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DONALD S. WEIKEL USMC |
Interview by Ryan Roberts and Trevor Maloof Writings by Ryan Roberts {NETWORK COMMENTS ADDED} It was an honor to interview Mr. Don Weikel, retired, a distinguished Marine who fought in the jungles of Vietnam. Over two hours I was able to comprehend what it was like in a POW (Prisoner of War) camp. We also talked about his upbringing as a child and how it affected him in the war. By war's end he had been in Vietnam for twenty-five months and was awarded six Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star. {see actual records below} Mr. Weikel was born and raised in Charlestown, Massachusetts. He was never a Boy Scout. He graduated from Charlestown High School in 1965. "It was kind of tough in my times. You always had gangs between the North End, Charlestown and Somerville," he said. "I came from a family of two, my brother and I. My father was an alcoholic, and would beat me up every night because I was the biggest. And it was either me fighting him back or join the service. So I joined the service, he signed, he was happy to get me out of the house. And I went to Paris Island, and at that time, they only had four weeks of basic training to get you in and out, and then get you a week of general training. {see actual records below}Then they shipped us over to Okinawa for a week of jungle training to get us used to the environment. So after they had put me through the training they figured we were ready to go in. Well were they wrong because the average age was 17, 18 right out of high school." An experience that proved how unprepared they were was when he and a CO (Commanding Officer) were walking through a rice paddy and the CO did not seem to know what he was doing. So Mr. Weikel decided to get out of it. He asked for a transfer to Force Recon. He got it and did another two weeks of general training, which he says, "Didn't" help at all. "At that time in the war Vietnam was still a police action, it wasn't a war yet, so with the Force Recon, our objective was to go out and help downed pilots. If they were shot down we were supposed to rescue them and bring them back. We did that for about three weeks, and rescued three pilots. {NOT noted in ANY historical records}. I'll never forget the fourth one, because it was a set up. We didn't hear anything from this pilot. He was still alive but didn't say anything, next thing we know is, is that we're surrounded. They got everybody; I was shot in the head and knocked out. Next thing I knew I woke up in a POW camp, I don't know what happened to the rest of the guys, but I haven't seen them to this day," he says. "This is when they started their little fun and games, of interrogation. And they didn't believe in the Geneva Convention because it wasn't a war yet. They played with us, like everyday. One of the things they did to us was extracting our teeth in a dark room. They'd just pull them out two or three at a time. Strap you in a chair and pull them out. I had this habit of always smiling when I was abused, because of my father. It got to be so often with my dad. So when my father would beat me I'd take it and smile. So it was the same with the NVA (North Vietnamese Army.) When they tortured me I'd smile. So they thought I was laughing at them. So the next day I'd be put on the rack. {This HAS to be a joke!!} Next day they'd throw you in the pit where the villagers relieved themselves on you. It was constant, different things, different things. The one I really didn't like the most though was the electrocutions, with car batteries. I finally got it through my head that I was gonna get myself killed if I kept smiling, so one day I cried, to make them think they were beating me." {NOT noted by the Dept of Defense as a POW.} Mr. Weikel said that this was good because it got him back into a bigger bunch of people, so it would be easier to escape. So one night during monsoon season, Don Weikel made his break. "One night it was raining real hard so me and two buddies of mine planned to get out. We killed three guards and then made a run for it. Both of my buddies got whacked by booby traps." {NOT noted by the Dept of Defense as a POW escapee.} The next morning Mr. Weikel continued on back to US lines. He walked for three days and finally reached his men who almost killed him. He was questioned by three CO's (commanding officers) who told him not to tell the other men about the interrogation. So he joined "The Walking Dead" 1st Battalion 9th Marines. Finally he had to let something out, so a few weeks later he told his lieutenant that he knew where the POW camp was. So the platoon went out and they rescued the POW's. {NOT noted in ANY historical records}. "There were about one-hundred fifty men when I escaped. When I returned there were only about eighty left," he says. "Again we were ambushed and we held off three battalions for three days. We got them down to about one battalion before they got us. To my count we had forty total in our platoon from which only two survived in this ambush. I was one of them. I was shot four times in the back. Six times all together in the war. I was left for dead and when I was rescued I couldn't walk. It took me three years to learn how to walk again. And the hospitals were terrible. No matter how long and hard you screamed they'd ignore you because it was about a fifteen to one patient doctor ratio." {see actual records below - NO Purple Heart for combat wounds} After the war, when he got back, his mom had received a note that he was KIA (Killed in Action) so they sent her his insurance money. But when he showed up at home alive, it was switched to MIA (Missing in Action) and they actually had the nerve to ask for the money back. {Yeah, right}. But the money had already been spent. Mr. Weikel talked about how his life was after the war. They were considered trash; they were treated so badly that one of his corporals was shot, walking down the road. "One time when I was out I got hit with a bottle in the head. I didn't have my uniform on or anything but I had the short haircut," he said. Mr. Weikel shared his thoughts about the war and what he does now to try and help Vietnam Veterans. "The war was completely horrendous. We didn't know what the hell we were doing over there, because we were used to seeing our enemy when we fired at them. With this campaign we'd have to shoot and then go look to see if we killed anything. It was a terrible environment. And what they're doing over in Afghanistan is just going to be dragged on and on. I think Vietnam was the biggest mess we ever got ourselves into because we were so inexperienced. We were all kids right out of high school, including our CO's." Now he helps veterans who have financial problems. They sit in a day room and have nothing. When the building closes down, they go out in the woods and sleep. Then they come back the next morning, and stay there all day. So Mr. Weikel goes out and buys them a hamburger or sits down and plays a game of chess with them to make them feel more wanted. Since the war Mr. Weikel has had a son and a daughter who are both married and have kids. He doesn't get to see them as often as he' like but he accepts the fact that they have families now. His dad has Alzheimer's disease and doesn't remember the beatings he'd give his son. His mom is still married to his father after all the hardships and they now reside in a nearby town close to where Mr. Weikel lives today. Mr. Weikel has been retired since 1969 when he got a medical discharge to leave Vietnam. |
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