There were only nine air observers in the division, precisely the number of the H-23 helicopters assigned to division artillery headquarters. They were coveted positions, despite the fact the H-23s were slow, unarmed, and as easy to hit with small arms fire from the ground as a low flying duck with a shotgun. We lost 5,000 helicopters in Vietnam. I couldn't foresee that at the time, but the abundance of helicopter crash sites and burnt helicopter carcasses around airfields should have given me a clue. Still, a young artillery officer considered the job a step up from that of forward observer with an infantry company. You had more control over things and flying in a small open-door aircraft was reminiscent of flying in a World War I biplane. Your feet certainly stayed a lot dryer—until you went down.

In March 1967 when one of the original nine division air observers was shot down and killed I was selected, to fill his position. For the next seven months I lived on the USS Benewah, command ship of the Mobile Riverine Force, flying combat and combat support missions in H-23s and 0-1 fixed wing aircraft. When my tour ended in October 1967 it created a vacancy for a new air observer. Ed Naylor extended his tour of duty for six months specifically to take my job. On November 11, 1967, Veterans Day, his helicopter was shot down, killing Ed and his pilot.

The man I replaced and the man who replaced me, along with 58,196 others, gave their lives in a war the American people and the United States Congress ultimately lost faith in and that we lost. On that Memorial Day 31 years ago, there were lots of doubts and questions but few good answers. 

I remained in the Army another nine years before retiring in August 1984. By the time that day came, however, I had come to understand the meaning of Ed Naylor’s death and the deaths of every other man or woman who has made the ultimate sacrifice in our country’s wars. I thought much about it over those years until one day I had a blinding glimpse of the obvious.

The American soldier, sailor, airman, and marine will go wherever he or she is sent and will fight gallantly and ferociously for as long as he or she is asked to under whatever conditions he or she encounters. They will do this regardless of the tenor of the political debate at home or the reception they receive when they return. It may sound trite, but they will do it because the institution they are a part of and those who lead that institution believe in the fundamental truth that is the United States of America—government of the people, by the people, and for the people. They understand that they serve a constitution that invests power in elected civilian officials that exercise control of the military and through them they serve the American people. They will do what their commander in chief asks them to do because that’s what, by extension, the majority of the American people ask them to do.

This simple but powerful truth is what makes the United States Armed Forces what it is. It’s what our enemies worry about most. It’s why, since Vietnam, they seek to weaken the will of the American people who ultimately command them because our enemies know that so long as they have that support they will prevail.

Yes, during Vietnam, as in other wars, some men refused to serve or did not serve honorably. The men and women of the armed forces reflect the complex and diverse American society of which they are a part. But as bad as things got during Vietnam, the central truth remained unshaken. The overwhelming majority of young men and women, like Ed Naylor, served honorably and did what was expected of them. The United States Armed Forces did everything that was asked of it, and more.