“—and how many deaths will it take ’till he knows that too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind. The answer is blowin’ n the wind.”

Bob Dylan wrote the song “Blowin’ in the Wind,” which appeared on his second album, “Freewheelon” Bob Dylan,” released in May 1963. It was a symbolic song about fighting for people’s rights and societal equality. Still, in the late 1960s, it also became, according to Rolling Stone Magazine, possibly the most famous anti-war protest song ever, an iconic part of the Vietnam era.

How many deaths will it take ’till he knows that too many people have died? Today, that is a question for Vladimir Putin, who started an unprovoked war with Ukraine. However, that is probably not a question he is asking himself but one imposed upon him by the mothers, wives, and children of those lost in his war of hubris and ego.

Fifty-plus years ago, that question was being asked of our own presidents, first Lyndon Johnson, then Richard Nixon, as the Vietnam War stretched for ten years with little progress toward questionable objectives. After his second term as president was assured, Nixon withdrew all American troops from Vietnam in 1973. Two years later, in April 1975, the North Vietnamese Communists crushed meager South Vietnamese resistance to make the entire country Communist. How many American deaths did it take “till he knew that too many people have died?” For this war, the answer was 58,200 U.S. military fatal casualties.

Some of those who paid the ultimate price for serving their country were my friends, young men who agreed to go to war when their nation asked. They trusted their president and military commanders and knew the ultimate sacrifice could be necessary. These are the men of B Troop 3/17 Air Cavalry that I will be thinking about most this Memorial Day:

Jerome was probably my favorite doorgunner. He was a handsome, gregarious young black man from Atlanta, GA. I knew he smoked a lot of pot and was always finding his way with certain Vietnamese ladies of the night. But he was never late for work and did his job enthusiastically. He loved flying door gunner in the Huey and always kept his M60 machine gun in tip-top shape. He would tether himself in a body harness and stand on the skid of the Huey with his M60 cradled in his arms, firing offhand at the targets below. That approach to door gunning ended when the Army declared that the machine guns would be kept on their fixed posts because too many tips of the main rotor blades were being hit by their own gunners in a hard right bank. Door gunning was one of the most vulnerable jobs in the War. Jerome took an enemy bullet to the neck and was killed instantly. RIP, Jerome. (Read more about Jerome HERE)

I knew James briefly at Fort Hunter in Savannah, GA, before we arrived in Vietnam. He received training and an eventual transition in the Cobra gunship as I finished advanced training in the Huey. James was from a Quaker community in eastern Ohio. His family were pacifists but supported James’ desire to serve his country. By chance, we ended up in the same unit in Vietnam. During a gun run on an enemy 51 caliber machine gun nest, an enemy round blasted through the dashboard of the Cobra and through James’ chest plate armor, which instantly killed him. My crew chief removed James’ body from the downed Cobra, and we flew him to the Third Field Hospital in Saigon for his trip back home. RIP, James. (Read more about James HERE)

Ted was a First Lieutenant Scout pilot who, like me, at age 24, was a bit older than most of our pilots. Unlike me, he was married with two small children. Nonetheless, we shared many familiar things and were good friends. One day in the war zone, Ted and Tommy, his crew chief/observer in the right seat, went missing. They had hit a high-voltage powerline, the only one in the country then, and it wasn’t even operational. Ted was thrown from the cockpit, and Tommy, his crew chief, burned with the aircraft on the ground. Both died instantly, probably before the helicopter hit the ground. My Huey crew and I were the first to find them shortly after they crashed. RIP, Ted and Tommy. (Read more about Ted and Tommy HERE)

Memorial Day is an American holiday of reflection and remembrance, a day to honor the men and women who died in our country’s wars. Memorial Day weekend is also the day most enjoy the beginning of summer holidays. It is often the first summer weekend of outdoor play. As we pack the ice chest with beer and gather our fishing gear and whatever else, we might have a few minutes to think about the meaning of Memorial Day.

As I enjoy the day, I will think about the friends I mentioned above. I will remember our times together and think about lives that could have been had they survived these past 50 years. And beyond Memorial Day, I will continue to ask: For what did they die? “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind. The answer is blowin’ in the wind.”

For some Vietnam War stories, go HERE.