Pueblo’s Drew Dix Reflects on the Meaning of Service and Sacrifice

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World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and our other wars and conflicts. America’s fighting men and women strapped on their boots and picked up their guns to fight tyranny and stand for liberty. We must never forget them. Welcome to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson.

These stories will touch your heart, inspire you, and give you courage. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Here’s Kim Monson.

Kim Monson
And welcome to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure and check out our website. That is AmericasVeteranStories.com. And the show comes to you because of a trip that I took in 2016 with a group that accompanied four D-Day veterans to Normandy, France for the 72nd anniversary of the World War II D-Day landings.

And I returned stateside realizing we need to record these stories and hear these stories and broadcast them and archive them. So hence, America’s Veteran Stories. and I’ve been blessed through this whole experience to meet amazing people and we have one of those folks on the line with us right now and that is Drew Dix. He is a Medal of Honor recipient for actions that he took during the Vietnam War.

and he has done so much for our country to make sure that we honor our Medal of Honor recipients and that we pass on these values of honor, integrity, and patriotism to the next generation. He’s one of the co-founders with Brad Padula of the Center for American Values, which is located in Pueblo, Colorado, and it really should be on your bucket list to take the family down and visit the center. It will truly change your life. Drew Dix, welcome.

Drew Dix
Jim, it’s good to be here. It always is. Thank you for what you do and giving us a chance to talk about the center and other great things that we do to support our country.

Kim Monson
Well, you grew up in Pueblo, Colorado, and we’re going to talk about three other gentlemen that grew up in Pueblo, Colorado, here in the show, because Pueblo, Colorado, had four Medal of Honor recipients from Pueblo, which is pretty amazing. And so we’ll talk about them, but let’s talk first of all about the Center. and I have to tell you Drew, I have come to love Pueblo and I think it’s because I’ve come to know the people at the center and all the great work that you’re doing there but I have a big soft spot in my heart for Pueblo, Colorado.

Drew Dix
Well, Camp Pueblo is a great little town and it’s a hard-working town. That’s why I think when I look back at my childhood, I remember that so much, that it was a steel town and a lot of people worked there and at the depot and just hard-working people. And I grew up working at 12 years old. I got my social security card.

They gave it when you started working in those days. And, you know, you felt like you wanted to be a part of it.

Kim Monson
Well, I grew up in Western Kansas, the same kind of thing. I said, I grew up in Western Kansas where we work as a hobby, I think. But I got my first job, I’d worked on the farm and babysat and whatever, but I got my first job at the age of 14. And it’s really served me well, that work ethic.

has served me well and I think it’s really important that we instill that work ethic into our next generation as well. And I see, I’m very hopeful with many of these young people and you interact on a regular basis, Drew Dix, with young people and it’s really heartwarming to see these young people just want to hear your story and learn more about it. It’s just great the way you interact with young people.

Drew Dix
Well, Kim, I find it easy to talk with young people because they really know what’s right. And they know they need to be doing something. And they know that they have responsibility. And it’s somewhat of an identity crisis because what’s happening is we’re not allowing those people to know that they can think.

and that’s what the center does. We don’t tell young people what to think but how to think and that they can. And when they hear stories about our generation and working hard to contribute to the family or to the community, their eyes kind of in US English

Kim Monson
Well and there’s also something about the dignity of work and Drew there certainly are people out there that really do need help and a small percentage for their whole life but I think it was attributed to Lincoln something along the line of you shouldn’t do for people what they can do for themselves and it takes away the dignity of is a Principle of Capitalism is trading value for value in a free exchange and I was talking to somebody the other day and I said I think that, oh I know what it was, I had a friend of mine who is a little concerned because the company he works for I think that one of the most compassionate things that one man can give to another is a job and I don’t think that we have upheld our job creators the way we should in America. I think that in some ways we’ve been, we’ve demonized them but I do think one of the most compassionate things to do is to be able to give another person a job because you’re creating things, you’re building things and I think that again is foundational in the American

idea.

Drew Dix
Well I agree and and the generosity of these wealthy people that have made money through hard work. I find it very offensive sometimes where they criticize their wealth and they’re giving jobs for, you know, in many cases, thousands of people jobs. And the other point that is really tough that I don’t know how to address it, but I like to emphasize the fact that that young people need to start at the bottom to learn. But then again, this day and age is the best time in our history, I think, to succeed because anybody working in private sector, if someone starts at the bottom and they see that you show up on time and you put in more than your day’s work, they’re going

to promote you really fast. So many young people and it’s not their fault. It’s their parents or the ones that they’re looking at to tell them that they need to start at the top. I mean, McDonald’s and I use McDonald’s just because it was one of the first fast food places and it was a place for young people to go and make a dollar an hour.

But it’s not a place to to retire from. It’s not a place that’s necessarily going to support your family. It was designed to have a lot of young people working there. They always did.

And so, there’s so much talk about making everybody right into the middle class, right out of the box, and that just can’t be. The middle class is something you learn to achieve, not given to you.

Kim Monson
well and that’s why some of these policies I’m very concerned about for example these forced minimum wages uh… make it difficult for employers to bring in that uh… entry-level employee that that as you say where you learn to talk with people where you learn to show up on time where you learn to go that extra mile and it’s these policies prevent this opportunity uh… and that’s a real a real problem and uh…

but those that can understand it just as you’ve said and i really see this with producer joe uh… he’s young and he is really going the extra mile and uh… i know that it will serve him very well throughout his life drew because he is willing to Well, you’re right, Kim, and of course everybody’s young now when you get as old as me, but I’ve been around a while.

Drew Dix
I find myself wanting to compliment people just for doing their job sometimes. And I think we should all do that. But then again, I wonder if that’s really beneficial. Because hard work is hard work.

And making mistakes is part of the hard work. But just like in our little restaurant up here in Westcliff, there’s a young girl who started. I think she was 16 or something. and I told her she’s going to start here, work hard, don’t expect someone to give you tips automatically, work for them and you’ll appreciate them more.

And I think it resonated.

Kim Monson
Well I totally agree and that’s why the work that you’re doing at the Center for American Values and many of these portraits of valor that you have on the wall there these men were young when they took the action to protect those around them to save lives they were very very young and the other thing that I think is so important as I go through and look at all the portraits on the wall is you see all this narrative out there trying to divide people and put them in descriptors of skin color or whatever and that is one of the beautiful things about the center is every child first of all that American spirit is within in our hearts and our souls but the descriptors on the outside it’s across the spectrum of all these men and these men of honor portraits of valor

Drew Dix
Yes, and Kim, this is why veterans and the group of, that segment of our society is so important because it passes the boundaries of each, you know, we’re basically a 50-50 country, our votes and everything are so close, but veterans kind of to to go through the community and emphasize that to people especially on Veterans Day when our citizens should be recognizing veterans and tell them how much they or we appreciate being able to serve this country and what it means to us because if you notice when veterans get older and they look back on how things were they always reflect on those times that they worked hard with each other You don’t remember on those times when something was given to you, but you do remember those times when you worked hard and made sacrifices. And that’s what’s so significant about Veterans Day.

And I also ask our citizens that are listening here, that Veterans Day is a day to honor veterans. It’s not just for a day for veterans to go out and and have parades for themselves. We should be honoring those past and present, so there’s not a hesitance for future veterans to join up. You know, we’re different now.

We have a volunteer military, and most of those Medal of Honor recipients on the wall, there’s about 164 now, I believe, We started that in 1999 where World War II and Korea were, and Vietnam where they were mostly draftees. So when you say young, they were very young. And it’s no different as far as being on the battlefield whether you’re a volunteer. or a draftee, but the significance is that the draftees are the treasure of this country, and when our diplomacy fails, we call on our young people to stand up and protect this nation.

And that’s why it’s so important to remember the fact that most of those that made sacrifices were drafted. And that makes it so important. and that’s why it’s important to me. I’ll just add one thing, Kim.

After I received the Medal of Honor and I got a battlefield commission, I was in Special Forces, but I went back to Vietnam as a company commander in a rifle company in the 101st Airborne Division, and 100% of my company were draftees. and

Kim Monson
I know it is really remarkable and we have to as a country I think be very careful about where we send our our children our blood and our treasure because they are our blood and treasure and we need to be very cautious about that but I am so grateful for The Generations. So let’s go to break. I’m talking with Drew Dix.

He’s a Medal of Honor recipient for actions he took in the Vietnam War. He’s a co-founder with Brad Padula of the Center for American Values. That website is AmericanValuesCenter.org and we are blessed to bring these stories to the airwaves.

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Kim Monson
And welcome back to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure and check out our website that is americasveteranstories.com. Check out the Center for American Values. It’s located in Pueblo, Colorado.

That website is americanvaluecenter.org. And then the other non-profit that I really love and support on the show is the USMC Memorial Foundation. And they just do such great work. And through February, excuse me, not February, through November, they actually have a www.engvid.com by going to USMCMemorialFoundation.org.

I’m talking with Drew Dix. He is a co-founder of the Center for American Values located in Pueblo, a Medal of Honor recipient for actions he took during the Vietnam War. And Drew, let’s talk a little bit about the other three Medal of Honor recipients that grew up in Pueblo, Colorado. It’s amazing that there were four living Medal of Honor recipients in Pueblo, that grew up in Pueblo.

And I think it was Ike Eisenhower who said, what is it about the water out there? You guys seem to raise heroes. And I think that’s true. So let’s see, is it one World War II veteran, two Korea, and then you?

Do I have that right?

Drew Dix
Yeah, that’s right. Bill Crawford was World War II, and Carl Sitter and Jerry Murphy were both Korea, both Marines. I really admire the Marines and that Marine Memorial is something to support too, so I encourage people to do that.

Kim Monson
Well, absolutely. So let’s talk about, first of all, Bill Crawford. And you knew him. And there’s a remarkable story about him at the Air Force Academy.

But where do you want to start with Bill Crawford?

Drew Dix
Well, first, I’d like to say that when I was a young kid, I didn’t know much about the Medal of Honor. I didn’t know much about Bill, Carl, or Jerry. And I was wondering who these guys were. And then I joined the army and came back and there was a welcome home parade in Pueblo and the three of them were there.

Very special, very special memory of mine, of Bill and the other two. But Bill was so quiet, so reserved. And I think he was always that way. It’s just that they brought it out of him on the battlefield.

in Europe. And that’s the thing that I like to remember about Bill and the story about him being a janitor at the Air Force Academy and when one of the individuals there recognized him and asked him about it and I could just see him. Yeah, that’s me. I have a medal on it.

And I remember in US He had a little farm up there in Black Forest. A lot of times he wouldn’t go to the conventions because he had to take care of his cow or two and just always admired him. And not very talkative, but at our conventions, our general membership and a lot of those meetings, you know, they could get all kind of You know, people arguing about how they want to do business. Bill, once in a while, would get up and say something so calm and made so much sense.

So that’s my tribute to Bill. I’ll never forget him for that. He was a golden glove fighter when he was young. You just can’t picture it, but he had it inside him that he had that competitive spirit.

And those Germans found out.

Kim Monson
Well, what happened on that day that he took action, that he was awarded the Medal of Honor?

Drew Dix
Well, Bill actually attacked the bunkers and was able to capture some of the enemy soldiers and they surrendered and saved, you know, the thing you have to remember is the whole Medal of Honor actions for saving your unit or individuals by your sacrifice, willing to sacrifice. So that was the case. They were pinned down and he moved forward and was able to eliminate some of those German soldiers. The remarkable thing about Bill is he was later a POW and he had already been selected for the Medal of Honor, and it was presented to his mother, posthumous, because they thought he was dead, that he had been captured instead.

And later, when President Reagan was in office, because the Medal of Honor is to be awarded, presented by the President, And so his was never presented by a president. So President Reagan presented him with his Medal of Honor.

Kim Monson
Yeah, that was at the Air Force Academy, right?

Drew Dix
Yes, I believe it was. Yeah. Just so remarkable for an individual that never asked for anything and then remarkable that President Reagan thought the importance of doing that for him.

Kim Monson
Well, and I remember the story and you alluded to it, but at least this is how I have heard it, that he was working as this janitor at the Air Force Academy and one of the young cadets was doing some research and realized there was a Medal of Honor recipient, Bill Crawford, and he kind of started to put two and two together. And he went to Bill and said, Is this you? And he said, Yes.

And that was a long time ago. And I just, that just stuck with me. At least that’s the story that I’ve heard Drew Dix.

Drew Dix
And that’s pretty accurate. That’s the way it was. And the statement says, yeah, it was a long time ago. That’s Bill.

He didn’t elaborate.

Kim Monson
OK, well, let’s talk about then which gentleman do you want to talk about next?

Drew Dix
Well, Carl was a remarkable individual. You know, the thing that I remember… Well, first of all, it was at the Chosin Reservoir that was a bitter cold battle. And I’ve spent a lot of time in the cold.

And I can’t imagine fighting a serious, you know, having a war in such conditions. The jungles are bad. It’s hot and all that. But in the cold, it can just wear you down.

And the only good thing about it, the enemy’s facing it too. But Carl was a remarkable marine officer and was able to rally his people and defend in that Chosin Reservoir, which was a very crucial battle in the Korean War. And Carl… Gosh, it was…

You know, when Bill Crawford passed, He was buried at the Air Force Academy. Cold, nasty day. Carl and Jerry and I were there. Carl caught a bad cold and got pneumonia and passed not long after that.

And then he was buried in Arlington. So, you know, the bittersweet of that. I was able to witness and participate in Bill’s internment and then you know, succumbed to the weather. He survived in Korea through the bad weather, but lost it when he was a little older and didn’t have the ability to survive the elements.

And he was really committed to I’m And while I didn’t know it when I was growing up, they were a part of my life then, but it’s not so much as them individuals, but because we all shared the same values of being brought up in hard work and in a community that we love so much.

Kim Monson
Well, Andrew, over the years, I know that life should not be I wishes. However, I do wish that I would have started this American veteran stories 10 years earlier. Because so many of these guys that I really would have loved to have interviewed, you know, had passed on by that time, but I’ve learned a lot. I didn’t know my history.

The Korean War is known as the Forgotten War. And it was brutal. And the Chosin Reservoir is one of the top marine famous battles. And it wasn’t just cold.

It got to 40 below. And I don’t think people can quite understand what that was for those guys.

Drew Dix
Well, and Kim, they didn’t have the equipment. You know, Korea was right after the World War II and we downsized so much. And when they were deployed, the Marines went in early. They just had rubber boots that they put over their leather shoes to insulate some.

It was brutal. I spent a little bit of time in Alaska, and then I did some contract work on the sea ice for several years for the Navy and the government. And I know what it’s like to be cold, and you just don’t get warm. But to compound that with someone shooting at you, it’s difficult.

So my hat is off to all those that served in that environment. Well,

Kim Monson
Drew, didn’t they get surrounded? And that’s where the Chinese came in as well. And there were just so many enemy. And didn’t they have to just, they finally just had to, they fought their way out of there, right?

Drew Dix
that’s in US

Kim Monson
and that is a deterrent to the enemy if they know that we are prepared. So readiness is super important. So we’re going to go to break. I’m talking with Drew Dix, co-founder of the Center for American Values, which is located in Pueblo, and they do two things.

They honor our Medal of Honor recipients, and then they have amazing educational programs for our kids for online, other curriculum to instill these values of honor, integrity, and patriotism. And it is such an inspirational place. I would recommend that you get that on your bucket list to go visit the Center for American Values. You can get more information by going to AmericanValuesCenter.org.

That’s AmericanValuesCenter.org and we’ll be right back.

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Kim Monson
And welcome back to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure and check out our website. That is americasveteranstories.com. Be sure and check out our website.

That is Kim Monson. Whoops, hold on. That’s americasveteranstories.com. Make sure I get the right one there.

And Uder’s Restaurants has been a sponsor of both of the shows for many years. And how I got to know them, it’s a very important story about freedom and free markets and capitalism. But it’s a great place to get together to watch the games. They have great specials Monday through Friday for lunch or happy hour.

So be sure and check that out at my website at KimMonson.com. I’m talking with Drew Dix. He is a Medal of Honor recipient for actions he took during the Vietnam War. We’re talking about the Center for American Values located in Pueblo, co-founded by Drew and Brad Padula.

So Pueblo had four Medal of Honor recipients living at the same time, all men who grew up in Pueblo with this work ethic. And we’ve talked about Bill Crawford and Carl Sitter. But let’s talk a little bit about Jerry Murphy, Drew Dix. Tell us a little bit about him.

Drew Dix
Well, thanks, Kim. Well the first thing that comes on my mind, I used to deliver newspapers in Pueblo and there was this road called Jerry Murphy Road. I think it was the longest road in Pueblo and I was wondering who in the heck was Jerry Murphy to have such a long road named after him. And of course I was like 14, 13, 14 years old and when I was Marine, remarkable guy, very family oriented, large family.

He was living in Albuquerque at the time that I met him. But he came to Pueblo often. And I got to know his family very well and they’re just wonderful people. And I guess The other thing that I remember so much about Jerry is his commitment to veterans.

He retired from the VA hospital system in Albuquerque, but he stayed working as a volunteer until he died, literally weeks before he passed. He was a volunteer, a friendly face. If you walked into the Jerry Murphy Hospital, they named it after him. and you would always see him he would greet you or the people and just was committed to taking care of veterans.

He did it on the battlefield and he did it until he died.

Kim Monson
Well and we owe our veterans so much from that first shot that was heard around the world to now in the show that we stand on the shoulders of giants and we truly do. But these were regular ordinary men that when the situation presented itself they stood up, they delivered. and I often wonder if I was in that situation, what would I do? And I hope that the good Lord would give me the strength and fortitude and courage to do what I would need to do in that situation as well.

I think the training probably is important, but don’t you think there’s also something deep within the soul of these Medal of Honor recipients as well that had them take action when this situation presented itself?

Drew Dix
Well, I think so. Training is very important, but some of those that I knew every single recipient After I received mine in the White House in 1969, I’ve known everyone that was a recipient then, almost close to 400. And I kind of think about it, you know, they say, okay, welcome to the group, and you’re one of them. I never felt like I was part of the group as far as, because I always put them so high in my admiration, and I never knew that I never thought that I would be worthy of that.

I think most of the recipients that I have had serious conversations with or got to know felt the same way. They never felt they did anything that great. I think what it is, when you’re on the battlefield and things are tough, things are bad, they don’t award those when you’re doing really good because you don’t receive a medal for how many of the enemy you killed or the objective you take, you receive it for risking your life in a bad situation.

And every one of those individuals thought at the time, I’m sure, that they could see the pieces coming together, either good or bad, that it was so clear that they had to take action. And in my case, I felt the same. I felt like I could take care of what I needed to do right then. My training played a big part in it, but it is also the fact that I was comfortable around the situation and knew that I could make a difference and that where I was in US English

Kim Monson
Well, you think about the Declaration of Independence, the founding of our country, that they were willing to risk their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. That’s a pretty amazing thing to base a country upon. And then we’ve seen that through the generations, which is unique about the American idea. But that is what has happened when they’re on the battlefield, their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

Now I can’t remember, Drew, it was one of the On Value presentations. And one of the guys, the Medal of Honor recipients, had said that somebody that he saved that because he saved this guy, this guy had this big family. And the family actually realized that it was because of those actions that the Medal of Honor recipient took was the reason that they were all alive. And I thought that was really an important thing.

I hadn’t really thought about that until that day.

Drew Dix
Yeah, and the fact that they’re so young, most of the time in war, you know, wars fought with our young, and they had a chance to live a normal life when they were pulled out of their, the comfort of their communities. And, you know, when you look at You referenced the Founders. Now, they were warriors too, but they didn’t carry a gun, but they got out of their comfort zone. They were willing to get out of their comfort zone and make a difference because they could see that their action was going to make a difference, just like on the battlefield.

I mean, you know, there’s several Medal of Honor recipients, mainly in Korea, were awarded a Medal of Honor for clear action of throwing themselves on a hand grenade to save others. Now they clearly were willing to die at that moment. Boom. They were not going to survive.

Some did. But they also knew that if they did that, others would survive.

Kim Monson
Well, and that’s, yeah, that’s remarkable. Well, tell us a little bit about Jerry Murphy and what he did during the Korean War of which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Drew Dix
Well, Jerry’s action is a lot like the other actions where the units are pinned down and they were getting fire from this hill. And I think the hill was called Ungat Hill. And Jerry went up to the slopes of that hill and took out enemy positions so his unit that was pinned down could proceed up to take that hill, which was key at the time. And that’s what it was.

And, you know, when you look back on it, you say, well, okay, he just took care of this action and it seems like It’s an understatement. But when you’re on the battlefield, and the only ground that you have influence is the ground you’re standing on or laying on. And you’re going to stay there until someone gets you going or whether you can get and secure some other ground. And your world gets really small.

It gets closed in on you. And until you get that notion to move ahead, in US English and rallying his men in that situation is what earned him the Medal of Honor. He saved that unit because if he hadn’t taken those actions on his own, by himself, the enemy would probably have wiped that unit out.

Kim Monson
Well, and Drew, I’ve learned this, and the language is very important. People do not win the Medal of Honor. They are awarded the Medal of Honor, and that’s an important distinction for each of us to understand. It

Drew Dix
is, and you know, that emphasis of changing that phrase I attribute to the Medal of Honor recipients, because when I became a member, of the Medal of Honor Society. It started about the time we had a good number, about a lot of recipients from Vietnam that we felt that we didn’t win anything. Because, first of all, the war was an unpopular war, so why would you go there to win something that was an unpopular war? You were going over there to make a difference, to slow the enemy down.

for their advancement across Asia there and we did a good job with that. I’d like to tell all those Vietnam veterans out there that they ought to be proud of that service. They won that war. The politicians didn’t give them the victory and that’s unfortunate.

But it set the stage. It’s changed so much. Vietnam put a name because of the Vietnam wall, put names to the losses of war since then and before. You notice a lot of monuments now are inscribed with the names of those lost.

And that was because it started in Vietnam when it became so personal that names were attributed to the results of that, the losses of the results of the battle.

Kim Monson
Well, each of those names, yeah, is somebody’s son, brother, uncle, husband. It’s so important that we understand that and the sacrifice for each and every one of them. I’m talking with Drew Dix, and he is the co-founder of the Center for American Values. The other co-founder is Brad Padula.

And Drew is a Medal of Honor recipient for actions he took during the Vietnam War. And we will continue the story in just a moment.

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Kim Monson
And welcome to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure and check out our website, that is americasveteranstories.com. Talking with Drew Dix, and he is a Medal of Honor recipient for actions that he took during the Vietnam War, co-founder of the Center for American Values. Drew Dix, you received the Medal of Honor for actions you took during the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War.

And first of all, the Tet holiday is kind of like our Christmas holiday in Vietnam, right?

Drew Dix
Well, actually, it’s a New Year holiday. It’s the Chinese New Year. Okay. And it goes for a period of time.

And I guess from the time the war started, pretty much both sides always in US gather information and I could always go across the border somewhere and find out enemy movement and there was no movement. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Little did we know that they’d already been in position. And actually when we left, when I left with a few guys to go out of the town, I left, went through enemy positions that were already in the town.

Kim Monson
But you didn’t realize it at the time.

Drew Dix
Didn’t realize it, I mean, because there’s so much activity of locals moving in and out because they’re coming from different communities to celebrate the holidays. So there’s that kind of activity. But for the enemy, that was remarkable that they did that. There’s 44 provinces in Vietnam and I think 41 or 2 they took over or attempted to and got real close to overrunning the provincial capitals.

Kim Monson
Well, and their ceasefire, they were just kidding, right?

Drew Dix
in US And so when we left town to just see where we were in a ceasefire, so we weren’t going to engage it offensively, but just to see what’s going on. And we got into a little bit of a firefight and look back towards Chowduck. We’ve been on the river for a couple hours, so it’s quite a ways away. You could see a haze and glow in the skyline that they’d overrun the city by the time we had left.

Kim Monson
So you ended up into a 56 hour battle then. And pretty remarkable, you saved an army, or not an army nurse, a civilian nurse, as well as others. But I find that one of the really interesting stories is as you were, I guess, moving through the town, you saw a guy in a doorway. I find this absolutely fascinating.

Drew Dix
Oh you mean, yeah, this is a stroke of luck. You know, battles are good luck and bad luck. You gotta have it. And you hope you have more good luck.

But I wasn’t actually in the doorway. I was crouched down in a small shell crater and we were moving pretty fast. There’s about a, I don’t know, about I forget, eight or ten of us at that time. The SEALs had already left because one was killed and they evacuated him before he passed and they didn’t get back into the town.

But I saw this guy sitting in this crater. I went right by him and I looked back. I said, that guy shouldn’t be there. He’s dressed.

He had kind of a traditional VC kind of haircut. brown pajamas, which they, you’ve heard of, they’re wearing black pajamas, which was the farmer’s garb, but they were more brown. It was different. For some reason, I’ve never seen them like that.

And so I grabbed him and my guys were saying, they seemed a little bit annoyed that I was spending time with his old man. He was an old guy. He’s like 50, um, and me being 23 or something, but, 24 and so I just drug him along and we were in some pretty heavy firefighting and I’m dragging this guy along and got to this side of this building which happened to be a theater and pretty substantial building so we’re gonna duck in there and open the door and I think there might have been well it turned out to be 19 enemy and they’re all firing towards that opening and And I had this guy with me, and I brought him around.

I don’t know why I brought him around, but the momentum of the firing, the intensity of the firing stopped. And I slammed the door. I said, boy, they know who this guy is. And that’s why he had that different uniform, was he could be identified.

and looked more like a citizen, not in military garb, but with this brown pajama kind of outfit. So I pulled him back in there, ducked in, and the fire intensified a little bit. Then all of a sudden, I put his face up in the ray of light that the sun shined through that dark building. There were no windows in it.

It was a theater. And I could hear the weapons started hitting the ground. It was a little dicey there. I had my, I don’t know, 8 or 10 guys or whatever it was, and there were 19 of them, or 18 and 19 counting this guy that turned out to be the leader of the whole battle.

His name was Salve. I didn’t know that at the time, but you can imagine how it was, total darkness, and the only thing we could see was in the flash of the muzzle. So we got it organized, we got the people out of there. I’m not sure we might have left one in there, but that old history will tell that, and he’s probably talking the story as we did.

But we went back to the embassy house, which was our headquarter in Edgetown, with our 19 prisoners. And that was a site, they were loaded in this one little pickup we had and a jeep. and it waddled down the road and with this load, still didn’t know who I had. And one of the Vietnamese that we had captured before was very high ranking, kind of working with us, walked through the gate because we were trying to get some of my troops who were outside of the town back into the town to help with the battle.

And Ba Hung was this former VC that we captured. When he walked through the gate and Sal Bae was leaning up against the wall, his eyes, they connected and they knew each other. And I’ll never forget Ba-Hung saying, Sal Bae, number one VC. We knew we had somebody.

Kim Monson
Wow. Wow, that’s amazing. Drew, we’ve got just about a minute left. This has just been such a great interview.

How would you like to wrap this up?

Drew Dix
I’d just like to say to all the veterans out there that our country is divided right now. Good or bad, it’s divided, whatever side you’re on. The veterans can do a lot to bridge that gap. Make an effort to get out there and tell people that you went to willing to fight or to be in the military to save this country.

And do what you can now to spread the word that this country is worth getting back on its feet. Because we’re losing some stuff. We’re losing our prominence in the world and we never wanted to take any real estate. but our strength is what we need to keep us out of war and I hope that we return to that and get a readiness together and veterans just please keep the faith and I’m proud to stand with you.

Kim Monson
Well, Drew Dix, thank you so much and thank you for the great work at the Center for American Values. That website is AmericanValuesCenter.org. My friends, it is clear we stand on the shoulders of giants. So God bless you and God bless America.

Announcer
Thank you for listening to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure to tune in again next Sunday, 3 to 4 p.m. here on KLZ 560 and KLZ 100.7.

Speaker 1
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ Management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.