Life and Death in the Central Highlands: An American Sergeant in the Vietnam War, 1968-1970

328 Pages·2010·4.16 MB·English

by  James T. Gillam

and
LIFE DEATH
IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS
©2010 James T. Gillam
Foreword ©2006 Allan R. Millett
All rights reserved.
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University of North Texas Press
1155 Union Circle #311336
Denton, TX 76203-5017
The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard
for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, z39.48.1984. Binding materials have been
chosen for durability.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gillam, James T.
Life and death in the Central Highlands : an American sergeant in the Vietnam War, 1968/1970 /
James T. Gillam ; foreword by Allan R. Millett.
p. cm. -- (Number 5 in the North Texas military biography and memoir series)
Previously published in 2006 by Edwin Mellen Press under the title: War in the Central Highlands
of Vietnam, 1968-1970.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-57441-292-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American. 2. Gillam, James T. 3. Vietnam War,
1961-1975--Campaigns--Vietnam--Central Highlands. 4. Central Highlands (Vietnam)--History.
5. Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Regimental histories. 6. United States. Army. Infantry Regiment, 22nd.
Battalion, 1st--History. I. Gillam, James T. War in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, 1968-1970. II.
Title. III. Series: North Texas military biography and memoir series ; no. 5
DS559.5.G547 2010
959.704’342092--dc22
2010015561
Life and Death in the Central Highlands: An American Sergeant in the Vietnam War, 1968–1970 is Number
5 in the North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series
Previously published in 2006 by Edwin Mellen Press under the title War in the Central Highlands of
Vietnam 1968–1970: An Historian’s Experience.
and
LIFE DEATH
IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS
An American Sergeant in the Vietnam War,
1968–1970
JAMES T. GILLAM
Number 5 in the North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series
University of North Texas Press
Denton, Texas
Corporal Edward H. Gillam served in Vietnam with Company E, 2nd
Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division. This book is dedicated
to his memory.
This book is dedicated to many people. First among them
are my family. My parents, James T. Gillam Sr., and Marie P.
Gillam always encouraged my scholarship but they did
not live to see it in hard copy from an academic press. Next are
my wife Connie, my son Damon, and my daughters
Jessica and Whitney. They all said to me for years, “you should
write a book!” I thank you all for your encouragement
and patience.
There are also some men I trained and served in Vietnam
with who deserve special mention here. Among them are the
four “G Men,” Staff Sergeant Michael Mullen, and Specialist
Fourth Class Robert Frost. Michael and Robert did not come
home alive, but they are alive in memory.
Finally, there is my brother Corporal Edward H. Gillam (USMC
Ret.). Ed “lost his life” in Vietnam, and he died in Ohio in Janu-
ary of 2005. Rest in peace, Ed, and thanks again for the advice
that got me home alive.

Contents
FOREWORD BY ALLAN R. MILLETT ix
PREFACE xv
1. The Tet Offensive: Making Space for the
Draft Class of 1968 1

2. Training the Draft Class of 1968 11
3. Joining the Vietnam Class of 1969–70 38

4. Operation Putnam Wildcat
November 1, 1969, to January 18, 1970 75

5. Operation Putnam Power
January 18 to February 7, 1970 113

6. Operations Hines and Putnam Paragon
February 16 to May 18, 1970 133

7. Regional Politics, Diplomacy, and Military Preparations
for Invasion, March 11 to May 18, 1970 183
8. The Cambodian Invasion
May 7 to May 15, 1970 199

9. Joining the Vietnam Veteran’s Class of 1970 228

10. Epilogue 255
APPENDIX: Where Are They Now 261
NOTES 267
GLOSSARY OF TERMS 283
BIBLIOGRAPHY 287
INDEX 291

Foreword
When Oliver Stone’s movie Platoon sent us scurrying for a foxhole
in our local theaters, I invited a faculty friend, Professor Robert
Driscoll, to walk point with me on this cinematic stroll into Stone’s
Vietnam War. Bob had served in the Twenty-fifth Infantry Division
at roughly the same time (1969–1970) and place (War Zones C
and D in the III Corps area) as Stone. Both had been infantrymen.
Jim Gillam’s battalion (First of the 22d Infantry in Army-speak)
belonged to the Fourth Infantry Division, which campaigned
north of the Twenty-fifth’s area of operations. Jim’s tour, however,
roughly matched Bob’s in time, place, tactical environment, and
“grunt” perspective. Bob and Jim had (and, I suspect, have) much
in common, race excepted. They came from that part of our society,
the demographic frontier between working and middle class, that
furnishes the U.S. Army’s best enlisted soldiers. They came from
two-parent homes with siblings in northern Ohio where the work
ethic and family security have been eroded by Rust Belt economic
distress, but where attending college is still an ambivalent alterna-
tive to joining a union. College also remains a great family expense,
which makes the Army college program very attractive. Bob and
Jim both abandoned their indifferent early academic careers and
their 2-S draft deferments to join the Army and become MOS
11B, basic infantryman, in an army fighting a war drifting toward
disengagement. Unlike Jim, Bob did not complete a full tour since
he was so severely wounded (twice) that our basketball-playing
students thought he’d been in a bad motorcycle accident.
ix