Prayers for Kilo Company 3/5 – Robert Herrera
By Jane Bromley
“My mom was special,” Robert says. “I came so close to death so many times. But she and my sisters prayed the rosary for me every night while I was in Vietnam.” Robert had a happy childhood growing up with eight siblings. His dad worked for the Santa Fe Railroad for 36 years, and the family lived in railroad-furnished “section housing” in the settlements of Black, Masterson and Gluck (on the Bivins’ Ranch) before moving to Amarillo. “We had fun growing up – lots of kids had horses; my dad always took us rabbit-hunting. It was good.”
After graduating from Caprock High School in 1966, Robert and a buddy headed to California in his ’58 Chevy. They weren’t there a month before he was drafted. He came home and enlisted in the Marine Corps. Boot camp at MCRD – San Diego was “like a nightmare” for the 18-year-old. “We lived in Quonset huts, and the training was intended to tear you down so they could rebuild you. We all knew we were going to Vietnam. If you had any attitude problems, they were gone by the time you finished. When you got your eagle, globe, and anchor medal, it was a moment you never forget. You knew you’d earned it, and that you were a Marine.”
Pvt. Herrera was trained on M60 machine guns and deployed to Vietnam in Feb. 1967. “I wasn’t afraid. They had trained us [thoroughly]. It never entered my mind that I might be killed – at least, not until the first firefight.” He was assigned to Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines. When he arrived at the Chu Lai compound, “They handed me a machine gun and said, ‘Tonight, you have bunker watch. Anything comes toward you, shoot it.’”
After that, when patrols went out on night maneuvers, Robert accompanied them as gunner. “Sometimes, we did search and destroy missions for two weeks or more. We were always on foot, and it often got up to 110º in the jungle.” Two of the biggest operations, the 3rd/5th was involved in were Union I (April 1967) and II (May 1967). During Union I, “We were in the 1st platoon, cutting our way up the mountain with machetes. Near the top, we were told to halt and allow the 2nd platoon to circle around and take the lead. The whole top of the mountain was booby-trapped with ‘bouncing betties’. There were lots of casualties. It was my first time seeing our guys killed. I thought, ‘Mom’s prayers are working.’”
Robert remembers how frustrating the war was. They would take a hill, then move out and the Viet Cong would retake it. “We would move in on a village taking incoming fire and be told not to return fire. We moved around a lot, taking and retaking the same locations.”
In September 1967, Operation Swift was launched to rescue Delta and India Companies who were ambushed in the Que Son Valley by an NVA (North Vietnamese Army) regiment 2000 men strong. “Kilo Company was sent in. The helicopters at the LZ (landing zone) were taking fire from the rice paddies, so they didn’t land. We just had to jump. The fighting was fierce. We had no idea where the perimeters were. We had no idea where anybody was. We could hear some of the NVA shouting, ‘Marine, Marine, you die tonight!’ I was convinced I would. My chaplain, Fr. Vincent Capodanno, was with us, tending to the wounded. We called him ‘the Grunt Padre’. He’d always told us, ‘God is with you today.’ That night, even after he’d been injured himself, he stretched his body out over a wounded Marine, and told him, ‘God is with you.’ He died after being strafed with 28 rounds of enemy fire.” Fr. Capodanno was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
“Swift was the worst. The NVA and VC were killing all the wounded. Our lieutenant had us bring all the casualties to one location and ordered me to guard them. ‘You are the last line of defense for these men,’ he said. We stood guard all night.” Robert told many more stories of courage he’d witnessed, especially by corpsmen. They were the ones caring for the wounded, even under fire. Robert himself was treated for shrapnel wounds. “We lost so many men. Doc Stewart died that night, too.”
A few months later, the huge Tet offensive was launched against the Allies. “I was out in the field in late February. My CO sent me back to the compound because I only had two weeks left on my tour. The two guys who took over my guns were killed during Tet.”
Corp. (E4) Robert Herrera returned stateside and served as a weapons instructor at Camp Pendleton until his active duty was up in ‘69, but the war had taken its toll. “When we came back, we had so much anger. We’d seen so much death. We all drank. We were all trying to forget.” The PTSD and the drinking made it hard for Robert to hold a job. A brother-in-law put him to work, which helped a lot. Robert eventually worked for Pioneer Natural Gas (now One Ok in Amarillo) for 37 years.
He had met Rose at Bowie Jr. High. They married March 30, 1968, and eventually had two daughters and two sons. “I’m surprised she never left me,” Robert says of his wife of 52 years.
He still suffers from PTSD, and not only because of the atrocities of war. “When I came home from Vietnam, they told us not to wear our uniforms. But I was proud to be a Marine, so I wore mine. I was called names, spit on, and cussed at.”
The thing that has helped most is the reunion of the guys from Kilo Company. “Being around the men from my company, being able to talk to someone who understands – that has made a difference.” Besides the K 3/5 group, Robert is a member of the VFW, the American Legion, and the MOPH. The camaraderie of his fellow Marines and other veterans provides perspective and comfort for the now grandfather of 14, great-grandfather of 13.
Robert has a Purple Heart for wounds he received during Operation Swift, but he is certain he wouldn’t be around to tell his story if not for his mother’s prayers.