My Brother-in-Law, Fredric Mellor, RI’s Missing in Action

P.S.-Please know that I DO NOT KNOW ANY FACTS of what I’ve written you of about the continuation of searches,as the Vietnam Veteran that once informed me about the searches has died.He died and I did not question his storyThusly,I CANNOT ANSWER any questions about the searches,nor by whom,or anything.I just trusted that he wasw truthful with his story.Sincerely,Rev.Allen Bonneau

I, Biddy Bytes, received this from a person who wished to remain anonymous (but he OK’d the posting), so in keeping with his request, here is his insightful piece….

Colleen,

I read with great respect the tribute to your brother-in-law. Not knowing what happened is gnawingly painful, but the knowing may be even more difficult.

Vietnam was a challenging period for America. So many of us came from military families who served in WWII or Korea…..and, we watched all those John Wayne movies. When our time came in the 1960′s it was only natural that we followed in the footsteps of our forebears.

My father was a swashbuckling Navy pilot in WWII. When war broke out he already owned a thriving Ford dealership in SE Missouri and had his own airplane. Good times, until one day the Army came to town with a list of names they wanted to conscript into service. My father’s name was on that list as they entered the dealership, announcing they were looking for him. A trusted employee went to the back office and informed my father that the Army was out front and wanted to see him!

Not wishing to become a private in the Army. my father handed the keys to the business to his trusted employee and said, “Here, you run the business”. Father departed through the rear entrance and drove to the next town where his plane was housed. Having the ability to fly, he immediately enlisted in the Navy as a Lt. Commander flight instructor. He went to flight school in Atlanta, where Tyrone Power and Don Ameche were also in his unit. My father later served in the Pacific theatre and was assigned to Shanghai, China. One assignment while there was to fly North along the China Wall to assume command of a small Navy air installation in Peiping (now Beijing).
Little did he know then, that there would be another family connection to China.

The next in line for military service was my brother, who idolized my Father. He became a graduate of West Point, who wanted to fly! There was no Air Force Academy at the time, so Army officers could opt for Air Force service. He spent 29 years in service with tours in Vietnam, 3,000+ hours flying a KC-135 tanker, then opted for diplomatic service as Air Force attache to Ethiopia. He became fluent in Chinese languages while attache in Hong Kong, and ultimately became the first military attache in Beijing after our country normalized diplomatic relations with the PRC. Decades later, the son returned to the site where his father once stood.

My brother later served as aid to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, later serving in Brussels with NATO. He retired as a Brigadier General and is listed in the Defense Attache Hall of Fame.

So, then it is my turn. It is the tumultous 1960′s. The anti-war protestors had not arrived when I registered as a freshman. Military service was in the family, so ROTC was a natural for me. At graduation I had become a green 2nd Lt. artillery officer in the Army. After a year as a training officer on 105mm howitzers, I got my orders for the DMZ in Vietnam. Artillery forward observors did not have significant lifespan, but what the Hell, it was the thing to do. Besides, I would first get to do jungle school in Panama, and that was cool.

But, there was a hitch! While at Ft. Sill a pre-departure medical exam indicated an eyesight difficulty which rendered temporary orders to be checked out at Walter Reed Hospital in DC. They concluded I had a deficiency which might likely result in calling in artillery rounds in the wrong places! I was given an option of a desk job in hospital administration, or returning to private life.
I opted to return to civilian life…..to be among those damned protestors……

THE DREAM

Many times during the period from 1960 thru 1967 I had a recurring dream where I was in Vietnam moving through the jungle on patrol. I would enter a clearing, an opening perhaps 30 to 40 feet across. At the same time that I entered on one side, an enemy NVA soldier entered from the other side of the clearing. We saw each other, we both froze…..looking into each others eyes. In the dream I could see into his mind and thoughts and he into mine. Each of us could see the pictures of our families that we carried on our bodies, treasures that we hoped one day to see again.

Both of us were wondering how it was we came to this. How it was that some politican, some supposed leadership had put us into this position? How that they managed to convice us that we should come to this place?

And then the standoff ends as each of us does an about face and disappears into the jungle. No shots…No victory…. No Glory. Just a realization that on that day we were not to be the pawns of political power brokers.

AND NOW IT IS 2013

We drive German and Japanese autos. Our clothes are made in Asia….. Vietnam is one of our bigger Asian trading partners. What was it all for? What did it really mean? War created heroes, but was it worth it?

Our lesson may be that when politicians again beat the drums of war, that the citizenry demand
relevance and intense scrutiny before they place our best and brightest at risk.