Carroll H. Dunn
Then in about
a
back channel message came
to General [Dwight] Beach, the U.S.
commander in Korea, saying that I
had been selected by the Secretary of
Defense to go to Vietnam to be in
charge of construction. Orders would
be issued returning me to
Washington for consultation and then
for assignment to Vietnam. This
came in on a Wednesday morning,
and I was supposed to be in
Washington the next Monday.
My wife was with me in Korea, We
had anticipated a two-year tour
starting in July 1964 and hoped to
get back to the States in June 1966 in
time to see our son graduate from
West Point. So, although I had heard
a few rumors, there was nothing to
Gen. Carroll H. Dunn was assigned to the
i n d i c a t e t h i s e a r l y change in
Military Assistance Command in Vietnam.
assignment.
General Beach called me when the message arrived. Neither of us felt that there was
any point in taking issue with the proposed assignment. He indicated in his response
that I would be available.
My wife and I packed quickly and
that weekend for Washington. There were some
disruptions. After all, we'd been overseas months, and this represented
major
an additional extended tour. It came as quite a shock to my wife. I think of all my Army
assignments, this was the only one that ever truly shocked her, and she found it a little
hard to take for a while. But, as a good soldier's wife, she did; and we came back
together to the States. We got her established in an apartment in Arlington, Virginia,
while I was spending about ten days in conferences at the Pentagon getting ready to go
to Vietnam. I arrived on the 8th of February in Vietnam.
As far as background is concerned, I understand there was considerable discussion
within the services and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Each of the three services designated
an individual for the job in response to the Secretary of Defense's requirement for what
was called a
czar." The secretary apparently left it to the Joint Chiefs of
make a selection.
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