Going fast have you got yours a full record of 2001 all pages(weeks) are included, so catch up on all that's been happening.
WASHINGTON: A few weeks before intensifying the Vietnam War, US leader Richard Nixon matter-of-factly raised the idea of using a nuclear bomb.
The notion was quickly shot down by national security adviser Henry Kissinger.
Mr Nixon's abrupt suggestion, buried in 500 hours of tapes released on Thursday at the National Archives, came after Dr Kissinger laid out options for stepping up the war effort, such as attacking power plants and docks, in a conversation on April 25, 1972, in the Executive Office Building.
'I'd rather use the nuclear bomb,'o Mr Nixon responded.
'That, I think, would just be too much,' Dr Kissinger replied.
'The nuclear bomb. Does that bother you?' Mr Nixon asked. 'I just want you to think big.'
The following month, Mr Nixon ordered massive conventional bombing and destruction.
Mr Nixon acknowledged in a 1985 interview that he had considered 'the nuclear option'.
He told Time magazine then: 'I rejected the bombing of the dikes, which would have drowned l million people, for the same reason that I rejected the nuclear option. Because the targets presented were not military targets.'
Mr Nixon showed rather less regard for the North Vietnamese in his 1972 taped conversations. In a conversation from June, he told domestic adviser Charles Colson: 'We want to decimate that goddamned place.'
He added: 'North Vietnam is going to get reordered. ... It's about time; it's what should have been done long ago.'
The latest Nixon material covers mostly the first six months of 1972, including everything from Mr Nixon's groundbreaking trip to China to the early days after the Watergate Hotel break-in.
With this release, historians and researchers for the first time are being allowed to use their recording equipment to copy Nixon tapes.
'The sheer volume and contents of the tapes will give historians and others plenty of research opportunities,' said Karl Weissenbach, who is director of the Nixon Presidential Materials staff at the archives.
Article from the Newcastle Herald Saturday, March 2, 2002
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The only details i have are as follows
Jack Coomer... born 1921... A25994
2Sqn 19-4-67.....25-3-1968
Verified as per the Vietnam Veterans Nominal Roll this member served with 2 Sqn at Phan-Rang,
can anyone assist in verifing whether he was an ADGie or not?
----- Original Message -----
From: LAWRIE GAY
To: Ozflea
Sent: Saturday, March 02, 2002 7:47 PM
Subject: Jack Coomer
Bob, I got a message from the States querying Jack Coomer...............He claims to have been an ADG at 2Sqn. I have verified he was 2 SQN but never heard of an ADG by that name....You heard of him?????
Coming up to see ya very shortly.
Take care....Me
The description of the movie follows, in through the eyes of a Marine, not a combatant, but he says that in his note.......
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I just came back from seeing, "We Were Soldiers," Mel Gibson's latest movie.
To put it very succinctly, it was the best movie I ever saw. Ever. Bar none.
It follows the exploits of 1/7 Calvary in the first major battle of the
Vietnam War between US and NVA forces. The battle took place in the Ia Drang
valley, in the Central Highlands, near the Cambodian border in mid-November
1965. The movie looks mainly at the American side of the battle, but uses
the NVA side to keep the tactics - and what was going on - focused.
It is an extremely realistic movie. I was never in a battle, but Gibson's
real-life counterpart, LtGen Harold Moore, Ret., says it was extremely
realistic and that's good enough for me. One thing that may not be
realistic, but it has to be this way in a movie, is that everybody is
awfully close to each other. I'd expect them to be more spread out.
The theater was nearly sold out, which wasn't too bad for a noon time,
Friday afternoon opening. Almost all of the people there were men, about my
age: 50. There were a couple of women, notably my mother, and a few
youngsters in their early 40's, notably my brother, and, of course there
were some of WWII age.
When the movie was over, there was not a sound. The audience was as stunned
as I was. This stun followed us right out the door of the theater, with a
pit stop on the way, and it still has me stunned 3 hours later.
I expected a lot of Vietnam vets there, but I didn't see any obvious ones.
There was one elderly man with a baseball cap with WWII - Korea stitched on
the front and his campaign medals underneath. So I went over to him to thank
him for his service. We shook hands and I explained who I was, a Jarhead
with no combat experience, and he confessed that this movie really hit home
in a lot of ways. Hit home it did and hit home it should!
We see these soldiers as the young men they were. We see the realistic
training they went through. We see their family lives. Mostly, we see the
ordeal we forced them into in a foreign land. We see their selflessness,
their extraordinary courage, their suffering, and their comraderie. And we
see their heroism in trying to prevail and to save one another.
There is a scene involving telegrams that will absolutely break your heart.
There is a scene involving the NVA commander after that battle in which he
says the truest words ever spoken in a movie. They leave a lot of individual
heroism out, because the whole group of them deserved Medals of Honor, as
far as I'm concerned. One MOH was earned there:
MARM, WALTER JOSEPH, JR.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant (then 2d Lt.), U.S. Army, Company A,
1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). place and
date: Vicinity of la Drang Valley, Republic of Vietnam, 14 November 1965.
Entered service at: pittsburgh, pa. Born: 20 November 1941, Washington, pa.
G.O. No.: 7, 15 February 1967. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and
intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. As a
platoon leader in the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), 1st Lt. Marm
demonstrated indomitable courage during a combat operation. His company was
moving through the valley to relieve a friendly unit surrounded by an enemy
force of estimated regimental size. 1st Lt. Marm led his platoon through
withering fire until they were finally forced to take cover. Realizing that
his platoon could not hold very long, and seeing four enemy soldiers moving
into his position, he moved quickly under heavy fire and annihilated all 4.
Then, seeing that his platoon was receiving intense fire from a concealed
machine gun, he deliberately exposed himself to draw its fire. Thus locating
its position, he attempted to destroy it with an antitank weapon. Although
he inflicted casualties, the weapon did not silence the enemy fire. Quickly,
disregarding the intense fire directed on him and his platoon, he charged 30
meters across open ground, and hurled grenades into the enemy position,
killing some of the 8 insurgents manning it. Although severely wounded, when
his grenades were expended, armed with only a rifle, he continued the
momentum of his assault on the position and killed the remainder of the
enemy. 1st Lt. Marm's selfless actions reduced the fire on his platoon,
broke the enemy assault, and rallied his unit to continue toward the
accomplishment of this mission. 1st Lt. Marm's gallantry on the battlefield
and his extraordinary intrepidity at the risk of his life are in the highest
traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the
Armed Forces of his country.
They mention nothing of this lieutenant, not one word.
It is a movie not to be missed. It is a movie that will stay with you for a
long time.
BTW, "Gary Owen" is the theme song of the 7th Cavalry and is really called
Garryowen.
Hand salute!
_______
PS: Movie was very realistic ! Except no one is sweating on 120o all the uniforms are dry!!
Joe-VET66A
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We Were Soldiers
Begins Showing in Area Cinemas March 1, 2002 this date is for the States.
"We Were Soldiers" is based on the true story of Lt. Col. Hal Moore who led 400 American soldiers into the first bloody battle of the Vietnam War. Four hundred American soldiers entered enemy territory in the Ia Drang Valley and found themselves surrounded by 2,000 enemy troops.
Facing these overwhelming odds was Harold Moore, the commander of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry troops and Joseph Galloway, a Associated Press reporter assigned to cover the story. There they held their ground for the longest month of their lives.
The film is based upon the 1992 best-seller, WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE… AND YOUNG by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore, USA (Ret) and Joseph L. Galloway. It stars Mel Gibson as Lt. Col. Hal Moore, Sam Elliott and SGM. Basil L. Plumely, Barry Pepper as Joe Galloway and Madeline Stowe as Mrs. Julie Moore. See "We Were Soldiers".
9th from the left is Paul Tuck, can anyone spot who the other adgies are in this photo?