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DYR MOM: WY R YOU SO LAVEABL?
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[11/08/99]

What is a Jewish lesbian punk folk singer to do?
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[11/05/99]

The other woman
I can't wish she were dead; she may be dying.
By Jane Underwood
[11/04/99]

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Name: Precilla Wilkewitz
In country: Long Binh, January 1968 to September 1969
Rank: E5
Job: Administrative assistant for U.S. Army Vietnam (USARV) inspector general's office
Age in Vietnam: 19
Current Age: 51
Current Home: Zachary, La.

They didn't issue us weapons in Vietnam. At basic training in Fort Benning, Ga., we trained with M-16s, M-14s. We had to do marksmanship and be in foxholes and we had to do mounted and dismounted attacks. But they didn't issue women weapons [in country].

One night we had a human mass attack on all four corners at Long Binh. We had mortar attacks that could have landed on our compound and killed all of us. Did we have anything to protect us? No, all we had was prayer. And I did a lot of that.

Name: Claire Starnes (the organizer of the reunion)
In country: Long Binh, February to July 1969; Saigon, July 1969 to February 1971
Rank: Staff sergeant (E6)
Age in Vietnam: 25
Job: Translator, Army Engineer Construction Agency Vietnam (USAECAV); photojournalist, Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) Observer newspaper
Current age: 55
Current home: Conowingo, Md.

The biggest fear was to be taken prisoner. Can you imagine what kind of nightmare in terms of public relations it would have been? What a coup for the NV? Apparently in 1968 military intelligence had gotten a document off a North Vietnamese that they were offering a $25,000 reward for a white American female. Our own government gave us life insurance which was worth only $10,000. We laughed about it, because, boy, we were worth more to the NV.

Precilla Wilkewitz: All women had to eat at the 24th Evac Hospital. So when we went there we had to eat with the patients. Some of them had missing arms, legs, eyes, and had IVs sticking out and all these little gadgets hanging from that walking thing.

There were only two redheads there in the first place. And I would sit down with the patients and they would start crying. And many, many of them asked me if they could touch my hair, because they saw very few round-eyes and everybody who was there had an aunt or a friend or schoolmate who was redheaded.

It was so traumatic that I quit going. I don't think I ate 20 times in the mess hall because they would cry. How can you sit there and eat while these soldiers are crying?

+ WORK

Name: Priscilla Mosby
In country: Long Binh, Mekong Delta, March to June 1970, August 1971 to April 1972
Rank: E4
Job: Stenographer, bandleader
Age in Vietnam: 20
Current age: 48
Current home: Cleveland, Ohio

In Vietnam, first they had the USO tour shows coming through, but they weren't cutting it because they only would send them so far into the bush. So they tried a command military touring show which consisted of all military personnel that could go out and entertain the troops and build the morale.

So I went to Saigon and auditioned. I sing and play the keyboards. I used to go down to Louisville and volunteer to sing at the churches -- gospel singing was my hobby. [In Saigon], I sang "Summertime" [at the audition] and I had to do it a cappella. When I opened my eyes, I asked the gentleman who was overseeing the program, "Did I pass?" and he said, "Lord, yes." He told me, "I'm going to put you together a really good band."

I had a nine-piece band, one helluva band. There was this singer named Johnny Taylor who made "Who's Making Love." His lead guitarist was my guitar player. My organist, he played for James Cleveland in the Angelic Choir. My sax player was a guy named Danny Hall, he played with a group named Cold Blood. He was very versatile.

We wrote most all of the songs -- love songs, country, jazz, ballads. We did Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand, because I never knew where I was going to go -- and there was no guarantee that it was going to be a predominately minority crowd. My first band was called "Phase 3," because there are four phases before you die. If you're out in the field, you're in phase 3. You're hanging on -- you may make it and you may not.

I went from the Mekong Delta and DMZ [the demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam]. I played fire bases. I had to sign a disclaimer because I was a female and I wasn't supposed to be out of Long Binh. I stayed out in the field for eight months.

Half the time we couldn't hook up the electrical instruments that we had, because there was no electricity. So we had to just rough it, and that was even more fun. I was the show leader and I said, "The show must go on." If you played bass, you would stand up there and go "Da-Dom-Dom-Dom" and make the sound with your mouth. It was beautiful.

We performed for three hours. I was the only female out there in the field. We had some wild times. The main thing I kept in mind was to be decent and dedicated and determined and to let them know that it was going to be all right. They could let off steam, singing and dancing and pouring beer on me, whatever -- [my bottom line was] just don't rape me. And nobody tried.

Next page | My entire band had been killed