Posted on May 10, 2022
Veteran Spotlight during national military appreciation month: John Shoemaker
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An absolute honor to interview John Shoemaker for this week’s Veterans Spotlight. Born in Fitchburg, MA he attended UMASS and graduated with a BBS in Management before enlisting in the Army in 1968. He would go onto serve his country for (4) years as a Combat Platoon Leader and Company Commander in the 196th Light Infantry Brigade of the “Americal” Division in Chu Lai. He completed his basic training at Fort Dix, NJ, Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Polk, LA and Airborne & Officer Candidate School Training at Fort Benning, GA before going to advanced jungle training in the Panama Canal Zone.
Lt. Shoemaker left for Vietnam with his first-born son only (3) months old. He arrived in Vietnam and immediately went through two weeks of in-country training and was assigned to a Firebase on Hawk Hill then to Hill 251 just west of Chu Lai. His first day on patrol, provided him with a memorable experience. “My commanding office told me ‘you’re just an observing officer’…..we were marching through a rice paddy, I was 5th in line…..radio guy was in front of me….I was mesmerized as I waded through this dark brown, putrid, god-awful-smelling water filled with water buffalo and human excrement and leeches….I thought, I’m not watching Walter Cronkite anymore….then, it seemed like the whole world blew up…..a huge explosion…..the guy in front of the radio man stepped on a booby trap…blew off his feet……almost split the Lieutenant in front of him in two….I was now in charge…..all our guys had zero combat experience…..one of the soldiers came up to me and said, ‘ok Lieutenant, what do we do now?’ I was on patrol for just two hours and thought ‘how am I gonna’ last a year?’ He continued. “My only thought was I had to keep my soldiers alive and kill as many NVA soldiers before they killed me….thought there’s no way in hell I’m getting out of here alive…..was scared every day and I said (expletive) it, I’m taking the battle to the enemy….I was in the jungle 3-4 weeks at a time…..was always afraid of losing a limb or being captured……resigned myself that the latter was never going to happen” he said.
I asked Lt. Shoemaker about the holidays and how it might have affected him. “There were no holidays for me….did have a chance to see Bob Hope….it was a life experience…..got to meet him years later….took a bunch of my guys from Hawk Hill…..had to drive a long ways….all I could think about on the way is to hell with Hope, what happens if we got ambushed? We couldn’t carry guns, only the MP’s escorting us could…..would have been the perfect time” he remembered.
I asked Lt. Shoemaker, the feeling of losing a soldier under your command. He replied with this; “It’s simply devastating….you constantly think ‘what could I have done, what should I have done’? It eats at you….I lost (5) guys…..two gunshot and three from booby traps….I wanted to kill (10) NVA for every one I lost….I was just so pissed….when a soldier is lost, it stays with the family forever….the pain never goes away….nobody knows how they suffer” he recalled. He continued, “I had a soldier that had two parents that were doctors...this kid was in med-school studying to be a doctor….great kid….he enlisted to go to Vietnam because his parents told him he should do something for his country that would have purpose….he took a bullet to one of his major organs in a firefight….he died in shock in the helicopter….an asset of humanity that was tragically lost” he said somberly.
Lt. Shoemaker offered this when I asked him his thoughts on the protesters of the Vietnam War. “I rejected it at the time, because it showed our country in a bad light and divided. It destroyed our country’s morale, unity and patriotism.”
Thoughts on service? “I thought I needed to serve…..my dad was in the Navy in WWII….I was inspired by my dad….being a Combat Platoon Leader in Vietnam proved to be who I am, it changed who I was….and it created who I would be….I would do everything over the exact same way.” He was awarded (3) Bronze Stars, (2) for Valor, the Air Medal, (2) Army Commendation Medals, (1) for Valor and the Purple Heart. Lt. John Shoemaker, thank you for your service to our great country.
Lt. Shoemaker left for Vietnam with his first-born son only (3) months old. He arrived in Vietnam and immediately went through two weeks of in-country training and was assigned to a Firebase on Hawk Hill then to Hill 251 just west of Chu Lai. His first day on patrol, provided him with a memorable experience. “My commanding office told me ‘you’re just an observing officer’…..we were marching through a rice paddy, I was 5th in line…..radio guy was in front of me….I was mesmerized as I waded through this dark brown, putrid, god-awful-smelling water filled with water buffalo and human excrement and leeches….I thought, I’m not watching Walter Cronkite anymore….then, it seemed like the whole world blew up…..a huge explosion…..the guy in front of the radio man stepped on a booby trap…blew off his feet……almost split the Lieutenant in front of him in two….I was now in charge…..all our guys had zero combat experience…..one of the soldiers came up to me and said, ‘ok Lieutenant, what do we do now?’ I was on patrol for just two hours and thought ‘how am I gonna’ last a year?’ He continued. “My only thought was I had to keep my soldiers alive and kill as many NVA soldiers before they killed me….thought there’s no way in hell I’m getting out of here alive…..was scared every day and I said (expletive) it, I’m taking the battle to the enemy….I was in the jungle 3-4 weeks at a time…..was always afraid of losing a limb or being captured……resigned myself that the latter was never going to happen” he said.
I asked Lt. Shoemaker about the holidays and how it might have affected him. “There were no holidays for me….did have a chance to see Bob Hope….it was a life experience…..got to meet him years later….took a bunch of my guys from Hawk Hill…..had to drive a long ways….all I could think about on the way is to hell with Hope, what happens if we got ambushed? We couldn’t carry guns, only the MP’s escorting us could…..would have been the perfect time” he remembered.
I asked Lt. Shoemaker, the feeling of losing a soldier under your command. He replied with this; “It’s simply devastating….you constantly think ‘what could I have done, what should I have done’? It eats at you….I lost (5) guys…..two gunshot and three from booby traps….I wanted to kill (10) NVA for every one I lost….I was just so pissed….when a soldier is lost, it stays with the family forever….the pain never goes away….nobody knows how they suffer” he recalled. He continued, “I had a soldier that had two parents that were doctors...this kid was in med-school studying to be a doctor….great kid….he enlisted to go to Vietnam because his parents told him he should do something for his country that would have purpose….he took a bullet to one of his major organs in a firefight….he died in shock in the helicopter….an asset of humanity that was tragically lost” he said somberly.
Lt. Shoemaker offered this when I asked him his thoughts on the protesters of the Vietnam War. “I rejected it at the time, because it showed our country in a bad light and divided. It destroyed our country’s morale, unity and patriotism.”
Thoughts on service? “I thought I needed to serve…..my dad was in the Navy in WWII….I was inspired by my dad….being a Combat Platoon Leader in Vietnam proved to be who I am, it changed who I was….and it created who I would be….I would do everything over the exact same way.” He was awarded (3) Bronze Stars, (2) for Valor, the Air Medal, (2) Army Commendation Medals, (1) for Valor and the Purple Heart. Lt. John Shoemaker, thank you for your service to our great country.
Military History
Appreciation
Heroes
Purple Heart
Fort Moore
Posted >1 y ago
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Memorial Day should be inclusive without omitting the victims of the Vietnam war like the 500 Vietnamese civilians along with 56 hapless infants who were intentionally shot by soldiers of the Americal Division in March 1968 in the My Lai massacre. This disgraceful episode in American military history has been overlooked and mainly forgotten and the principle perpetrator of this atrocity, Lt Calley, is blissfully walking the sidewalks of his hometown without any stigma following his pardon by President Nixon. German war criminals were prosecuted at the Nuremberg Trails and were hanged like common criminals afterwards. Who mourns these children and remembers them? Hallowing mass murderers is even a greater atrocity and sugarcoats the enormity of their depredations. These soldiers once and young were recipients of VA veterans benefits that essentially rewarded them for implementing JFK's call to serve their country by killing innocent yellow skinned Asians. A Combat Infantry Badge is an award that symbolizes the outstanding valor of a front line warrior and not for slaughtering unarmed old men, women an children. Any veteran glorifying the misdeeds of these modern iterations of the Mongol Hordes and the Waffen SS is complicit in endorsing the atrocity of My Lai and should be censured for glorifying heavily armed mass murderers who had absolutely no compunctions over liquidating the weak and the vulnerable. SPC-4 Benjamin
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PFC Stephen Trynosky
While I can certainly agree with SOME sentiments expressed here. I must remind Spc. Hartog of the absolute lack of coverage to this day of the South Vietnamese doctors, teachers, nurses etc. executed, on kill lists, with their families during the Tet offensive at Hue. Shot in the back of the head with their hands tied behind. War is a bitch, PERIOD!
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SPC Benjamin Hartog
Thank you for your comments but two wrongs proverbially do not make a right. The atrocities committed by the VC were legion and demonstrated how fanatically determined the communist were in uniting the North and South. The US military was governed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice that did not promote or endorse the slaughter of civilians even collaterally. The US Army I was in did not operate with the ideological ruthlessness of the Waffen SS of Hitler's Third Reich or the savagery of the Imperial Japanese Army in China including the Rape of Nanjing. My Lai was a inexcusable travesty that disgraced the honor of the US Army and stained the hearts of decent US soldiers who publicly condemned the unspeakable atrocity of wiping out an entire village including 56 infants. The accusation that American soldiers were "baby killers" rang true at My Lai and the US soldiers who perpetrated the massacre should have been prosecuted and convicted for their war crimes and imprisoned especially Lt. Calley like the Nazi perpetrators of the Holocaust who were tried in the Nuremberg Tribunals. The mercilessness of the soldiers did not embody the Christian values of faithful Americans who tragically minimized the horror of My Lai. Finally, I was a soldier in the 9th Infantry Division commanded by Major General Julian Ewell who implemented operation "Speedy Express" that had a reported body count of 10,000 VC but only turned in 746 enemy weapons. I am not proud of my role in this borderline genocide operation. SPC Benjamin
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SPC Benjamin Hartog
Stephen,
Total war is not a passport to annihilate an unarmed enemy population including the victims of collaborate damage The strategic bombing campaign of Germany and Japan in WWII were necessary measures to defeat the genocidal Axis powers. However, the incineration and bomb blasted bodies of defenseless old men, women and children was morally reprehensible and deserve a meticulous reexamination by historians of WWII and let them determine the moral implication of unrelenting carpet bombing. 52 million people were killed in WWII. The outcome of the war was unbearably grim. For example, the March 9 /10 1945 fire bombing of Tokyo that killed over 100,000 Japanese civilians was abhorrent but vital to the defeat of Japan. A pertinent book covering the massive bombing of Germany during WWII is called "On the Natural history of Destruction" by .J.W. Sebald. This work is a classic denunciation of the strategic bombing campaign in WWII that morally indicts FDR, Churchill and Stalin when they announced the policy "Unconditional Surrender" of the Third Reich. The redeeming factor of strategic bombing rests with the ending of the Holocaust. I am not stigmatizing the principles behind strategic bombing like Air Marshall Arthur Harris or general Hap Arnold. Violence can only be met with greater violence as the Japaneses and Germans shockingly discovered. Cities like Hamburg, Dresden, Berlin, Cologne and Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki symbolized the vast destruction meted out by the USAAF and the RAF. Hamburg alone suffered 48,000 killed in one night in "Operation Gomorrah" that demonstrated the horrors of an air war that was executed without mercy or limits. The pity of war strips the heart of humane individuals like Gandhi and Sister Teresa who were blessed by the fact they were not living in Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan. Both would have ended up like Dietrich Bonhoeffer dangling at the end of a rope in the concentration camp at Flossenburg two weeks before Germany capitulated. But WWII was a "just" one that vanquished two totalitarian powers bent on dominating the world by mass murder and illimitable destruction. Both Japan and Germany reaped the whirlwind for conducting military invasions of other nations and thankfully were crushed by the combined forces of the Allies. The US military is an institution that is a dedicated to protect the US from anymore terrorist depredations and committed to maintaining its hegemony in competing with Red China and Russia. At times American foreign policy has been misguided by Vietnam and the war in Iraq which was mindlessly botched by McNamara and LBJ, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Bush whose presumption and arrogance was unmatched in the annals of American intervention in unstable Third world nations. Bush has blood on his hands poured out by the 4000 dead soldiers in the Iraq misadventure. I am also unable to articulate encomiums to exalt these 3 diplomatic failures who should be elided from the pages of America's historical narrative. American soldiers were manipulated cannon fodder that were misused by the apparatchiks walking the corridors of power in the White House and who misunderstood and distorted the notion of "Wilsonianism" as a doctrine that espoused American intervention in foreign affairs. American leaders have faltered in their efforts to maintain American "exceptionalism" in a fractured and unstable world. SPC Benjamin
Total war is not a passport to annihilate an unarmed enemy population including the victims of collaborate damage The strategic bombing campaign of Germany and Japan in WWII were necessary measures to defeat the genocidal Axis powers. However, the incineration and bomb blasted bodies of defenseless old men, women and children was morally reprehensible and deserve a meticulous reexamination by historians of WWII and let them determine the moral implication of unrelenting carpet bombing. 52 million people were killed in WWII. The outcome of the war was unbearably grim. For example, the March 9 /10 1945 fire bombing of Tokyo that killed over 100,000 Japanese civilians was abhorrent but vital to the defeat of Japan. A pertinent book covering the massive bombing of Germany during WWII is called "On the Natural history of Destruction" by .J.W. Sebald. This work is a classic denunciation of the strategic bombing campaign in WWII that morally indicts FDR, Churchill and Stalin when they announced the policy "Unconditional Surrender" of the Third Reich. The redeeming factor of strategic bombing rests with the ending of the Holocaust. I am not stigmatizing the principles behind strategic bombing like Air Marshall Arthur Harris or general Hap Arnold. Violence can only be met with greater violence as the Japaneses and Germans shockingly discovered. Cities like Hamburg, Dresden, Berlin, Cologne and Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki symbolized the vast destruction meted out by the USAAF and the RAF. Hamburg alone suffered 48,000 killed in one night in "Operation Gomorrah" that demonstrated the horrors of an air war that was executed without mercy or limits. The pity of war strips the heart of humane individuals like Gandhi and Sister Teresa who were blessed by the fact they were not living in Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan. Both would have ended up like Dietrich Bonhoeffer dangling at the end of a rope in the concentration camp at Flossenburg two weeks before Germany capitulated. But WWII was a "just" one that vanquished two totalitarian powers bent on dominating the world by mass murder and illimitable destruction. Both Japan and Germany reaped the whirlwind for conducting military invasions of other nations and thankfully were crushed by the combined forces of the Allies. The US military is an institution that is a dedicated to protect the US from anymore terrorist depredations and committed to maintaining its hegemony in competing with Red China and Russia. At times American foreign policy has been misguided by Vietnam and the war in Iraq which was mindlessly botched by McNamara and LBJ, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Bush whose presumption and arrogance was unmatched in the annals of American intervention in unstable Third world nations. Bush has blood on his hands poured out by the 4000 dead soldiers in the Iraq misadventure. I am also unable to articulate encomiums to exalt these 3 diplomatic failures who should be elided from the pages of America's historical narrative. American soldiers were manipulated cannon fodder that were misused by the apparatchiks walking the corridors of power in the White House and who misunderstood and distorted the notion of "Wilsonianism" as a doctrine that espoused American intervention in foreign affairs. American leaders have faltered in their efforts to maintain American "exceptionalism" in a fractured and unstable world. SPC Benjamin
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