April 1, 1970 - Vietnam

Remembering Roger James McInerny, Jr.
by Paul D. McInerny

To paraphrase President Roosevelt: April 1st…a day that will live in infamy with Roger and Lue McInerny. On April 1st, 1970, Roger McInerny, Jr. was serving with the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam. He would sacrifice his life that day, for ideals and beliefs that were near and dear to him.

As I sat at the kitchen table thinking of Roger, I was enveloped with a wave of emotion. It started as a chill of sorts; goose bumps starting at my feet and quickly moving upward toward the top of my scalp. It was a feeling of overwhelming sadness and reflection for a brother long gone in one of thousands of wars of past history. As tears slipped from my eyes and onto my cheeks, I spoke to Rog and talked of the passing of time and his death. I wished he could have met my children and grandchildren. Then, a stark realization of a thought that had never crossed my mind; I wished I could have met his children and grandchildren.

War has a way of altering families forever, especially when the warrior returns with emotional or physical injuries, or simply does not return. Roger was a first born and named after his father. He was the good and studious son who probably could have become anything he wished. He was obedient, focused and never gave my parents the kind of trouble I did. His decision to enlist in the army in 1969 was based, in part, by the opinion of an anti-war speaker who told Roger that only poor, black males were being sent to Vietnam to fight. Roger believed that statement and thought it was grossly unfair and felt compelled to do his part. He was in Vietnam for approximately two weeks when he was killed during a fierce battle at Firebase Illingworth.

I had the opportunity to travel to Beijing, China with Ling. China…a communist country, that for most of my life, I have been told is an enemy or potential threat to the United States. While I was in Beijing, I saw only people living and working much the same as they do in the United States. Taxi drivers negotiating the pedestrians and other vehicles that share the roadway, storeowners selling their wares, sales people working in the department stores, and restaurants serving the public. I asked a college professor of child-welfare, if the people of China were card-carrying communists. She explained to me that the people were just that… people. It is the government that was communist, but that most of the people were just trying to make a living and very few are what the Western world calls card-carrying communists.

In my little world, it would appear that it is the governments of the world that cause these wars. Individuals who rise to power and start believing their own self-perception of grandeur. Their quest for power, or a twisted interpretation of religion, political ideology, or desire to have more. And all the while, the people of the country are merely trying to hold their families together, to pay the bills, to buy a home, or ensure that their children are safe and well educated. Perhaps this is a too, simplistic analysis of the world and does not merit serious consideration, but it is frustrating to think that Roger went to war for an ideology spoon fed to us by the politicians of the time.

History seems to share a reoccurring theme when a war or conflict is studied years after its occurrence. It would appear that lies and half-truths were evident in order to justify a plan of action. In 1969, I constantly heard of the Domino Theory. In theory, if South Vietnam should fall into the hands of communist North Vietnam, than the neighboring countries would fall to communism like the chips in a domino game. As history has revealed, the Domino Theory never occurred.

April 1st has an entirely different meaning for the McInerny family. I do not begrudge people for enjoying the pranks, jokes and good-natured humor that comes with the day. I just wish I could have heard Roger and his kids, and perhaps now his grandkids, enjoying the laughter and frivolity of the day. I am convinced that conflicts and wars are inevitable as long as there are individuals with insatiable egos or convictions that the ends justify the means. To that end, there will always be a Roger James McInerny, Jr. for too many families on both sides of the conflict. The surviving family members will have their special date in history, just as my parents and brothers and sisters. Indulge us then, as we remember Roger James McInerny, Jr., killed in action in the Republic of Vietnam, April 1, 1970 at age 19.