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This past Wednesday (April 30th) the Lac qui Parle Historical Society along with the Madison VFW Post 1656 came together to put on a program to honor and remember the Vietnam Veterans of LqP County. The program featured talks from local veterans Josh Beninga, Tim Volk, Dennis Jerpseth, and Mark Haws. The program was very informative and gave the audience some insight on the Vietnam War and how it affected the men who fought in it. It began with Mr. Beninga discussing his work as the LqP County Veterans Service Officer. Mr. Haws followed up with a speech on what he experienced during his time with the Marines during the last year of the war. After this, Mr. Jerpseth took the stage to tell the audience about his experiences on the USS Enterprise during its tragic accident on 1/14/1969. The program finished with Tim Volk listing off the Madison men who died during the war and in the 50 years after. Bars and refreshments were served afterwards.
The Historical Society organized the program to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam and the final event of the war, the Fall of Saigon, which occurred 50 years ago that day. One speaker, Mark Haws, was at the Fall of Saigon and told the audience about what he experienced that day. A few weeks before the program we interviewed Mark to get more information on his experiences during the war. The following is a recap of the interview.
Mark was born in 1955 in Richfield, a suburb of Minneapolis, as the fourth of eight children. Mr. Haws described his family as not particularly military focused; but his father, grandfather, and two of his brothers participated in the military during both World Wars, Vietnam, and the years after Vietnam.
On his high school experience, Haws stated that he wasn’t the best student but was a pretty good athlete. According to Haws, he graduated high school without a real solid plan for the future. His brother had recently joined the Navy, so Haws decided to follow a similar path. He initially tried to enlist in the Navy, but the Navy, Army, and Airforce recruiters were out on lunch at the time leaving only the Marine recruiter. Despite Mark’s goal of joining the Navy, the Marine recruiter was “the best salesman of the bunch” and he convinced Mark to join the Marines for a two-year term.
A few weeks after signing up, Mark was shipped off to San Diego for boot camp. The change from regular life to military life is tough for most recruits, and Mark was no exception. Haws credits his athletic background for helping him keep up with the physical side of training but also noted that it was a “change of life” learning to “keep your mouth shut” and take whatever orders your given. After some testing near the end of boot camp Mark was surprisingly assigned to the supply school. Compared to the danger of being an infantry grunt on the front lines like most Marines, being a supply man at bases in the States and other allied countries was a much more appealing alternative.
Mark was then shipped to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina where he was trained in the first computer generated supply school in the Marines before transferring again to Camp Pendleton in California. Haws had a successful run as a supply man earning multiple meritorious promotions and an expert rifleman badge.
One morning Haws and the rest of his unit were offered a chance to move to a supply station at Camp Hansen in Okinawa, Japan. Most of the elder Marines told Haws and the others not to go, but according to Mark he “joined to see the world” and he signed up. He quickly learned why they told him not to go. Haws described his time in Camp Hansen as “challenging”. He and his unit resided in World War II era Quonset huts which are basic, half cylindrical barrack buildings made with thin corrugated metal. Haws described poor conditions in the buildings, rats running through buildings during rainstorms, and constant busyness and movement due to the other military branches using the base during the war.
This was also the point where the distance from family and friends really set in for Haws and many of the other soldiers, being across the country on the coast was one thing, but being across the whole Pacific Ocean was a big difference. The men would get a chance to call relatives back home once a week or so, but they would have to go through long lines and time limits on calls.
There was one big benefit for Haws during his time in Okinawa, he got a chance to play for the Marine Corps football team. In 1974-75 some of the commanding officers for each of the U.S. Military branches decided to organize some football games with rosters filled out by men serving in the West Pacific. Each team would be based around the four military branches in the area; the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. The teams would then travel to play each other in tough, competitive games.
According to Mr. Haws, the recruiting process was done through open tryouts. Prospects would complete some basic football drills and participate in a short interview to gauge their football experience. Officers would then pick out the best and most experienced players. Most of the players, including Haws, were regular enlistees who were good athletes and competed in High School football, but a few of the officers on the teams had some experience in college football. While the Marine football players didn’t receive extra pay for their efforts, Haws stated that it was still a great honor and privilege to be on the team. Players got passes to get out from their regular jobs and they got to live and eat in their own barracks and mess hall.
Haws appreciated some time away from his usual job, but his commanding officer couldn’t say the same. After being down a man for a few months, Haws’s commander got even with him by assigning him to the cramped quarters of the USS Okinawa aircraft carrier. Unbeknownst to Haws at the time, the Okinawa would end up playing a key role in the last events of the Vietnam War.
In the spring of 1975 the Vietnam War was coming to an end; troops were pulling out, plans were being made for a full U.S. exit, and the North Vietnamese forces were pushing further south towards the South Vietnam capital of Saigon. While the U.S. was more than ready to finish their part in the war they had the problem of evacuating more than 100,000 Americans and South Vietnamese allies out of Saigon before the Northern forces took the city. Most of the evacuees were taken out through airplanes, but on April 28th the North Vietnamese forces overtook the area near the airfield leaving around 7,000 refugees still in the city with no way out on the ground. To get these people out of the city the U.S. would have to organize the largest helicopter evacuation in history, Operation Frequent Wind. All hands would be on deck for this operation including Mark Haws.
(Story will continue in Part 2)
