Bill Jones - The Body Burning Detail: Memoir of a Marine Artilleryman in Vietnam

Foreword by VESS QUINLAN

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

e-ISBN: 978-1-4766-3424-1

2018 William C. Jones. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Front cover: Author in Firebase Neville in Qung Tr Province, Vietnam, in December, 1968

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com

To Gloria

Artillery lends dignity to what might otherwise be a vulgar brawl.Frederick the Great

If you dont have enough artillery, quit.General Richard Carsasas, U.S. Army, 19511984

There are a lot of people to thank whenever anyone completes the process of writing a book. The Body Burning Detail is certainly no exception. So, upfront, my sincere and humble apologies to whomever I have left unthanked. You know who you are.

First, the nice folks at the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nevada, financed my way to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering many years ago to recite some poems. Not once, but several times. It was a life-changing experience and the friends I made there were (and are) both cherished and invaluable. I still go to the gatherings, some thirty years later, but fortunately I can pay my own way now.

Vess Quinlan, an early supporter, accomplished and gifted poet, author, rancher, political observer, philosopher and all-around nice guy, has been a great and loyal friend from the early days. Without his encouragement, advice and suggestions I would have never attempted writing a book about the Vietnam War in the first place.

John Dofflemeyer is a California rancher, blogster, poet and editor of the Dry Crik Review. Twenty-five years ago he published Blood Trails, a collection of war poems by me and another Viet vet, Rod McQueary. It was a risky venture, both financially and otherwise. (There is, by the way, not a lot of money in publishing poetry books. Or most other books either.) In addition, many in the cowboy-poetry genre were of the opinion that war poems have no place in the cowboy, western, livestock industry subculture. John, a talented free-verse maverick who rarely succumbs to unsolicited advice from anyone, said in response, Cowboys go to war too. In many ways, he is indirectly responsible for The Body Burning Detail. Any unfavorable criticism of the book should go directly to him.

Rod McQueary, my friend and co-author of Blood Trails, another former Marine living in the shadow of the Vietnam War, left us much too soon. I wish he was here and could read this book, as he would give me an honest, thoughtful evaluation of its strengths, weaknesses and readability. Be anything but boring, Rod would say. And he was never boring. I miss Rod and his rambling late-night phone calls, advice, bullshit and unconditional friendship.

Bill Sniffin, editor and publisher of the Wyoming State Journal as well as many other publications, was kind enough to print my weekly columns for several years. A lot of them, quite frankly, were not works of great literature, but I had a lot of fun and generated a lot of irate letters to the editor. Satire and irony, I learned quickly enough, are concepts foreign to a majority of the newspaper-reading public. Perhaps Bill was only looking for filler articles for his paper, but he paid me (not much, by the way, but no doubt more than the columns were worth) and that gave me the confidence to continue trying to put something entertaining or marginally significant on paper. Bill took a chance on me, an inexperienced and unknown wannabe writer, and I am forever grateful.

C. J. Hadley, editor and publisher of RANGE magazine, may well be one of the most interesting and unique women I have ever known. A fugitive from Great Britain, she is an early fan and believer in The Body Burning Detail. A little blonde whirling dervish of limitless energy spouting entertaining and outlandish stories (all of which are true no one could make them up), she generously shares her lifetime of experience in writing and publishing. She will occasionally publish one of my rants or poems in her magazine or award-winning books. Thanks, CJ. You need to write a book.

Denyse Pellettieri White, my proofreader/editor, has put a lot of work into this project. Although I have never met her in person, over many phone calls and emails we have developed a most pleasant relationship based on mutual respect and a common interestwhich was to get this book in shape for the publisher. She is the very best at what she does and is a super nice person. Not only that, but Denyse says she really likes the book. Could any author ask for more? Without her there would be no book and my gratitude well, I dont have a proper adjective for it.

There is also the United States Marine Corps. I never liked the Marine Corps all that much. And I was far from a model Marine the two short years I was a part of it. But I loved those young Marines with whom I served. Most of them, anyway. Once a Marine, always a Marine. Trite and a tad corny perhaps, but nevertheless true enough.

Then there is my biggest fan, confidant, partner in crime, gentle critic, and wife extraordinaire Gloria H. Jones, who reads everything I write and (almost always) likes me anyway. It has been a forty-plus year adventure, an interesting and delightful ride that is passing far too quickly. I wish we could do it all again

I could go on with many more names. Hundreds, maybe. But you probably would not know any of them. And invariably I would leave someone important out. Plus, it would be boring.

If you only read one book about the Vietnam War, it should be this one. It is not a dry-as-cornflakes tale of strategy or tactics. With great writing and superb storytelling skill, Bill Jones takes you through Marine boot camp where experts deflate excess self-esteem and strip a group of young men consisting of mostly college dropouts, sons of poor fathers, assorted minorities, and miscellaneous hoodlums down to only bone and muscle, then rebuild these boys into men trained, equipped, and determined to be your best friends or your worst enemies. Otherwise known as U.S. Marines.

Imagine finding yourself in a hole scooped out of the red soil of Vietnam, wet, cold and scared to death, with another Marine who is just as wet, cold and scared as you are. Imagine thinking that your survival could well depend on this fellow Marine and knowing that in your former life, when driving through his neighborhood, you would be sure to lock your car doors.

This book is about going weeks without a shower, a change of clothes, or a hot meal. About how strangers became closer than family as they went where they were sent and did what they were told to do, often without knowing where they were or exactly where the orders came from. Some of the events are laugh-out-loud funny, or as bawdy as young men can make them, and others are heart wrenching and sad.

Bills father served in the Second World Warthe last good warand troops came home to parades and cheering crowds. The troops from Bills war came home to jeers and insults from some of the clueless student-deferment crowd. The unintended or perhaps fully intended consequences of providing deferments to the sons of the rich and connected or the academically gifted created a nasty division in our society that exists to this very day.