Author reflects on harrowing Vietnam War experience

William Murphy was a grunt in the Vietnam War and is proud of it.

“If someone offered me $1 million for the title. I would tell them no,” Murphy said.

Murphy, who served as a Marine combat grunt for 13 months in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969, tells his story in his new book, “Not for God and Country.”

The title of the book is a play on the motto “For God and Country,” which is commonly used by military units.

Murphy said the book’s title represents the goal of every grunt. “There was no higher goal. The number one objective was to stay alive,” he said.

Murphy said he decided to write the book because the war was “fading into the background.”

“I wanted Americans to hear this story. Most people then and even now don’t know how we got involved,” he said. “A lot of decisions got us going down the path and its important to know why. Nothing happens in a vacuum.”

I caught up with Murphy, as he was about to go on a several mile hike in Northern Michigan near Frankfurt. As a Marine in Vietnam he walked a lot, going out on patrol seven days a week for 13 months. He said the average Marine went on 240 combat missions.
Murphy walked point for seven months while in Vietnam, possibly the most dangerous assignment you could get. Point had the responsibility to watch for booby traps while trying to locate the enemy before they saw them. He knows he’s lucky to be alive.
“I often wonder if God’s expecting something in return. That I owe something in return,” Murphy said. The book is part of that payback.

The vast majority of the book is about the day-to-day life of a grunt in Vietnam, most of them spent just trying to stay alive. The book does not glorify combat. If anything, the book makes you cringe when Murphy describes the mayhem of battle.

Murphy describes one of the battles as the worst day of his life. “We were under constant fire; it was hot and we ran out of water and ammunition was running low. We were asked to take a highly fortified position of the NVA. We had to cross an open field with no cover,” he said.

Murphy’s description of the battle is reminiscent of a Civil War or World War I battlefield, where troops ran across an open field under relentless fire. In his book Murphy calls the attack “a suicide frontal assault against the heavily defended fortifications.”

“All of I could think of was I was going to die and it was my sister’s wedding day and I would ruin her anniversary for the rest of her life,” he said.

On that day, he believes his life was saved for a second time by a radio he was carrying. As a back-up radioman, he carried the radio when the radio operator went down. An explosion tore the radio up rather than his neck and back. Another time while on radio duty, he was unable to fit through a hole in a fence. One of his comrades went through first and was killed when a trip wire triggered an explosive device.

Readers of this book should be aware that this book is intense, and although there have been many notable Vietnam moves like “Platoon,” the reality of the Vietnam War is something totally different.

Even when describing the totems that most grunts carried it is deadly serious, since the cards were often left on dead bodies of the enemy. Murphy said he wore his rosary around his neck until it broke about six months in and he still has his ace of spades.

Some of Murphy’s descriptions are gut wrenching, and his writing is blunt and to the point. He said unlike other wars, Vietnam wasn’t about acquiring land — it was about killing the enemy in order to kill their resolve.

“We were hunting them, and they were hunting us,” Murphy said.

He said the enemy often had the upper hand. “It was their land, and they had lots of experience fighting in the jungle,” he said.

The author also rebuffs some commonly held beliefs about the Vietnam War. “We weren’t fighting soldier-farmers. The NVA and Viet Minh were highly trained and well-armed,” he said.

Murphy said in boot camp Marines learned little about the history of Vietnam.

“We were told we were going to stop the spread of Communism,” Murphy said.

Murphy is candid about the war. “If we fought World War II in the same manner, I’m not sure we would have had prevailed,” he said.

Although the Marines traveled to Vietnam as a unit, they were sent home one by one, alone, on commercial flights.

In his book he writes, “Though veterans rarely spoke of it the war never faded from their minds.”

About himself he writes: “Over the years, however, I’ve looked down at my hands countless times and wondered how these hands could’ve done the things they did and how these eyes have seen the things they saw.”