A Vet’s Story – Don Cleaver
“Incoming” was the way of life
Staff Sgt. Don Cleaver has experienced many things in life: some happy, some sad, some awakening, some frightening, but never just one of these things. The following descriptions represent pieces of his life, that once together represent the man that he was and continues to be.
Don is a veteran of the Vietnam War and agreed to interview with Lehigh students because he wanted to share his story of the Vietnam era.
Don is a tall man with soft brown eyes and sharp black hair. Looking at the aged photo of himself, he is completely proud of the man he used to be: a strong, muscular 21-year-old in uniform. Today, sitting upright in a wooden chair circa 1970, Don’s days include the pile of pills in front of him. All have their individual purpose, but collectively they form the life preserver of his life.
Don hoped to attend Millersville University, but applied too late. Due to the influence of his high school science teacher, he enlisted in the Air Force with a ten-year contract, which would pay for college. He went on to attend Princeton University for three years studying cryptography, which was crucial to breaking and decoding messages.
“One of my least favorite people, Lyndon Baines Johnson, decided to escalate the war.” The number of troops increased from 35,000 to 550,000. The military necessity at the time was security personnel and military police and that became Don’s occupation. He was reassigned as a regular enlistment. The first thing he did was make a “short timers” calendar, where he wrote down all four years to scratch off each day. “I knew right then that I wasn’t going to stay in the military.”
Don served for four years and spent one year in Vietnam. He worked in the OSI or Office of Special Investigation, as the plain-clothes military FBI. He was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal on May 16, 1968. The following is an excerpt from the citation that accompanied the award.
“Cleaver’s outstanding professional skill and initiative aided immeasurably in identifying and solving numerous problems encountered in the accomplishment of duties.”
“Bob Hope Leaves U.S. on Annual Visit to G.I.s.,” “Bob Tosses Curves (Raquel’s) At Air Force Men in Thailand,” these were a few of the articles cut from The Morning Call in Don’s scrapbook.
He was put on special duty as a guard for the Bob Hope Christmas Tour, where he guarded the likes of Hubert Humphrey and Raquel Welch. He was given top secret, AF 3599 clearance, which provided access to the highest secure information.
“My father used to send doggie packs from Yocco’s and a box of Slim Jims. I lived on that junk for so long.” The food was completely from cans until a new mess hall was built. The hall was built at the 366 Combat Fighter Wing at Danang Air Base.
Don’s first thoughts on Vietnam: “This is just like the U.S., but hot and it stinks.”
The Danang base was hit with multiple bomb drops and the night skies flashed with bright orange. Don was perched high above in a look out, capturing the moment in black and white.
“First Night”
“The first night I was there, this happened, the base blew up, I thought ‘oh boy, was I good luck.’”
Men
leaned on sand bags and chatted about the states and their girlfriends to keep
their spirits up. Rounds blasted into the group, as movement and rustling could
be heard from beyond. Don immediately assumed enemy fire and called into the
base. He was alert. His eyes were wide open. This unknown “enemy” was actually
the Marines and the men were told to disregard their friendly fire. He thought
to himself, “What the hell is the difference, the bullet doesn’t care who is
shot.” Don realizes that he had better pay attention if he wants to go home
alive. This new form of reality set the tone for the rest of his year in
service. “A lot of our soldiers were killed by our own soldiers, that we’ll
never admit to.”
The men tried to escape the guns and continual killings. Bright blue skies, crystal clear waters and white sands with gently imprinted crisscross tire lines brought the men a taste of simple relaxation. Similarly to other military men, they escaped to China Beach, where they drank beer and ate the steaks they had traded for from the Marines. The men worked in darkness to camouflage themselves from the enemy. In the mornings, they escaped to the simpler, safer game of basketball and welcomed the healing power of beer and whiskey.
The peace of the beach soon turned back into the war zone. With one fatal word, “Incoming!” the men ran into the ocean, as a reflex, Don tried to escape. There was nowhere else to turn, as mortars hit the beach and exploded, creating fireworks of light. The Viet Cong had zeroed in on the beach. After all the shots were fired, the men finally felt comfortable returning to the beach. They continued their game.
“Cold Beer”
Don’s entrepreneurial spirit came alive due to the men’s interest in drinking alcohol. He worked out a deal with the Marines, where he would give them bottles of whiskey in exchange for a Conex, a type of military refrigerator. He bought a couple hundred cases of beer and went into a type of beer distribution business. Cold beer was a very rare commodity at the time. His newfound business expertise proved a full-blown success. When he returned to the United States, he had enough money to buy himself a Mustang, payed full in cash.
Don worked as part of the SAT team (Security Alert Team), who faced the highest of risks. One quarter of the men had to work during the day, so Don was able to sleep during the daytime. When the phone would ring at the base, there was always a problem. Don had to answer the call one day concerning a water buffalo that had gotten onto the base and was running around destroying million-dollar aircraft equipment. Don thought that maybe the Viet Cong had fed the animal drugs. Don was given the order to kill the buffalo, and so he took out his M-16, a new, fiercely swift weapon. “I shot that animal with 100 rounds and it only bled, it wouldn’t give up its rampage. After 200 rounds from an M-16, it finally slowed down. We had to shoot it in its ear 12 times before it lost its’ desire.” The story was published as propaganda presenting the powerful nature of the M-16. Don knew better.
To explain the horrors of war, Don quotes Rush Limbaugh “The only way to win war is to kill everybody.” Most, if not all of the soldiers slept with no clothes on due to intense heat rashes. The men would sit around and a Vietnamese laundry lady would come around and collect the men’s clothing. The next day Don was missing his uniform shirt. He didn’t think much of this until he found it on the laundry lady’s dead body. The woman was a Communist who was planning an attack on the soldiers. The Americans collected all the Vietnamese they had killed and dragged them to the center of town in the soccer field. The Americans sent a strong message that day to the Vietnamese. “I was going to shoot her again, but it gave me great pleasure in kicking her when I realized she was one of the bodies,” he said.
A B-52 crashed in a small airstrip and broke in half. Don was put on duty at the crash site to ensure that classified information was protected. He had to sit in near darkness in the woods with the plane parts. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw an Air Force hat. As he pulled the hat from the ground, he ended up pulling up a head with it. “A moment like that, your values change in a heart beat, everything changes in a heartbeat,” said Don. “I knew a lot of guys who were affected by the war, but this is a war and being a warrior is a job, no different than being a bank teller. You have a job.”
Don took an early out from the military and decided not to re-enlist. “The day Nixon became president, Jan. 20, 1969, I put my hand down and became a civilian.” Don has been married to his wife, Patricia, for 34 years. They met at the age of 8 and 5, as Patricia became the bat girl for Don’s junior baseball team. They have one son, Donald Jr. and one daughter, Christine Harrer, who has an 18-month-old daughter, Shaye. Playschool furniture and toys await the arrival of his granddaughter for another afternoon of babysitting. Today, Don is retired and on disability.
Don sits quietly now. The war stays with Don everyday. He went through it all, but life is good now. In his scrapbook, Don faces reminders of the horrors of war that he will never forget. He now spends the majority of his time with his granddaughter and enjoys a quieter life. He looks up from his scrapbook and smiles.
Lauren Eisner is a junior at Lehigh University. Her hometown is Allentown, Pa.