A Nostalgic Touch: Reflections on Vietnam and the West Point Class of 1966
| Publication year | 2017 |
| Pages | 11 |
July, 2017
By Matt Keenan, J.
Arriving this fall to PBS is Ken Burns' long-awaited mini-series "Vietnam." Ten years in the making, it will feature ten episodes and 18 hours of storytelling. The PBS website notes that Burns promises the film "will be accompanied by an unprecedented outreach and public engagement program, providing opportunities for communities to participate in a national conversation about what happened during the Vietnam War, what went wrong and what lessons are to be learned."
Burns' documentary follows another terrific biopic released two years ago - "'The Last Days of Vietnam" directed by acclaimed documentarian Rory Kennedy. Nominated for an Academy Award in 2014, Kennedy's story depicts the final days of Vietnam through the eyes of the last Marines to depart the United States Embassy. If you've not seen it, I highly recommend you do.
In the larger literary library on the subject of Vietnam, there are many epic works. Tim O'Brien's collection of short stories "The Things They Carried" is now found on many high school reading lists. My first book about that war remains with me ? "We Were Soldiers Once.... And Young" "- a 1992 book by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (Ret.) and war journalist Joseph L. Galloway about an early battle for the Da Nang valley.
But it was Rick Atkinson's book "The Long Gray Line" which won the Pulitzer Prize and brought a granular look to the men whose lives were forever changed by Vietnam. Atkinson follows the trajectory of the West Point Class of 1966 from their indoctrination as plebes to their training, graduation and service in the Army. There were 579 in the class; most ended up in Vietnam.
And if you, like me, were unaware of Atkinson's work, the historical significance of the class of 1966, and the sacrifices they made, all that is about to change.
So put the billing clock on hold for 15 minutes because what follows will, if nothing else, serve as a teaser for the upcoming Burns documentary.
Atkinson's work
Atkinson's book can be considered to be in four parts. Part one describes what life was like for a plebe at the Academy. This represents about one hundred and fifty pages of his book. It would be only a modest overstatement to conclude that to be a plebe at the academy in the fall of 1961 was accepting a year of constant harassment. It would be absolutely no exaggeration to say the first year West Point experience was rigorous in the extreme. Parts two and three describe the preparation and then immersion of those young men into Southeast Asia, their struggles, their bravery, their successes and failures.
The final part describes their return and dealings with a country decidedly antagonistic to those who served our country.
In this month's article, I'm profiling three members of that iconic class of 1966 ? Norm Fretwell, Bill Poole, and Buck Thompson.
Fretwell, is a Joplin, Mo., native; after his years of service, he attended Michigan Law school and has enjoyed a successful practice in Kansas City, Mo. Poole, originally from Montana, moved to Atlanta in grade school, was an all-star athlete and declined a scholarship offer from Notre Dame in order to attend West Point. Like Fretwell, after his service, he attended law school at University of Georgia and remains a prominent international attorney in the Southeast.
Thompson, born and raised in Atchison, is extensively profiled in Atkinson's book; he proudly introduced his classmates to a fictional bird we know as the Jayhawk. He was one of a thousand U.S. troops from the 4th Division and 173rd Airborne Brigade who were part of the Dak To battles. This battle climaxed in November 1967, and for our country, Thompson gave the ultimate sacrifice.
These are their stories.
Norm Fretwell
Norm Fretwell plays a significant part in Atkinson's story telling. He and the author met...
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