Veteran shares experiences with kids

For some, talking about their time in the Vietnam War is troublesome, particularly if they lost friends or were wounded, and it's no difference for Marine Corps veteran Denis Munson, who was a guest speaker at Plains Elementary School last week.

Sixty-two students from fifth and sixth grade classes heard Munson talk about his combat experiences, much of it in a medevac helicopter designed to retrieve wounded soldiers or Marines from a combat zone. He spent about 50 minutes with each grade, showing the kids photographs of himself and others in Vietnam. He gave a short lesson on helicopters, told them about the perks of being an American, and gave a plug for all military veterans, telling them that their relatives in the military, regardless of what they did or which service they were in, were heroes.

"They offered their lives in the defense of this great country we live in," said Munson, who spent two tours in Vietnam. Munson set up a display in the school's "Opportunity Room" of the new multipurpose building, where he had an assortment of photographs, military patches, ribbons and medals, including a Combat Action Medal, a National Defense Medal, and Vietnam Service Medals. He told them that each one tells a story. He said that the Good Conduct Medal means, "I was a good boy for nine years." He has four Air Medals, one each for 25 flights in combat. He told them that he is especially proud of his Air Combat Wings, which he wears on his chest.

The 84-year-old Munson grew up on a ranch on Eddy Flats, located between Plains and Thompson Falls. It was homesteaded by his grandfather in 1884. He graduated from Thompson Falls High School in 1957 before going off to college at the University of Notre Dame. He was nearly done when he got word that his mother was terminally ill and wanted to be with her before she passed. Leaving college, he was drafted by the Army and would have had to leave for basic training. However, the Marine Corps told him that if he went into their service, he could stay with his mother until she passed. He went into the Marine Corps in 1960 and soon found himself in Vietnam, where he stayed for three years.

With the rank of gunnery sergeant, he was designated the helicopter crew chief. He had a model of the Sikorsky UH-34-D helicopter that he flew during his tours in Vietnam and demonstrated to the kids how it was positioned when it landed and launched. One of his life changing moments occurred when his chopper was dispatched to a "hot zone" where two Marines were critically wounded.

"We decided to make a high speed low level approach to keep the enemy fire to a minimum. We were hit just after that with what I don't know, except it took out our tail rotor making the aircraft uncontrollable," said Munson. He believes that a rocket-propelled grenade - an RPG - struck the tail portion of the aircraft, which sent it crashing into a rice paddy.

Munson said it was a "lucky shot" that took down the helicopter with its crew of four. The gunner was shot and killed when he climbed atop of the helicopter to help get one of the pilots out of the craft. Munson and the pilot got the copilot out and they laid at the edge of a rice paddy dike where they took up a defensive position. The pilot and copilot were both killed. Many of the details he kept from the students.

"I was able to keep the VC (Viet Cong) away from me fortunately, until a rescue was affected by the Air Force, Navy and Marines," he said. He fought off several attacks from the enemy until the jets came and raked them with napalm, an incendiary type bomb, to drive the enemy away from Munson and the downed helicopter. "They dropped it so close I couldn't breathe," he told the kids. A Marine Corps helicopter soon landed nearby with a rescue team. "I then was told I was only one to make it," he said. Because he was wounded in combat, he received the Purple Heart, one of two he got during his time there.

Munson has told his story numerous times to groups, including school students, but this was his first time at a local school since he returned to Sanders County earlier this year. Although he's been back to Montana to visit several times, this is the first time he has come back to live in 63 years, when his wife, Dr. Kathleen Walsh, was offered the job of the Plains Schools superintendent in July. He said it's sometimes difficult to speak of his experiences, even after nearly 60 years, but he said that it does help him cope with his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

He showed the kids a photo of himself sitting in a helicopter's gunner position with an M-60 machine gun. He also had a photograph of one of his helicopters that had been blown up by the enemy soldier that snuck onto the base while it was on the ground. He was sleeping in a tent nearby when it happened and wasn't injured, but he also had a photo of another chopper that a "sapper" blew up, killing Americans sleeping inside.

He passed his Purple Heart medal around so the kids could get a close up look at it and provided them with a fact sheet on the history of the award. He asked the kids how many have relatives in the military and most raised their hands. He told the ones with Marine Corps relatives that they would receive an "A" that day. Munson emphasized the importance of thanking any veteran they meet for their service regardless of their job. "They are all heroes, doesn't matter what they did," he told them. For the first two years in the Marines, Munson served in a clerical capacity and as a driver for a high ranking officer. One officer took him on a jet ride and later taught him how to fly, something he said was the most unique exhilarating experience he ever had.

Munson took his role of retrieving injured men from a combat zone very seriously. He said that sometimes they'd get a call on the radio to abort a mission because the area was too hot. "We always had radio trouble," he said sarcastically. "We never got that message because we didn't believe we should ever abort a mission if we were going out to try to save a life," said Munson, who returned to Vietnam after recovering from his injuries when shot down.

He told the kids of the only time he flew into North Vietnam and was shot rescuing a downed pilot. In 1965, a Navy pilot was shot down. The man ejected from the aircraft and was hiding from the enemy when Munson's helicopter showed up to get him out of there, about 90 miles into North Vietnam territory. They spotted the pilot and landed the helicopter over a hill so the enemy couldn't see them. Munson left the helo and went about 100 yards to help the pilot up a steep hill, all the while being shot at by about 20 enemy soldiers. At one point, he was knocked to the ground but didn't know why. He quickly got up and into the helicopter with the rescued pilot. He found out while flying away from the scene that he was bleeding. It was a gunshot wound. A bullet had gone through his flack vest and into his shoulder blade. He said it hadn't gone in very deep and once they landed a Navy corpsman removed it and bandaged him up. They also discovered that there were 57 bullet holes in the tail end of the aircraft.

The kids in the first group asked a number of questions about booby traps, bombing, nuclear weapons, tunnel rats, and the kind of gun he used. The sixth-graders asked a few questions; most of them told Munson of their relatives in the military, some going back to World War II. All 29 members of the fifth grade shook Munson's hand as they left. Munson gave all the kids an American flag.

He told each group that he'd been around the world to numerous countries and there were none as good as the United States and none have the freedom that they have in America. "Freedom is an awesome thing and in this country we're free. I fought for it, your relatives fought for it and some of you may someday fight for it. It's the greatest thing," said Munson, who enjoys talking to the students and in particular, talking about the Marine Corps.

Munson was discharged from the service on May 18, 1969. He wasn't pleased with the way South Vietnam fell in 1975, but he said he had a job to do for his country and was proud that he gave it his all. "Marines are taught to win at any cost. But to give it all back to them the next day was hard to take," said Munson, who went home with three broken vertebrates, a bruised spinal cord and nerve damage to both legs.

"One thing I impress on them," said Munson, "is how lucky they are to be Americans and what our freedoms do for us."