A MARINE VETERAN RETURNS TO VIETNAM, 42-YEARS LATER

By HOWARD WHIDDEN

Class of 1962

I had enlisted in the Marines in 1967 and thanks to Mrs. Miranda’s adept teaching at Division Avenue High School, scored very highly on the Army Language Aptitude Test during my first days on Parris Island.

After basic training I was sent to the Defense Language Institute in Washington, DC for a 32-week course in Vietnamese. Eight hours per day, five days a week we intensively learned not only the language, but also the history, culture and customs of the people. The old joke about ‘military intelligence’ being an oxymoron seemed to be true since I went to Camp Pendleton in California where I sat for a year before finally receiving orders for Vietnam with less than a year left in my enlistment.

I arrived in DaNang and was assigned to the 26th Marines guarding Dai La Pass, and participated in four combat operations, almost getting medivacked after contracting jungle rot in both feet. I was then put on TAD to the Army, lived in the old, French-built DaNang Hotel and worked at the interrogation center attached to the POW camp out by Marble Mountain. In January of 1970 I received an ‘early out’ to pick up the spring semester and was happily returned home.

Recently a former student from the class of ’80 who became a software engineer got in touch with me. He said he remembered the slides of Vietnam I had shown in class and as one of his most influential teachers, invited me to return to Vietnam with him as his fully paid guest for two weeks serving as his interpreter. Truly, it turned out to be a trip of a lifetime.

We began our journey in Hanoi, a place I fortunately had not visited during the war. We did the typical tourist sites, such as the 1,000-year old Confucian Temple of Learning, the National Museum and the French-built Opera House, but skipped the museum to Ho Chi Minh and his imposing Mausoleum.

Of particular interest to us was Hoa Lo prison where John McCain and other American flyers had been incarcerated, and we did see one room devoted to them, but most of the prison had been torn down, with the remnants primarily devoted to the Vietnamese nationalists who, fighting against French colonialism were executed there. From Hanoi we tooktwo day trips, one to Ha Long Bay, a truly magnificent ‘World Heritage Site’ where we sailed among hundreds of limestone islands, and another to Chua Huong, an ancient, holy complex of Buddhist temples.

The second leg of our journey was to DaNang, the city in central Vietnam where I had been stationed. Gone, obviously, was the POW camp, but Marble Mountain was still there, as was Monkey Mountain, north of China Beach and directly across the river from the city. So much had changed that I recognized very little of the city proper, but the change was very much for the better. There are now large, modern bridges crossing the river, many tall buildings in the city, and a six-mile long tunnel has been carved through the mountain above Hai Van Pass on the way north to Phu Bai and Hue.

We again took two day trips, one to the old imperial capital in the city of Hue, and another to Hoi An, another World Heritage Site where tailors are everywhere and you can have suits, dresses, shirts, blouses, and even shoes custom made for you in a matter of hours and at extremely reasonable prices.

A little beyond Hoi An is My Son, where we explored the remains of a temple complex created by the Cham people, the original inhabitants of the area who were pushed out by the Vietnamese. Before leaving DaNang we visited Monkey

Mountain to find Chua Linh Ung, a gorgeous temple overlooking China Beach where they have just completed the construction of a 250-foot high, gleaming white statue of the Lord Buddha’s female incarnation.

Final stop, Saigon! Yes, the older generation still calls it Saigon, while the youngsters refer to it by its new name, Ho Chi Minh City. We stayed in the Park Hyatt Saigon, centrally located by another old French Opera House, the former Presidential Palace of South Vietnam and Notre Dame Cathedral. Also nearby were the old US embassy, now our consulate, the magnificent post office designed by Gustave Eiffel, the complex containing the museum, zoo and botanical gardens, and the historic Caravel and Rex Hotels. Saigon is now a city of nine million people with many tall buildings, but the old French influence is still there, with wide boulevards and horrendous traffic, most of it motor bikes.

I would highly recommend visiting Vietnam, where you will find people who are extremely friendly, and an absolutely delicious cuisine influenced by India, China and France. Bottled water is everywhere, and the dollar goes very far. They use an inflated currency (a meal eaten while sitting on a tiny plastic stool at one of their thousands of sidewalk ‘cafes’ will cost you all of 20,000 dong, or $1), but taxis are metered and haggling over the price of tourist items is expected. Western brand name goods, however, are very expensive. The general rule of conversion is to drop four zeros and divide by two, so a pair of Diesel jeans will cost 6,000,000 dong, or $300!

Be adventuresome with the food! Their national dish, pho (pronounced fuh) is eaten anytime of the day, but especially for breakfast and lunch. It is a delicious soup containing rice noodles in a beef, chicken or shrimp stock, with fresh vegetables such as mung beans, basil and cilantro added as you eat.

Thanks for the memories.

Howard Whidden, class of 1962, is currently on a return visit to Vietnam

Howard Whidden's sixth-grade picture in 1956

A Marine during the Vietnam war, Division Avenue High School graduate Howard Whidden has returned, but this time on a nostalgic visit. He is traveling with Marc Kwiatkowski.

Whidden, a retired teacher who lives in New Jersey, emailed your blogger from Vietnam on March 25, "Marc Kwiatkowski is an almost 50-year old software engineer who recently worked for Facebook. He is also without a doubt the most intelligent student I ever had.

"We recently reconnected on Facebook and he shared with me that he remembered my slides from Vietnam that were shown in his history class, and since he was planning a two-week vacation there he invited me to go as his guest. We are now one week down and I am having a ball acting as his interpreter. I was a little apprehensive that I wouldn't remember much of the language but it has amazed me how much has come back.

"The most pleasant surprise has been the very warm reception we get whenever I speak the language, first a little laugh and a big smile when a 'nguoi My' is speaking their language, then a regular conversation! So far we've visited Ha Noi and DaNang (we're staying at the Furama Resort...look it up), visited Hoi An today and will be heading up to Hue tomorrow.

"The Vietnamese people, just as I experienced my first time here, are wonderfully friendly. I will have a lot more to report after my return on April 2," Whidden concluded.

He has posted dozens of photos of his trip in Facebook and a few are presented here. You can look forward to his follow-up story next month.

1953-54 Summit Lane School, Mr. Green's fourth grade class

Click on picture to enlarge

In the class photo are:

L to R in the row by the windows: x, x, x, x, Carol Geseking, Linda Eldridge.

Across from them are: Dorothy Scagliola, Kevin Powell, Susan Padgett, Duane Bennet, x, Susan Domke.

Middle row from the front: Brian Carey, Tom Connolly, Susan Kilbride, x, Jack Jacobsen, Al Cardamone.

Fourth row is: Larry Hutt, Eric Beeshor, Carol Altshul, Scott Heuer, x.

Last row on the right: Ira Nerzig, Kathy Ryan, and Bonnie Wachter.

Standing L to R: x, Harry Triantafellow, x, Howard Whidden, Mr. Green, and Kathy Armstrong.
_________________________________________________

Photo courtesy of Howard Whidden, class of 1962. Thanks for captioning assistance to Jack Jacobsen '62.

Q & A with Howard Whidden, class of 1962; teachers inspired him to pursue a career in education, learned Vietnamese in the military

Q. Where did you live in Levittown, when did you move there and where had you lived before?

A. Born in Elmhurst and spent my early years in Jackson Heights, we moved to the first section of Levittown, three blocks from Loring Road and the Wantagh State Parkway, in 1951. My first school was Northside where my second grade teacher was Miss Kissam. Levittown was growing by leaps and bounds at the time, and it seemed that redistricting was an on-going process. Third and fourth grades were in Summit Lane, fifth was at Wisdom Lane, and then back to Summit for sixth grade. Hal Murphy was my last elementary teacher...a World War II vet, he died shortly thereafter of a massive coronary.

Q. What were some of your earliest memories of Levittown?

A. The pool! How I couldn't wait until I turned 10 to be able to go by myself. In those early years of Levittown, no one had yet put up a fence to delineate their property so as kids we would 'cut through' to get to the North Village Green and the pool. And every yard had a clothesline, and every house a TV antenna. As a kid I recall walking with my mother to the Sunrise food store in the Green or out to Bohack on Hempstead Turnpike. There was a tavern/bar on the corner, the Boots and Saddle, and it seemed at the time like a real den of iniquity.

I was a paperboy for the Long Island Press and part of my route took me past the drugstore at the Green. There was a red haired guy, Milt Schulman, who ran the front counter where I paid for my nickel candy bars and dime comic books, and his gruff brother-in-law, Al Averbach (a pharmacist). Artie Hertz was the soda jerk at the lunch counter. Boy, could he make a chocolate egg cream soda. Averbach and Schulman were co-owners.

There were several teachers who made a huge impression on me: Larry Lasker for his love of history and his stories about his neighbor, Hortense; Carlotta Miranda for her quiet, understanding demeanor and tons of patience; Bob Simes, who was just an all-around great guy and class advisor; Frank Waters and Mr. Nolan in the English dept.; Bob Graham who later became VP; Sadie Alegra, who got me to finally pass a math course; Jimmy Amen, who left me with the indelible impression of the truly compassionate phys. ed. teacher; Jerry Jewell - NOT.

But my all-time favorite was Gladys Eisenhower. I still remember the day she was talking about the Swamp Fox, Francis Marion, who never used his sword, letting it rust in its scabbard. She became so animated, she climbed up on her desk to demonstrate how in battle he would literally swing his sword, scabbard and all, over his head, calling out, "Come on boys, get those British!" She knew I loved history and excelled each quarter except when studying government. To my enduring shame I had the temerity to tell her it was 'boring!' How I wish I could tell her it became a favorite subject as an AP history teacher and department chair.

Q. What did you do immediately after high school (job, military, college)?

A. After attending Nassau Community I enlisted in the USMC. As a result of Carlotta Miranda's fine teaching I scored very highly on the army's language aptitude test and was trained to become an interrogator/translator. I attended a 32-week course learning Vietnamese (8 hours per day, five days per week) so by the time we were finished I could speak fairly well, and then on to a six-week interrogation course. Well trained, I then sat on my butt in California for the next 10 months, and with only 10 months left in my enlistment I was finally sent to Vietnam.

Great experiences...I loved the people, their culture, history, got to see a lot of the country (picking up prisoners, delivering documents to Saigon), but as rear echelon personnel I didn't see combat...worst experience was getting jungle rot in my feet and ankles.

Finished my undergrad degree at William Paterson U. in New Jersey using the GI Bill, which also paid for a master's in social studies and a second master's in educational administration.

I finished my student teaching at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, NJ, a truly inner city school...and I absolutely loved the experience. Graduating in January there was a job opening at the same time and I got it. One third black, one third Spanish, and one third white, most of whom were either Italian or recent Arab immigrants. Coming from lily-white Levittown it was a truly eye opening experience where I learned kids are kids, people are people, no matter what their color or ethnic background. I stayed there a wonderful five years until child #2 was on the way and we needed a home, not an apartment.

The sticks of New Jersey were growing and a new high school was opening in Vernon (home of the Playboy Hotel, Action Park, Great Gorge Skiing, and now called Mountain Creek). Hired as a history teacher I rose to department chair and later to vice principal. I traveled out of state to become a principal of two different high schools but quickly returned to New Jersey's much better retirement system. Retired in 2002, I have just finished my 21 year service on Vernon's board of education, the last seven as board president.

Q. Where do you live now, and how long have you been there?

A. Since 1975 we have lived in Vernon, New Jersey where we raised three great children.