamese command in general. And the American Lieutenant General or Major General Jim Hollingsworth. - All right. Major, hold on just a second. Hold on just a second. Let me go to a hard break and we'll come back and we'll have about eight or 10 minutes so we can finish where you're at. But we will return with Major Smith here and Carnotat Dining on our show here. And we don't just go about network. We'll be right back. (upbeat music) ♪ And there's always a voice to make us awake ♪ (singing in foreign language) (dramatic music) ♪ This is my rifle ♪ ♪ There are many like it but this one is mine ♪ ♪ My rifle is my best friend ♪ ♪ It is my life ♪ ♪ I must master it as I must master my life ♪ ♪ Without being my rifle is useless ♪ ♪ Without my rifle I am used ♪ - It's Scuttlebutt Radio with your hosts, Tom Clexton and Cal Walters to get on the line call 3430106 now. (dramatic music) - And welcome back to the Scuttlebutt Network Radio program. Again, we're talking with Carnotat Dining here from the mobile area. But we also are talking to Major Smith here, the gentleman from, it was the President of War in Vietnam. And it's such an exciting time for me to be able to talk to these. I'm calling them my heroes and they are 'cause they are a real American heroes and hero is not a full letter word, okay? So go ahead, sir. - Tom, this is a bad day on air. I think it's appropriate that we have Mark on tonight because last Friday the 20th of September. - Right. - Was the POW MIA Remembrance Day. And of course we had our ceremony out at Battleship Memorial Park. And it just coincidentally, Mark is here for a physical that the X, President of the War received every other year at the Naval Hospital at the Naval Base in Pensacola. And that's how we were able to get him here. And so I think it's great that we have him here and if we can turn it back over to him, let us know. - Yes, sir. Appreciate you bringing that forth, sir. It was an awesome ceremony we had over there. We had a lot of Navy Chief Petty Officers over there that were actually on the battleship that night. So it was an exciting day for us to make that presentation at the battleship. But Major, you go ahead with your story there but also kind of include us. - Okay. - And when you received your distinguished service cross citation. - Yes, that was for the Battle of Luckman. But I had been in Vietnam for at least a part of every year from December 65 until 72 when I was captured. And I didn't even, I mean, I knew that, but I, you know, you forget things. - Right. - And they put me in the Ohio Military Hall of Fame for valor, one of my troops, one of my friends who serves as a lieutenant in my company in the 101st Airborne Division but retired as a lieutenant general, Bob Wagner. He got in the records and dug everything up and it was, it was quite the ceremony. I wasn't there. He accepted on my behalf because it was during this Chinese flag. And I had just gotten back to Thailand and I hadn't had any time with my wife. And I wasn't about to leave her, you know, so quickly to go participate in that. But he accepted on my behalf. - That's awesome. - But I learned, I made me remember things that had happened down through the years. But when I was captured, first of all, I thought I'd never be captured. I mean, that only happened to who wass. - (laughs) - And, you know, some pilot, you know, punched out over Hanoi or whatever. But my whole perspective changed immediately. But I was fortunate in that I was captured in the headquarters of Lieutenant General or then Major General, Trandman Chaa, who was the George Patton of North Vietnam. - Goodness. - And also a fairly independent political thinker. And one of his political officer ran down the hill. First of all, I was shot in my lip shin with an AK. It had knocked me off my feet. And it's a good thing because the RPG round that was aimed at my chest, blew up on a tree right behind me and knocked me out. That was the sixth bullet that had hit me during that three day battle. And I had a broken back, I didn't even know about, broken in two places and, or in two places. My lumbar spine had 17 pieces of retained shrapnel. I had a bullet in my lung. And also I'd been shot in the groin and in the bow. That's why the other Vietnamese and my one sergeant ran away because I was squatting down right after our firefight, just outside lockdown. Because I'd been hit through the bow. And I was emptying my bow. And my sergeant said, well, you know, one of us got to get out and tell what you did here. And I said, how about we both get out. - Damn right. - They feel much better than you, George. - Right, yeah, that's right. - He was actually never seen again. And, but anyway, we kept an aircraft saw myself, my body guard corporal, hand brave, hand boating, and the regimental doctor. And he started to put a, he put a wheelie peat down, a white foster's around right down next to us. And I knew he was going to call on an air strike. So we ran up a hill and directly into the headquarters of General Cha. - Oh my God. - And that's when I got shot in the shin. And the RPG just missed me, but it knocked me out. Now, political after ran down and cracked me across the bridge of the nose. But this older man ran down into his arms around me. And he said, he had an interpreter with him. And I acted like I didn't understand what he said was saying in Vietnamese, but he said, you will not die. And he took me up and he gave me breakfast. And I said, I don't think I should eat because I'm a shot through this. You know, I've got stomach and mouth wound. And so the old general said, well, you can eat it, maybe die, but if you donate, you are going to die. So I went ahead and had some bread and some sweetie coffee. And he said, I will check on you. And he did three times, including in October, trying to convince me that he should release me in October of 1972, which is pretty good for a guy that was a senior guy in the camp. Oh, what happened during the battle is that they fired all the senior officers and replaced me in command. And that included the Vietnamese. And it's the first time that an American, that anyone knows of, was by the Vietnamese commander, general man, given command of a large Vietnamese unit in combat. - Unbelievable. - And so I commanded that for three days and I lost it, I'll tell you. But I just ran out of horses in that particular fight. But the other prisoners were kept in cages. I was kept in a hole in the ground. I didn't go to the toilet, a bowel movement for 45 days, a month and a half. And every day they came, the political officer trying to convince me to trade a propaganda statement for a bowel movement. And I knew that would not play well with the pat downings of the world back at Fort Benning, Georgia. And Mark Smith would trade his honor for a crap. And so I didn't go along with that. And finally the doctor came and he's told the commander that he wasn't allowed to help me that day, I would die. And he did. And he threw use of a little hammer with a long silver nail designed for that purpose. And warm water, he was able to break through the blockage, but also all this terrible infection and everything came out. - Oh my Lord. - And three days later, suddenly they were afraid because they also, the Vietnamese had put me in for an award for my entire time in Vietnam. And it was all in Vietnamese and they captured that. It locked in and it arrived at the camp. And so they had that. And like most awards, they overstated everything. I mean, I was, you know, the greatest soldier in the world in this award, and so then they threw me after a short fight into a hole in the ground. The other state and cages, we all had a chain around our ankle. And I stayed in that underground facility for seven months. - And Mark is the one who died from some kind of infection though. - Well, not just infection, but this place had bats. - Oh my God. - And I had to try to die between the bats coming out in the morning or coming in in the morning and going out in the evening. And, but that's when I started smoking because it gave me three cigarettes a day. And I could stay out of my, that hole in the ground for a couple of minutes longer after a meal. Yeah, I smoked and so I did. - I don't blame you for that. Let's take another hard break here and come back and we'll get some more of your story. But then you have another interesting area that we want to talk about tonight. And that's maybe some stolen valor that we are seeing here in one of our political associates. - Right. - But we'll take this little break and we'll come back on the schedule but when we get some word from our fan sponsors here. Yes, sir. ♪ Fighting soldiers from the sky ♪ ♪ Fearless men who jump and die ♪ ♪ Men who mean just what they say ♪ ♪ The braven end of the rainbow rain ♪ - I am Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior drill instructor. From now on, you will speak only one spoken to. And the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be served. Do you make it to understand that? - Sewer, yes, sir. (beep) - Can't hear you. Sound off like you got a pair. - No, yes, sir. - It's Scuttlebutt Radio. With your hosts, Tom Clexton and Cal Walters, Radio for Veterans by Veterans. To get on the line, call 3430106 now. - Well, welcome back and thank you for joining us today on the Scuttlebutt. Welcome back and thank you for joining us today on the Scuttlebutt Network Radio program. We've got one of our lands dropped off but find the shots hood around the world on scuttlebuttnetwork.com. I'm Tom Clexton, go to Holywood, his own assignment down in Florida. Hope he doesn't get blown away. And we're glad that you've joined us to discuss the issues facing our Veterans today. And we certainly want to thank the fine folks that helped make us feel possible. The Battleship USS Alabama, one more part. Our sea lawyer, Colin Kimberly, and all the folks at the love firm of Gardeberg and Kimberly. The new head, sea food shed from top of the hill in Spanish fort and serenity, funeral home in gardens. And let's move back in. It's an honor to go back to Brother Mark, our major, you're still there? Major Smith? I think we've lost him now, but our engineer is gone. All right, our engineer's gone back to getting him back over the line. He probably went to take a dang smoke break or something and cut the line off, you know how it is. But I'm just still blown away with the fact that he was, had all those injuries and everything, went when he was captured and put in prison. Sounds like a cluster, don't it, guys? Yeah, did Mark Smith come back? Yes, sir, he's back on now. Thanks. So what'd you go, smoke break? Major? No, you just cut off. Oh, well. I was trying to call the bank. Damn, Ricky Dink phones. You know how they are, you know. We in must blow the limb on it. Go ahead, sir. You know, let's go ahead with your story. Well, being a former NCO, and Pat also was a former NCO, and I think I've heard even some graduates of our military academy get on and say, well, you know, there's nothing really wrong. That's what Kim Walsh did. Well, to us who are former NCOs, it was very, very wrong. 'Cause we watched our brother NCOs work their tails off to become a Command Sergeant Major. And this guy has run for a political office as a retired Command Sergeant Major, and he never was one. Right. And I can tell you why. He was promoted illegally on May 1, and then he decided to retire on May 16th. One with me because he also found out that they would be deploying during the next year. Right. And he was running for Congress. Whether anyone knows that or not, there were plenty of Congressmen who went to war in the past. I mean, each strong sermon retired as a major general. Right. He'd been on a D day. And so, I mean, everything about this guy's story is not true. And then I got a copy of his challenge coin that he came up with when he was elected to Congress. It has Command Sergeant Major stripes on it. And it says Command Sergeant Major retired. He is not. He would have had me. He was only, even if someone said, "Your commands are a major." He only had 15 days from the first until the 16th. By law, he had to, if he was promoted, he had to serve three years in three years. Right. You had to re-up for three years, right? No, he didn't have to re-up. They would just extended them. They was automatic. Well, I'd extend him for three years, okay. Yeah. But he put in for retirement. And? Well, he wasn't legally entitled. Keep that then. Yeah. No, he wasn't. But he wasn't legally entitled to be promoted anyway because he had to finish, by correspondence initially, but also a period of residence at the Sergeant Major's Academy. Right. He didn't finish it. He couldn't have a 16 days. He couldn't have a 15 days. Well, well, NCO's talking. And I don't care how many graduates of the Military Academy or other retired generals or whoever get up and talk for him. This isn't a command sergeant major thing. And his entire chain of command of commands sergeant majors has come out publicly against this guy. Stolen valor, of course, because he used it in order to enhance his reputation to be elected to the United States Congress and then governor of a state. And if that's not using something you did not do, do not have from the military will. And I don't think that there's a case for anyone just because they applied for more benefits of the VA or something. No, this guy applied to be a congressman used this command sergeant major retired thing to become a governor of a state. And in my opinion, one of the worst governors ever. But it makes no difference. I wouldn't care if it politics were the right of a chair of the hunt. If I found out that he was a big command sergeant major, I'd trash him. Right. But he is. Go ahead. I was going to say he was giving out all those challenge coins to everybody in Congress claiming that he was the highest ranking enlisted man to ever serve in Congress. My God. Yeah. No. But can I talk to Tom for a couple of minutes about real valor? Yes, I go ahead. Please talk about it. Yes. I want to talk, I want to talk about you, Mark, because you're one of my heroes. You know, in addition to receiving the Distinguished Service across the second highest award next to the Medal of Honor. Tom, Mark has also received a silver star, multiple bronze stars for valor. The Army Commodation Medal for valor, Three Air Medals. And I can't count the number of Purple Hearts here if he is. Numerous Purple Hearts. He also has, though. This is not a valorous award, but it's one that those of us that have been former enlisted men are really proud of. He also has a good conduct medal. Officers don't get the conduct medals because officers are supposed to be good all the time. (laughing) He also has one of the highest awards that the Vietnamese Governor of Vietnam can award. The Cross of Gallery has got double two palms with a gold star. Marci. And so, like I say, he is my hero and he does serve his country well. He served his country and then became a prisoner endured the most terrible conditions as a prisoner. And still to this day, you can tell that he's morale is still high. - Hey, man, you know, the thing that's kind of blown me away about him is the fact that he was a prisoner while being all shot up. And what six, eight, nine rounds in him are through him. And yet he still made it through, still. And I don't care what John McCain says, I don't think everybody, I don't think everybody that was a prisoner in war, talked. Do you-- - Not one person from my prison camp talks. - Right. - Not one tape was made, not one anti-war statement was made from my camp. - One of the people from my camp said, nobody wanted Zippo to strangle them at the back point. My nickname was Zippo. - Hey, you know what, we're gonna have, we still have about a minute. - Good man. - Yes. We still have about a minute before we have to take another break, but then we come back, we'll have about another 10 to 12 minutes. I'd like for you to get into a little bit about the Zippo take. I've read some of the information that I have on you in your history that you work all the Zippo. So, and there's certainly a reason for that. And I'd like an explanation, but to close out the stolen valor deal, well, here's my opinion. When they were riding in that city and sitting on fire, they told him to call out the National Guard. He says, no, I'm not gonna do it. He said, I'm not gonna call out all those 18 year old babies and all of those butchers. 'Cause he said they don't know what they're doing. So that tells me that if he was the command sergeant major in charge of that unit, he knew that he had improperly trained them or did not train them, period. So that kind of told me what kind of guy he is. - Yeah, that's the kind of guy that picks grapes in Italy and claims he was in a war. - Oh my God. You mean, I bet he was scared of a real gun. (laughing) - We're gonna take this break and we'll be right back with my two heroes. Thank you guys for making them plays today. (dramatic music) - And welcome back to the Scuttlebutt radio program. We'll send a veteran for the veterans, transmitting a lie on 106.5 FM. Find a shot set around the world at scuttlebuttdeadwork.com. You're on board with Tom Claxton and Kyle Walters, a couple of old Marines, but just a little bit to say, the first amendment right to say it and with him fighting spirit to keep it. And I'd like to go back to Major Mark Smith here and let him give us a little bit of insight about what in the heck was the Zippo deal? - Well, actually there was an original Zippo, his name was Captain Claturary, it was called Zippo 6. And he had a policy. I came in for special forces and I came in the company after he left, but and that was if you shot at him or his unit out of a house, then he set it on fire, you moved all your stuff out and he sent you to a refugee camp. Well, I was his replacement. - Oh. - And the General flew over because a cavalry unit, tanks and APCs had gone through this one area on Route 13 and been ambushed and a lot of them blown up. And then the message sergeant from the third brigade went into Ben Dong so and they called it Candy Village because they sent kids with a grenade and blew the kids up and the message. And that was enough for the first evasion commander. And so I would go up there and they wouldn't shoot at me. You know? And they wanted to find out why them shoot at him. And it was just about the way you operate. And finally after they had done all these other things, they took one shot at me and then I cleaned everything that was left along Highway 13. And then a village called Ben Dong so after that. But contrary to popular belief, we didn't kill these people. We moved them off to a interment area where they could live without fear of the communists, the vehicle. - Right, right. - But it gave me so much insight into how to deal with a Viet Cong infrastructure and which was in every village in town in Vietnam. But the nickname stuck and I carried it with me all the way through the rest of my military career and certainly in Vietnam. - So originally then some of the houches were burned, right? When they were shot from? - Oh yeah. You know, if you shot them, you'd listen. You know, if I had my way, I'd worked the same thing in certain areas in southern California. (laughing) - I understand. - And you threw me out of your house, then I burned your house and then you can, because they burned down entire cities. - Right, totally. - If you put the thing on the other foot and I know that's not reasonable, but it worked for me in Vietnam. - And Vietnamese kids would come out high. Sippo, how are you? (laughing) - Sippo, what should you give me, you know? - Well, you know, you had to do what you had to do, Major. And because they had infiltrated the private sector there just like they have done in Gaza. - In military and everything. - And then all this, it's this guerrilla warfare. I mean, these guys don't wear a damn uniform, you know? So you're fighting the world. Everybody's an enemy. - Definitely. - And we have no other way to determine that. - Yes, I think it was so strange during the Vietnam War in that I came back to America and saw what was going on. In my longest tour back in America was my nemesis in the reindeer department. Yeah, I always felt more comfortable out on a military operation in Vietnam. War is reality. - Right. - The ultimate reality. - Right. - And I adopted as my motto, you know, reality. It's really important. - It is. - Because, and I look at America today and I always started back during the Vietnam War and that's the living the line. - Right. - And it's just, to me, I'm a true guy. - Right. - And that's why this guy who's running for Vice President of the United States. And so far, he has gotten away with it. - He has. - And, you know, some gal jumps up and says, you can't talk about him like that. Everybody knows either retired commands are made. Sit down, lady. You don't even know what you're talking about. - Right. Oh, I got a big scuffle this past week at the hospital with my wife. We were talking about, I said, they're not taking my damn guns until they prime my cold, dead fingers off of them. And they kick over all my empty ammo cans, 'cause they're empty. Oh, you don't know what you're talking about. He's gone, Tim. Most guy said, you need to get the hell out of the way from me, girl. You move on down the hall somewhere. She said, ooh, I need to leave. I said, you damn sure do. So, I wouldn't. - It's amazing, it's the dream world complex. - It is. It's totally unbelievable. - You dream up their own constitution to say, this is the way it is. No, it is. And our, you know, our forefathers, we're the most brilliant people in the world. They saw all this type of thing coming. - Major, they had been through it. - They had been through it. - They had been through it. - And the first amendment made exactly what it said, you know? - Well, we are so blessed to have heroes of your nature and veterans that had the stones to go do what you did and doing the things that were unbelievable. The wimp society that we have now and a lot of our younger people wouldn't be able to sustain what you did. 'Cause it would probably curl up over it and lock it down ball in the weeds and whining and crying and caring on, you know? And thank God, we weren't there and you guys weren't there. Pat, you weren't either. And we're so blessed to have had you representing this country. - Well, you know, let me just say, can I put one thing in? - Yes, and then we're gonna take the mic away from you. (laughs) - Yes. - Go ahead, Mark. - I just like to say that I appreciate so much. I'm down here getting my physical, that they fly me from wherever I am, the American people. And there's a rule that they're gonna take care of me and check my body every year right here in Pensacole, Florida at the POW Studies Center. I appreciate it. - Amen. You don't have a budget. - I appreciate every year when a doctor says, you're good for another year. - And I want to thank the American people for that. - Amen. - But you've earned it, thank God. Pat, man, we appreciate you again, Major. Pat, you've got a little bit of something that we need for you to read. - Well, I was just gonna say, I was the last Fourth of July. We are having a luncheon. And I said, you know, just want everybody to remember, if we didn't have guns, if we weren't for guns, we wouldn't be celebrating Fourth of July. - Amen. - And one of our liberal people said, "Well, they didn't have him six things." I said the musket, the musket was the M16 of his day. - Right. - I'd like to read if we have time, marks distinguished service cross citation. - Go ahead, brother. - Extraordinary heroism and connection with military operations involving conflict with an armed, hostile force while serving as a senior of battalion liaison officer to the Ninth Infantry Regiment, Fifth Infantry Division, Army, the Republic of Vietnam during a period five April, 1972 to 7 April, 1972. On 5 April, 1972, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched a major offensive with the objective of a capturing Ben Long province and military region three. The Fifth Viet Cong Division was targeted against Lockman, the capital of the Lockman district and Northern Ben Long province. The Fifth Viet Cong Division launched a massive coordinated ground attack against Lockman, beginning early in the morning on 5 April, 1972, the attack was supported by artillery and tanks. Captain Smith skillfully directed tactical airstrikes and helicopter gunchips and support of the Ninth Infantry Regiment and other South Vietnamese forces in the area to inflict the maximum casualties on the enemy and bring the fires as close as possible to the friendly forces. He left the safety of his bunker and moved throughout the area, seeking strategic vantage points from which he directed friendly fire. Time and time again, he directed the fighters, bombers, gunchips and artillery fire on top of his own position to drive off the attacking enemy. The combination of Captain Smith's courage and professional skills, coupled with all available firepower kept in numerically superior enemy at bay for more than two days. Captain Smith's extraordinary heroism was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Army and reflected great credit upon himself and the military service. - You're my hero. Thank you, Major. God bless you, brother. God bless you, you know. God bless America. - Amen. - Amen, amen. - All right, now let me ask you this. You're living in Thailand. Do we still have any POWs that are still missing? Do you think we still have some over there? Maybe alive? - We may. You know, I retired from the Army and sued the President of the United States. - Right. - My hero, Ronald Reagan. I've been a guest in his home, Nancy never forgave me for that. - Oh. - But it was to get his attention because everyone turned their head. They, the intelligence was there and continues to be for years and years and years. You know, no one, we're all who talk about we are out there every day. We're looking to, you know, try to find out. No, you're not. They never were. And their worst nightmare is not that Americans were kept out to the war. Their worst nightmare in Hanoi and in Washington, D.C. And in Northern Virginia, is that some poor man will come out of there. And the intelligence was there. The select committee even said, well, yeah, there were some guys left in '73. - Right. - Well, wait a minute. There were. - Yeah. - All right. - And so. - Major, we're gonna have to go. We're getting cut off, but we totally understand where you're at and what you're doing. And again, God bless you. I'm so proud of you and you are my hero. Pat, thank you for introducing us to the Major and we'll be seeing you on the other side. - All right. Thank you, Tom. - All right. - And hero is not a full-letter word. Oh, brah. (orchestral music) (orchestral music) (orchestral music) (orchestral music) (orchestral music) (orchestral music) (orchestral music)