Terrence King

Terry died on March 19th, 1967 along side his lieutenant and another Marine, trying to break the ambush they were caught in by charging into it.  That's what we were taught to do because the likelihood of death was very high either way.  The lieutenant received the Navy Cross, the 2nd highest military medal.  Terry and the other Marine received no award, except another Purple Heart, and a posthumous promotion.

 

Terry and I wrote each other while in Vietnam.  I was in the Mekong Delta and he up north.  I've saved his last letter to me written on March 19, 1967, four days before his death. (I wish I had saved his other letters).  Here's some of the things he wrote me.

 

"I was discharged from the hospital Feb 12 and on an operation by the 15."

"For my valor in combat I received the tin star with a dingleberry cluster."

 (By this he meant the Silver Star with cluster.  The cluster is an emphasis on the bravery.  He never was awarded the medal by the Marines.  He would not have lied to me about the award if, for no other reason he expected to live and would have wanted to show it.  The Marines were very stingy with their medal awards and I believe that after his death they canceled the process to keep the number of medal awards down.)

 

"Since I've been back, we have only been in a few bad fire-fights.  To say the least I'm scared shitless since I've been shot one (sic)."

 

As usual things are going pretty shitty around here.  We have  a big operation coming up, which I'm not looking forward to.  We're going into a heavily infested V.C. area with 2 companies.  It's hard to believe that the M.C. is that fucked up.  I guess they ar not content unless they get a lot of casualties inflicted upon themselves."

 

"This friend of mine who is moderately crazy is interviewing a view (sic) of us on the war.  So I gave him about 3 pages down grading U.S. policy in V.N..  It may be in S.C.U. newspaper.  It may also get my (sic)  a discharge.

 

I have never shared any of Terry's letter before but do so now so that we can have a better understanding of who this 20 year old man was.  I think it's important to know that none of us had any idea of what we were getting into.

 

A very brief history.  I had received a draft notice in early '66 while attending LSU.  When I told Terry I was dropping out to have a little fun before they drafted me, he dropped out of Eastern Ill. U..  We took a train to New Orleans and then hitch-hike to Fort Lauderdale and then home.  He suggested that because the military was drafting into both the Army and the Marines, why don't we just do a 2 year enlistment in the Marines.  We went for that option.  They took Terry that day but held my papers until they could investigate my arrest for receiving alchohol as a minor.  A couple of weeks later I was drafted into the Army.  I have never been able to get out of my mind what would have happened to either of us if I had been in the Marines with Terry.

 

I want to add a note on Terry's prowess as a fighter.  I was with him on a number of ocassions of his fights and I never saw him touched.  Yes he was that good.  But more importantly, he came to regret being know as a fighter, wanting to be know as a more civilized person.  The last fight was there in Ft. Lauderdale during the Spring.  We were walking through a motel complex one evening on the way to the beach when some young women called to us from a balcony above to come up to their party.  Who would say no?  In the party some huge muscular guy called Terry out.  Terry did not want to fight but seemingly there was no option.  He quickly handled the guy down in the courtyard, but was soon thereafter afraid that he may have badly injured the guy.  The owner, or desk clerk of the motel had also called the police.  We left town the next morning.

 

I too, have often thought of what Terry's life would have been like had he lived.  I believe from what I knew of him, that he would not see himself as a "fighter", a "warrior" wearing hats and jackets that proudly proclaimed his participation in "The War".  I believe that he would have continued to mature into a peaceful, intelligent man that I would have loved to have continued being his buddy.  I believe that he would have been uniquely equipped to tell us that war is insanity, that should never happen.

 

Dennis Fisher

Vietnam Veterans Memorial,  Washington, DC.    America remembers its heros.