Combat, War, and Military Families Combat, War, and Military Families Program Transcript BETSY FLANIGAN: The first time that Desmond went to Vietnam when we were married-- he had been deployed twice before we were married-- we had a small child and a new baby. And I moved back with my parents. And during that time, which was 1968-- the Tet Offensive-- you literally picked up the Army Times every week and read the list of people to make sure there was no one you knew. And I did identify our best man was killed. Desmond never told me. I saw it in the paper. And two others who were in our wedding party. Well, one time I was sitting with my parents and a person came up the stairs. We had stone steps leading up to our front door, and he was in uniform. And I thought, oh, no, this is it. And I went tearing out of the room where my parents were, up the stairs, shut the door, and just stayed there. It was like running away from-- this is it. They're coming to tell me he's dead. And I waited about 10 minutes. Nothing. And then my father called from downstairs and said, Betsy, are you all right? You ran from the room so suddenly. And I said, who was that at the door? And he said, oh, it was a person from the band here. They're here to collect money for their band. I could breathe then. I could breathe again. I just couldn't believe it. Because I had heard stories from other wives who they see the car driving in, the chaplain's car driving into the quarters, and they know somebody in the neighborhood's going to get the news. And one wife told me that she jumped in her car and drove away as far as-- if I get away, they won't be able to find me. But anyway, so that was very scary time, that whole year, 1968. That first year, 1968 when I was with my parents, and not knowing whether his name would be on there was difficult. But when it's so constant, you have to go on and live your life. You have to mother your baby, take care of your parents, so you don't think about it every minute. The second time he was deployed, we had two children and I was expecting Anne. There were two little boys and I was expecting Anne, and he went off for a year again. I returned to my hometown. But this time, I did not move in with my parents. I think, somehow, God blessed us. We rented a half a house. The other half of the house were the owners. They had seven children. Seven built-in babysitters for me. Our basements, we opened-- joined so that any rainy day the children all played together. It was wonderful. © 2016 Laureate Education, Inc. 1 Combat, War, and Military Families To me, that's the biggest thing to have somebody else, even though that wasn't an army wife. That was a person dealing with motherhood and young children. That's a huge help when you have somebody in your same situation. Combat, War, and Military Families Additional Content Attribution IMAGES: Images provided by http://www ...

1. Combat, War, and Military Families
Combat, War, and Military Families
Program Transcript
BETSY FLANIGAN: The first time that Desmond went to
Vietnam when we were
married-- he had been deployed twice before we were married--
we had a small
child and a new baby. And I moved back with my parents. And
during that time,
which was 1968-- the Tet Offensive-- you literally picked up
the Army Times

2. every week and read the list of people to make sure there was
no one you knew.
And I did identify our best man was killed. Desmond never told
me. I saw it in the
paper. And two others who were in our wedding party.
Well, one time I was sitting with my parents and a person came
up the stairs. We
had stone steps leading up to our front door, and he was in
uniform. And I
thought, oh, no, this is it. And I went tearing out of the room
where my parents
were, up the stairs, shut the door, and just stayed there. It was
like running away
from-- this is it. They're coming to tell me he's dead.
And I waited about 10 minutes. Nothing. And then my father
called from
downstairs and said, Betsy, are you all right? You ran from the
room so
suddenly. And I said, who was that at the door? And he said, oh,
it was a person
from the band here. They're here to collect money for their
band.
I could breathe then. I could breathe again. I just couldn't
believe it. Because I
had heard stories from other wives who they see the car driving
in, the chaplain's
car driving into the quarters, and they know somebody in the
neighborhood's
going to get the news.
And one wife told me that she jumped in her car and drove away
as far as-- if I

3. get away, they won't be able to find me. But anyway, so that
was very scary time,
that whole year, 1968.
That first year, 1968 when I was with my parents, and not
knowing whether his
name would be on there was difficult. But when it's so constant,
you have to go
on and live your life. You have to mother your baby, take care
of your parents, so
you don't think about it every minute.
The second time he was deployed, we had two children and I
was expecting
Anne. There were two little boys and I was expecting Anne, and
he went off for a
year again. I returned to my hometown. But this time, I did not
move in with my
parents.
I think, somehow, God blessed us. We rented a half a house.
The other half of
the house were the owners. They had seven children. Seven
built-in babysitters
for me. Our basements, we opened-- joined so that any rainy
day the children all
played together. It was wonderful.
© 2016 Laureate Education, Inc. 1

4. Combat, War, and Military Families
To me, that's the biggest thing to have somebody else, even
though that wasn't
an army wife. That was a person dealing with motherhood and
young children.
That's a huge help when you have somebody in your same
situation.
Combat, War, and Military Families
Additional Content Attribution
IMAGES:
Images provided by http://www.istockphoto.com/
SPECIAL THANKS:
The Wilkinson and Flannigan Family
MUSIC:
Creative Support Services
Los Angeles, CA

5. Dimension Sound Effects Library
Newnan, GA
Narrator Tracks Music Library
Stevens Point, WI
Signature Music, Inc
Chesterton, IN
Studio Cutz Music Library
Carrollton, TX
© 2016 Laureate Education, Inc. 2
http:http://www.istockphoto.com

6. Experiences in War and Combat
Experiences in War and Combat
Program Transcript
DESMOND W. FLANIGAN: It's said every generation has its
war. My generation,
the war was Vietnam. So that was my war, that was my theater.
In Vietnam, it
was our first in a long time, our first American insurgent or
counter insurgent
warfare. In insurgent warfare, the insurgent or the guerrilla,
they pick the place,
they pick the time.
I was always taught as a kid that I was Irish American, so
there's a strong Irish
background. G. K. Chesterton once said-- the Irish are referred
to as the Gaels,
the Gaelic race. He said, the great Gaels of Ireland are the race
that God made
mad, for all their wars are merry and all their songs are sad. So
with that as a
background, you look for combat. It's the ultimate test.
My experience in combat, in real combat, was basically my first
tour in Vietnam,
1963-1964. I went over there as a first lieutenant. I was adviser
to a Vietnamese
ranger battalion, the 35th ranger battalion. He operated
separately, usually what
might be called behind enemy lines or in areas that-- the term

7. was contested,
which means that it was not under government control.
I remember it was on the 30th of March, 1964, we ended up
with locking horns
with one of the first contacts with people what they were calling
them guerrillas.
They weren't guerrillas. They were NVA, North Vietnamese
Army. I remember we
had moved at night, set up about four o'clock in the morning.
Somebody fired a
rifle. I was pretty sure it was an M1, it was one of ours. I got
up, looked around,
nothing.
But then at about five o'clock or so, all hell broke loose. I was
lying on my back. I
remember looking up, and I saw three lines of yellow -green
tracers. Yellow-green
tracers are the bad guys. We have red-orange tracers. They have
yellow-green.
So it was NVA, and I remember we were definite when they get
pretty close. I
could see the guy. He was in a uniform, tan uniform, full web
gear, light gray pith
helmet with a red star, so you knew he was Communist, he was
NVA. That
lasted for about three and a half, four hours. Things got pretty
tight.
The guy on my right was killed, the guy on my left was killed,
the guy behind me
was killed. I used up their ammo when I ran out. And I
remember I got on the
radio phone. I just called for any aircraft, gave my call sign and

8. gave the
coordinates in the clear. It was really getting close. We were
backed up to a river,
and it was a river that flowed into the Saigon, so it was a tidal
river. The tide was
in, we were backed up, and they had us on three sides.
© 2016 Laureate Education, Inc. 1
Experiences in War and Combat
And suddenly, I got this call. This is the US Air Force adviser
with a flight of four
A1Es, one American and three Vietnamese. And they saved our

9. ass. Then the
artillery came in, and we won the day. We lost some people.
During that thing, you didn't think about it, and it only comes
back to your
memory in snatches. As you talk about it, you remember more
things. It doesn't
affect you then because you're too busy. It's like the next night
or the next couple
nights after it goes on.
Experiences in War and Combat
Additional Content Attribution
IMAGES:
Images provided by http://www.istockphoto.com/
SPECIAL THANKS:
The Wilkinson and Flannigan Family
MUSIC:
Creative Support Services
Los Angeles, CA
Dimension Sound Effects Library
Newnan, GA
Narrator Tracks Music Library
Stevens Point, WI
Signature Music, Inc
Chesterton, IN
Studio Cutz Music Library
Carrollton, TX

10. © 2016 Laureate Education, Inc. 2
http:http://www.istockphoto.com