Texas State employee, war veteran recounts tales of horror on battlefield

 By Julie Suenram
News Reporter

Gordon Seablom hasn't spoken about Vietnam for 15 years.

For the past 19 years he has worked at Texas State as a plumber. He has also worked in shipyards, mines and has been part of a motorcycle gang. However, 34 years ago he came home from Vietnam bearing a Purple Heart, Bronze Star with a combat V and a Navy Commendation with a combat V.

A member of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Corp., Seablom went to Vietnam at age 19. He volunteered in high school as an inactive reservist, and three days after graduation he went to boot camp. Six months later he was in Vietnam.

"When I first got to Vietnam I was sent to the 1st Platoon, and the 1st Platoon had 51 guys that were killed," Seablom said. "That's where they sent me into, to regroup, to bring up their strength. When I first walked into the tent the guy said: 'That's your rack over there, that guy died yesterday. Here's your helmet, that guy died. Here's your jacket, that guy died.' I had all dead men's gear except for my underwear and the pants I had on."

Seablom spent 13 months stationed in northern Vietnam. He was an inactive reserve for three to four months before attending boot camp in June 1966. He returned home to a hero's welcome in his hometown of Ishpeming, Mich., January 1968. His town named a day especially for him.

"At the time I had read a lot of books on (the Marines), Iwo Jima and Okinawa. I saw a lot of John Wayne movies and I just watched the Marines," Seablom said. "It seemed like the Marines, they always got sent in first. Now it's different; you got the SEALs, the special ops, but in them days if you wanted to get something done, you go to the Marines. Now they had the Green Beret's over there in Vietnam. And we went in and helped the Green Beret's out all the time. If they were in a jam, we'd jump out of helicopters and save their butts."

Seablom's military occupation specialty was 351, which meant he was a rocket man. However, when he went into Vietnam, he was made a rifleman.

"What happened was the rockets got wiped out and there was no one to take their place," Seablom said. "So they go: 'Seablom, you full 351? OK, you're squad leader.' After that, I had five guys under me. Those guys stole food from me, but I didn't say nothing. I loved my men.

"We were helping with the wounded and one of my men left his rifle in the middle of the rice paddies," Seablom said. "I told him, 'Stay here.' I was his boss, his squad leader. I told him, 'You stay right here, don't go anywhere.' So I'm out there, I get my rifle, my gear, I get his gear and I look up and over and he was crawling on his belly right next to me, and I said, 'you damn fool,' and as I said that, he got shot in the face. He died in my arms."

Seablom earned three medals for serving in Vietnam. The Purple Heart is awarded to members of the U.S. armed forces who are wounded by or against an enemy. The Bronze Star is awarded to those who distinguish themselves through acts of heroism or merit. The Navy Commendation is awarded to those who have distinguished themselves through heroism or meritorious or outstanding achievements. A combat V is for valor in combat.

"What happened was I knocked out one machine-gun position and two mortar positions; we were under intense firing and I killed a bunch of the enemy," Seablom said. "I was doing my job."

"The Navy Commendation was for saving some guys' lives. All the Marines were in this one little village and there were a bunch of guys lying out there wounded. So what I did was I told the machine gun to fire over my head, and I started pulling in the wounded," he said. "Other guys saw what I was doing and they started pulling in the wounded, helping me out."

That was not the only time Seablom displayed courage under fire. On another occasion his company had machine guns and mortars with them and were all heading to a village. A big mortar round came in, cutting one of the men in half.

"Just blew him to smithereens. So what happened was, all the men hit the deck, laid flat out there, didn't do anything and the snipers started picking the guys off one by one," Seablom said. "And what I did was I ran at one of the snipers with my pistol."

However, his pistol was not working and the sniper was about 15 feet away.

"Someone was praying in the back - had to have been. The guy dropped his rifle and ran. Right after I ran at the sniper, everyone else started getting up," Seablom said. "This guy who was on the side of me, about five guys down, he claimed I saved his life. Guy by the name of Kenneth Fields; he's a sales manager down in Florida."

Seablom saw Fields last year for the first time in 34 years. He came over and began hugging Seablom.

"I was crying my heart out, he was crying, and he said, 'You know you saved my life three times. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here.' And he said, 'You know they never gave you nothing for it,' and I said I was just doing my job."

Of Seablom's family, all five of his brothers were servicemen in the military. Only Seablom and one brother fought in Vietnam.

"I came from a long list of veterans. My dad, all his brothers died of war causes," he said. "We could finish our family roots all the way to the cavalry."

Both his uncles and his father received medals. Seablom was awarded the same medals his father received. In World War II, Seablom's father captured 17 Germans. His father was a ski trooper and was behind enemy lines for 30 days.

"I went in his closet one day when I was 24 and I saw all his old papers, his old medals, and I didn't know anything about it," Seablom said. "He never talked about it, didn't say nothing."

His brother, a soldier in the Army, was sent to Vietnam at the end of Seablom's 13-month tour of Vietnam. Four months into his own service, he was killed.

"My brother has been missing in action for 34 years," Seablom said. "The Army had him 'killed in action' in Washington, D.C. In Hawaii, they had him 'missing in action.' Sen. John Kerry went on a facts-finding mission in Vietnam to look for all the MIAs and the 'prisoners of war' and he wrote a letter back to my dad, saying 'your son is officially missing in action.'"

On July 18, 2002, he was in Michigan on vacation and was thinking about his brother who was killed in Vietnam.

"I was thinking about him that day. I was looking at my mother's house, there's a picture on the wall, I saw my brother there and I was kind of reminiscing a bit," Seablom said. "Later I went out to my other brother's log cabin, and he said, 'You won't believe this, I got this in the mail today.' He said a guy was next to my brother and he saw my brother get killed."

His brother was a mine detector in the Army. He hit a mine and four men were killed instantly, leaving no remains.

"And the army sent all the wrong clothes home so my mother thought he was a POW and my sister thought he was MIA, so nobody knew what happened to him," Seablom said. "But this fellow was at the (Vietnam Memorial Wall) and he went on the Internet looking for my family. He found my brother, my brother found him and that's the letter he found in the mail. The letter he got in the mail was July 18, 2002; my brother died July 18, 1968."

Seablom left his history of Vietnam in the closet until the beginning of the Gulf War. It wasn't until then that he finally told his wife and children his role in the war. Five months ago he became active in the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization as a chaplain. He has also participated in the Veterans Day parades for the past five years.

"Veterans Day is really an emotional day for me," Seablom said. "My dad was born on Memorial Day and all my uncles are WWII veterans and I came out of Vietnam. I am what you call a 'closet veteran.' I came out of the closet, never said anything to anyone, my dad was the same way. I had nothing to remind me of the Marine Corps. Nothing in the closet or anything; now I have Marine Corps stickers on my truck, and a POW flag flying on my motorcycle."  By Julie Suenram
News Reporter

  ©2003 The University Star