Leader earns dividend for students

Author J.D. Coleman, 74, makes his living with words - but he was speechless at a recent reunion of his Vietnam War media unit in Kalispell.

After three decades, 20 veterans of the 1st Air Cavalry public information office saluted their former commanding officer with a scholarship fund for Montana journalism students.

"Usually, someone gives you a plaque or a certificate," Coleman said. "I was stunned."

He was humbled that these vets remembered him as a mentor and teacher after all these years. One of his men, Charlie Petit, provided insight into Coleman's ability to spot and inspire talent.

In a biography prepared for the reunion, Petit wrote how Coleman "plucked me out of Bravo land when I was barely in country." He walked into a unique Army operation in Phuoc Vinh in 1969.

"Led Zeppelin was shaking the walls," Petit recalled. "I thought to myself, 'Things are looking up.'"

The reunion the first week in August reunited the men from Coleman's second tour of duty with the 1st Cavalry. They served a division area between Saigon and the Cambodian border.

During his first tour in 1966, Coleman had earned a Silver Star after he and his rifle company defended a Special Forces camp for 18 hours from an assault by several battalions of North Vietnamese Army regulars.

Petit recounted this as part of a tribute he prepared for the reunion.

"Our commander was not only a bona fide combat hero, but a gentleman wise enough to protect us from the full strictures of an army at war," Petit wrote.

As part of his leadership strategy, Coleman said he ran an Army public information office like no one had ever seen before. He called it a journalism school in progress.

"We didn't do everything a spit-shine soldier was supposed to do and we did some things a spit-shine soldier wasn't supposed to do," he said. "But we accomplished our mission."

Coleman said that mission was to show the 1st Air Cavalry as the best organization in Vietnam. He said his office set out to show that in every way.

Although he ran a loose shop in terms of military protocol, Coleman said he ran a tight shop when it came to the quality of the product. As an example, he noticed soon after arriving in Vietnam that he had a photography problem.

"I had pictures of elbows and rear ends," he said. "I said, 'You've got to have pictures of faces."

Some photographers protested that meant putting themselves in the line of fire. Coleman admitted that getting good photos involved risks but added that, unlike the combat soldiers, they returned to a bed each night.

While prompting them to pursue excellence, Coleman earned their respect by making sure they had the tools to do the best job possible.

Due to the nature of combat photography, soldiers often cross-threaded lenses as they fumbled to change lenses quickly while dodging bullets.

"I had half the cameras in the shop all the time," Coleman recalled.

He solved the problem by scrounging up the money to buy zoom lenses for their cameras.

Coleman also came up with successful strategies to make sure 1st Air Cavalry stories hit the top military media such as the Japan-based Stars & Stripes.

"I had two guys - Joe Kamalick and Charlie Petit - I put on temporary duty with Stars and Stripes," he said.

In the daily pouch sent from Saigon to Tokyo, Coleman had a packet of fresh material and photographs. His men re-wrote the information in Stars and Stripes style and set it on the editor's desk that day with a really good photograph.

Coleman pointed out that same editor had a two-foot stack of mimeographed stories from other units vying for space in the widely read newspaper.

"All he had to do was slap on a headline and send it to composing," he said. "Which do you think he used?"

To keep improving quality, Coleman said he brought in all the writers and reporters into division headquarters once a month for a critiquing session. But he always sweetened the deal.

"I'd round up some chicken or steak and follow the session with one hell of a party," he said.

Coleman also used simple devices to make the tough work of war coverage actually fun.

He reserved the back wall of the Quonset hut for use as a kind of graffiti wall with funny quotes, sayings and cartoons.

He remembered receiving a care package from his wife, Madeline, that included a box

of Screaming Yellow Zonkers. None of them had ever seen those before so they ate the zonkers and posted the box on the wall.

"It makes no sense in terms of U.S. life," Coleman said. "But it was a morale thing."

The former commanding officer takes pride in the success his subordinates found after their military service in Vietnam.

Petit became a science writer for the San Francisco Chronicle then moved on to write for U.S. News & World Report until 2004. He continues as a contributing editor while freelancing for publications such as National Geographic.

Others went on to careers with the New York Times and Westinghouse Broadcasting.

Coleman said that shows the lie behind the popular notion that Vietnam veterans all became homeless drug addicts.

"They all did something with their lives," he said.

Their commander also did a lot with his own life after leaving the Army a lieutenant colonel with a Silver Star, three Legions of Merit, four Bronze Stars, two Combat Infantry Badges and a Meritorious Service Medal.

In 1991, Coleman returned to his native Montana where he worked in communications for Flathead National Forest. Even after retiring in 1997, he came back to run the wildfire information center for the fires of 2003.

"I don't retire, I just change jobs," Coleman said with a laugh.

His books include "Pleiku: The Dawn of Helicopter Warfare in Vietnam," "Incursion: From America's Chokehold on the NVA Lifelines to Sacking of Cambodian Sanctuaries" and "Choppers: The Heroic Birth of Helicopter Warfare."

His latest book, "Wonju, The Gettysburg of the Korean War," came out in 2003.

Although three bouts of pneumonia slowed him down last summer, Coleman expects to continue hopping on planes to help out with disaster information as a part-time worker for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Coleman said he enjoys it because he doesn't have an adversarial relationship with the media. They have the same goal of helping people find their way past disaster.

"I meet up with reporters and editors and tell them war stories about the old days," Coleman said. "I love it."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.