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Supporting Materials for Sir! No Sir!
Officers Offed
Saigon (LNS) -- "Incoming" yelled the GI and ran from the officers billet. But the incoming was not the usual Communist artillery signaled by the cry. It was an American hand grenade thrown by a GI at the 25th Infantry basecamp, 55 miles northwest of here.
"When the flash of light and boom from the powerful explosive had ended, a lieutenant lay dead in the ruins of the Officer Quarters. Three others were wounded, one seriously."
With this description, the New York Post introduced its readers to one more expression of GI rebellion. It further reported that "hundreds" of officers and NCOs have been assassinated by GIs in the past year. Racial incidents and officer harassment are cited as the usual causes for the killings. One source explained that, "it has become common to first issue a warning to a non-commissioned officer or an officer. This is usually done by tossing smoke or tear gas grenadeunder the man's quarters. The inference is that if a man keeps up his harassment, the next grenade could be an explosive one. To often it is."
For GIs in Vietnam, it's not often enough.
Duck Power, vol. 1, no. 7