By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- With gripping emotion, a retired New Ulm Public School teacher recalled his tour of duty as a U.S. Marine Corps (Lieutenant) Platoon Commander during some of the darkest days of the Vietnam War.

John Ingebritson's interest in the military began while he was working at the Albert Lea country club as a teenager. A handful of World War II veterans enjoyed telling war stories after a round of golf.

One of them lost his leg in the war, and despite an artificial limb, he was able to play golf competitively. Another man told stories of how he survived a bloody battle with the Nazis by jumping into a pile of dead men.

"I looked at those vets as being very patriotic, someone to look up to," Ingebritson said. That admiration was one of the ingredients that encouraged Ingebritson to join the military. Another came when he went off to college.

As a student at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D., nearly 40 years ago, Ingebritson never thought he'd wind up in the middle of one of the fiercest battles of the Vietnam War not long after college graduation.

Initially he wasn't interested in joining the military after his college roommate talked to him about it. His roommate joined the Marine Corps and became a helicopter pilot.

"He invited me to his enlistment ceremony," Ingebritson said. "He told me I was joining right after he did and I did. We didn't think we'd wind up at the war front. We thought it was winding down. I thought I'd wind up in the back of it, maybe doing supply work."

That wasn't to be. Ingebritson became a Platoon Commander for the Company A,"The Ace of Spades" with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division.

"They really needed us at the battle front," Ingebritson said. "After rushing through training, I was calling the shots for the platoon of several dozen men. I feel lucky to be alive. We had just one man killed in action."

Sixty percent of the Marines in Vietnam were wounded once. Another 30 percent were wounded twice. Those wounded a third time got a ride home, he recalled.

Among his platoon's conquests was the city of Hue, South Vietnam. Three under-strength Marine battalions of fewer than 2,500 men, attacked and soundly defeated more than 10,000 entrenched enemy troops. They liberated Hue for South Vietnam after the North Vietnamese Army seized it during the Tet offensive of 1968, a massive assault on South Vietnam.

North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces were gradually driven out of Hue as Marines retook the city one building at a time, driving the enemy out of each room of each building. Countless Silver Stars and Purple Hearts were awarded for acts of heroism.

Ingebritson earned a Purple Heart after being in Vietnam for only 14 days. He was wounded from a grenade blast while he and his men swept a village south of Da Nang that was known to be inhabited by the Viet Cong.

"We knew the enemy was there," Ingebritson said. "We had lots of fire fights there. We swept the village after our Cessna observer plane pilot was shot out of the sky."

The first step in taking the village was smoking out the enemy by throwing smoke cans into a series of underground tunnels. The entire population was herded out and the known VC were separated from the rest of the people.

"We never strip-searched them," Ingebritson said. "One of them threw a primitive grenade between myself and my radio operator who suffered a serious leg injury."

Three C-ration (canned food) cans in Ingebritson's pocket prevented shrapnel from injuring him more seriously. He was hospitalized for two weeks after the explosion and then returned to combat.

"Those cans saved my seat," Ingebritson said.

C-rations included spaghetti made in 1944 at Tony Downs Food Co. in Madelia, he noted.

"It still tasted good," Ingebritson added. "I liked it better than the ham, lima beans and Spam rations."

Before Ingebritson's tour was over he enjoyed a brief reunion with his former college roommate -- the same man who predicted Ingebritson would be the next to join the war effort. His old friend, then a chopper pilot, and Ingebritson spent a brief rest and relaxation period together in Vietnam. "That little reunion was really special," he said.

When he returned home, Ingebritson hid all his mementos -- medals, ribbons, a black book identifying the men in his platoon, and his uniforms. He didn't tell anybody he was in Vietnam.

"Lots of my war buddies were spit on when they came home. People thought we were inhumane, doing horrible things to women and children. There was some of that, but it wasn't the norm." Ingebritson said. "Although we were lucky, I was always proud of my men. I felt an allegiance to them and that they were my brothers and were the best. I needed them for my security."

They must have felt a bond and a need for Ingebritson too. Whenever the men in his platoon would move to a new location, a foxhole was always dug for him without asking. It was done out of respect.

Aside form the camaraderie, Ingebritson said he really enjoyed the diversity in his platoon. The platoon included an Italian from Des Moines, Iowa, a German squad leader from Nebraska who always argued that the Cornhuskers had the best football team, a Latino Platoon Sergeant, an African American guide and a Native American point man they called "Chief."

"I got to know them all very well. They were nice guys but they could be very tough," Ingebritson said.

His mother saved letters he wrote home from the war. Ingebritson read one he wrote concerning his father. He told him from the Vietnam battlefields that he really respected him and realized how much he was like his father.

Ingebritson admitted he is a little worried about the way the media is portraying the Iraq War lately, focusing on negative news.

"I hope we don't lose sight of what's right," he said. Ingebritson supports the U.S. effort in Iraq.

Ingebritson also taught art and math at New Ulm Public School for 31 years before retiring. He now drives a school bus.

Vietnam vet recalls war