Uncle Sam
Ain’t Released Me Yet
Memoirs of a REMF
Copyright©
2016 by Robert B. Martin, IV
All
Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without express
written permission from the copyright owner, except for the use of brief
quotations in a book review or scholarly journal. I have attempted to recreate
events, locales, and conversations from my memories of them.
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Chapter
47
The State Flag Debacle
“Never
be bullied into silence.”...................Tim Field
In early July, 1970, already a year in
Vietnam, I was at my desk in the CP when I learned that the Division Artillery
Commanding Officer, COL. Lee E. Surut, was to inspect our battalion that day. We
were instructed to remain at our duty stations, and if not on duty, we were to
remain in our hooch, waiting in our personal area. I continued working in the
battery CP. COL. Surut did not come to the CP and I never saw him. However, a
short while after his departure, I was told by 1SG Corbett, in a very
official-sounding voice, “Specialist Martin, report to the battery commander.” Normally,
he would have just said, “The BC wants to see you.” I knew something was up because
of the formality, so I marched up to CPT Austin’s office door (open as always),
knocked twice on the door frame, waited until I heard “Enter,” marched in,
stopped in front of his desk, stood at attention, saluted, and said, “Sir!
Specialist 5th Class Martin reporting as ordered, sir!” He returned my salute, put
me at ease, and told me that he had some bad news for me. Then he proceeded to
relate the following to me:
The DivArty CO had walked into my hooch
during the day’s inspection, and when he saw my Georgia state flag hanging
above my personal area, he exploded, shouting to his entourage, “Get that
racist piece of shit down!” before storming out of the hooch.
I must explain that Georgia’s state
flag at that time included the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy in its design,
which is apparently what ignited the colonel.
Displaying state flags was a very
common way in which soldiers demonstrated pride in their home state and many,
if not most, soldiers displayed their state flags. I know that most soldiers in
our battery displayed their state flags. I had never thought of it as racist
and none of my black friends had ever said anything about it. It was just a
state flag.
The BC went on to tell me that I would
have to take my flag down.
“Is that an order or a request, sir?” I
asked.
“It’s an order,” he replied. CPT Austin
then explained that the order was given by the DivArty CO to our battalion CO
who passed it down to CPT Austin to give to me. I think he hated doing it,
especially since he was also from Georgia.
“In that case, I’ll take it down,” I
answered, although I was highly pissed off. I was obviously being discriminated
against and I, along with the state of Georgia, had been insulted. It really
made me angry. But I had been in Vietnam for a year, had a little less than two
months left in the Army, and was not as easily intimidated by or impressed with
senior officers as I was when I had first entered the Army. Therefore, before leaving
the BC’s office I requested permission to see the IG (Inspector General). The
IG’s office investigated complaints, allegations of reprisal, fraud, abuse of
authority, and infringement of a soldier’s rights.
“Why do you want to see the IG?” CPT
Austin asked.
“Because I’ve been discriminated
against. Nobody else was ordered to take down his state flag,” I replied.
The BC told me to go see the battalion’s
command sergeant major (CSM) and he would make an appointment with the IG for
me. A command sergeant major is the highest enlisted rank in the army and they
are generally to be more feared than an officer. I went to CSM Ralph Ojeda’s
office and informed him of my request and the reason. He picked up his field
telephone and made an appointment for me to see the I.G. the next afternoon. I
thanked him and went back to my desk.
A couple of hours later, I received a
phone call from the sergeant major, asking me to come back to his office. When
I returned to his office, he instructed me to “Report to the Battalion
Commander (LTC Burke).” I had one of those “Oh, Shit” moments and thought, “Not
again.” I immediately knew that I had stirred up a hornet’s nest by requesting
to see the IG. I walked over to the battalion commander’s office door (closed
as always) and repeated the earlier drill I had with CPT Austin. I was told to
enter and I marched up to LTC Burke’s desk, saluted and said, “Sir! Specialist
5th Class Martin reporting as ordered, sir!”
“At ease,” he said and then he told me that
he would like to read an order to me that he had just written and was about to
issue to the entire battalion. The order was to the effect that ALL state flags
in the battalion must be removed from display. After he finished reading the
order, he looked up at me with a smug grin and said, “Now, are you being
discriminated against, Specialist Martin? Do you still need to see the IG?”
“No, sir,” was all I said and was
quickly dismissed. CSM Ojeda was grinning like a Cheshire cat when I passed by
him as I walked out of battalion HQ. I was steaming like a pressure cooker about
to blow but vowed to have the last laugh.
I spent the next couple of days
visiting every hooch in the battalion and talking to as many men as I could. I
went through H&HQ Battery, Service Battery, A Battery, B Battery, and C Battery,
making sure everyone knew why their state flags were being ordered down. I
urged everyone to write their congressmen, senators, and governors and tell
them what had happened. After making the rounds, I returned to my hooch and
wrote letters to Senators Richard B. Russell and Herman Talmadge of Georgia. Then
I smiled and waited.
Continued in Chapter 48, The Siege of FSB Ripcord.…
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