A Memorial Day remembrance

[Ruark]

There were so many heroes that died in Vietnam and other wars that are now forgotten and lost to the ages. So I just wanted to do my tiny little part and memorialize one of them, Danny, an old childhood friend of mine. Here is his story:


I grew up with Danny at church in Abilene, Texas. He was 4 years older than me. His mother, Alice, used to keep us neighborhood kids (picture that old show Leave it to Beaver) at her house while our parents worked, back when we were all preschoolers, and kept us in the church nursery on Sundays. Alice was a wonderful woman, always jolly and with a big, warm smile. She reminded me of Kate Smith. She just exuded warmth and love. Alice and my mother had gone to grade school together, and were close friends most of their lives.

Anyway, Danny dug a "foxhole" in the back yard and we kids would play "Army" in it and "shoot at the enemy" with our cap guns. Those were the days. We just played and played and played (no computers back then!!), day after day, sometimes getting so dirty Alice would lock the doors - seriously - to keep us from coming in the house.

Danny was a combat medic, and had a promising career as a doctor lined up after Vietnam. He was over there on his THIRD tour of duty and was due to come home. I'm not sure if it was just a break, or if he was completely finished. Alice was just beside herself. She got his room all fixed up with new curtains and bedspreads, and his brother Jimmy set up his stereo and a stack of all the latest rock and roll albums. They got a car for him to drive, and even a pretty girl for him to run around with!! Everybody was just on pins and needles, especially Alice. She was so happy and excited, she couldn't stand it! She must have called everybody in Abilene and told them "Danny's coming home!!! Danny's coming home!!! Danny's coming home!!!"

The night before he was supposed to fly home, about 3 a.m., Alice woke up and sat bolt upright in bed, sweating. She knew, from pure mother's instinct, that something had happened to Danny. It had.

In Vietnam, Danny had been fighting at Special Forces Base (SFB) Dak Seang. Dak Seang had been under continuous enemy attack for several weeks, and was surround by over 10,000 NVA troops. But Danny's time was up, and he was scheduled to be choppered to an air base in another province to fly home. He was there in his civilian clothes, waiting for the helicopter to take him to the main airport. A radio was playing in the room, and over the radio he heard that his old company was in trouble back at Dak Seang. Well, Danny was Danny, and he couldn't stand the thought of going home while his buddies were fighting and dying. So instead of going home, he put his combat gear back on and somehow talked the helicopter pilot into taking him back to Dak Seang.

The chopper dropped off Danny in an area that was under massive enemy attack and was in the process of being overrun by hundreds of NVA. According to a Montagnard who survived, Danny was quickly sprayed with small arms fire and went down, as the whole area was overrun, making it impossible to recover his body.

I'll never forget my mother's facial expression when she learned that Danny was MIA. A week or two later, he was declared "dead with no remains." Later, we learned that the area had been plastered with napalm, which killed many of the enemy, but also immolated Danny's remains; nothing was left of him but ashes. Since he was never actually found or recovered, he was considered MIA, and is still on many MIA rosters.

Alice never got over it. It just destroyed her. She always told everybody she was going to travel to Vietnam some day and "see what Danny died for."

My wife and I traveled to Abilene in the late 90s and visited Alice while we were there. I could hardly recognize her. She was a small, meek woman. The jolly Kate Smith smile was gone from her face, and she barely talked above a whisper, and in a very slow, sad manner, almost as if it were difficult for her to speak. A picture of Danny in his Marine uniform and a collection of his medals was on the wall. Even 30 years later, she was a changed person, a sad, quiet, heartbroken little woman. Alice died in 2003. She never made it to Vietnam.

Danny's big brother, Jimmy, was deeply shaken by it as well, and named his son after Danny, in his honor. Jimmy passed on in 2009.

Like many great battle areas in Vietnam, Dak Seang is barely recognizable today. The airstrip is part of a road, while the camp itself is a plantation of big rubber trees.

And that's the story of Danny Leonard Little, Staff Sergeant, Detachment 20, Company B, 5th Special Forces Group. Killed in Vietnam, April 23, 1970.

It's sobering how a single small event can change the course of your life. You wonder what he'd be doing today if somebody hadn't turned on that radio, or if it had been tuned to a different station.

So there you go, Danny. You are remembered.

[carlson1]

Thank you for the story if Danny. The freedom we have is because of all hero’s who died and most on foreign soil.

[howdy]

From the Virtual Wall: Danny Little
https://www.virtualwall.org/dl/LittleDL01a.htm

[RPBrown]

[The Annoyed Man]

From the Virtual Wall: Danny Little
https://www.virtualwall.org/dl/LittleDL01a.htm

Thank you for the link.