We have been following Marland Burckhardt, a Russell High School graduate who served in the Army in Italy before returning to college, marrying his sweetheart, and graduating with an Army commission. The couple served a year in Germany before returning so Marland could complete Counterintelligence School and the Special Forces Officer Course. He deployed to Vietnam in January 1970 to help assess enemy activity in the southern half of South Vietnam for 5th Special Forces Group at Nha Trang, Vietnam. He later moved north to Danang.

While in Nha Trang Marland had an unexpected encounter.

“I ran into Gary Greve, someone whom I had known in Russell. Gary was older than I. Once he graduated high school he joined the Army Special Forces. I was on the compound one day and saw the name Greve. He was a Sergeant First Class. I said, ‘Sergeant Greve.’ (Marland chuckled) Here’s this young captain wanting to talk, but he didn’t know who I was until after I introduced myself.”

Marland and Barb had regular contact using a couple different means.

“It was letters, MARS, and Barbara and I exchanged cassettes. MARS involved standing in line to get the telephone and they’d connect you to MARS. (Military Affiliated Radio System) You were talking on radio, but they hooked you up via telephone, so when you were talking you’d have to say, ‘Hi, Barb. I’m fine. Over.’ Then she’d talk and say, ‘Over.’ You had to go back and forth like that because of radio procedure.”

He helped Barb better understand some of the Vietnam War news coverage.

“The newspapers reported attacks by fire, where the VC launched crude rockets off bamboo launching pads. If you got hit by one of those, God didn’t like you that day because there was no accuracy involved. Sometimes they caused damage, but most of the time they didn’t. I told her, ‘Don’t worry about those attacks by fire here.'”

Marland’s Vietnam duty locations Vietnam were on the coast.

“There were beautiful beaches on the South China Sea at Danang and Nha Trang, so it wasn’t unusual for guys to go to the beach for an afternoon. I used to run on the beach in Danang a few miles a day as part of my physical training. It was safe as far as I could tell. I remember some of our CIDG people fishing with grenades out there. They’d just throw a grenade — poof — fish would pop up and they’d collect them.”

He left Vietnam a couple times during his tour of duty.

“I got two R&R’s — one to Hawaii. That’s where the Army facilitated bringing Barbara over. It took about a day to get there; then you had about five days; and a day to get back to Vietnam. Neither of us had been to Hawaii, so we saw the sights. We rented a car and drove around the island, went to a luau, and attended an evening Hawaiian cultural event with dancing and stories about their history.”

Marland’s second R&R did not involve Barb.

“You could take what they called in-country R&R. One of the choices was Thailand, so I went to Bangkok with a buddy who was in I Corps at that time. It was just long enough to let your hair down a little, have new experiences, eat new food, and see new country.”

Marland enjoyed working with his colleagues at Nha Trang and Danang, but others stand out in his memory.

“The ones I remember are the ones we lost. When I was touring IV Corps the S-3 of that battalion was Major Soldato, a nice guy. A few weeks later he was in a helicopter that went down. Then we lost two guys that I went through the Special Forces Officer Course with. Loren Haugen from North Dakota received the Medal of Honor posthumously. Jerry Kinsman from New England was killed in IV Corps.”

He reflected on what was most difficult about his Vietnam service.

“It was difficult to be away from your family, particularly when you’ve got a little girl. She was six months old when I deployed. So, I didn’t see her first steps, hear her first words, or anything like that. Barb sent me pictures and I probably heard her say, ‘Daddy’ on tape. By the time I got back, she was 18 months old. She was walking, talking, and entirely different than when I had left. It was hard to miss all that.”

Marland received reassignment orders in Vietnam for the Intelligence School. He departed in January 1971, almost exactly a year from the day he arrived.

“A day or two before you left you went to an air base. You out-processed and if you had contraband, you threw that in the ‘no questions asked’ bins. Then you got on an airplane. I flew into Seattle and had connections for Sioux Falls. I met guys I’d known in Italy at the airport and went to one of their homes. I missed my plane the next morning because we partied so long. I got to the airport and they re-routed me. I flew into Minneapolis, changed planes, and then flew to Sioux Falls. Barbara was not too happy. She was at the airport in Sioux Falls with an 18-month-old, waiting for me, and I didn’t get there on time.”

The couple began reassembling their life together.

“We spent a number of days in Russell and packed out. We saw friends in Minneapolis and drove to Fort Huachuca, Arizona. We drove into Fort Huachuca in February of 1971”

©2025 William D. Palmer.