Manatee man fought to win hearts and minds in Vietnam

Editor’s note: This is the sixth in a series of Vietnam War stories shared by Manatee County residents in conjunction with the PBS documentary by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.

Terry McDonald can tell you a thing or two about winning hearts and minds.

That was his job during the Vietnam War.

As an Army captain, he was stationed with the 1st Cavalry Division in 1967 at Bong Son as a civil affairs team leader.

Working with the local village chief, he and his team, which included a translator, an intelligence officer, a medic, an engineer and a driver, worked to improve the lives of local citizens.

Among the self-help projects McDonald and his team initiated were construction of a marketplace, a school and a medical clinic.

“I was getting projects going all over the place,” said the 76-year-old McDonald, a 1959 graduate of Manatee High School, who earned his bachelor’s degree and military commission at Florida State University. “I was so proud. I thought the rest of this tour was going to be so fruitful.”

Yet, the work would never be easy.

“Getting projects going was very difficult. We were a round peg being put into a square hole,” McDonald said of the civil affairs work.

McDonald did not get to see the projects completed because he was reassigned to a higher headquarters, a provisional corps, in the second half of his tour.

“I went from being an action guy with the Vietnamese people to a staff job. The Vietnamese people were gracious, appreciative, friendly and just trying to exist,” he said.

He also missed the start of the Tet Offensive of 1968, because he was on an R&R flight to Hawaii to meet his wife, Joan.

“We were all lined up to get on the plane and then there was a delay. The rumor was that there was a pending mortar attack. Here you have a plane full of GI’s wanting to go on R&R, and takeoff was put off and put off. I found out later that the base was under attack and the Tet Offensive was underway,” he said.

Meanwhile, his wife had arrived in Hawaii a few hours before his flight was scheduled to arrive from Vietnam.

“I went to the airport to meet the flight, only to learn no flights were coming in from Vietnam. So, this was like what’s happening?” she said.

Finally, one of the military representatives at the airport leaked the news: There was a big battle raging in Vietnam.

“Then they shut down and knew nothing. It was like, ‘What do I do now?’ ” she said.

Finally, she decided to keep checking the list of arriving flights.

“Terry arrived 10 or 12 hours later,” she said.

“There was the fear of the unknown. It was shaky, scary,” she said. “This was supposed to be a cheerful, happy time, and we were supposed to have fun.”

Terry McDonald, who had wanted to make the Army a career, left active duty in 1968 after failing to win appointment as a Regular Army officer and went into the Army Reserve. He went to work at Palmetto High that year, and stayed until he retired in 2002.

He served in the Army Reserve from 1968 to 2001, retiring as a full colonel. During his military career, he had served as a battalion commander, company commander, communications platoon leader, tank platoon leader, assistant school commandant and instructor.

The McDonalds still live with their Vietnam War experiences.

“The most difficult thing back then was sitting down for dinner, and what came on TV was the accounts of the latest battle,” Joan McDonald said.

Even now, after 54 years of marriage, the Vietnam War is still not over for the couple.

“At night time, you know not to touch him. I stand at the foot of the bed and call his name,” she said.

This story was originally published September 21, 2017 at 12:56 PM with the headline "Manatee man fought to win hearts and minds in Vietnam."