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Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographer

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Archives for August 2023

Frederick C. Weyand, Compassionate General

August 13, 2023 By David Hume Kennerly

David Hume Kennerly remarks at the
Gen Frederick C. Weyand U.S. Army Pacific HQ Building dedication
Ft. Shafter, Hawaii,  August 11, 2023

I would be remiss if I didn’t note that General Charles Flynn, and General Fred Weyand had a couple of things in common. They both commanded the 25th Infantry Division 50 years apart and the U.S. Army Pacific that Flynn now heads, also 50 years apart!

(L-R) Gen. Charles Flynn, Nancy Hart Kuboyama, Frederick Hart, Command SGT Major Scott Brzak with portrait of Gen. Weyand
(L-R) Gen. Charles Flynn, Nancy Hart Kuboyama, Frederick Hart, Command SGT Major Scott Brzak with portrait of Gen. Weyand

I am grateful that Nancy Hart Kuboyama asked me to give this talk today about her dad, and my friend, the great American General Frederick C. Weyand. Also thanks to Frederick Hart for your terrific remarks about your grandfather.

Nancy Hart Kuboyama, General Weyand’s daughter with portrait of her dad in the building that now bears his name at Ft. Shafter, Hawaii
Nancy Hart Kuboyama, General Weyand’s daughter with portrait of her dad in the building that now bears his name at Ft. Shafter, Hawaii

In the case of my own family, General Weyand and my youngest son James also have something in common. They both graduated from University of California, Berkeley, but Fred beat him to it by over 80 years! In 1976 General Weyand was named Cal’s “Man of the Year,” an honor that no doubt delighted him.

There are so many words to describe Fred Weyand, so I’ll narrow them down to: Brave. Kind. Humble. Compassionate. I recognized that after first meeting him in Saigon in 1972 when he was the last commander of U.S. military operations in Vietnam. He also possessed remarkable diplomatic skills, a vital asset as he guided and led the withdrawal of the last American troops from Vietnam in 1973 that ended direct U.S. combat operations.

General Weyand and South Vietnamese Army officers, Saigon, 1972
General Weyand and South Vietnamese Army officers, Saigon, 1972

We got to know each other better on a journey from Washington DC to Vietnam and back on a C-141 cargo plane in 1975. 24 hours over and 24 back with plenty of excitement in between. The trip was a sensitive mission ordered by President Gerald Ford to see if anything could be done to stem the tide of the advancing North Vietnamese Army into the South. Weyand was the right guy for the job. He had served several tours of duty in Vietnam and knew the place well.

General Weyand gets his orders from President Ford in the oval office as Sec. of State Kissinger listens
General Weyand gets his orders from President Ford in the oval office as Sec. of State Kissinger listens
General Weyand runs to his waiting C-141 at Andrews AFB
General Weyand runs to his waiting C-141 at Andrews AFB

During one of those tours Weyand was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism on two occasions while commanding the 25th Infantry Division. On January 8, 1967 after one of his companies became pinned down by intense Viet Cong fire and surrounded, he directed his helicopter pilot to take him there. The DSC citation says, that Weyand “dauntlessly walked around the treacherous perimeter, comforting the casualties and encouraging the beleaguered defenders. His presence on the battlefield was a source of boundless inspiration and enabled his men to hold out until relief arrived.” Less than a month later he helped locate a two-vehicle patrol that had strayed into enemy territory. Braving enemy fire he landed in front of them, turned them back towards safety, and undoubtedly saved their lives. All in a day’s work for Fred Weyand.

On the flight over to Vietnam we talked about people we had known in the war. One of them, Brigadier General Jim Hollingsworth, had performed similar acts of heroism in 1966 and 67. He knew Holly well, and said admiringly, “That guy was a piece of work!” “Look who’s talking.” I told him. Those guys were true warriors.

General Weyand arrives at Saigon’s Ton Son Nhat Airport
General Weyand arrives at Saigon’s Ton Son Nhat Airport

General Weyand’s military instincts also helped save Saigon during the Tet Offensive in 1968. A correspondent wrote that, “Weyand got the feeling that something bad was coming right in our own backyard." He convinced a reluctant General William Westmorland to deploy troops in and around Saigon. His prescient action dealt the North Vietnamese a major military defeat and saved the South Vietnamese capital.  Weyand knew, however, that the success on the battlefield was offset by the anti-war sentiment back in the U.S., that it took more than military action to win a war. He strongly believed that you needed the American people backing the effort. Even before Tet he privately told people that he didn’t see a good outcome in Vietnam.

When we landed in Saigon, Weyand went off for briefings on the deteriorating situation. I left his group to make side trips up north to Nha Trang, then over to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It was chaotic. The night I got to Nha Trang the city was evacuated in front of a North Vietnamese attack. My helicopter took fire from fleeing South Vietnamese troops crowded aboard ships in Cam Ranh Bay. Phnom Penh was worse. The Cambodian capital was surrounded by Khmer Rouge troops. The airport was taking constant fire. Things looked bad.

A ship crowed with fleeing South Vietnamese troops in Cam Ranh Bay. Some of them fired at my helicopter
A ship crowed with fleeing South Vietnamese troops in Cam Ranh Bay. Some of them fired at my helicopter
Vietnamese civilians flee Nha Trang
Vietnamese civilians flee Nha Trang
A Cambodian refugee girl in a Phnom Penh camp
A Cambodian refugee girl in a Phnom Penh camp
A picture of me in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 29, 1975
A picture of me in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 29, 1975

I made it back to Saigon in time for Weyand’s meeting with South Vietnamese President Thieu. Weyand assured Thieu of Ford’s commitment to him. He laid out some options, but it appeared to me that Thieu was skeptical.

General Weyand and U.S. Amb. Graham Martin meet with South Vietnamese President Thieu in Saigon
General Weyand and U.S. Amb. Graham Martin meet with South Vietnamese President Thieu in Saigon

On the flight back to the states I told Gen. Weyand what I had experienced, and it added to his pessimism. We discussed the report he was going to deliver to President Ford. I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be a hit.

On the flight from Saigon to the U.S. Weyand prepares his report for the president
On the flight from Saigon to the U.S. Weyand prepares his report for the president

General Weyand gave President Ford his unvarnished opinion. He told him that an infusion of aid to replenish military supplies might help, and at the very least would show public support.  He ominously added that the government of South Vietnam was on the brink of military defeat.  He also told Ford that the US should plan for a “mass evacuation of some 6,000 American citizens and tens of thousands of South Vietnamese and Third Country Nationals . . .”

President Gerald Ford gets the unpleasant truth about the Vietnam situation from General Frederick Weyand
President Gerald Ford gets the unpleasant truth about the Vietnam situation from General Frederick Weyand

There it was. General speaks truth to power. Power didn’t like the message, but believed the messenger.

Saigon fell less than a month later, an event that deeply saddened but didn’t surprise General Weyand.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. George Brown and Gen. Weyand during the final withdrawal from Vietnam
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. George Brown and Gen. Weyand during the final withdrawal from Vietnam

In an interview with Col. Harry Summers in 1988, Weyand said, “What particularly haunts me, what I think is one of the saddest legacies of the Vietnam War, is the cruel misperception that the American fighting men there did not measure up to their predecessors in World War II and Korea. Nothing could be further from the truth.”  And the general knew that firsthand, he had served with distinction in all three of those wars.

It is such a wonderful tribute to General Frederick Weyand to have this beautifully designed U.S. Army Pacific Headquarters building named after him. Knowing Fred, however, I think he would have been a wee bit uncomfortable with all this attention!

The Weyand family at the dedication of the new Army Pacific HQ at Ft. Shafter that bears his name
The Weyand family at the dedication of the new Army Pacific HQ at Ft. Shafter that bears his name

Nancy told me that her dad and mom retired in the islands because they loved the Hawaiian spirit. That spirit, and Fred Weyand’s, will always be with you whenever you enter this magnificent place.

Aloha, Fred.

General Frederick C. Weyand’s final resting place at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific above Honolulu
General Frederick C. Weyand’s final resting place at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific above Honolulu

Filed Under: Blog, Kennerly Archive Project

The Blast

August 10, 2023 By David Hume Kennerly

Sixty three years ago, on August 7, 1959, I was 12 years old and something really bad happened in my sleepy little lumber town. Around one a.m. in the wee hours of a sweltering summer night the big siren over the fire station five blocks away from our house went off and woke me up. It was loud enough that you could hear it for miles, and was how volunteer firemen were summoned in an emergency.

Because it was a hot night the French windows in my bedroom were open. I perched up on the sill to see what was going on. From our house on the hill I could see a big fire a few blocks away in downtown Roseburg. This was not a drill. It appeared that the Gerretsen Building Supply store was ablaze, and flames were shooting into the air.

Moments later there was a blinding flash, then a huge explosion. The concussion that followed a couple of seconds later blew me across the room and into the wall. It knocked out all the glass in our house except for my windows that were open. I scrambled back to my vantage point and witnessed what looked like a mushroom-shaped cloud from an atom bomb detonation.

It looked like an atom bomb blast to me (Getty Images)
It looked like an atom bomb blast to me (Getty Images)

Pieces of burning wood from the warehouse rained down across the town and some of the fiery debris set the dry field behind our place ablaze. This was by far the most exciting thing I had  experienced so far in my young life. It never occurred to me that I could have been killed. My dad ran into the room shouting that we had to get out of there. He said something about being under attack by the Russians. (Worth noting that this was at the height of the Cold War and “duck and cover” under your desk drills in school to save yourself from a nuclear bomb blast—good luck with that). Even at that age I thought why the hell would Russians want to attack Roseburg?

A duck and cover drill from the 50’s. It was important to cover your ears . . . (National Archives)
A duck and cover drill from the 50’s. It was important to cover your ears . . . (National Archives)

My father marshalled me, mom, and my three sisters into the living room. I remember our cat batting a broken piece of glass around. “We’re heading to my brother’s place outside of town,” he announced. “But dad,” I said, “can’t we stay?” The answer was, “Get in the car now!” Dang, no more Russian invasion for me. As we drove away from town the yellow-red light from the fire reflected off Mt. Nebo on the other side of the river. I craned around for one last look at the disaster. My parents and sisters were traumatized. I was bitterly disappointed that we had to leave.

A National Guard soldier amid wreckage on Highway 99 that ran through Roseburg (Oregon Historical Society)
A National Guard soldier amid wreckage on Highway 99 that ran through Roseburg (Oregon Historical Society)

That 1959 blast was the greatest disaster in Roseburg’s history. A Pacific Powder Company truck loaded with over six tons of ammonium nitrate and dynamite had been parked next to Gerretsen’s, and the fire caused it to blow up. Fourteen people died in the disaster. The junior high school that I was supposed to attend the following year was right across the street from ground zero and was ruined. When the truck exploded it made a crater over fifty feet in diameter and twenty feet deep. The fireball created by the explosion went 500 feet in the air, hence the mushroom cloud effect. Windows were broken more than eight miles away. People in the surrounding towns thought they were experiencing an earthquake.

The 50-foot crater across from Central Junior High where I was supposed to go to school was destroyed by the blast (Oregon Historical Society)
The 50-foot crater across from Central Junior High where I was supposed to go to school was destroyed by the blast (Oregon Historical Society)

In an excellent recap of the event, David Tishendorf, former managing editor of The Roseburg News-Review wrote, “The truck itself disappeared. Only two pieces of it were ever found: the front axle was blown through the air, struck once four blocks away, gouged a hole in the pavement, bounced back into the air, struck a tree, bounced back 50 feet and came to rest in front of the Greyhound bus depot; the spindle went crashing through Long and Orr Mortuary.

Downtown Roseburg was torn apart (Oregon Historical Society)
Downtown Roseburg was torn apart (Oregon Historical Society)

Buildings were flattened, as if a giant hand had swatted them aside; chimneys were wrenched from houses; walls swayed, buckled and fell. Power lines snapped, windows shattered, spraying glass fragments; foundations were shifted. Cars were slammed violently about. The massive rush of air carried bricks, metal fragments, glass and other debris in a deadly shotgun-like blast. A nearby Coca-Cola bottling plant was destroyed. Bottles exploded like machinegun bursts . . .

Trucks from the Coco-Cola bottling plant were incinerated (Oregon Historical Society)
Trucks from the Coco-Cola bottling plant were incinerated (Oregon Historical Society)

The blast picked up a police patrol car containing two Roseburg patrolmen and blew it 100 feet through the air. The patrolmen walked away with minor injuries. The final toll would be 14 killed, 125 injured, and 350 buildings damaged over a 50-block area . . . But the night was not over. Heat and flying brands from the explosion set off fires in a seven-block area destroying dozens of buildings.”

Wreckage from the blast (Oregon Historical Society)
Wreckage from the blast (Oregon Historical Society)

The giant explosion in Beirut almost exactly 61 years later on August 4, 2020, was caused by  2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate blowing up. That blast was over 700 times bigger than the Roseburg event. Hard to imagine. I found this photo from the following day in my town, you can see the crater at the right. I luckily escaped unharmed, and it proved to be good training for my later career, at least to the degree that my dad never again made me leave the scene of a good story!

Before and after photos of Beirut after the massive explosion that killed more than 230 people and wounded 7,000 others
Before and after photos of Beirut after the massive explosion that killed more than 230 people and wounded 7,000 others

Filed Under: Blog

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