Jerry Hughes - 196th Light Infantry Brigade, Vietnam 1969-70

In September 1969 Jerry Hughes went to Vietnam and was assigned as Infantry Platoon Leader with the 196th Light Infantry Brigade. “When you're in ROTC, you get to pick what is your MOS. My first choice was quartermaster, my second choice was ordnance, and my third choice was infantry. But as I like to tell the story, I can see the guys in the Pentagon looking at this piece of paper with three choices on it. He says, look at this idiot. He put infantry down as his third choice in the middle of a 15-year war. So, I got infantry.”

Jerry would be stationed on Hill 251 just south of Da Nang for most of the war doing day patrols and night ambushes from his position. During our interview Jerry recounted THE DAY SOUPY DIED, an event that Jerry had published in the AMERICAL JOURNAL. “What it turned out to be was a booby trap, probably a hand grenade. It was triggered by either the point man, squad leader or myself as we had all walked right over it. The Vietcong still got the required effects. Soupy got a large piece of shrapnel right square in the front of his throat. His eyes completely rolled back. He died immediately. Elliot, his assistant gunner, and next in the line of march, suffered much damage to his legs and groin area. I called for a medivac helicopter. We loaded a still screaming Elliot and a dead Soupy onto it.”

After returning home Jerry served in the U.S. Army Reserves and retired after 15 years of service. Like many Vietnam Veterans Jerry had issues after the war that lead to alcohol dependence and divorce. 1986 Jerry attended the Chicago Welcome-Home Vietnam Veterans parade. “My real catharsis came in June of 1986 when Chicago had a welcome home parade. That's when I met one of the first guys who was in country with me in my platoon, Frenchy, who lived in Chicago. There were 200,000 people marching, troops, Vietnam vets, and another 500,000 of Chicago people welcoming him home and cheering and throwing ticker tape.”

“In 2000, I wrote extensively about the war. It took me 30 years to write about the war, but that was a good catharsis for me, and I do think speaking out loud about one's experiences in the war is also a good catharsis for the next person.” – Jerry Hughes

To honor the memory of Jerry's friend Reed "Soupy" Campbell we encourage you to his page on the Virtual Wall - https://www.virtualwall.org