During January we did a survey to find out who was a member of our brother organization; the USMC Vietnam Tankers Association.  We created an un-planned stir both positive and negative.

    We have 591 members with email addresses and we wanted to find out what percentage of those Foundation members were also  members of the USMC VTA who have paid their dues, who are not current with their dues or have never joined.

    The reason we were seeking this information was really very simple and the stats from the results indicated what we already knew or I should say, what we thought we knew.  Those paid members of the VTA are more activity participating with the Historical Foundation then those who are not members.

    Keep in mind not everyone took part in the survey.  We were able to get a representative number of responses to complete the survey. There is  a +3% or -3% for the totals. Here are the results:

    We encourage those that are not current with their dues and those who have never joined the VTA please do so.  That simple act might motivate you to give us your personnel story that we can archive with the United States Marine Corps Historical Division, the Marine Corps University and the National Archives. 

Semper Fidelis,

Marine Corps Vietnam Tankers Historical Foundation 

USMC Vietnam Tankers Association 

Founder/President Emeritus (1999-2005)

Contact: Click here 

Marine Corps Vietnam Tankers

Historical Foundation's

Volunteer(s) of the Year 2013

   I met (then LtCol) Bill Corson in September of 1966 in the RVN when he reported for duty as the Commanding Officer of the 3rd Tank Battalion. At that time I was commanding Bravo Company. In early October 1966, I was transferred to the staff of the battalion to be his Operations Officer. A friendship of mutual respect was developed during this time which was maintained through personal contact and correspondence over the years until his death. It was due to this friendship that I was made aware by him of the ordeal he went through to have "The Betrayal" finally published.

     "Freedom of the Press/Speech", as part of an American's treasured "Bill of Rights" guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, does not obtain to a person to say or write scurrilous, slanderous or libelous things about another person or organization acting within duly constituted constraints. Certain caveats of law and custom serve to protect the innocent from unrestrained and unwarranted attacks. However, these same caveats can be, and often are, used to "muzzle" dissent and constructive criticism when such pronouncements run counter to an "official line", particularly in high government or military echelons.

     Certainly Bill Corson knew of the Department of Defense Directive, applicable to both military and civilian personnel of the Federal Government, which required that all such personnel refrain from making public statements or submitting written matter for publication if they pertained to governmental or military policies. All such matters are required to be forwarded through "channels" to be blessed with the "holy water" of official sanction before any action is taken. Bill knew that his book would not be approved for publication had he followed the norm laid down for him as an active duty military officer.

     The plan to avoid the almost certain shelving of his work was simple and straightforward. In the spring of 1968, the book was in the final stages of editing, proofing, etc., in preparation for going to print. While he was still on active duty, the publishing date was to have been in early July, some days after his planned retirement from active duty on 30 June. Thus, the "plan of attack" was made to protect the book and Bill Corson, who faced certain censure plus the loss of months of dedicated thought and writing, if the book was to enter the labyrinth of official channels.

     There were several copies of the rough manuscript of "The Betrayal" in existence in the spring of 1968, as a number of people involved in the publication of the book needed a copy to complete their final tasks. Although discretion was emphasized by the publishing company. Somehow a copy of the manuscript "leaked" out and came into the hands of the very officials in the "channels" who it was important to avoid. (To my knowledge, the culprit in this piece of "literary espionage" was never discovered.) "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" is a quote apropos to the flurry of activity touched off in the Department of Defense immediately following the "acquisition" of the manuscript. The rapidity with which a special literary investigative task force was formed and set to work hints at some pretty high level interest in this effort.

     The literary investigative task force was composed of a large number of civilian and military personnel who were broken up into teams to read and analyze each chapter of the book. The specific mission of each team was to search for classified information which, if found, would justify the silencing of this work as a threat to national security if it were allowed to be published. In the final report of this investigative body, one team believed it had found a relatively minor breach of security which could fall under the "Confidential" classification. This report was forwarded to a high ranking Navy admiral who headed a Directorate in the Department of the Navy concerned with such matters. After a realistic review of the report, the admiral determined that there was nothing of a classified nature in "The Betrayal" and therefore the work could not be given any type of security classification. With this pronouncement the book was saved from the doom intended for it.

     Meanwhile, back at the Department of Defense, there were those who still sought to discredit the author and who sorely wished to get their "pound of flesh". Formal charges were referred to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Leonard S. Chapman, for action. General Chapman had no alternative but to convene a Pre-Trial Formal Board of Inquiry to determine if the charges warranted trial by General Courts-Martial. If convicted in such a military trial, Bill Corson could have faced confinement in a federal prison, loss of all pay and allowances for the term of the confinement and dismissal from the service with a Dishonorable Discharge. Bill retained a civilian attorney to represent him and the battle was on.

     With the "hot potato" sitting squarely in his lap, General Chapman's decision was a hallmark one in terms of integrity, wisdom and courage. Despite continued pressure from above for Carson's "hide", General Chapman refused to waver. After he reviewed the report of the formal inquiry, he dismissed the charges against Bill Corson. The punishment he handed down for stirring up this hornet's nest was a "letter of reprimand". This type of letter constitutes a censure of the highest order and is the "kiss of death" against further promotions for a military officer. Given Carson's intention to retire in the first place, the reprimand lost a bit of its sting. It did, however, spell the end of a comic opera of events which failed to "muzzle" a man determined to have his contribution to history survive unadulterated.

     In the late summer of 1968, I received a phone call from Bill at my quarters at NAS Lemoore, CA where I was serving as C.O. of the Marine Barracks. He invited my wife and I to meet with him and his wife Judy in San Francisco where he would be promoting the book sale. We spent a great weekend with them there and Bill presented me with an autographed and inscribed copy of the book. He pointed out that in the forward of "The Betrayal" he mentioned my name as one of many persons to whom he was indebted for their help and encouragement when he stated;

     "To major Everett L. Tunget, USMC, who as my operations officer in Vietnam  sharpened and honed the rather blunt instrument of a Marine tank battalion so that it could be effective in the entire spectrum of the Vietnam conflict and who was my most devastating critic in the best meaning of the term." 

Marine Tanks & Ontos Action in the Vietnam War

Februaries' 1965 to 1970 - Marine Tanks & Ontos Action

    This is the eleventh of what is intended to be a monthly feature of abstracted Tank and Antitank Marine Corps archived-Command Chronologies (CC's). This issue of Breech Block - February 2014 - will give you an overview of the actions in which the 1st, 3rd,, and 5th Tanks and Antitanks were engaged during each February that they operated in-country. For the more complete command chronologies, (often missing the S-1 Personnel Annexes) please visit our Foundation website www.mcvthf.org where Pappy Reynolds has posted the Tank and Antitank CCs. You will find that most of the CCs are 100-300 pages (occasion-ally 500+!) in length with material that is of interest most often only to the research historian. Featured in the abstracts presented here in the monthly Breech Blocks are the operations which are of prime interest. If we've omitted areas that you would like to see included in these monthly abstracts, please let us know. And note that personnel information - names of KIAs, promotions, Purple Hearts and other medals - was purged from the original command chronologies, possibly to protect the Marines' privacy at the time the CC's were prepared. However this information - and more - may be found at the Foundation's website.

     We've encouraged our Brothers to weigh in with their suggestions on what to add - or delete - from these CC abstracts. In upcoming Breech Blocks we will present a rather different picture of what the Marines back at battalion headquarters were doing. In the case of 1st Tanks, its C.O. was double-hatted to command the Southern Sector's activities centered on Chu Lai initially and then moved to Da Nang with the relocation of the First Tanks north as Third Tanks moved to Dong Ha.

     Another suggested feature is to present the size/shape/commitment/results of both the 1st and 3rd Tanks and Antitanks in the context of the Civic Action Program. We will not include details in the monthly reports in this series of abstracts but will create a dedicated composite in a single separate volume of our soon-to-be-published book.

     If you served in, or supported, or were supported by Tanks or Ontos during any month of February and can recall some experiences that you would like to see become part of Marine Corps history, jot them down and send them to the Foundation. Pictures with captions are of particular interest. Nearly all of the material you send us will find its way into one of our publications - our web site, the Breech Block, and/or The Book. And, if writing is not your forte, and/or you would like to sit for an interview, contact me or a member of our Foundation Interview Team, give us about an hour of your time, and talk about your service to your country during the Vietnam War. We will record your experience, condense the recording in a written document, and send you a copy of both your interview on a CD and a copy of the written document. And, both will also be entered into the Marine Corps Archives at Quantico, VA for future generations.

     Also, you are encouraged to access the Foundation's Map Chronology that Pappy has created a www.mcvthf.org. There you may find out exactly where your unit - battalion, company, often platoon, and occasionally section - was located at any given time. If you do not find your unit on one of Pappy's several maps, let us know. Also, plotted is the exact location and statistics of every Marine Tanker and Ontos crewman who was killed in action.

Semper Fidelis,

Ray Stewart

  Click on links below to read the Command chronologies

 Part 1~ Part 2 ~ Part 3 ~ Part 4

Federal Way, WA 98023

Thank you!

IRS Approved Tax EIN 91-2111544 A 501(c)(19) Non-profit Historical Foundation Est. 2001 

    Each year we wipe the slate clean as to who has donated for that calendar year. All donations received after October 1, 2013 will appear in the Breech Block beginning with the January 2014 issue. Donations received before October 1, 2013 will not appear in the eNewletters beginning the first of the year.

    Thank you for your support without you the foundation cannot achieve its goals of researching, recording, archiv-ing and publishing your individual stories.

 Semper Fidelis