This is my final diary in the series. This is also my version of a happy diary, no one dies and I'm going to give it a happy ending. I will drop the effort to write only what I know. Here I will add things I believe. I want to pay homage to my hero Nathaniel Wells who ended United States participation in the Vietnam War.
I don't trust my memory Nathan from my days on USS Newport News. When you ask the Navy Judge Advocate Corps (JAG) at the Navy Yard in Washington for any legal proceedings concerning the 1972 deployment of The USS Newport News to Southeast Asia the only thing you get is the court martial of Nathaniel. The JAG people are very helpful and responsive to FOIA requests.
I hope he had a good life. He spent the year of 1973 trying to stay in the Navy. Below is the best information I have about him which is a letter from his mother to his defense attorney which is included in the court martial records. [It's signed Mr. and Mrs. Wells, but it has to be a mother's letter.]
Dear Sir,
We received your letter today. We been wonder what wrong. We haven't heard nothing from anyone tell us what he did are wrong if you let me know what date the trial are going to be I will like very much to come to Norfolk.
Nathaniel never did talk to much when he was growing up he was sick. When he was small stay in hospital 9 wk had a tumor on his nose he eat not to much he allway want to play ball but the Doctor told us to not to let him because his nose could be knout out place. He has 4 sister 2 brother he carry paper when he was in Jr High School. Didn't pick fights but was ready to fight back if anyone start it. Read book. He went to church when he was home. Please let us know what happen to our Son. We are worry and pray for him. Tell him we love him and pray that everything will work out for the best.
Thank so much and we pray that you will do your best for him.
Mr & Mrs Wells.
CERTIFIED TO BE A TRUE COPY:
W. A. McCurdy, Jr. LT. JAGC, USNR
Trial Counsel
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When the explosion happened Nathaniel Wells was on lookout watch on top of the superstructure behind turret two. His face was singed by the flames blowing out the doors of the turret. Later that morning he helped carry out men, some of them his friends.
The ship remained in Subic Bay, Philippines while a metal plate was slapped on the hole where the center gun of turret two used to be and the turret was sealed and the ammunition was inspected. There is a record of a protest there during October.
October --Subic Bay - 800 sailors and civilian supporters demonstrate in effort to halt deployment of USS Newport News to Vietnam.
I frankly don't remember it. At the time I was keeping to myself and undergoing state of the art stress relief therapy under the guidance of the
renowned Filipino San Miguel.
Speculation was rampant about return to the states. It had said we would be back in the states by Thanksgiving and it was a three week cruise back to the East Coast. Then it was back to the gunline.
19 October
Moored as before, until berthing shifted to Nabasan Wharf at 1024, Ammunition was loaded onboard throughout the day.
20 October
NEWPORT NEWS got underway for the gunline at 1017
21 October
Transit to the gunline continued.
At 1547, while preparing the starboard chaff-roc for action , an inadvertent firing took plae, injuring SN W.D. DAVENPORT, of 5th Division.
22 October
The ship arrived on station at the gunline at 0534. No firing took placer durig the day. 23 October
The ship departed station in the morning to refuel from US WACCAMAW (AO 109) AT 1053. Attached to TG 75.9, NEWPORT NEWS began firing two missions and 256 5-inch rounds. No GDA was observed.
24 October
Five-inch fire continued with two more missions and 195 5-inch rounds. The ship again provided support for VNMC in Quang Tri Province.
25 October
During the day NEWPORT NEWS fired one mission accounting for 216 5-inch rounds.
26 October
The ship rearmed from the USS VESUVIUS (AE 15) at 1046. Personnel were also highlined off the ship.
Again one mission was fired with 5-inch rounds, totaling 39. No GDA was available.
27 October
NEWPORT NEWS vertrepped ammunition with the USS SANTA BARBARA (AE 28) at 1252. Returning to the line she fired one mission accounting for 88 5-inch rounds.
28 October
Action increased as NEWPORT NEWS was called on to fire nine missions and 633 5-inch shells. Her efforts caused two secondary explosions and destroyed two bunkers.
29 October
At 0845 the ship rearmed with USS PYRO (AE 24).
Upon returning to station she fired three missions totaling 42 8-inch and 286 5-inch rounds. Her fire caused destruction of two structures.
30 October
The ship refueled from USS HASSAYAMPA (AO 145) AT 0802.
during the remainder of the day NEWPORT NEWS fired two missions and expended 138 5-inch rounds, starting five fires and causing one secondary explosion.
31 October
The last day of the month proved to be a busy one for NEWPORT NEWS. At 0956 four rounds of hostile fire were observed, the first on the gunline since 27 June.
At 1153 NEWPORT NEWS picked up five members of an Allied patrol, three of whom were Navy Seal Team advisors. Two of the members of the group were injured, and were treated in sickbay.
The ship fired one mission totaling only 104 5-inch rounds during the day, but the damage included two bunkers and 12 structures damaged, two secondary explosions.
The 31 October entry from the command summary does not come close to portraying
what happened then.
I wish I could say during this period a cast an absentee ballot for George McGovern, but I'm sure I didn't vote. I don't remember any effort by the military to get out the vote. During this time a Republican administration was not concerned about the holy sanctity of the military vote.
1 November
Hostile fire during the day included two incidents totaling 14 rounds. One shell assed over the top to Turret Three,arting an antenna guy wire, shattering the insulator at the base of the antenna and bending the antenna shaft.
NEWPORT NEWS fired four missions totaling five 8-inch and 118 5-inch rounds. Four secondary explosions were caused, one structure was destroyed and one damaged.
And so on and so on. We left the gunline to stay out of the way of a typhoon going by then went back for a few days. November 9th the ship received what was intended to be a goodbye visit from Admiral J.S. Kern who was in charge of cruisers in the Seventh Fleet. On the 10th of October we left for Subic Bay to get ready to return to Norfolk, VA. The following message was received on the 9th of October:
AS YOU PREPARE TO DEPART WESTPAC AFTER A LONG, STRENUOUS, AND DEMANDING DEPLOYMENT, WE WISH TO SAY THANKS TO THE SHIP WITH THE MOSTEST. YOUR DEMONSTRAYED PROFESSIONALISM ON LINEBACKER NGF STRIKES AND COURAGE IN THE FACE OF INTENSE HOSTILE FIRE IS A SOURCE OF GREAT PRIDE TO US ALL. HOWEVER, THE ENEMY PROVIDED THE BEST EVALUATION OF YOUR EFFECTIVNESS AND IT IS COMMON KNOWLEDGE THAT YOUR ACCURATE FIRE EARNED THE RESPECT AND FEAR OF THE NORTH VIETNAMESE. IT HAS BEEN A PLEASURE DOING BUSINESS WITH YOU AND YOU MAY GO HOME KNOWING THAT YOUR JOB WAS WELL DONE.
COME BACK SOON. COOPER.
Soon was much sooner than anyone expected. President Nixon and the National Security Council had not forgotten about the Newport News. They were in the middle of intense peace negotiations and wanted all the firepower they could get. The crew had been resigned to one more period on the line. It was grudgingly conceded that the Navy could not let the end of the deployment to be a disaster if the ship was ever to be of any use, but another visit to the war zone was crushing. We won't be home for Thanksgiving and Christmas was now in doubt.
Again from the command summary:
12 November
While entering the harbor at Subic Bay, a message from CONPACFLT ordered the NEWPORT NEWS to return to the gunline for an indefinite period. The ship moored starboard side to Leyte Warf, where provisions, ammunition and fuel were taken on for the upcoming gunline period.
Throughout the rest of November the action was intense. We fired our 50,000th round of 8-inch during the deployment on 27 November. At the end of the month we returned to Subic Bay for a weekend and on the December second got underway to Vietnam. Thus it was going to be Christmas in Vietnam, the three week transit time to Norfolk meant we could not make it back in 1972.
The official records say that we left Subic Bay to return to Norfolk, Virginia. That is not what we were told when we left port. The crew was told it was returning to the gunline. The log entry for the 0800 to 1200 "UNDERWAY FOR OPERATIONS OFF THE COAST OF VIETNAM IN ACCORDANCE WITH COMSEVENTFLT QUARTERLY EMPLOYMENT SCHEDULE". The last couple of sentences in the morning log are:
1044 SET BASE COURSE 271o BASE SPEED 20 KTS. 1120 WHILE SLICING HAM IN THE CREWS GALLEY HOXIE MELVIN NMN CSSN, USN SUFFERED A LACERTATION TO THE RIGHT RING FINGER INJURY NOT DUE TO HIS OWN MISCONDUCT. TREATMENT ADMINISTERED BY MEDICAL OFFICER. DISPOSITION: RETURNED TO DUTY 1125 C/S to 25KTS
[Sorry, just felt I couldn't leave out the part about the finger, the point is the ship was going due West at full speed].
At 1300 the entire crew was mustered for a head count. This had never happened before. There was always a muster before we left port, but never a double check at sea. The deck log shows that Nathaniel Wells and 8 other men were missing. Eleven men had reported to the ship late. I believe one sailor in our division had actually wasn't on board when it left the dock, but managed to get a ride to the ship on the pilot boat.
At 1515 the ship changed course to due North and slowed down to 20 knots. Three quarters of an hour later the changed course to North Northeast. At 1745 the Captain announced over the ship's intercom that he had open sealed secret orders. The ship would be returning to Norfolk under strict radio silence, not make port until Panama, and would be refueling at sea. Spirits soared aboard the ship. None of the crew members who were missing ever served again on board the USS Newport News.
Things I believe in declining order, Santa Claus, Tooth Fairies, and Secret Sealed Orders. There must have been a whole lot of message traffic between and among the ship, Seventh Fleet and Washington between 1300 and 1700 on December 2, 1972.
Presidents treasure the label of Commander and Chief. It's the part of the job that they don't have to answer to anyone. They can give orders and someone will try to carry them out without question. The presidents with the biggest victories get the biggest monuments. In 1972 President Nixon was seeing his monument slip away. He had already lost the ability to use large numbers of ground troops. The American ground war was no longer viable. Now it appeared he was losing control of his Navy.
During the summer there had been troubles aboard aircraft carriers on December 7th a 19 year old seaman apprentice was convicted of arson and sabotage on the USS Forrestal which caused $7 million dollars damage. David Cortright in Soldiers in Revolt chronicles the resistance across the military to the long war.
The soldiers and sailors during the Vietnam War should not be thought of as a separate group from those who protested against the war. They were all part of one cohort. We did not date and marry the older generation which directed and supported the war. Neither we certainly were not welcome in the organizations of military Veterans of World War II like the Veterans of Foreign Wars or the American Legion. Many doubts have been raised about the story of the hippie girl spitting on returning soldiers in the San Francisco, no one denies the cold reception a Vietnam veterans received at the American Legion.
After the ship made it to the Panama Canal we were allowed to tell our families we would be coming home. We made a full power run through the Caribbean, up the East Coast and docked in Norfolk on Christmas Eve. Reporters and a few dignitaries come on board. The crew was directed not to speak to the reporters. A thirty day stand down meant most the crew disappeared. I neither expected or asked any of my family from Arizona to met me. It was a warm, foggy Christmas Eve and after everyone left I wandered the base and found some steps of a WWII era office building to sit on. It felt strange to sit on something that did not roll with the waves and not to hear the hum of generators and engines. I just sat there trying to make sense of what had happened over the last year.
Into the cone of light cast by the streetlight came an eager young recruit just out of boot camp. He had not yet been assigned a permanent duty and was left adrift on base until the holidays were over. He spoke of what shame it was the season had become so commercialized and everyone had forgotten about the baby Jesus. Now I do like to go to church. When I have gone it is to an American Baptist church generally. The people are nice, and the music is comforting. I have never been able to muster the faith in my intellect to become an atheist. But that was not a conversation I wished to have at the moment. After a little while discovered the infallible method to end any conversation I don't want to be in. I told him "I just got back from Vietnam.", that even works on Hare Krishna's.
Nathaniel Wells path after 2 December 1972 is traced from the Special Court Martial records. On 13 March 1973 he was tried on two charges. The first charge was for Unauthorized Absences with 5 specifications.
1) UA from 2 to 12 Dec 72; about 10 days
2) UA from 30 Dec 72 to 11 Jan 73, about 12 days
3) UA from 11 to 17 Jan 73, about 6 days
4) Failure to go to appointed place of duty, 15 Feb 73
5) UA FROM 17 to 26 Feb 73, about 9 days
The second more serious charge was Missing movement through design, 2 Dec 72.
The last charge was indeed the most serious George Washington had soldiers hung for this offense during the Revolutionary War.
The prosecutor's said:
Now today the accused stands convicted of four separate periods of unauthorized absences, of one muster violation, and perhaps the most serious, a violation of Article 87 - - intentional missing the movement of the USS NEWPORT NEWS through design. This ship, as was well known to the accused, as he has testified on the stand today, was headed for the gun line off Vietnam. Therefore the ship's movement was simply not a movement from pier to pier, nor a deployment to a peaceful zone, but movement of the ship from Subic Bay to the war zone.
The court martial was over on the 13th. Upon advise from his recently Harvard Law School graduate Navy counsel he plead guilty to all charges and threw himself on the mercy of the court. He was convicted of all charges and sentence was handed down 27 March. The judges stated:
Seaman Apprentice Nathaniel Wells, it is my duty as military judge to inform you that this court sentences you:
To be confined at hard labor for two months;
To forfeit $100 pay per month for two months; [His E-2 pay was $342.30 per month]
To be reduced to pay grade E-1; and
To be discharged from the naval service with a bad conduct discharge, with a recommendation to the convening authority that he suspend the discharge for such a period of time deemed advisable to provide you with the opportunity to show that you can satisfactorily complete you period of service.
In the military a judge does not hand down a sentence, they only recommend to the convening authority. What Nathaniel Wells and the others did was much more than a violation of Navy regulations. It was a challenge to order. A low graded enlisted man from a poor black family in Tennessee had defied the President. His actions had removed one of his favorite ships from combat. The offense was made most egregious because he was one of the least powerful thwarting the most powerful. He must pay dearly.
Unlike an officer convicted of rape or a defense contractor causing the deaths of twenty enlisted men this was a serious breach of order.
There is no record of a conversation between the convening authority and Nathaniel Wells. If there was ever one I imagine it went something like George Orwell wrote in his book
1984.
"Do not imagine that you will save yourself, Winston, however completely you surrender to us. No one who has once gone astray is ever spared. And even if we chose to let you live out the natural term of your life, still, you would never escape from us. What happens to you here is forever. Understand that in advance. We shall crush you down to the point from which there is no coming back . Things will happen to you from which you could not recover, if you lived a thousand years. Never again will you be capable of ordinary human feeling. Everything will be dead inside you. Never again will you be capable of love, or friendship, or joy of living, or laughter, or curiosity, or courage, or integrity. You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves." . . .
. . . "The real power, the power we have to fight for night and day, is not power over things, but over men." He paused, and for a moment assumed again his air of a schoolmaster questioning a promising pupil: "How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?"
Winston thought. "By making him suffer," he said.
"Exactly. By making him suffer. Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.”
The judge's recommendation to suspend the bad conduct discharge was not followed.
In 13 June Nathaniel Wells appealed the sentence to the U.S. Navy Court of Military Review. His direct testimony was:
The accused testified that he enlisted in the Navy on 23 April 1970. Since then he has been attached to the USS TIDEWATER and the USS NEWPORT NEWS. On the NEWPORT NEWS he has worked as a messcook, deckhand and lookout.
The accused served in combat on the NEWPORT NEWS from April 1972 to December 1972. The accused narrowly escaped being struck by hostile fire on several occasions during that period.
During the summer of 1972, a gun turret on the ship exploded. The explosion scorched the accused's eyelids, and a friend of the accused's was killed. The accused served as a stretcher bearer after the explosion.
The gun turret explosion and the extended deployments of the NEWPORT NEWS caused the accused to become depressed. As a result, he went on unauthorized absence on 2 December 1972.
On 30 December 1972, the accused, having returned to the Norfolk Naval Station from the Philippines, reported to the NEWPORT NEWS. He was told that he was no longer attached to the NEWPORT NEWS, and that his belongings had been flown to the Philippines. The personnelman who told him this did not know what the accused was to do, so he returned to his home.
As for his unauthorized absence from 17 to 26 February 1972 (sic), the accused testified that he accepted a ride from an individual who took him to Knoxville instead of his home. The accused intended to return to his duty station on time, but he was delayed by car trouble and various difficulties encountered by the individual providing transportation.
The review Court found that the guilty plea to UA from 30 December 1972 to 11 January was "improvident" since he was charge with being absent from the ship, but was no longer assigned to the ship. It then upheld all of the sentence.
On 20 July 1972 he appealed to Naval Clemency Board to get the discharge set aside.
His request was:
1. I am writing in connection to my appeal of the bad conduct discharge that was awarded at my special court martial on 27 March 1973. I know that you have most of the facts before you but I would like to bring forth more facts and thereby make the others more clear.
2. I went on unauthorized absence after we had been in Vietnam eight months. During that time I came close to death a few times. An explosion killed twenty men, including a close friend of mine and other I knew. There was also an explosion burning most of one person's body. Another person had had his head smashed between a gun barrel and a fork lift that he was driving. A few men fell overboard; one was never found. Seeing all of these deaths and destruction over 8 months, I felt that I could not take any more. At the time I was telling everyone I knew that the guns had not been relined and if we returned to the gun line another accident would happen.
3. The day I went on unauthorized absence the ship went back to the states, not to the gun line.
4. I would also like to point out that seven other seamen went on unauthorized absence on the day that I did. We all came back together and had the same charges. Four of them went to captain's masts; two received a light fine and were discharged (honorable and general) and two were sent back to duty. Two more received summary courts-martial; one was discharged and the other sent back to duty after a few weeks in the brig. The other man went to a special court-martial; he received four months confinement and a bad-conduct discharge. However, his discharge was suspended or remitted and he was allowed to return to duty.
5. Sirs, I admit that I made a real mistake in going on unauthorized absence and missing ship's movement. However, I do not understand how the other seven seaman with the same charges got off so easily and I received a bad-conduct discharge which was not suspended. Five of the others were also at quarters that morning and also knew the ship was leaving. I respectfully request that you consider ths letter.
Very respectfully,
Nathaniel Wells.
In October Vice President Agnew was forced to resign and Watergate Scandal was exploding. There was a new Secretary of the Navy. Perhaps attitudes had changed somewhat. The records of the clemency board for October 1973 contain the following:
In the special court-martial case of SA Nathaniel WELLS, USN adjudged 10 November 1972, on 1 October 1973 the Secretary of the Navy directed:
"If the man consents in writing to be retained on active duty for the convenience of the government for that period of probation which may extend beyond expiration of his enlistment, execution of the bad conduct discharge is suspended for twelve {12} months at which time, unless vacated, it shall be remitted without further action. No further clemency is granted."
Law was followed and order restored.
I do not know how long he stayed in the Navy nor what he did afterwards. He not agree that he that he participated in an action that caused a major warship to leave the war zone. He may regret his actions. I believe these things and I believe that it was a necessary act to end US involvement in the Vietnam War. The power elites will continue a war as long as they can. Only when it is no longer possible will they allow it to stop. Ronald Reagan did not bring down the Soviet Union. The protestors in the streets of Moscow were a necessary part of the downfall, but not the cause. The protests did not bring down the Government. It was the unwillingness of the Russian soldiers to fire on them. It was perception that the military would no longer fight in the Vietnam War that ended it.
On Armed Forces Day May 19, 1973 at the Norfolk Nava Base on the Pier beside the Newport News President Nixon delivered remarks. Happily, I had to have an emergency appendectomy at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital and was not required to stand as part of the backdrop and listen to him.
I thank those who read my series and made kind comments. I realize this is overlong and might have been split into two diaries, but I wanted to finish.
For reference here are the earlier entries:
One, two, three, four and five.