Wallace: (Staring briefly at the envelopes) “You say that these are only some of the files and names.”
Me: “Correct. This only came to light on Sunday, and I only had yesterday to begin to piece this together. Some of the files, specifically the Judge Advocate General’s final investigation report, simply were not available to me. They were not stored in the Pentagon, but at the JAG headquarters. As for the names of the personnel, it’s been almost twenty years. Most of them have left the military and are all across the country. I did the best I could, but I am sure that some have died and some never left forwarding addresses, that sort of thing.”
At that point the producer yelled, “CUT!” He and Wallace conferred and the envelopes were examined and then passed off to some assistants, probably to be reviewed and either used to contradict what I was saying, or to be followed up on. What I was hoping for was that one of the guys on the drop might be able to be reached and be able to say the story was rank bullshit. Then again, with my luck, the only guy they would reach would be the asshole lieutenant who had landed me in hot water.
After a few minutes asking me about the files and sending them off the set, we went back to the interview.
Wallace: “So, you are saying that what is being reported is not what really happened. Could you tell us what really happened?”
Me: “Of course.”
At that, I spent about half an hour going over the actual mission to Honduras and what we were supposed to be doing there, that fateful and fucked up drop, and the slog back home. Then I told about the arrest back at base, my treatment by the Provost Marshall’s office, and my waking up in a hospital in confinement. I knew at least 90 percent would be cut, but that would be their job. I had my secret tape recorder going if they tried to hatchet me.
Wallace: “According to you, General Hawkins refused to have you airlifted to rescue until you blackmailed him into it. Why did he do that? It would seem to me that getting you home faster made it less likely that you would be captured.”
Me: “That is something I have given a lot of thought to over the years. The best I can figure is that Hawkins was a very political general. From what I have seen of his record, he has never actually been in combat or even been close to it. His Viet Nam experience was limited to headquarters duty in Saigon. Regardless, I don’t think he cared what happened to us, as long as it didn’t mess up his career. All he cared about was not making his own record look bad. If we were captured by my blundering around, well, that was the fault of my poor training and judgment, and the fault of the 82nd Airborne for letting me lead troops. If he sent helicopters in to rescue us, however, he would be taking direct responsibility, and if something happened, then it would be on his head.”
Wallace: “That’s an astonishing thing to say! And afterwards, you claim that he ordered your arrest and subsequent torture to extract a confession?”
Me: “I think torture is a bit overblown. I got a good thumping, though, and the guy who gave it got a bit carried away. I really wouldn’t call it torture.”
Wallace: “But you claim that he ordered an American officer to be beaten into unconsciousness.”
Me: “My understanding is that he ordered the Provost Marshall to offer me generous terms if I confessed, and urged that I be convinced of the error of my ways, and the Provost Marshall claims that an overzealous MP was actually responsible. You can believe as much of that as you want to.”
Wallace: “And after you came to in the hospital, what happened?”
Me: “I woke up in a hospital in Guantanamo, at the Navy base where I had been flown while I was unconscious. I was in a confinement ward. While there I was interviewed by a JAG lawyer, who then told me of the final disposition of his investigation. First and foremost, everything about the drop was classified Top Secret. Pretty much every officer involved was being relieved of command and sent packing, including me. I would get the Bronze Star for getting the guys home, but my career was over. If I wanted to ever see my wife and family, I was to keep my mouth shut and go with the flow.”
Wallace: “What happened to General Hawkins?”
Me: “Shortly afterwards, he was promoted to Major General and received a posting at NATO headquarters. He eventually was promoted to Lieutenant General before he retired.”
Wallace: “He was promoted?”
Me: “Yes.”
At that point Wallace began trying to pick apart the details of my story. Why was I there? Why did I take command? Why did we have so many casualties? The biggest thing was, of course, the prisoners we had taken at the airfield.
Wallace: “Why did you capture the prisoners? What purpose did they serve?”
Me: “No purpose whatsoever. However, this was the place we were ordered to be at for the evacuation, and we had to secure the site. These were armed guards and leaving them alone would mean that I would be asking unarmed helicopters to come into a hot LZ. No way was that going to happen! We took control of the airfield and captured the guards, and then tied them up. We would release them prior to our evacuation.”
Wallace: “But you didn’t release them. You killed them. At least that is the claim being made against you.”
Me: “That claim was made by Second Lieutenant Fairfax, who is also the only person who made that claim. Second Lieutenant Fairfax did not witness me release the prisoners. In fact he was at least fifty yards away, on the other side of the airfield, when I released them. If you ask any of the other soldiers who were there, they would report that he could not possibly have seen what he reported. It was pitch black. All anybody could say was that I fired my pistol to hurry them off the airfield.”
Wallace: “Then why did he claim that you had killed them?”
Me: “You’ll have to ask him that, and then ask the others who were there if they witnessed me killing the prisoners. I think he was simply getting back at me for relieving him of command and making him look bad. He also charged me with leading a mutiny, destruction of Army property, failure to obey orders, and pretty much anything else he could come up with, all of which were dismissed.”
Wallace: “And the claim that you were released for political reasons?”
Me: “For one thing, as far as anybody knew at the time, I was just one more captain without any pull. Besides, even if you assume they let me off the hook for national security reasons or some such, why give me the medal? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Wallace: “None of the prisoners ever came forth to complain. Is this another example of dead men telling no tales?”
Me: “The fact that four drug runners never came forth to file a complaint isn’t an argument! When we left, we blew up over half a ton of cocaine that would have come here to America. Millions of dollars worth of cocaine were destroyed by my command. Which is more likely, that I killed four drug runners in cold blood with witnesses, or that their own bosses buried them in a shallow grave in the jungle?”
Wallace: “Why did you destroy the drugs? Were you actually there on a drug raid?”
Me: “We were not there on a drug raid. We were there because we were dumped there by a lost pilot. Would you have preferred those drugs to come to America? No, we dumped kerosene all over them and blew them up.”