"Vietnam veterans are brothers, Marines are family." - Unknown
Mike Gibson's Vietnam
(see full painting at end of page)
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Mike Gibson’s mother passed away in August of 1997. When his father gave him a packet of photos and letters he had sent home while in ‘Nam old memories, hidden for over thirty years, came flooding back. To deal with his double grief Mike painted the above oil paintings. Now, he wants to share them with the world. Below are Mike’s descriptions of photos:
Old man in hat (location Cam-Lo Man): I would see the old man with the beetlenut teeth on most trips to Quang-Tri. He would be toting five gallon buckets of water down the road for 7-8 miles to get clean water (if there was such a thing in the Couvette River). I would see him 2-3 times in a day. He couldn't have weighed as much as the water he was carrying. I could not give him a ride so I waved and called to him. He could have been VC just keeping up with traffic.
Soldiers heading to helicopter: Foggy Mountain Dust-Off was a mass movement of Delta, Fox, and Echo to Mutter’s Ridge fight.
Group of young boys: The four young boys digging up rocks was a group of Ameriasians or Thans that were making money the only way they could. I called this painting Our Greatest Shame because we abandoned these kids when we left. We didn't want them and the communists killed them.
Soldier on cot: That is me. I call it FNG. A guy took this photo with a Polaroid the day I got to Stud and told me to send it home so they would think I was getting to sleep indoors.
Mountain: That is the Rockpile (editors note: Aurence spotted that right away. He flew in there a lot!). Every time I went to the Quang-Tri I drove right through it. They had a lot of rocket and mortar attacks and they blamed me for it because they regularly came as I drove through. I used to tell them, “Yea, it’s all these secret messages I carry: beer rations requests, and conex box inventories.”
Wounded soldier: This occurred at LZ Stud my second day in-county We were catching rockets out of the DMZ and an Army PFC was coming through to join the 101st A-Teams that operated out of our area. He got laid low from shrapnel and our corpsman took care of him until they medevaced him. The corpsman’s last comment to him was “Welcome to Vietnam”. I call this painting Another FNG because it was his first day in-country.
Mike Gibson describes himself as a Hollywood Marine. He said he had wished he had gone to Parris Island until he heard about the sand fleas (something Aurence knows a lot about!).
Mike arrived in DaNang in June of 1969, where he went to Quang-Tri and hopped a chopper to LZ Stud (H&S Co., 2nd BN, 4th Marines. His MOS was 3531-3516—driver/mechanic). He was sent to Stud to drive ammo carries. His XO ran every hot LZ in the area and Mike was assigned to be his driver. Mike says when he went LZ hopping he was made the BN. Courier, driving back and forth to Quang-Tri two and three times a day. When there was nothing to do he worked on Mules (ammo carriers).
Mike’s nickname was Taxi Man; in the evenings he would shuttle grunts to the showers or sickbay, or wherever he was going if there was room for them.
Mike left Vietnam in Jan., 1970 on the the USS Denver. He landed in Okinawa where he was assigned with a regimental landing team (4th Marine RLT). They parked off Dixie Station before going afloat to the Philippines and Hong Kong. He was headed for Sydney when he was rotated on the 1st of June, 1970.
Mike is a high school art instructor. Until his mother passed away he had never painted any Vietnam paintings. Sometimes healing takes time but it does come, and art is a great way to heal and share.
Mike would like to hear from anyone who served with his unit. Please email him.
Thank you for sharing, Mike. You are a true Hero. Welcome Home! And keep up your Vietnam art. |
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Above left: "BATTALION SLICK". The Crazy Major's ride. Right: A young Marine named Mike Gibson. Semper Fi, Mike!
