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Dear editor:
It brought tears to my eyes when reading Braden Schiller’s article about Curt Ando in the May 28 Tribune.
PHS Class of ’62 members Steve Blood and I were in Saigon, …
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Dear editor:
It brought tears to my eyes when reading Braden Schiller’s article about Curt Ando in the May 28 Tribune.
PHS Class of ’62 members Steve Blood and I were in Saigon, Vietnam when we got word that Curtis was in-country and assigned near Danang, near the DMZ — a long distance from where we were located.
Through my job I was able to find an address where we could send a letter from Steve and myself inviting Curt to visit us in Saigon. We included contact information and directions.
My job was in the Combat Operations Center (COC) where I prepared twice daily reports for the commanding general of the war. A few days after we sent Curtis the letter, I was gathering information about MIA and KIA (Missing in Action and Killed in Action) in the four Corps of the war to include in the general’s report. It was like a ton of bricks hitting me in the head when I read the I-Corps report and saw the brief report about Curtis dying. It stunned me to read that my lifelong friend had been killed. Memories rushed through my mind of Curt and I working side by side hoeing beet and bean fields for his dad and my uncle who had neighboring fields.
The wording smelled bad. Something wasn’t right. I began looking into it and was convinced it was a “dirty kill.” This is where a fellow Marine would “frag” (kill) another soldier for personal reasons and try to make it look like an enemy kill.
I reported my findings and suspicions to higher authority and stated that I was convinced Curt was killed by a fellow American soldier because Curt was Asian (Japanese). A lot of American soldiers didn’t like Asians because it was thought they were the reason we were in this war.
When I returned to the USA I made a trip to Washington, D.C. and visited the Vietnam Wall memorial. I was able to get a rubbing of Curtis’ name and brought it back to Powell to give to Curt’s dad, Charlie Ando. While at his home he showed me the letter Steve and I had sent to Curt. I was glad to know he had received our letter and had read it. With this he knew others in Vietnam respected him and loved him.
Melvin Good Cozzens
Iloilo, Philippines
