WEBVTT - Legacy of a Warrior: Dwight Birdwell 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:04.480 Hey everyone, We've put together a survey for listeners of 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:06.760 Medal of Honor and we want to hear from you. 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:09.240 Tell us what you love about the show, what we 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:12.720 can improve on, or stories you think we've missed. We're 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:15.800 committed to making this show even better and you can 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:19.960 help to take the survey. Visit bit dot lee slash 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:27.320 h survey. That's bit dot l y slash mh survey. 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:41.479 The link is also in our show notes below. Pushkin. 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:49.720 It was late on a summer night, and Dwight Birdwill 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:54.040 could sense something was wrong. He was a specialist in 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.280 the Army in command of a tank, and that tank 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:00.960 was parked alongside a main supply out near a little 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:07.039 village in South Vietnam. The year was nineteen sixty eight. 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:11.759 Dwight could hear a group of water buffaloes shuffling and 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:15.200 grunting in a pen nearby. He had grown up in 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:19.400 the Oklahoma countryside, and he knew that livestock wouldn't move 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:23.959 at night unless something was disturbing them. He knew in 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:28.080 his bones that something was wrong. He peered out of 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:31.240 the turret of the tank, using his starlight scope to 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:35.800 cut through the blackness of the night nothing, but he 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:39.880 couldn't shake the feeling. He decided to go out and look. 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:43.760 He woke up the driver of his tank, a gentle 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:46.959 guy named Bill Watts, and asked him to take his 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:50.440 place at the turret, and then Dwight headed out into 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:55.720 the night. He crossed the road, moving quietly through the brush, 0:01:56.600 --> 0:02:00.880 listening intently to see if he could hear whatever it 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:05.760 was he felt. He crept house to house in the village, 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:13.000 shining his flashlight over families sleeping on bamboo platforms, finding nothing, 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:19.560 hearing nothing, just the slow breathing of sleeping civilians and 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:23.280 the sound of the insects in the night. So Dwight 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:27.000 turned to head back to the tank, and at that 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:32.040 very moment, three or four rocket propelled grenades flashed by him, 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:35.680 hissing as they went. It was a sound that Dwight 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:40.240 was horrifyingly familiar with. Dwight watched as they hit his 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:44.480 take the tank's cash of ammunition was set off, fueling 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:49.119 the explosion. The noise of the blast rocked a little village. 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.799 Then he saw something bright like a comet, fall from 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:57.560 the tank. It was Bill Watts. He was on fire, 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:11.200 and Dwight bird well started running I'm j R. Martinez 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:15.680 and this is Medal of Honor Stories of Courage. The 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:18.680 Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:23.200 United States, awarded for gallantry and bravery and combat at 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.840 the risk of life, above and beyond the call of duty. 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:30.120 Each candidate must be approved all the way up the 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:33.320 chain of command, from the supervisory officer in the field 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:36.760 to the White House. This show is about those heroes, 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:41.120 what they did, what it meant, and what their stories 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:46.880 tell us about the nature of courage and sacrifice. That moment, 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:50.280 that night at the tank changed the course of Dwight 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:54.720 Birdwell's life. It transformed him from a tough twenty year 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:59.040 old determined to fight into someone who could not look 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:03.040 away from the terrible cost of war, someone who would 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:07.279 ask God at that moment and for many years afterwards, 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:13.600 why was I the one to survive? Dwight's story is 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:16.080 about a lot of things. It's about the prior he 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:19.600 feels in being part of the Cherokee Nation, a community 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:23.760 with a remarkable history of military service. It's about his 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:27.760 extraordinary bravery in the battlefield. An episode that feels like 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:32.400 it's straight out of a Rambo movie. Dwight it turns out, 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:35.400 is a guy who put himself in harm's way over 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:39.960 and over again because that's where he felt he belonged. 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:44.000 But most of all, it's the story of a man 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.760 coming to grips with the feeling of guilt that even 0:04:47.800 --> 0:05:03.480 the highest honor in the military cannot absolve. Dwight Birdwell 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.520 never really knew his father. His dad was an oil 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:10.279 filled worker of Cherokee descent, a hard drinking man who 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:14.239 was in and out of jail a lot. He pretty 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:17.840 much disappeared from Dwight's life when he was little. When 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.919 Dwight was three, his mother met and married Ed Birdwell. 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:25.960 They settled in Oklahoma in a town called Bell Here's 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:27.480 Dwight remembering. 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:32.240 The community was about ninety percent Cherokee, maybe more. It 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:36.599 was a very very rural area, an area of poverty. 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:40.159 It was a hard life what people may do. 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:44.120 I lived right on a creek, and every morning I 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:47.960 remember a Cherokee lady coming down the creek. In the evening, 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:50.119 she would come back and she would have a shring 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:53.400 of fish over her shoulder that she had caught to 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:54.280 feed her family. 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.440 Dwight's stepdad was a farmer and his mother worked in 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:02.880 the fields picking beans and strawberries. Even though Dwight was 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.720 a talented student, he was discouraged from even thinking about 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:10.120 going to college. The message from his high school counselor 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:14.640 was essentially, you're an Indian, you won't amount to anything. 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.440 But Dwight was determined. He decided to find his own 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:23.760 way out by joining the military. He knew the GI 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:26.320 bill would send him to school, and he liked the 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:27.359 idea of service. 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:32.240 A lot of the Cherokee man in the community and 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:36.320 area had served in World War Two and served in Korea, 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:41.320 and they emphasized that it was a Cherokee tradition to serve. 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:45.120 So I did it out of a sense of duty 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.600 to the country and out of a sense of obligation 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:51.159 to Cherokee ancestors. 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:55.800 Dwight was eighteen, with deep set eyes and a crooked smile, 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:59.679 and dark hair parted on the side. He was already 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.599 fit for the army, but not because he played football 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:07.839 or basketball or wrestled. Get this, because he worked chasing 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:09.920 chickens six nights a week. 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:14.280 We left home about five retractions in the evening and 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:20.280 went to northwest Arkansas and caught chickens all night until daybreak. 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.520 You go in and catch the chickens, and then you 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:26.880 would run outside and you would climb up onto a 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.360 flatbed truck and load the chickens, run back down and 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:32.679 go get another bat. Shopping all night long. 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:37.400 That's a random detail, but I love it. I'm just 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:40.720 not sure I've ever heard of a night time chicken 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:45.400 catcher before. What even is that? Anyways, back to Dwight 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:48.240 in the Army. When he enlisted, he asked to be 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:53.200 sent straight to Vietnam. This was spring of nineteen sixty 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:56.960 six and the war was just warming up. Even though 0:07:57.040 --> 0:07:59.360 Dwight tested so well that he could have gone to 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:03.520 office a tree and at West Point, he chose combat instead. 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:06.840 I felt like that was my duty, my mission, to 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:10.520 go where I was most neated, and I felt like 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:15.480 I was most neated in Vietnam. Of course, I didn't 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:19.360 necessarily want to die, but if that was my destiny, 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:20.680 that would be my destiny. 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:26.560 In September of nineteen sixty seven, Dwight landed at Tunsut 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:31.600 Airport outside of Saigon. He remembers marveling and how beautiful 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:35.600 and green the countryside looked from the plane, and he 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.520 remembers seeing a line of body bags on the side 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:43.199 of the runway and thinking this is it. I'm here. 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.559 Dwight was assigned to Troop C, third Squadron, fourth Cavalry, 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:51.840 twenty fifth Infantry Division, which we're going to refer to 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:54.760 the way that he did as the three quarter calf. 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:58.840 It was task was securing Highway One, the main supply 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:03.640 route running north from Saigon to the Cambodian border. Dwight 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:07.800 was well liked and for once his intelligence was recognized, 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:11.200 he was given a spot doing radio repair, but he 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:15.040 didn't like the relative safety of the rare echelon. He 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.800 wanted to fight, and before long he joined a tank 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:22.599 crew as a gunner. He knew exactly how dangerous it 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:23.000 would be. 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.240 If you're going to tank you've got an iron coffin. 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:27.840 It's just a matter of time. 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:30.880 Dwight was convinced that the US was right to be 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:35.599 in Vietnam. He saw the bodies of town officials assassinated 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:39.320 by the National Liberation Front. He knew how brave they 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:42.360 must have been to stand up for their values. But 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:46.000 he saw dead via Con guerrillas too. They were young, 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:50.000 about his age, and Dwight looked at them and thought 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:55.000 they aren't evil. They're just as idealistic as I am. 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:58.840 But as nineteen sixty seven turned to nineteen sixty eight, 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.040 Dwight and his this platoon began to stumble across well 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:07.520 hidden bunkers, caches of weapons, signs of movement of change, 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:12.240 And then the early morning of January thirty first, it 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:17.400 happened a coordinated attack throughout South Vietnam. It would be 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:21.959 known as the Tet Offensive. Here's a news report describing 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:24.440 the situation in nineteen sixty eight. 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:28.120 It all amounts to the most ambitious series of communist 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:32.280 attacks yet mounted, spreading violence into at least ten provincial capitals, 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:36.520 plus American air bases and civilian installations, stretching the entire 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:37.480 length of the country. 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.079 The order came down to Dwight and the three quarter 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:44.520 Calf to get to Tan Sanute Airport. It was the 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:46.560 most active air base in the country. 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:51.199 They said, there is a squad of VC breaking into 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.640 the wire at Tan Shanut with preeport. Cab was so 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:58.960 confident that we sent two turns down. There were only 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.920 about sixty off. It went down and overtook ptains. 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:05.760 They thought they would only be fighting a ragged handful 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:10.200 of viacom. They'd outpowered and outgunned. That kind of enemy 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:13.920 forced before. So the men got into their tanks and 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:18.959 went But what awaited was in a skirmish. It was 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:33.040 an ambush. The tanks of the three quarter calf barreled 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:37.520 down Highway one toward the Tansanute airfield. The second platoon 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:42.560 was at the lead, third platoon Twipe's platoon followed behind. 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:46.360 Third tracks kicked up dust as they rumbled forward. Through 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:50.880 their early morning hours, the sky grew lighter and overcast gray. 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:55.439 The trip down was abnormally quiet. The convoy passed no 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:59.120 civilian traffic on the road, and the nearby houses seemed 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:03.719 to be deserted. It was almost peaceful. Then the lead 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:07.440 tank reached the airport and a wall of fire erupted 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:09.440 from a hamlet along the side of the road. 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:15.360 Chaos. They let us go right into the middle and 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:20.040 then cut loose, and within a very short period of 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:23.880 time a couple of minutes to laid patone was pretty 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:25.000 much wiped out. 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:28.760 It wasn't a scrappy group of Vietcong that was waiting. 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:33.920 It was the North Vietnamese Army, and they now surrounded 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:38.920 the convoy on three sides. The sky was suddenly filled 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:43.760 with eerie green lights falling towards the American tanks. They 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:47.480 were tracers which the North Vietnamese used to see where 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:48.400 their fire was going. 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:52.160 And there's all these green craisiers coming out and all 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:55.400 these rockets coming in. Boom boom, boom boom, and I'm 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:57.439 thank you. What in the world's going on? 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:01.120 Dwight's tank was at the very front of his platoon. 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:05.079 As the lead platoon exploded, his tank pulled in right 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:09.480 behind them. One of Dwight's friends, franklin Kuff, was in 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.800 the lead platoon. He and other veterans who knew Dwight 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:16.840 spoke about their experiences in a documentary made by Osio 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:21.640 voices of the Cherokee people. Frank remembers seeing Dwyke's tank 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:22.800 rattle into place. 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:27.400 Man, it's seeing good. We gotta do something. And that's 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:31.520 when Sir Petun Comb pulling up and there's Doy like 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:33.040 a Knight in shining armor. 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:39.440 Almost instantly, Dwight's tank commander was hit a bloody hole 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:43.160 where his left eye had been. Dwight got down and 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:46.360 lifted his commander out of the tank under heavy fire 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:49.160 and put him in the ditch that ran just along 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:52.360 the side of the road. The injured gis from the 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:55.400 lead platoon were gathering there as well, and then Dwight 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:59.640 returned to his tank and took command. Every vehicle ahead 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.160 of him had been put out of action, and there 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:05.200 was no way to retreat. There were too many wounded 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:06.280 that would be left behind. 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:12.760 I can't remember the bullet climb by my head, you know, 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:16.840 just thank boy, that's an unpleasant sounds. But I kept going. 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:21.440 He started firing back. He didn't have time to fill 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:25.720 any fear. There was no place for it. He used 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:29.760 the tank's cannon, he used the tank's machine gun. His 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:34.800 head and torso were exposed to enemy fire, but somehow 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:39.320 the bullets didn't find him. In the meantime, more survivors 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:42.400 from the Leeds platoon were making their way to Dwight's position. 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.360 The ditch beside his tank was the only spot with 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:50.840 any kind of relative safety. Even though the enemy was 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:54.760 advancing close on Dwight's left, he couldn't fire the tank's 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:58.520 cannon in that direction because he would hit those wounded gis. 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:03.040 So instead, he got up on that tank, took aim 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:08.480 with his machine gun, and opened fire. David Young was 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:11.160 one of those soldiers taking cover in the ditch that day. 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.080 If it hadn't been for these high fired rounds going 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:18.560 over my head the other way, I wouldn't be here today. 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:24.840 Dwight was fully exposed to enemy fire. Bullets whizzed by, 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:28.240 close enough to blow the communication device off of his 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:32.360 tanker helmet, but still he didn't get hit. 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:35.800 What was going through my mind was to keep fighting 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:38.800 until I went down, and if I went down, I 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:39.960 wasn't gonna shop. 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:43.280 Part of his helmet was shot off. He could no 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:47.640 longer provide battlefield updates to his commanders. He couldn't get 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:51.360 any guidance either. All he could do was shoot and 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:56.160 drive the enemy back until he used. 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:57.080 Up all my ammunition. 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:01.320 There was a helicopter directly above him. It was the 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:06.600 three quarter Calves Commander Lieutenant Colonel Glenn Otis. He was 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:10.520 circling the action, leading from the sky. All of the 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:14.040 men in a three quarter Calve adored Otis. He was 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:18.640 a brilliant leader, fair and brave, ready to be as 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:21.120 much a part of the action as his men were. 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:27.080 And then Otis's helicopter took a direct hit. It was 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:31.440 about to crash, and it was heading straight for Dwight's position. 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:36.040 You know, I'm watching a helicopter come down. It's thinking 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:37.480 this is not real. 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:42.000 The helicopter hit the ground, bounced hard, and came to 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:45.640 a stop, the skids mashing down the bar wire fence 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:49.400 that ran alongside of the airport. Otis and his crew 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:52.080 got out and ran from the helicopter as fast as 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:56.120 they could in case it caught fire. Dwight watched them 0:16:56.160 --> 0:17:00.680 scramble away, and then he thought that helicopter has something 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:04.680 that I need. He hopped down from the tank and 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:08.760 raced to the chopper, cutting his legs on the concertina wire. 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:13.040 Dwight made it to the chopper, pulled two machine guns out. 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:16.640 He passed one to a front, got the other back 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:19.160 on top of his tank and opened fire. 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:23.920 He wasn't slowing down at all. He just kept doing 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:24.440 a job. 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:30.000 He kept going, protecting those wounded men in the ditch 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:35.560 next to him, holding off the enemy. And then inevitably 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:36.920 he was hit. 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:42.439 I just remember a big flash and Lord of blood 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:46.959 coming out of my head and down my face, at 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:48.480 my chest and what have you. 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:53.440 He had shrump, no wounds. He was bleeding badly, but 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:57.040 Dwight wasn't worried about that. He didn't feel like he 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:02.200 was particularly injured. He was worried about his gun, and 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:03.120 of course. 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:07.280 That sixty was in two pieces. I'm looking at my gun. 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:09.800 It's like a toy, you know. I had torn a hack. 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:12.400 What am I gonna do now? 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.680 He only had the side arm in his holster. It 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:19.000 would have to be enough. They were shooting all around him, 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:22.879 and the enemy was still on every side. He was 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:26.960 bleeding from his head. He was majorly outnumbered, but he 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:28.520 hadn't lost his resolve. 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:31.200 So I just felt like, I'm going to fight as 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:34.639 long as I can. I wasn't gonna say die until 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:35.240 I was dead. 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:37.639 So I got off the tank and went down to 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:40.800 the ditch where the other soldiers were. He rallied three 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:42.760 of them to advance to the front of the column 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:46.920 of tanks to set up a defensive position. It was 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:50.680 a crazy move, four guys trying to hold off a 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:54.960 ton of enemy fighters, but to Dwight, it was the 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:58.800 only move, the only way to keep the enemy from 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:01.800 coming over the top and get into the wounded gis. 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:08.240 One guy was a non Indian from our harbor Main, 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:13.480 and I got two Native Americans from Port Gambo Washington, 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:16.560 who was actually a medic Oliver Jones, and then there 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:20.359 was an Ottawa from Michigan, and we went down the ditch, 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:23.800 took up a position to hold off the North Vietnam mainons, 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:26.560 and we were pretty low in the ammunition and it 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:29.200 looked like that it was almost over with. 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:33.520 They huddled in front of the convoys lead tank, but 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:36.520 little big tree that stood alone by the road. When 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:38.800 they peeked over the edge of the ditch, they could 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:44.720 see hundreds of enemy soldiers. They were massively outnumbered. Dwight 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:48.000 looked over at the airfield where he arrived in Vietnam 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:51.760 less than a year before, where he'd seen those green 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:52.639 body bags. 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:56.359 It was an eerie feeling at that point because we 0:19:56.480 --> 0:20:00.639 were right on the runway and these large airliners then 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:04.000 PanAm World air Waves were sitting out there just ready 0:20:04.040 --> 0:20:04.600 to check off. 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:09.760 Those airplanes were filled with people getting out of Vietnam, 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:14.800 escaping from the war, going home to safety. 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:19.960 Here we were about to die looking at those big planes, 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:22.719 and just was very very strange. Failing. 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:26.399 Dwight and the other soldiers threw grenades at the enemy. 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:30.280 Machine gun rounds hit the tree above their heads. Showering 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:35.280 them with leaves and branches, and then they heard the 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:39.399 rumble of vehicles. Troop BE of the cavalry was coming 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:43.240 to help. Even with his life on the line, Dwight 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:44.520 saw some humor in that. 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:49.359 You know in the movie the cab is always saving 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:55.920 nine Indians from Indians. Here's these three Indians being saved. 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:59.320 That wasn't a movie script. The cabs saving the Indians. 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:04.560 Helicopters flew low over the open fields. Dwight remembers them 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:08.160 laying down a smoke screen to conceal the arrival of troopy. 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:13.360 Then the air filled with the sound of American tanks 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:17.520 taking out the enemy positions. The wounded gi started getting 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:23.280 loaded onto Metavac helicopters. Dwight was ordered to board one too. 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:28.320 Remember he was bleeding from his head. He got on 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:31.639 it all right, but then he just slid across and 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:34.960 out the other side of the chopper and returned to 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:35.440 the fight. 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:38.120 I had to get back on the battle. I could 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:38.600 still go. 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:42.920 He helped the other men, those wounded guys in the ditch, 0:21:43.720 --> 0:21:48.080 loading them onto helicopters, getting them to safety, and then 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:51.600 finally he was forced to get help himself. 0:21:52.840 --> 0:21:58.040 I've put on a helicopter and it was full of bodies. 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:03.200 That helicopter felt like an airborne morgue. But it could 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:04.800 have been so much worse. 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:09.680 He saved many, many, many lives that day. You just 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:12.440 can't believe what he did that name. It's hard for 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:13.760 me to believe it, and I saw it. 0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:18.440 The Army agreed with Frank. Dwight received a Silver Star 0:22:18.600 --> 0:22:22.560 for his actions that day. He was, by all accounts, 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:26.960 a bone of fide hero. He knew that his survival 0:22:27.080 --> 0:22:30.200 was nothing short of a miracle, but the thought of 0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:35.200 the people he couldn't save nagged at him. And then, 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:41.440 several months later, on a creepily quiet night, it all caught. 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:41.760 Up with him. 0:22:44.760 --> 0:22:49.440 After ted the war and Vietnam changed, the enemy suddenly 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:53.760 seemed to be everywhere. Morale among the American troops was terrible. 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:58.200 Their focus went from winning the war, whatever that might mean, 0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:02.520 to just surviving and getting home. Dwight had been a 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:06.720 true believer, but he began to feel dragged down and depressed. 0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:11.000 All the same, he still had his unique capacity to 0:23:11.119 --> 0:23:14.960 keep pushing forward, and even when he wavered, he took 0:23:15.040 --> 0:23:18.520 his commitment to service seriously, which meant that his fight 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:23.760 of a lifetime kept happening. Here's his friend Ted Bagley, 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:27.800 who served with him, speaking on that Ossio documentary. We 0:23:27.960 --> 0:23:30.680 talk about Tomson Knut and the things he did, but 0:23:30.800 --> 0:23:32.880 he did that the whole time we were in Vietnam. 0:23:33.160 --> 0:23:35.600 It wasn't a one time as fair. That's what people 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:36.560 don't understand. 0:23:38.760 --> 0:23:42.280 Dwight received another Silver Star in July of sixty eight 0:23:42.800 --> 0:23:46.200 for going back into an enemy occupied village to rescue 0:23:46.240 --> 0:23:51.280 stranded American troops. Nobody had wanted that assignment, but Dwight 0:23:51.440 --> 0:23:58.280 volunteered for it, not once, but twice, over and over again. 0:23:59.160 --> 0:24:04.280 Dwight put his life on the line and survived. Birdie 0:24:04.359 --> 0:24:08.080 had at least ten tons of news. He became commander 0:24:08.160 --> 0:24:11.159 of a tank and was particularly close with two of 0:24:11.200 --> 0:24:15.840 the soldiers that served with him, Bill Watts and Harold Donnelly. 0:24:16.880 --> 0:24:21.240 Harold and Dwight were best friends, pretty much inseparable, and 0:24:21.359 --> 0:24:22.440 Dwight looked up to Bill. 0:24:23.400 --> 0:24:28.639 Bill Watch was very tender guy, very compassionate, had a 0:24:28.760 --> 0:24:31.320 view of life that took me years to get. 0:24:31.240 --> 0:24:34.680 Two Which brings us to that night by the road 0:24:34.800 --> 0:24:37.400 in that little village, the one I told you about 0:24:37.400 --> 0:24:40.600 at the start of the episode. A stifling hot July 0:24:40.840 --> 0:24:44.720 night in nineteen sixty eight, Dwight's platoon was set up 0:24:44.760 --> 0:24:48.680 along the roadside. The water buffaloes moved in their pen 0:24:48.880 --> 0:24:52.320 as Dwight peered out into the darkness to figure out 0:24:52.440 --> 0:24:55.440 what he was sensing, what felt wrong. 0:24:56.720 --> 0:24:59.040 I got bailed up and I put him in a turret. 0:25:00.000 --> 0:25:01.879 I said, you take over. I'm gonna go out there 0:25:01.960 --> 0:25:05.000 and do some recon. So I went out searching for 0:25:05.640 --> 0:25:07.960 North Vietnam ass and I couldn't find anything. 0:25:08.880 --> 0:25:11.959 And that's when he turned and saw the RPGs hit 0:25:12.040 --> 0:25:15.480 the tank and his friend Bill fall out of it 0:25:16.400 --> 0:25:18.560 on fire from head to toe. 0:25:19.320 --> 0:25:21.600 Bill Wats came out of that tank tent a ball. 0:25:21.400 --> 0:25:26.520 Of fire, just like in tons of nude. Dwight didn't hesitate, 0:25:27.400 --> 0:25:28.119 so I run. 0:25:28.080 --> 0:25:35.520 Back to the tank, didn't get Bill. But as I'm 0:25:35.560 --> 0:25:41.920 carrying him out, my friend Harold Donaldy said, Dwight, help me, 0:25:42.240 --> 0:25:42.560 help me. 0:25:43.160 --> 0:25:43.640 I'm hurt. 0:25:44.640 --> 0:25:47.959 I said, Harold, I'll be back and help you when 0:25:48.040 --> 0:25:50.280 I can. You be a man, you take that pain. 0:25:52.760 --> 0:25:56.480 Being a man taking that pain was the logic Dwight 0:25:56.680 --> 0:26:00.800 had learned over all those months in Vietnam. But after 0:26:00.920 --> 0:26:03.280 he got Bill out, of Harm's way and went back 0:26:03.359 --> 0:26:06.440 for Harold. He saw what had become of his friend. 0:26:07.640 --> 0:26:10.880 So I got back after I'm taken care of Bill, 0:26:11.600 --> 0:26:18.160