Herman Talmadge McCarthy saw up close and first hand the horrors of the War in Vietnam, but he also captured snapshots of the conflict with a camera he took with him on his tour of duty with the U.S. Army.
McCarthy recently sat down with The Times to revisit the hundreds of snap shots stored in a photo album recording his time of service in the War.
Like many who served there, McCarthy did not always want to remember what went on there back then. But, as his generation grows older and begins to pass on, he wants to tell his story. He wants to record what he and his brothers-in-arms did to try to keep Vietnam free in spite of all the challenges they faced there.
“Each of the photos tells a story,” he says, opening up the album. “Some of the pictures record happy memories even in the midst of all the chaos and terror of war. Many of the shots are memories of good men — my buddies, my friends — who did not come home.”
McCarthy says he wants people to remember the sacrifices that were made during the Vietnam Conflict.
A native of Pierce County, McCarthy grew up locally and attended school in Blackshear and later out in the Sunset community, where his family farmed. Named for the Georgia Governor and Senator Herman Talmadge, he once met the man he was named for after he had a rare — and life saving surgery — to remove a watermelon seed that had lodged in his airway.
“I’ve always had all kinds of things like that happen to me throughout my life,” he recalls.
After a happy childhood, his family moved to Darien and later to Brunswick, where, by his own admission, McCarthy said he got in to his fair share of mischief.
“I had skipped class and back then that was a major deal,” he recalls. “I flunked out and intended to go back and make up the grades and graduate, but the draft board got me.”
McCarthy was drafted in February of 1969 and attended boot camp at Fort Benning. After being assigned to Fort Knox, KY, he began training to work on tanks — which would be his assignment throughout his tour of duty with the Army. While at Fort Knox, he was in the same classroom that Elvis Presley had been trained in during his tour with the Army a few decades before.
“We thought that was neat,” he said. “We wanted to be in the same tank Elvis was in.”
A training accident in a foxhole severely injured his knee. While on leave for the injury he almost drowned. During the course of his service in Vietnam he also had several other near misses. The telescope in his tank was hit, but he had just moved. He came under enemy fire putting out a fire on his tank and wasn’t hit. He felt the breeze from a bullet whizzing past his helmet under enemy fire, but was unharmed. McCarthy attributes his survival to the blessings of God.
“It is only by the grace of God that I made it through the watermelon seed, the knee injury, the war,” he said. “God was looking out for me through it all.”
After he recovered, McCarthy received orders to go to Vietnam.
As he was getting ready to go to Vietnam, he bought a camera from his brother. Buying a flash attachment in Japan, his lens would capture many scenes from images of his buddies and friends that he served with, to Vietnamese scouts and assistants, to views of wars, explosions, views from the tanks and even from the gunner doors of the helicopters. It also captured the beauty of Vietnam and its mountains and beaches, its people and its architecture and culture.
McCarthy arrived in Vietnam in 1969 and served in country for almost a year. Attached at first to Charlie Company of the 1st 69th Armored Division, he eventually also served with the “Blue Ghosts” of the 123rd Aviation Unit.
He saw action in the Vietnamese cities of Pleiku, Cam Ranh and Chou Lai.
He drove and worked on tanks. He provided support and protection for supply convoys with his tank and later provided cover and protection and also assisted with refueling helicopters as they began to be used as workhorses in the war effort moving men and material.
There are photos that match about every step of McCarthy’s duty in Vietnam.
One shows the handsome young soldier in his uniform beside his tank. Another shows him up close clowning for the camera.
One shows the captain of his unit enjoying a watermelon.
Another shows a Vietnamese officer of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) who served as a scout for McCarthy’s company. Another shows one of the Vietnamese women who assisted with cooking and cleaning at the U.S. Army base there.
Another shows views from the gunner door of a helicopter, taken by his friend, fellow soldier and fellow South Georgian, Harry Chesser, of Nahunta. Chesser was later killed during the war.
“He took photos from the gunner door of the chopper,” he said. “The life expectancy of those men was not very long. They were brave. Harry was brave.”
There are photos of an operation where McCarthy’s unit blew up a North Vietnamese position. McCarthy’s photos show the operation in a time lapse through several images.
Even in the midst of the carnage, there is one photo that shows the unit’s pet dog, “Sweetpea”. “Sweetpea”, McCarthy says, saved the lives of him and his men more times than he could count.
“‘Sweetpea’ had a keen sense of hearing and he could hear sounds that we couldn’t hear,” he said. “He would let out a low growl when he heard something. I would jump back in the tank and look through the night vision goggles and every single time “Sweetpea” had alerted me to the presence of the enemy in the area before we could hear or see them.”
McCarthy eventually returned to the United States where he was stationed in Maryland. There he helped train soldiers who would man and would work on the tanks he had served in while in Vietnam.
McCarthy eventually was discharged from the Army. Due to backlash against soldiers, he said he found it difficult to find work when he returned.
“I had to lie and say I was not in service to get hired,” he said. “I hated to do that, but if not, I would have ended up as a destitute and homeless veteran.”
He eventually began a career as an electrician and worked in that field until retiring. After living in Florida and in Camden County, McCarthy returned to Waycross in 1983.
He and his first wife, JoAnne McCarthy, were married for 43 years until her death in 2014. He has been married to Sheri McCarthy for the past eight years.
McCarthy worked as a people greeter at Wal-Mart for a time, but has since completely retired from work.
But, that has not slowed him down. McCarthy has devoted his time to Veterans causes, including the local chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of Georgia and has also focused on a lifelong passion for drawing, painting and art.
“I try to do everything I can for my fellow veterans,” he said. “I want to help them with anything they may need.”
From time to time, McCarthy pulls down his photo album to sort through the visual reminders of his service in the Army and in the Vietnam Conflict.
“I am proud of what we did over there,” he said. “It was an honor to serve my country and to serve with those I was with.”
