I remember well, the day my father shipped out for Viet Nam. I was 11-years old and my brother was 10-years old. Within hours of his departure, we were watching the television news when bombings in Viet Nam were reported. I was hysterical! My daddy was being bombed! My daddy would die! My brother and I were inconsolable. Of course we were too young to realize he would not have arrived in Viet Nam yet. My mother clipped every published account of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade out of Fort Devens, Massachusetts and other accounts as well. A map of Viet Nam was pinned inside the pantry door. My mother found work as a nurse's aide so she'd be one of the first to see my father should he come back injured. The year my father served in Viet Nam was one of the hardest years of my life. To this day, I feel his year in Viet Nam as much a loss to me as when he died fifteen years later.
This and the following posts are letters, clippings, and photographs of the year from about August 1966 to about July 1967 when my father was in Viet Nam. I've included a map of Vietnam at the end so you can see where my dad and Chuck were stationed.
The first few photos are of family groups. Not long before my father went to Viet Nam, we traveled from Fort Devens, Massachusetts to Milford, New York to celebrate each other as family.
Left to right, my mom, Irene
Cole Schnack, myself, Cindy
Schnack Arsenault Coffell, my brother, Raymond Schnack, and my dad, Walter J. Schnack. All us kids, all 1st cousins to each other, used to 'walk' that cable spool all over my grandparent's Schnack yard. We talk about it like it was yesterday to this day!
Edward Alexander Schnack in back with, left to right, John Schnack, Barbara
Schnack Schulz Brickey, Julie Schnack, David Schnack, and Elsie
Smith Schnack.
First cousins from front to back and left to right: Robert Jones, Jr., Julie Schnack, David Schnack, Peggy
Jones Martindale, Doreen
Cope Lindner, Cheryl
Jones Besson, Barbara
Schnack Schulz Brickey, John Schnack, Raymond Schnack, Cindy
Schnack Arsenault Coffell, Vicki
Cope Walston, and Thomas Cope.
The Robert Jones family: left to right are Robert Jones, Peggy
Jones
Martindale, Katharine
Schnack Jones Gall Hammon, with Cheryl
Jones
Besson in front of her and Robert Jones, Jr. on the bottom step.
This photograph is one I usually refer to as the last supper. It was the last supper we ate as a family before my father shipped out to Vietnam. We were in our backyard at our apartment in Ayer and all I remember eating was lots of corn-on-the-cob!
This is myself and my brother with my dad before he shipped out.
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| from The Commander's Digest |
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| unsourced newspaper clipping |
Family names in this letter and their relationship to my father are:
- 'Mom' was Olive Letha Rose Schnack, his mother
- 'Dad' was Jochim Walter Schnack, his father
- 'Irene' was Irene Orvetta Cole Schnack, his wife
- 'Chuck' is Charles Elbert Rose, his cousin
- 'Jake' was Walter J. Schnack, himself and author of this letter
4 Oct 1966
Dear Mom and Dad,
Well, I think I really owe you a letter after all I have received from you. As you probably can gather, I'm still ok even though I've shed about 26 pounds so far. I've been shot at a few times but nothing too close. We have been working long hours and hard work but we have come along since we arrived; where before was nothing but low land and swamp, is now beginning to look like a small army camp. We now have floors in most of the tents so we aren't in the mud which I have grown to dislike. I think the dry season is soon coming. We went four days until yesterday without rain. Last night it really came down; about 12 inches in 3 hours and before that it rained almost every day; not for long, but like a cloudburst. The ground here is very funny. It has a crust of sorts which once you penetrate, there is no telling when you stop. The rain settles on top but by taking a rod (small) you poke a hole and usually the water just
runs into the ground. The countryside around us is more or less flat with one exception, which is a large mountain about three miles away. It is VC controlled except for the very top where there is a radio relay team of about ten men. Tay Ninh itself is quite a good sized town. The people are mainly farmers. They are relatively friendly; of course, they're still afraid the VC will sneak in and terrorize them which does happen once in a while. I have been in most of the hamlets within 10 miles of base camp except to the west which is Cambodia and we are SUPPOSED to stay 1 1/2km from the border. We're sitting almost in the middle of their infiltration route. They really don't want to fight here but its the only way they can move many troops and supplies in.
The plastic bags were put to immediate use by myself and the two Sgts who live in the same tent with me. We put our clothes on hangers and inserted the bags over them with a hole in the top just big enough for one hanger. The boys thank you as do I. We are starting to get PX items now, not a whole lot but at least the necessary
items. We have gotten one 55-gal. drum rigged for a shower and have dug our well and are going to put up a 1000-gal. tank for showers. Our well went down twenty feet and we have a steady 9-10 foot of water so I guess we'll make out OK.
I have quite a bit of work in Civil Affairs. We have repaired some roads and shown them how to make drainage ditches and culverts. We operate 3 MEDCAPS which are medical setups in three different villages, for a GP, this is sure good training because everything imaginable can be found wrong with these people. We have also redistributed over 1500 pounds of captured rice.
I will re-read your letter and see what I've missed. Yes, your tea arrived and was used immediately. It doesn't taste as good with this water as stateside but we used it. Kool-Aid is about the best. I hope your 40th Anniversary party went OK and really, I'm ashamed I didn't send a letter to coincide with it, but me being here shouldn't cast a cloud on the whole thing. I'm usually somewhere away on all the other days, too. Right?
In one of your letters to Irene you said something about having lots of tomatoes and I really remember at the time of wishing I had some. Of course, any mention of frost scares me because it runs between 90° to 127° here and nights drop down to a cool 75°-85°. The humidity stays about 75% to 80% most of the time.
I'm sorry to hear you've been having trouble with your ear. I hope you can find what's wrong. I also hope Irene doesn't have too much trouble with our car. I saw Chuck and he looks good but, in his outfit, they hardly have time to say hello. As for TV, I hope I don't get that close to action to make the movies. As yet, no Digest, but I did receive a card saying it was coming. I imagine it will come by "boat mail" which takes 30-45 days. Gee, it sure was a long time ago when I gave Barbara Weeks those P.J.s.
On the Basketball Assoc., check with Morty Johnson and ask him to let you know when the next dues are due. Then, if you pay him, Irene will reimburse you or else have her send the check. Only thing is to make sure my address is Milford.
On your question about Un-American activities. There is some trouble from at least three of the organizations. They even have leaflets printed and mailed over here somehow. Student Non-Violent is one. As for being run from outside or not, I really can't say, but I think they get guidance from outside.
Now for your corresponding. The fifth grade here will be a little older than yours but not much. Their English is poor as is the school, but they do try. We have two people who teach twice a week (at different times) 3 hours each time. As for the war ending before you get a chance, don't believe it. If we would accept North Vietnam's word to cease and move out, they'd move back in. I'll try and get some pictures of the kids here and also the school. If they write in Vietnamese, I can get my interpreter to translate it before I mail them and he could also help them in understanding your letters. I really think it would be a good thing. Old clothes and toys would really come in handy, too. The
basics are a blouse and p.j. pants, or at best that's what they look like, and shower slippers. Dresses are cut down for the small children.
Well Mom, I'll really try to write sooner next time and don't worry about this old horse. My best to both you and Dad. So until next, I remain
Your loving son,
Jake
I'm including this map to give you an idea of where my dad and his cousin, Chuck, were stationed while in Vietnam. Chuck was at Cu Chi which is northwest of Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City) and my father was at Tay Ninh just a bit further northwest of Cu Chi. In later months, near the end of his year, my father was at Chu Lai which was a Marine base on the coast closer to the DMZ.
Thank you, Annette R. Hall, for your kind permission to use this map. Please visit her sites at
i-served.com and
ragone.com.
