Wolf - Boys for Men

BOYS FOR MEN

Derrick Wolf

Copyright 2015 Derrick Wolf

Big Guy Wolf

All rights reserved.

Preface & Acknowledgements

I was drafted into the army in June of 1969. After completing basic training, I received further training as an armor crewman. I was then sent to Vietnam in January of 1970 and discharged from the army in March 1971.

In 1999, my good friend Jerry Hosier let me read a copy of his great great-uncle Sylvester Waltz's journal from his time in the army during the Indian Wars of 1876. The journal was filled with the mundane everyday routines and of the hardships of being in the infantry during a time of war. I couldn't get his stories out of my head, and I was struck by the many similarities, especially the trials we both endured during our time in the military, even though our period of service was separated by almost 100 years. It wasnt until 2007, while attempting to write down my army stories (in part inspired by reading Waltz's journal), that I realized that I could and should combine them somehow. It took me a few weeks of contemplation before I decided on my format.

From notes and a list of memory triggers I wrote an after-the-fact daily journal of my time spent in Vietnam. The events I detail in my journal are all true but some of the events depicted might not have happened on the day entered in my journal. My memory of that time was surprisingly good but not that good. I did remember the exact day of some events, and I used those to try to put the rest of the stories at least close to their correct order. The daily entry in my journal is preceded with an entry from the Waltz journal and by juxtaposing them this way the similarities are very evident. This maybe one of those instances where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. At least I hope so.

Many of my friends and family helped and assisted in this project and I would like to acknowledge that now.

My first thank you is to Jean Hosier (Jerry's mother and at times, a mother to me) for obtaining the first copy of the Sylvester Waltz Diary and Journal from the Monroe County Historical Commission. Jean, along with her niece, Patricia Cole, typed a transcript from the copy of the actual handwritten journal. The copy of the handwritten version they had to work with was very light and difficult to read in places but they did an exceptional job of deciphering Sylvester's handwriting, which for the most part is quite good.

Next I want to thank Jerry Hosier for letting me read his copy of the Waltz diary and journal.

I also want to thank Foster (Tony) Waltz, who is a grandson of Sylvester Waltz, and his wonderful and charming wife Marcia for sharing photos of Sylvester Waltz and his wife and children with me. They were also the source of information on Sylvester Waltz that is included in the Afterword.

Thanks to all my friends and family who helped with the typing and that would include: Nels Nelson and Claudia Berg, as well as my daughter, Alexis, and my wife, Tasha Lebow.

I want to thank all my loyal readers: my wife, Tasha, and both my children, Evan and Alexis, as well as friends Martha Adler, Nels Nelson and Nick Guyol, and my brother Ken Wolf.

Martha Adler was in the Peace Corps and stationed in the Philippines during the Vietnam War and had some contact with American GI's on R&R there. She mentioned to me that she once saw some GIs on the beach playing with firecrackers, seeing who could hold the firecrackers the longest before they went off. Martha, who was 20 years old at the time, said, "They were just boys." I asked her if she wanted to know the working title of the book I was working on about the Vietnam War. When I told her the title was Boys for Men, Martha said, "Oh man, you just gave me a chill!" To which I replied, "You just gave me a title for my book. Boys for Men isn't the working title anymore. It is the title." After reading some of my initial rough drafts Martha encouraged me to continue.

Special thanks to Sally Muse, my good friend, Main reader, and self-proclaimed #1 Fan who was the first of my readers to finish the rough draft of Boys for Men . She was a constant source of inspiration.

Thanks to Sylvester Waltz for taking the time almost every night to write in his journal. There were times it must have been a supreme effort, writing by campfire light during the winter in Montana after a long hard days march.

Lastly I want to thank my wife, Tasha, and our children again, as they all taught me how to use a computer, how to surf the Internet, and how to do all things necessary to write and publish a book.

Without their assistance and the help from everyone mentioned above this work would have never been completed.

Introduction

Sylvester Waltz's diary and journal starts on St. Patrick's Day, 1876 when the cavalry and infantry he is with leave Ft. Shaw in Montana and continues as the Yellowstone Expedition makes its way to the Little Bighorn Valley and back to Ft. Shaw. The Yellowstone Expedition had three main forces that were to converge at the Little Big Horn Valley. General Terry lead a force from the north which included Gen. Custer and the 7th Cavalry. A force lead by Gen Crooks was coming from the south and a force lead by Gen. Gibbon was coming from the west, with Sylvester Waltz among the latter. He describes the incredible hardships and danger they endured on their journey. His journal has many more entries than mine, so I was able to cherry pick what I felt were the best and most pertinent entries. My hope is that the entries I have used will create enough interest in the Waltz journal that it will eventually be published in its entirety.

My stories, although written in the present tense, were actually written during February 2008 to February 2009 from rough drafts and notes written from 2000-2007. Virtually everything was written from memory.

Because of all the military slang and jargon used, I have included a glossary at the end of the book.

I want to acknowledge inspiration as a writer from Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain, Jules Verne and Joseph Heller among others. I hope it is not considered plagiarism if I admit ahead of time to using some of their pet phrases. I happened to read Heller's Catch 22 while in the army, and it was a real eye opener for me and one of the reasons I promised myself that one day I would tell my stories. So promise kept, some forty years later, but here they are.

January 1970

March 17, 1876

Friday, St. Patrick's Day

Ft. Shaw, Montana

A few days ago we received orders for each company of this fort, Fort Shaw, Montana Territory, to be ready to march at any time. We are, it is understood, going to the Yellowstone River, on a trip I do not know how long it will last.

Boys are all feeling good on the prospect of getting out of the post. This morning turned out as usual at Reveille and found the ground covered with now four inches of snow. Of course (as it is St. Patrick's Day) the musicians played St. Patrick's Day in the morning around the parade ground. We all have our knapsacks packed and ready to be slung. We were fell in, away we went.

Camped about three o'clock at Eagle Rock. Its name I believe was derived from the fact of so many eagles alighting on a high point of rocks here. We have had very bad walking. The snow melting, we all have wet feet. We have to clean away the snow first to pitch our tents and it is beginning to snow and expect to play Freeze Out all night. Three of us bunk together. We all have had our supper by sitting around the fire and shivering. We made twelve miles today. Wood and hay were hauled from Shaw.

Camp Eagle Rock 12 miles from Ft. Shaw

January 6, 1970

Tuesday, Epiphany

Oakland, California

I just noticed that it's Epiphany, the Day of Revelation. Lots of thinking time flying across the US from Dearborn, Michigan to the Oakland Army base in California. I am one of the last arrivals of the day. All the barracks are full. Even in all the Day rooms - the recreation rooms - all the chairs and couches have been claimed by earlier arrivals. There are two places left: the floor or the pool table. Today I have had my first revelation about war. My comfort is of no concern to anyone but me.