Professional Soldiers ®

I met Maggie when she came to Ban Me Thout (the SOG CCS, then USARV TF3AE compound) in the late spring or early summer of 1971. I was fortunate enough to be one of the nugs who got to meet her at the airfield when she flew in - the compound was adjacent to the old airfield, then no longer used for anything but resupply flights that came in via Carabou, or the occasional 123 or 130 Blackbird flights that came in for operational reasons.

We exchanged pleasantries (I didn't say much...), then headed for the NCO Club. All the old timers (the E7s, E8s and the one SGM we had, along with the officers - one of whom recently retired as the USSOCOM DCINC - I was still a buck sgt), many of whom had seen her on previous visits, were waiting for her there. She was greeted with great fanfair - she'd long before won the hearts and minds of SF guys, and she exchanged salutes and hugs with some of the old guys. I sat off to one side while she got caught up with the older guys, listening to them tell war stories and an occasional lie (say it isn't so!).

One of the senior NCOs ambushed me by saying that when it was my time to go over and talk to her one-on-one, that I oughta ask her about how she liked working with Jane Fonda, since they'd just made a movie together. I didn't question the advice, even though I was at Bragg in the spring of 1970 when Hanoi Jane came to Fayetteville (along with non other than John Kerry - no shit!) to lead an anti-war demonstration up "the boulevard" with the eventual goal to paint Iron Mike (then posted at the entrance to Bragg at the intersection of Bragg Blvd and Knox Street) and Bronze Bruce (then posted where he still should be posted - at the SF memorial plaza) red - to represent communism (my blood pressure is rising as I type this).

In the meantime the liquor flowed like the Mekong River. Maggie drank vodka out of a 12 oz glass straight - maybe over the rocks, but definitely without a mixer. By the time it was my turn to go up and speak with her, I was more than ready, and a bit anxious - since she'd be the first real Hollywood celebrity that I'd personally speak with, and because she was legendary in the SF family.

So there I was... meandering over to where she sat... I introduced myself, told her a little bit about who I was, where I was from and how much I liked being in SF and in SOG. Then I made the nearly fatal mistake of popping her the question, "So, Maggie, one of the guys said you just finished making a movie with Jane Fonda, and I was wondering how you liked working with her..."

She looked at me - no, through me - with a stare that I'm not sure I've ever seen since (maybe from one of my ex-wives, but they don't count). As she leaned over toward where I was sitting, the room came to a hush... then the profanities began to flow from her lips... "That communist sypmathizing mother fucking bitch!.. She isn't worth a good god-damn!.. she should be shot in the fucking face, and I'm just the woman to do it!..." and so on... it went on for a while - I was too shocked to remember exactly what else she said.

I thought I'd crawl under the bar stool.. I never felt so embarrassed in my then 20 years. The guys in the room finally couldn't hold their laughter any longer, and the shit hit the fan. They started hooting, and hollering, and calling me the fucking new guy (I'd been there for months by the time she came to visit - I guess I was getting baptized by fire).

She came over and gave me a hug, and a big kiss on the cheek - I'll never forget that as long as I live. I'd been set up - I'd been the brunt of the joke (which was on me), but to this day I believe that what came from Maggie's mouth about Hanoi Jane came from her heart - she hated the bitch almost as much as most of us who're VN vets still hate her today.

The story ain't over yet...

We had a gun truck at CCS; a deuce-and-a-half that had been converted to a gun truck for security of the convoys that had to run over the mountain to Nha Trang every other week to get chow. It had 2, then 4 M-60 machine guns on the corners of the bed, belt fed, and they were set up to give 360 degree coverage. At one point we aquired two mini-guns from the 20th SOS guys (Novermber model Hueys - good mf'rs that they are) and the Philipino tech reps that we had did their damnest to hook 'em up to replace the M-60s - since the guys who were tapped to accompany the convoy normally like to do a bit of recon-by-fire on QL21 on the way to and back from Nha Trang. The truck was painted black, it had PSP plating on the sides with sandbags between the plating and the sides of the bed to give some protection against small arms fire. On the side of the plating was painted "MAGGIE, MEANEST MOTHER IN THE VALLEY" in big white letters.

I sat there in the NCO club recovering from my life's most embarrasing moment, when it dawned on me that we had the gun truck parked in the motorpool, and I just happened to know where the key was to the lock/chain that went around the steering wheel. So off I went - stumbling (no shit) to the motor pool to steal the gun truck so I could drive it over to the NCO club - which is exactly what I did. I pulled the sumbich right up on the sidewalk at a 90 degree angle, about 5 feet from the front entrance so that whoever walked out of that door couldn't help but see the words painted on the side.

Then I proudly walked in and loudly announced that there was something outside that Maggie just might want to see... which she did. She walked out and saw the truck, with guns in place, loaded and ready for battle. I had my camera with me - we all had cameras for her visit - and I asked her if she'd pose next to the truck. I took the shot, which came out so good that I kept it on my desk for as long as I was on active duty. Sometime in the mid 70's, a buddy of mine who was also at BMT (Tom Cook) was going to SoCal and while he was there he was going to pop over and pay Maggie a visit, so I gave him the picture and asked that he get Maggie to autograph it for me - which he did and she did.

When I retired and took a civil service job in the SF community, I gave the photo to the command's illustrator so she could make an enlargement. Little did I know then that she'd also give a copy of the picture to the author of the book titled "Maggie, Meanest Mother In the Valley" - or something close to that. It wasn't but a few years ago that I saw the book in the SF museum bookstore, and while thumbing through it I just about shit when I turned the page to see my picture, the one that I took of Maggie standing in front of her gun truck outside the door of the NCO club at BMT in 1971 - with some shithead's name next to it getting credit for the photo - it still pisses me off today.

I eventually - not too many years ago - passed the photo to the guys out at the Nat'l SF Association for archiving. I attached a note to it, telling whoever had it that I was the nug who took the shot, and I'm the sumbich who dontated it to the SFA - no one else. I haven't seen the picture, or heard anything about it since - I hope someone has it in safe keeping. Sometimes I wish I'd kept it - but I do have the enlargement around her in a box somewhere - (I'm going to dig it out now that I'm getting emotional about Maggie once again).

I attended Maggie's funeral at the Fort Bragg cemetery shortly after her death. It took some real politicking to get approval for a civilian to be buried on Fort Bragg - but the politicians knew, or were told, how important she was to those of us who wore the Green Beret during the VN war, and they knew that she was literally a mother to those of us deployed to fight the war in SE Asia. Smart move..

I've been told, but I can't confirm, that the fag actor that took advantage of her in her final years, marrying her so he could get his hands on her millions, shitcanned all the SF memorabilia that she had in her 'safe house' in Los Angeles, which was open to any SF guy who happened to be passing through town. Someone oughta cut his nuts off if it's true....

So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I have a couple of great pics around here somewhere of her visit to BMT that day 33+ years ago, and I might have to dig 'em out, scan 'em and see if I can post one or two here for your viewing pleasure. In the meantime, if you get a chance to check out the book on Maggie's life, check out my photo of her - I think it's on the lead-in page of chapter 5 - you can't miss it - she's got that famous mouth open, her arms are spread wide, and she's smiling like she meant it - which she did...

Those are some great memories...

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