Troops Return To War
By John Engel

   LANDING ZONE GATOR Vietnam (AP) ---

"I’ve been with the Airborne when water iced up in their canteens. But not a word was said.

"I’ve been with the Airborne when they have been in the field, came back for two hours and went out again. Not a word.

"I've been with the Airborne when they made a practice jump In Puerto Rico in a 25-knott wind and took 20 percent casualties. Not a word.

“This is the first time I’ve heard the Airborne complain” said Capt. Bob Gushwa, of South Bend, Ind., chaplain for the 1st Battalion, 508th Airborne Infantry, 3rd Brigade, 82nd "All American" Division.

What's the Airborne complaining about?

Not so much that the 3rd Brigade has come to war, but that so many of its 4,000 men ---about 85 percent --- are going around for the second time. The veterans' unprecedented ordered second tour began last month at Chu Lai and two outlying helicopter landing zone about 330 miles north of Saigon, named Gator and Fat City.

   The 1st Battalion commander, Lt Col. Archie Carpenter, of Seattle, Wash., said: "The Airborne is strictly a volunteer outfit. lt's the job of paratroopers to move fast. That's what we've done. I'm sure many of the men aren't ecstatic about coming back here."

  The brigade and a regiment of U.S. Marines are the core of the latest reinforcements sent to Vietnam. They arrived a week after the massive Communist Tet offensive began Jan. 31.

   President Johnson saw some of the Airborne units depart from Ft. Bragg, N.C. "He gave us a shot from the glory needle," said one paratrooper.

   The returnees feel the one year they already put in Vietnam was enough. Practically to a man they were members of the 101st and 173rd Airborne Brigades that participated in fighting from War Zone "C'' to the Central Highlands.

   Many of them wear the Purple Heart and there are Silver and Bronze Stars among them as well.

   "I think that if a man comes over here once he should be kept away for good," said Sgt. Dick DiGiovanni, of Norfolk, Va. ''Once is enough."

   Mostly. the Veterans resent having their plans cut short.

  "I was all set lo be a jump training instructor." said Sgt. Harold Price. 23. of Appalachia, Va. "I had no idea I was coming back."

"I don't mind coming back, but it's too soon, man," said Spec. 4 Lincoln 'Walton, 2 1, Opelika, Ala. He was supposed ro be married this week.

   "Hell, I just bought a new sports car, and spent $300 on racing tires and magnesium wheels," said another returnee, Sgt. Dan Varner, 23, of Rock Hill, S.C. 

"Now Varner's going to drive LPC's.'' said a paratrooper lounging against a bunker. That stands !or leather personal carriers --- boots. Ha ha ha."

[Las Vegas Review-Journal, Las Vegas, NV, Mon, Mar 04, 1968, Page: 4]