April 16, 2025 • 38 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Tom Ross, a former Green Beret and intelligence officer during the Vietnam War, shares his powerful story of American service in 1968 South Vietnam. As part of a Special Forces “A” Detachment—an elite Green Beret unit—Ross witnessed the realities of war firsthand. Today, he's the President and CEO of The Ross Jewelry Company in Atlanta, Georgia, and the author of Privileges of War: A Good Story of American Service in Vietnam, a memoir that explores sacrifice, service, and life after combat. We'd like to thank the Atlanta History Center for allowing us access to this audio, originally part of their Veterans History Project.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
from the arts to sports, and from business to history
and everything in between, including your story. Send them to
our American Stories dot com. They're some of our favorites.
In nineteen sixty eight, Tom Ross was the intelligence and
(00:31):
operations officer of a unique Special Forces a detachment in
the Republic of South Vietnam, the Elite Unit, also known
as the Green Berets. In two thousand and four, Tom
brought a unique perspective to the view of American service
during the Vietnam War with his book Privileges of War,
(00:52):
A Good Story of American Service in Vietnam. Today, Tom
is the president and CEO of his own successful custom
design jewelry firm, The Ross Jewelry Company, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Here's Tom with his Vietnam story.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
My name is Tom Ross, and the American story you're
about to hear is one of courage and selflessness, traits
that Americans demonstrate with great ease when others are in
danger or need of help. I'm almost seventy five years
old now, and the events I'm about to share with
you took place more than fifty years ago, but I
(01:30):
remember them as if it were yesterday. I'm always pleased
to know that women, family members and friends of a
veteran might be in the audience. This is because in
many cases, those closest to our veterans have absolutely no
idea what they may have done or experienced. And that's
simply because veterans often don't talk about their experiences. Well,
(01:54):
I'm here to tell you about a few of them
and what they did. And to all the female listeners,
what you'll hear aren't war stories. While they occurred during
a war, there's stories that I hope will touch you.
They're not what you typically hear about those who served
in Vietnam. So welcome to everyone. I'll start with a
(02:17):
bit of background. I was raised in Pensacola, Florida, home
of the Navy's flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels. I
used to watch them train out over the Gulf of
Mexico while I fished from the Pensylcola Beach Pier. They
were magnificent and inspiring, so it was easy for me
to grow up a patriot, and my parents had certainly
(02:40):
done their part by getting me started in scouting. I'd
been a Cub Scout and a boy scout, where I
are in the rank of Eagles Scout. My parents on
me also made sure I was in church every Sunday,
where I served as an altar boy and a choir boy.
So I've always thought of myself as having been an
(03:00):
all American kid, no one special, but someone who loved
the country where he was growing up. I volunteered for
service in nineteen sixty six after watching a news report
one evening while waiting to have dinner at my mom
and dad's home in Pensacola. As with many news reports
(03:21):
in the sixties, the evening news often began with a
report on action in Vietnam. I watched as two young
American Marines struggled to drag another wounded marine out of
the line of fire. You could hear bullets pinging all
around them. As I watched, something very strange happened to
me that evening. I was suddenly struck, as if hit
(03:44):
by a bolt of lightning or drenched by a bucket
of ice water. Maybe it was just a feeling of guilt.
Whatever it was, I was immediately embarrassed that I wasn't
fighting alongside the young men I was watching. I could
do was watch. I could do a thing to help.
(04:04):
Only an evening or two before, I'd been at a
fraternity sorority party, laughing and dancing without a care in
the world, but watching the struggle before me, and without
fully understanding why, I suddenly felt compelled to join the
service and go to Vietnam, so skipping my college classes.
(04:26):
The next morning, I was standing at the door when
the US Army recruiter arrived at his office. After enlisting,
I applied for Officer Candidate School and was accepted. Just
before graduating from OCS as a second lieutenant, I applied
to the US Army's Special Forces, the Elite unit also
(04:49):
known as the Green Berets. I thought that if I
were going to Vietnam, I should probably get myself as
well trained as I could if I were going to
survived the experience. Then, after more than a year of
intense unconventional warfare training at the home of Special Forces
in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, I finally received orders sending
(05:13):
me to Vietnam. I arrived in country during the infamous
Tet Offensive of nineteen sixty eight. During a New Year's truce,
the North Vietnamese Army in Vietkong launched a surprise attack
on nearly every major city in South Vietnam, no trying.
(05:34):
Where I was arriving happened to be one of them,
so my tour of duty began with a bang, and
it never got dull. I'd just been picked up at
the helipad by driver who was to take me to
the fifth Special Forces Group headquarters to draw my orders
and equipment. The driver was winding his way through city
(05:59):
streets where one of the recent battles had occurred, when suddenly,
and out of nowhere, the street in front of us
erupted in gunfire and explosions. The driver slammed on the
brakes and we slid to an abrupt sideway stop. Dust
boiled up around us, and we both jumped out of
(06:19):
the jeep and took cover on the far side. Here
I will remind you that we were on our way
to draw my equipment, so at that moment I was
unarmed and without a weapon. When I peeked up over
the jeep to see what was happening in the street ahead,
A troop truck was stopped in the center of the
(06:42):
street and South Vietnamese soldiers were firing into a burned
out building where enemy soldiers had been hiding. As bullets
impacted around us, I thought, this is crazy. I haven't
been here fifteen minutes, and I quite ready to be shot.
(07:02):
I was still looking over the jeep when through a
cloud of dust and smoke, I saw something else, A
young American woman standing alone right in the middle of
the action.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
And you're listening to Tom Ross, a Vietnam Special Forces vet,
on the privileges of war. More of his story here
on Our American Stories. Plehbibe here the host of our
American Stories. Every day on this show, we're bringing inspiring
(07:37):
stories from across this great country, stories from our big
cities and small towns. But we truly can't do the
show without you. Our stories are free to listen to,
but they're not free to make. If you love what
you hear, go to Olamericanstories dot com and click the
donate button. Give a little, give a lot. Go to
Alamericanstories dot com and give. And we continue here on
(08:11):
Our American Stories with Tom Ross's story. Let's pick up
when we last left off.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
I was still looking over the jeep when through a
cloud of dust and smoke. I saw something else, a
young American woman standing alone, right in the middle of
the action. She was behind the truck and she held
a long lens camera. As gunfire ricocheted around her. She
(08:39):
would occasionally lean out and snap pictures. As I watched
her move around, I was amazed by her boldness and tenacity,
but my thought was, she's going to get herself killed. Suddenly,
there was an explosion after South Vietnamese fired a grenade
(09:01):
into the building. Shortly two enemy soldiers appeared in windows
with their hands raised. With the battle ended, I walked
over the young woman to check on her, and the
driver followed me in the jeep. You okay, I asked, yes,
just fine, she said, confidently, Nita, ride out of here.
(09:24):
I asked, what, No, I'm working. I'm a war correspondent.
This is my job, she snapped. She was obviously a
little annoyed with my question. Okay, okay. Then I said
we'll be on our way. Take care of yourself, I
said over her shoulder as she walked away. Always do,
(09:46):
she answered, But she hadn't gone far. When she stopped
and turned around to face me. She smiled and said,
thanks for stopping. Then she turned and rushed away to
begin docum amending the capture of the enemy soldiers. Let's go,
I told the driver, she certainly doesn't need us. When
(10:08):
I was finally dropped off at fifth Special Forces Group Headquarters,
I collected my equipment in orders. Our Special Forces medics
were very well trained. If necessary, they could perform in appendectomy.
I watched one day as our senior medic performed a
very complicated surgery that saved our cook's life. And while
(10:30):
they were also trained to use virtually every weapon on
the battlefield, what our medics enjoyed most was going out
into the local village to treat sick children. I always
knew when they were going because they came around collecting
goodies from back home to give the kids they treated.
Those men were a very special breed. Amidst all the
(10:55):
war action in Vietnam, it might be surprising, but there
were also warm, even tender moments in Vietnam, and many
of those were provided by young, dedicated women who served
in the American Red Cross. Many called them the doughnut Dollies.
(11:16):
I'd been in Vietnam for about three months and hadn't
seen the face of an American woman, and all that
time until this particular day, I was preparing a map
for a mission. The next day, I began pouring a
glass of iced tea and didn't turn around when I
heard someone say, we'll seat you next to Lieutenant Ross.
(11:39):
But then I smelled perfume, so I turned to see
who or what had been seated next to me. My
teammates weren't above playing pranks, but when I turned and
saw who had been seated, my brain just quit working.
Seated next to me was a very pretty young American woman.
(12:00):
For a moment, I honestly thought it was a hallucination.
She was so out of context. But then the hallucination spoke,
she said, it's full. Not understanding what she was saying,
I said, excuse me, to which replied, your tea glass
it's full. Well, it was more than full. It had
(12:23):
overflowed and tea was now running all over the table.
I was immediately embarrassed, but my guest smile giggled and said,
it's okay, Lieutenant, this happens a lot. She helped me
clean up my mess, and we finished lunch together, and
I took her on a tour of camp I introduced
(12:44):
her to members of the team, and as I did,
their faces lit up like a child on Christmas morning.
The effect of the presence of these young women was amazing.
They risked their lives visiting forward bases that could be
fired upon by the enemy at any time. Their work
of visiting and the entertaining American servicemen was meaningful, and
(13:09):
they accomplished a great deal by simply being there, maybe
more than they even know. I didn't volunteer to go
to Vietnam to kill anyone. I simply believed that I
was there to help a country in its fight for freedom.
For me, it was as simple as that. In fact,
(13:30):
the day before I left home for Vietnam, I told
my mom and dad that I hoped I could accomplish
something good, something meaningful, in a war. I wasn't quite
sure what that might be, or if doing something good
was even possible, and as time passed, the idea of
(13:52):
doing something good had all but faded because I had
also been exposed to the whorors of war. But then
August the second of nineteen sixty eight dawned. What began
to happen on that day quickly turned into a very
(14:12):
complicated situation. At about eleven o'clock in the morning on
August the second, I received a radio call from one
of our outposts. It was Melock Outpost, and they had
called me to tell me that three enemy soldiers had
turned themselves in. The senior adviser asked me to come
(14:35):
as soon as possible. This was an unusual event. Having
arrived in Vietnam in January. By August, I had become
a seasoned advisor. So when I arrived at the outpost
and saw them in, I immediately recognized that they weren't
enemy soldiers at all. Rather, they were Montagnyard tribesmen, peaceful
(15:00):
mountain dwellers who stayed pretty much to themselves and harmed
no one. When I asked questions through my Montagnard interpreter, A'at,
the man who seemed to be the leader of the
three told stories of terrible abuse by the enemy who
had enslaved them. Mong Quang was the man's name, and
(15:23):
he said that the villagers were used as crop growers
and pack animals to carry military supplies. He also told
sickening stories about the abuse of women and children, and
he said that it had gone on for years After
some time, and now with tears in his eyes, Mon
(15:45):
Kwang reached out and took one of my hands with
both of his. Then, in his native language as a''t translated,
he begged for help for his village. Is no way
I can adequately express to you how his pleas and
the desperation in his voice made me feel. I could
(16:09):
only think of my own family in a situation like
the one he had just described, and as if what
he had told me wasn't bad enough. Through ahd but
looking directly into my eyes as he spoke, Monqwang told
me that if he didn't return to the village with
(16:31):
help by the next day, his wife and two young
children would be killed. One of the other montyard men
confirmed what Mon Quong had said by saying the enemy
had done that before. Based on what I'd already learned,
the village was located deep within enemy territory, and attempting
(16:54):
a rescue meant placing the lives of a rescue team
at risk under unknown conditions. I also had to consider
that this could be some type of elaborate trap. At
the time I was pondering what I had just been
asked to do, I was twenty two years old, still
(17:19):
considering my response, I looked at the handful of American
advisors who manned the outpost. I looked at the Special
Forces patch on the shoulder of one, and I looked
at the Special Forces crest on the green beret of another.
The crest read Diopresso Liebert Latin for free the Oppressed.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
And you're listening to Tom Ross, Vietnam Special Forces. That
on the privileges of war. When we come back, more
of Tom Ross's story here on our American stories. And
(18:12):
we continue here on our American stories with Tom Ross's story.
He's a Vietnam Special Forces VET and he's telling us
the story of his life. There, let's pick up where
we last left off.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
I looked at the Special Forces patch on the shoulder
of one, and I looked at the Special Forces crest
on the green beret of another. The crest read diopresso
Liebert Latin for free the Oppressed. That was the Special
Forces motto. As I thought, it occurred to me, this
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was a real chance for our team to actually live
the motto, and it was an opportunity for me to
do the something good I'd hope to do. Ultimately, what
every veteran listening would likely tell you is that if
you're wearing the uniform of an American serviceman or woman
(19:12):
and you're asked for help, there really isn't a lot
to consider. If you have the means, you provide the help.
So I told Ah to tell Mong Kwong that we
would give him the help for which he had come. Yes.
Yes was echoed multiple times around the inside of the
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bunker as my enthusiastic teammates voiced their feelings about my decision,
and I was glad to hear that they felt as
I did something listeners should know. As an American advisor.
I didn't command to Tannak's Vietnamese troops. I and the
(19:57):
other advisors simply did just that we advised him. So
if I were to lead this mission, I would not
only need Tuta's troops, I would also need his permission.
So as soon as we got back to Trungdung, I
went looking for Tuta. When I found him, it was
about two in the afternoon and he was eating a
(20:21):
late lunch in his quarters. He motioned me in when
he saw me at the door and invited me to
have lunch with him. But I told him I would
be missing lunch that day. There is something I do need, Tuta.
I said, I need about two companies of your best soldiers.
Then I told him about the mont yards and what
(20:43):
I wanted to do for them. When I finished, his
only question was is this mission important to you, Trungwi.
I assured him that it was, and I told him
that it would give meaning to my service in his country.
Tuta paused and there was a brief silence as he
(21:05):
seemed to give some thought to my request. He put
his chopsticks down across his rice bowl, wiped his mouth
with a cloth and dropped it on the table. Then
he turned to face me, trung Wei. He said, you
can have whatever you need. Then he asked, will you
command this mission? When I said yes, I will, he
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surprised me by saying that he would come with me
with troops committed. The next thing I needed was a
way to get them to the village. So, as I
had many times before, I went to my radio and
called the two eighty first. When I told the two
eighty first, duty Officer Lieutenant John Ware that the mission
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was going to be a rescue effort to free families, rightly,
he asked to know more to him everything I knew,
and I was bluntly honest with him. I told him
how little I knew about the area and how very
dangerous the mission could become. It was a brief pause,
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and then he said, just tell me where you need
us and at what time we'll be there. To alert
the villagers what was happening, I had arranged for an
Air Force speaker plane flown by Major Ken Moses to
broadcast a pre recorded tape of Mong Kwang in his
(22:33):
own voice. The tape instructed the villagers to gather where
our troops had landed. The message blared loud as Major
Moses made pass after pass over the jungle at treetop
level and with the circling gunships. I feel reasonably certain
(22:54):
that the Vietcong soldiers guarding the village were more than
a bit confused and intimidated. After all, they were in
the middle of nowhere and had never been bothered as
they used and abused the villagers. At the end of
the day, when we assembled back at base camp, we
had eighty two men, women and children. There were smiles
(23:19):
on the faces of the villagers as well as the
troops pilots and crews who had rescued them. However, the
mood quickly changed when Mong Quang went through the crowd
looking for his wife and children and discovered they weren't there.
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Because the villagers had been kept separated for years and
many taken away, not even Mong Kong knew how many
were still in the area. All he was sure of
was his family wasn't there. He collapsed at my feet, sobbing. Emotionally.
Moved by Ung Kwang's obvious grief, I made a promise
(24:03):
that I wasn't sure I could keep. I knelt beside
him and told I to translate, we're going back. I said,
we'll go back in the morning and we'll find your family.
The next morning, the rescue team reassembled and we launched
our second effort. After an explosive encounter with a small
(24:25):
enemy unit, we made our way to a small cluster
of huts where Mon Kwang expected to find his family. Sadly,
they weren't there, and of course he feared the worst.
He was sure they had been killed. But as I
was trying to decide where we would look next, I
received a radio call from the team leader at our
(24:48):
original landing zone. He told me that more villagers had
arrived as the message broadcast from the speaker plane had instructed.
I couldn't believe and couldn't wait to tell Mong Quang.
I reached out and took Mog by the arm and
told Ah to tell him what I'd just been told.
(25:10):
Then I told him to tell Mong that I felt
sure his family must be there. I can't tell you
how excited he became. I just hoped that I wasn't wrong.
It was a little after midday when we popped out
of the jungle and onto the cornfield that has served
as our landing zone the day before. I immediately began
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scanning the crowd, looking for a family that might be
missing a father. I didn't see one until the crowd
parted slightly. Then there on a large rock at the
top of the cornfield sat a woman and two children. Again,
I reached out and put pulled mon Quang to my
(25:58):
side and pointed to the crowd to the rock and
asked Mung Kwang's No translation was needed. When he turned
to face me again, tears trickled down his cheeks, but
this time they rolled over a smile that covered his face.
I put my hand on his back, and with a
(26:19):
gentle push said, Go Mung had barely crossed happed the cornfield.
When his family saw him coming, they all jumped down
off the rock and ran toward him. When they met,
I witnessed one of the most glorious reunions I've ever seen.
There aren't words to fully express how I felt at
(26:42):
that moment. It had been a great day to be
an American soldier.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
It had been a great day to be an American soldier.
Those are the words of Tom Ross's Vietnam Special Forces.
That and he's writing about the privileges of war. And
you don't hear that too often, do you, folks? Nor
do you hear stories like this? It's Vietnam is a
win as a loss. Did you protest? Didn't you? But
what about the life there? What about the lives changed
(27:10):
there for better and for worse? When we come back,
we continue with Tom Ross's story here on our American story,
(27:37):
and we continue with our American stories and Tom Ross's
story the Vietnam Special Forces vent talking about the privileges
of war. Let's pick up when we last left off.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
A few days later, another villager came to me and said,
other families were still missing, so once more we would
head back into the mountain jungle. Because word of this
unusual rescue mission had begun to spread, an entourage of
media went with us to cover the mission, among them
(28:14):
a CBS news crew. Bad things had been happening in
the US. Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King had both
been assassinated, so I suppose there were some in government
who wanted to share a little good news with the
American public. When we arrived back at the village, I
(28:36):
was asked by the CBS news reporter David Cohane where
he could say we were after I told him in
the middle of nowhere. I showed him my map and
explained that we had flown off the map. Trying to
come up with a location name for him, I told
mister Colhayne that I had flown observation missions in the
(28:59):
area and had often seen tigers, so I call it
the Valley of the Tigers. I loved the name, and
so did he. Great he said, that's where I'll say
we are. So when the story of the rescue aired
in the States a few days later, Walter Cronkite introduced
(29:20):
the piece as taking place in the Valley of the Tigers.
I still smile when I hear him introduce that particular
news segment. One of the more unusual Allied operations in
recent months took place a few days back in a
vit Kong area thirty miles west of not Trained called
Valley of the Tigers. CBS News correspondent David Cohane was there.
(29:46):
During the third and final day of the rescue. We
experienced more encounters with our yet calling enemy, and they
were becoming bolder. While all this was going on, armed
American woman turned up right in the middle of our
landing zone. She arrived at a five two that morning
(30:09):
with the other newsfolks, who were all male. When I
saw her, I took her aside and we had a
discussion about whether or not she should go on the mission.
I was concerned about her safety and felt I might
be distracted by the presence of a woman in enemy territory.
(30:31):
I told her, trying to gain some sympathy from my
point of view, that I'd grown up in the South
and taking care of a lady seemed second nature to me. Well,
she wasn't buying my story, and she assured me that
she was no Scarlett O'Hara. Long story short, I told
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her that she wasn't going with that. I had boarded
the lead chopper and we took off. When I looked
back down at her, she was standing on the runway
with her arms tightly folded, and she didn't look very happy. Later,
after the landing zone was secure, I called for the
(31:15):
press helicopter. When it landed, I turned to shield myself
from all the blowing debris. When it took off, I
turned back around and guess what there she stood. I
decided that if she had that much tenacity and courage,
I'd let her stay, but I did an American adviser
(31:39):
to watch over her. Sergeant Cook's count of still missing
villagers totaled approximately forty five people, So when we finally
had that number on the landing zone, I called for
a pickup. All the villagers and most of our troops
were returned safely to camp.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Lieutenant Thomas Ross was in charge of the rescue operation
on the ground. How many people do you think you
were able to bring out now?
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Right now? Up to date, we've got a total of
about one hundred and sixty five.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
These are all Monten yards right.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
They are Montyards who have been in the area under
VC control now for the last eight years. Is the
last group of helicopters that lifted off with the villagers
and troops. I was down in the jungle setting up
our perimeter secure until they returned. The rain became so
(32:36):
heavy where we were that I lost all radio communication
with any friendly unit. Occasionally I'd try to reach my
camp for word of extraction, unfortunately without response. When it
seemed clear that darkness would fall before helicopters reached us,
I gave the instruction to gather gear, pulled in our
(32:59):
security and we started down the mountain. As we moved,
I radioed my camp in the blind with a message
that we were moving into the jungle. In the blind
for those of you who don't need and don't know,
simply meant that I was sending a message, even though
I didn't know if anyone could hear it. I waited
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for a response, but again there was not just static
on my radio. We had gone about I guess fifty
yards and were just about to enter the jungle when
my radio began to crackle and I thought I heard
my call sign, which was bunk House zero two. When
(33:45):
I answered with my call sign and said we were
moving down down the mountain, A response came back, this
time loud and clear. Zero two. Hold your position.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
This is a.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Bandit leader and we are inbound to your location. It
was Lieutenant Were and he was coming after us with
his own rescue team. When I looked out across the
swirling sea of clouds before me, I couldn't imagine how
this was possible. Later I learned how it was possible.
(34:21):
Against regulation. Three helicopters had taken off in a storm
and headed west. They flew low over the Sungkai River
because they knew it would take them somewhere in the
general direction of our position, in the middle of nowhere.
When Lieutenant Ware came back on the radio, he said
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they couldn't see very well and had no clue where
they were, and told me to look for him. So
I told everyone else to start looking. They're out there somewhere,
I said. As I said, the sky was filled with
gray clouds, but there were in brakes in the last
few rays of the setting sun, and it illuminated small
(35:05):
openings here and there. Everyone was straining their eyes in
search of our rescue flight. Then from one of those
tiny openings in the clouds came a spiraling flash of
sunlight reflected from the wet windscreen of Lieutenant Weir's lead helicopter.
Hollywood couldn't duplicate the flash I saw, and considering it later,
(35:31):
I decided it was divine intervention. I immediately radioed Lieutenant
Weir to turn south, and in less than a minute
he swooped down over us. Right behind him was another
troop carrying helicopter and a gunship that flew cover for
our extraction. They were army olive green, but to those
(35:57):
of us on the ground, the helicopters looked like like
great green angels as they settled in to pick us up.
I watched until everyone was loaded, then jumped on board
and yelled go, and we lifted off. As we flew
through the clouds back to camp, I'm not embarrassed to
(36:18):
say that I whispered a short prayer of thanks, and
I sat amazed and grateful and thought of how incredible
it was that these men had risked their lives for hours. Ultimately,
if Lieutenant Weir and the other men of the two
eighty first hadn't defied regulations and come back for us.
(36:42):
That day could have ended very differently, and there might
be someone else telling you the story of the rescue
in the Valley of the Tigers.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
This is a rare occurrence in this war, an act
designed to give life and freedom in a place in
time noted namely for death and destruction.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
David Cohen, CBS News. In the Valley of the Tigers,
a couple of days after the rescue, mon Kwang found me.
It seemed he had asked Ah for an English lesson.
When he walked up to me, he reached out and
took one of my hands in both of his, just
(37:23):
as he had the first day we met. He looked
directly at me, and once more, with tears in his eyes,
he said softly, thank you, then bowed slowly for all
we had risked and for a hole we had endured.
For me, that was enough, I hope thank you is
(37:45):
enough for you for having endured my American story.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Thank you, and what a great piece of storytelling. Thanks
to Tom Ross, Vietnam Special Forces VET, and special thanks
to Great Hangler for getting the story and getting it
into shape all through Vietnam Stories of Grace, Stories of Tragedy.
Tom Ross's story here on our American stories,
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
from the arts to sports, and from business to history
and everything in between, including your story. Send them to
our American Stories dot com. They're some of our favorites.
In nineteen sixty eight, Tom Ross was the intelligence and
(00:31):
operations officer of a unique Special Forces a detachment in
the Republic of South Vietnam, the Elite Unit, also known
as the Green Berets. In two thousand and four, Tom
brought a unique perspective to the view of American service
during the Vietnam War with his book Privileges of War,
(00:52):
A Good Story of American Service in Vietnam. Today, Tom
is the president and CEO of his own successful custom
design jewelry firm, The Ross Jewelry Company, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Here's Tom with his Vietnam story.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
My name is Tom Ross, and the American story you're
about to hear is one of courage and selflessness, traits
that Americans demonstrate with great ease when others are in
danger or need of help. I'm almost seventy five years
old now, and the events I'm about to share with
you took place more than fifty years ago, but I
(01:30):
remember them as if it were yesterday. I'm always pleased
to know that women, family members and friends of a
veteran might be in the audience. This is because in
many cases, those closest to our veterans have absolutely no
idea what they may have done or experienced. And that's
simply because veterans often don't talk about their experiences. Well,
(01:54):
I'm here to tell you about a few of them
and what they did. And to all the female listeners,
what you'll hear aren't war stories. While they occurred during
a war, there's stories that I hope will touch you.
They're not what you typically hear about those who served
in Vietnam. So welcome to everyone. I'll start with a
(02:17):
bit of background. I was raised in Pensacola, Florida, home
of the Navy's flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels. I
used to watch them train out over the Gulf of
Mexico while I fished from the Pensylcola Beach Pier. They
were magnificent and inspiring, so it was easy for me
to grow up a patriot, and my parents had certainly
(02:40):
done their part by getting me started in scouting. I'd
been a Cub Scout and a boy scout, where I
are in the rank of Eagles Scout. My parents on
me also made sure I was in church every Sunday,
where I served as an altar boy and a choir boy.
So I've always thought of myself as having been an
(03:00):
all American kid, no one special, but someone who loved
the country where he was growing up. I volunteered for
service in nineteen sixty six after watching a news report
one evening while waiting to have dinner at my mom
and dad's home in Pensacola. As with many news reports
(03:21):
in the sixties, the evening news often began with a
report on action in Vietnam. I watched as two young
American Marines struggled to drag another wounded marine out of
the line of fire. You could hear bullets pinging all
around them. As I watched, something very strange happened to
me that evening. I was suddenly struck, as if hit
(03:44):
by a bolt of lightning or drenched by a bucket
of ice water. Maybe it was just a feeling of guilt.
Whatever it was, I was immediately embarrassed that I wasn't
fighting alongside the young men I was watching. I could
do was watch. I could do a thing to help.
(04:04):
Only an evening or two before, I'd been at a
fraternity sorority party, laughing and dancing without a care in
the world, but watching the struggle before me, and without
fully understanding why, I suddenly felt compelled to join the
service and go to Vietnam, so skipping my college classes.
(04:26):
The next morning, I was standing at the door when
the US Army recruiter arrived at his office. After enlisting,
I applied for Officer Candidate School and was accepted. Just
before graduating from OCS as a second lieutenant, I applied
to the US Army's Special Forces, the Elite unit also
(04:49):
known as the Green Berets. I thought that if I
were going to Vietnam, I should probably get myself as
well trained as I could if I were going to
survived the experience. Then, after more than a year of
intense unconventional warfare training at the home of Special Forces
in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, I finally received orders sending
(05:13):
me to Vietnam. I arrived in country during the infamous
Tet Offensive of nineteen sixty eight. During a New Year's truce,
the North Vietnamese Army in Vietkong launched a surprise attack
on nearly every major city in South Vietnam, no trying.
(05:34):
Where I was arriving happened to be one of them,
so my tour of duty began with a bang, and
it never got dull. I'd just been picked up at
the helipad by driver who was to take me to
the fifth Special Forces Group headquarters to draw my orders
and equipment. The driver was winding his way through city
(05:59):
streets where one of the recent battles had occurred, when suddenly,
and out of nowhere, the street in front of us
erupted in gunfire and explosions. The driver slammed on the
brakes and we slid to an abrupt sideway stop. Dust
boiled up around us, and we both jumped out of
(06:19):
the jeep and took cover on the far side. Here
I will remind you that we were on our way
to draw my equipment, so at that moment I was
unarmed and without a weapon. When I peeked up over
the jeep to see what was happening in the street ahead,
A troop truck was stopped in the center of the
(06:42):
street and South Vietnamese soldiers were firing into a burned
out building where enemy soldiers had been hiding. As bullets
impacted around us, I thought, this is crazy. I haven't
been here fifteen minutes, and I quite ready to be shot.
(07:02):
I was still looking over the jeep when through a
cloud of dust and smoke, I saw something else, A
young American woman standing alone right in the middle of
the action.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
And you're listening to Tom Ross, a Vietnam Special Forces vet,
on the privileges of war. More of his story here
on Our American Stories. Plehbibe here the host of our
American Stories. Every day on this show, we're bringing inspiring
(07:37):
stories from across this great country, stories from our big
cities and small towns. But we truly can't do the
show without you. Our stories are free to listen to,
but they're not free to make. If you love what
you hear, go to Olamericanstories dot com and click the
donate button. Give a little, give a lot. Go to
Alamericanstories dot com and give. And we continue here on
(08:11):
Our American Stories with Tom Ross's story. Let's pick up
when we last left off.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
I was still looking over the jeep when through a
cloud of dust and smoke. I saw something else, a
young American woman standing alone, right in the middle of
the action. She was behind the truck and she held
a long lens camera. As gunfire ricocheted around her. She
(08:39):
would occasionally lean out and snap pictures. As I watched
her move around, I was amazed by her boldness and tenacity,
but my thought was, she's going to get herself killed. Suddenly,
there was an explosion after South Vietnamese fired a grenade
(09:01):
into the building. Shortly two enemy soldiers appeared in windows
with their hands raised. With the battle ended, I walked
over the young woman to check on her, and the
driver followed me in the jeep. You okay, I asked, yes,
just fine, she said, confidently, Nita, ride out of here.
(09:24):
I asked, what, No, I'm working. I'm a war correspondent.
This is my job, she snapped. She was obviously a
little annoyed with my question. Okay, okay. Then I said
we'll be on our way. Take care of yourself, I
said over her shoulder as she walked away. Always do,
(09:46):
she answered, But she hadn't gone far. When she stopped
and turned around to face me. She smiled and said,
thanks for stopping. Then she turned and rushed away to
begin docum amending the capture of the enemy soldiers. Let's go,
I told the driver, she certainly doesn't need us. When
(10:08):
I was finally dropped off at fifth Special Forces Group Headquarters,
I collected my equipment in orders. Our Special Forces medics
were very well trained. If necessary, they could perform in appendectomy.
I watched one day as our senior medic performed a
very complicated surgery that saved our cook's life. And while
(10:30):
they were also trained to use virtually every weapon on
the battlefield, what our medics enjoyed most was going out
into the local village to treat sick children. I always
knew when they were going because they came around collecting
goodies from back home to give the kids they treated.
Those men were a very special breed. Amidst all the
(10:55):
war action in Vietnam, it might be surprising, but there
were also warm, even tender moments in Vietnam, and many
of those were provided by young, dedicated women who served
in the American Red Cross. Many called them the doughnut Dollies.
(11:16):
I'd been in Vietnam for about three months and hadn't
seen the face of an American woman, and all that
time until this particular day, I was preparing a map
for a mission. The next day, I began pouring a
glass of iced tea and didn't turn around when I
heard someone say, we'll seat you next to Lieutenant Ross.
(11:39):
But then I smelled perfume, so I turned to see
who or what had been seated next to me. My
teammates weren't above playing pranks, but when I turned and
saw who had been seated, my brain just quit working.
Seated next to me was a very pretty young American woman.
(12:00):
For a moment, I honestly thought it was a hallucination.
She was so out of context. But then the hallucination spoke,
she said, it's full. Not understanding what she was saying,
I said, excuse me, to which replied, your tea glass
it's full. Well, it was more than full. It had
(12:23):
overflowed and tea was now running all over the table.
I was immediately embarrassed, but my guest smile giggled and said,
it's okay, Lieutenant, this happens a lot. She helped me
clean up my mess, and we finished lunch together, and
I took her on a tour of camp I introduced
(12:44):
her to members of the team, and as I did,
their faces lit up like a child on Christmas morning.
The effect of the presence of these young women was amazing.
They risked their lives visiting forward bases that could be
fired upon by the enemy at any time. Their work
of visiting and the entertaining American servicemen was meaningful, and
(13:09):
they accomplished a great deal by simply being there, maybe
more than they even know. I didn't volunteer to go
to Vietnam to kill anyone. I simply believed that I
was there to help a country in its fight for freedom.
For me, it was as simple as that. In fact,
(13:30):
the day before I left home for Vietnam, I told
my mom and dad that I hoped I could accomplish
something good, something meaningful, in a war. I wasn't quite
sure what that might be, or if doing something good
was even possible, and as time passed, the idea of
(13:52):
doing something good had all but faded because I had
also been exposed to the whorors of war. But then
August the second of nineteen sixty eight dawned. What began
to happen on that day quickly turned into a very
(14:12):
complicated situation. At about eleven o'clock in the morning on
August the second, I received a radio call from one
of our outposts. It was Melock Outpost, and they had
called me to tell me that three enemy soldiers had
turned themselves in. The senior adviser asked me to come
(14:35):
as soon as possible. This was an unusual event. Having
arrived in Vietnam in January. By August, I had become
a seasoned advisor. So when I arrived at the outpost
and saw them in, I immediately recognized that they weren't
enemy soldiers at all. Rather, they were Montagnyard tribesmen, peaceful
(15:00):
mountain dwellers who stayed pretty much to themselves and harmed
no one. When I asked questions through my Montagnard interpreter, A'at,
the man who seemed to be the leader of the
three told stories of terrible abuse by the enemy who
had enslaved them. Mong Quang was the man's name, and
(15:23):
he said that the villagers were used as crop growers
and pack animals to carry military supplies. He also told
sickening stories about the abuse of women and children, and
he said that it had gone on for years After
some time, and now with tears in his eyes, Mon
(15:45):
Kwang reached out and took one of my hands with
both of his. Then, in his native language as a''t translated,
he begged for help for his village. Is no way
I can adequately express to you how his pleas and
the desperation in his voice made me feel. I could
(16:09):
only think of my own family in a situation like
the one he had just described, and as if what
he had told me wasn't bad enough. Through ahd but
looking directly into my eyes as he spoke, Monqwang told
me that if he didn't return to the village with
(16:31):
help by the next day, his wife and two young
children would be killed. One of the other montyard men
confirmed what Mon Quong had said by saying the enemy
had done that before. Based on what I'd already learned,
the village was located deep within enemy territory, and attempting
(16:54):
a rescue meant placing the lives of a rescue team
at risk under unknown conditions. I also had to consider
that this could be some type of elaborate trap. At
the time I was pondering what I had just been
asked to do, I was twenty two years old, still
(17:19):
considering my response, I looked at the handful of American
advisors who manned the outpost. I looked at the Special
Forces patch on the shoulder of one, and I looked
at the Special Forces crest on the green beret of another.
The crest read Diopresso Liebert Latin for free the Oppressed.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
And you're listening to Tom Ross, Vietnam Special Forces. That
on the privileges of war. When we come back, more
of Tom Ross's story here on our American stories. And
(18:12):
we continue here on our American stories with Tom Ross's story.
He's a Vietnam Special Forces VET and he's telling us
the story of his life. There, let's pick up where
we last left off.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
I looked at the Special Forces patch on the shoulder
of one, and I looked at the Special Forces crest
on the green beret of another. The crest read diopresso
Liebert Latin for free the Oppressed. That was the Special
Forces motto. As I thought, it occurred to me, this
(18:50):
was a real chance for our team to actually live
the motto, and it was an opportunity for me to
do the something good I'd hope to do. Ultimately, what
every veteran listening would likely tell you is that if
you're wearing the uniform of an American serviceman or woman
(19:12):
and you're asked for help, there really isn't a lot
to consider. If you have the means, you provide the help.
So I told Ah to tell Mong Kwong that we
would give him the help for which he had come. Yes.
Yes was echoed multiple times around the inside of the
(19:35):
bunker as my enthusiastic teammates voiced their feelings about my decision,
and I was glad to hear that they felt as
I did something listeners should know. As an American advisor.
I didn't command to Tannak's Vietnamese troops. I and the
(19:57):
other advisors simply did just that we advised him. So
if I were to lead this mission, I would not
only need Tuta's troops, I would also need his permission.
So as soon as we got back to Trungdung, I
went looking for Tuta. When I found him, it was
about two in the afternoon and he was eating a
(20:21):
late lunch in his quarters. He motioned me in when
he saw me at the door and invited me to
have lunch with him. But I told him I would
be missing lunch that day. There is something I do need, Tuta.
I said, I need about two companies of your best soldiers.
Then I told him about the mont yards and what
(20:43):
I wanted to do for them. When I finished, his
only question was is this mission important to you, Trungwi.
I assured him that it was, and I told him
that it would give meaning to my service in his country.
Tuta paused and there was a brief silence as he
(21:05):
seemed to give some thought to my request. He put
his chopsticks down across his rice bowl, wiped his mouth
with a cloth and dropped it on the table. Then
he turned to face me, trung Wei. He said, you
can have whatever you need. Then he asked, will you
command this mission? When I said yes, I will, he
(21:28):
surprised me by saying that he would come with me
with troops committed. The next thing I needed was a
way to get them to the village. So, as I
had many times before, I went to my radio and
called the two eighty first. When I told the two
eighty first, duty Officer Lieutenant John Ware that the mission
(21:52):
was going to be a rescue effort to free families, rightly,
he asked to know more to him everything I knew,
and I was bluntly honest with him. I told him
how little I knew about the area and how very
dangerous the mission could become. It was a brief pause,
(22:13):
and then he said, just tell me where you need
us and at what time we'll be there. To alert
the villagers what was happening, I had arranged for an
Air Force speaker plane flown by Major Ken Moses to
broadcast a pre recorded tape of Mong Kwang in his
(22:33):
own voice. The tape instructed the villagers to gather where
our troops had landed. The message blared loud as Major
Moses made pass after pass over the jungle at treetop
level and with the circling gunships. I feel reasonably certain
(22:54):
that the Vietcong soldiers guarding the village were more than
a bit confused and intimidated. After all, they were in
the middle of nowhere and had never been bothered as
they used and abused the villagers. At the end of
the day, when we assembled back at base camp, we
had eighty two men, women and children. There were smiles
(23:19):
on the faces of the villagers as well as the
troops pilots and crews who had rescued them. However, the
mood quickly changed when Mong Quang went through the crowd
looking for his wife and children and discovered they weren't there.
(23:39):
Because the villagers had been kept separated for years and
many taken away, not even Mong Kong knew how many
were still in the area. All he was sure of
was his family wasn't there. He collapsed at my feet, sobbing. Emotionally.
Moved by Ung Kwang's obvious grief, I made a promise
(24:03):
that I wasn't sure I could keep. I knelt beside
him and told I to translate, we're going back. I said,
we'll go back in the morning and we'll find your family.
The next morning, the rescue team reassembled and we launched
our second effort. After an explosive encounter with a small
(24:25):
enemy unit, we made our way to a small cluster
of huts where Mon Kwang expected to find his family. Sadly,
they weren't there, and of course he feared the worst.
He was sure they had been killed. But as I
was trying to decide where we would look next, I
received a radio call from the team leader at our
(24:48):
original landing zone. He told me that more villagers had
arrived as the message broadcast from the speaker plane had instructed.
I couldn't believe and couldn't wait to tell Mong Quang.
I reached out and took Mog by the arm and
told Ah to tell him what I'd just been told.
(25:10):
Then I told him to tell Mong that I felt
sure his family must be there. I can't tell you
how excited he became. I just hoped that I wasn't wrong.
It was a little after midday when we popped out
of the jungle and onto the cornfield that has served
as our landing zone the day before. I immediately began
(25:35):
scanning the crowd, looking for a family that might be
missing a father. I didn't see one until the crowd
parted slightly. Then there on a large rock at the
top of the cornfield sat a woman and two children. Again,
I reached out and put pulled mon Quang to my
(25:58):
side and pointed to the crowd to the rock and
asked Mung Kwang's No translation was needed. When he turned
to face me again, tears trickled down his cheeks, but
this time they rolled over a smile that covered his face.
I put my hand on his back, and with a
(26:19):
gentle push said, Go Mung had barely crossed happed the cornfield.
When his family saw him coming, they all jumped down
off the rock and ran toward him. When they met,
I witnessed one of the most glorious reunions I've ever seen.
There aren't words to fully express how I felt at
(26:42):
that moment. It had been a great day to be
an American soldier.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
It had been a great day to be an American soldier.
Those are the words of Tom Ross's Vietnam Special Forces.
That and he's writing about the privileges of war. And
you don't hear that too often, do you, folks? Nor
do you hear stories like this? It's Vietnam is a
win as a loss. Did you protest? Didn't you? But
what about the life there? What about the lives changed
(27:10):
there for better and for worse? When we come back,
we continue with Tom Ross's story here on our American story,
(27:37):
and we continue with our American stories and Tom Ross's
story the Vietnam Special Forces vent talking about the privileges
of war. Let's pick up when we last left off.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
A few days later, another villager came to me and said,
other families were still missing, so once more we would
head back into the mountain jungle. Because word of this
unusual rescue mission had begun to spread, an entourage of
media went with us to cover the mission, among them
(28:14):
a CBS news crew. Bad things had been happening in
the US. Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King had both
been assassinated, so I suppose there were some in government
who wanted to share a little good news with the
American public. When we arrived back at the village, I
(28:36):
was asked by the CBS news reporter David Cohane where
he could say we were after I told him in
the middle of nowhere. I showed him my map and
explained that we had flown off the map. Trying to
come up with a location name for him, I told
mister Colhayne that I had flown observation missions in the
(28:59):
area and had often seen tigers, so I call it
the Valley of the Tigers. I loved the name, and
so did he. Great he said, that's where I'll say
we are. So when the story of the rescue aired
in the States a few days later, Walter Cronkite introduced
(29:20):
the piece as taking place in the Valley of the Tigers.
I still smile when I hear him introduce that particular
news segment. One of the more unusual Allied operations in
recent months took place a few days back in a
vit Kong area thirty miles west of not Trained called
Valley of the Tigers. CBS News correspondent David Cohane was there.
(29:46):
During the third and final day of the rescue. We
experienced more encounters with our yet calling enemy, and they
were becoming bolder. While all this was going on, armed
American woman turned up right in the middle of our
landing zone. She arrived at a five two that morning
(30:09):
with the other newsfolks, who were all male. When I
saw her, I took her aside and we had a
discussion about whether or not she should go on the mission.
I was concerned about her safety and felt I might
be distracted by the presence of a woman in enemy territory.
(30:31):
I told her, trying to gain some sympathy from my
point of view, that I'd grown up in the South
and taking care of a lady seemed second nature to me. Well,
she wasn't buying my story, and she assured me that
she was no Scarlett O'Hara. Long story short, I told
(30:53):
her that she wasn't going with that. I had boarded
the lead chopper and we took off. When I looked
back down at her, she was standing on the runway
with her arms tightly folded, and she didn't look very happy. Later,
after the landing zone was secure, I called for the
(31:15):
press helicopter. When it landed, I turned to shield myself
from all the blowing debris. When it took off, I
turned back around and guess what there she stood. I
decided that if she had that much tenacity and courage,
I'd let her stay, but I did an American adviser
(31:39):
to watch over her. Sergeant Cook's count of still missing
villagers totaled approximately forty five people, So when we finally
had that number on the landing zone, I called for
a pickup. All the villagers and most of our troops
were returned safely to camp.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Lieutenant Thomas Ross was in charge of the rescue operation
on the ground. How many people do you think you
were able to bring out now?
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Right now? Up to date, we've got a total of
about one hundred and sixty five.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
These are all Monten yards right.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
They are Montyards who have been in the area under
VC control now for the last eight years. Is the
last group of helicopters that lifted off with the villagers
and troops. I was down in the jungle setting up
our perimeter secure until they returned. The rain became so
(32:36):
heavy where we were that I lost all radio communication
with any friendly unit. Occasionally I'd try to reach my
camp for word of extraction, unfortunately without response. When it
seemed clear that darkness would fall before helicopters reached us,
I gave the instruction to gather gear, pulled in our
(32:59):
security and we started down the mountain. As we moved,
I radioed my camp in the blind with a message
that we were moving into the jungle. In the blind
for those of you who don't need and don't know,
simply meant that I was sending a message, even though
I didn't know if anyone could hear it. I waited
(33:23):
for a response, but again there was not just static
on my radio. We had gone about I guess fifty
yards and were just about to enter the jungle when
my radio began to crackle and I thought I heard
my call sign, which was bunk House zero two. When
(33:45):
I answered with my call sign and said we were
moving down down the mountain, A response came back, this
time loud and clear. Zero two. Hold your position.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
This is a.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Bandit leader and we are inbound to your location. It
was Lieutenant Were and he was coming after us with
his own rescue team. When I looked out across the
swirling sea of clouds before me, I couldn't imagine how
this was possible. Later I learned how it was possible.
(34:21):
Against regulation. Three helicopters had taken off in a storm
and headed west. They flew low over the Sungkai River
because they knew it would take them somewhere in the
general direction of our position, in the middle of nowhere.
When Lieutenant Ware came back on the radio, he said
(34:43):
they couldn't see very well and had no clue where
they were, and told me to look for him. So
I told everyone else to start looking. They're out there somewhere,
I said. As I said, the sky was filled with
gray clouds, but there were in brakes in the last
few rays of the setting sun, and it illuminated small
(35:05):
openings here and there. Everyone was straining their eyes in
search of our rescue flight. Then from one of those
tiny openings in the clouds came a spiraling flash of
sunlight reflected from the wet windscreen of Lieutenant Weir's lead helicopter.
Hollywood couldn't duplicate the flash I saw, and considering it later,
(35:31):
I decided it was divine intervention. I immediately radioed Lieutenant
Weir to turn south, and in less than a minute
he swooped down over us. Right behind him was another
troop carrying helicopter and a gunship that flew cover for
our extraction. They were army olive green, but to those
(35:57):
of us on the ground, the helicopters looked like like
great green angels as they settled in to pick us up.
I watched until everyone was loaded, then jumped on board
and yelled go, and we lifted off. As we flew
through the clouds back to camp, I'm not embarrassed to
(36:18):
say that I whispered a short prayer of thanks, and
I sat amazed and grateful and thought of how incredible
it was that these men had risked their lives for hours. Ultimately,
if Lieutenant Weir and the other men of the two
eighty first hadn't defied regulations and come back for us.
(36:42):
That day could have ended very differently, and there might
be someone else telling you the story of the rescue
in the Valley of the Tigers.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
This is a rare occurrence in this war, an act
designed to give life and freedom in a place in
time noted namely for death and destruction.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
David Cohen, CBS News. In the Valley of the Tigers,
a couple of days after the rescue, mon Kwang found me.
It seemed he had asked Ah for an English lesson.
When he walked up to me, he reached out and
took one of my hands in both of his, just
(37:23):
as he had the first day we met. He looked
directly at me, and once more, with tears in his eyes,
he said softly, thank you, then bowed slowly for all
we had risked and for a hole we had endured.
For me, that was enough, I hope thank you is
(37:45):
enough for you for having endured my American story.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
Thank you, and what a great piece of storytelling. Thanks
to Tom Ross, Vietnam Special Forces VET, and special thanks
to Great Hangler for getting the story and getting it
into shape all through Vietnam Stories of Grace, Stories of Tragedy.
Tom Ross's story here on our American stories,
Host
Lee Habeeb
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