LCpl Rick Eilert USMC (ret) Journey’s End

By Ed Timperlake

May his soul rest in peace. He was the heart and soul of VVLP. For Self and Country defined the best of those who served in Vietnam.

The Honorable Tom Pauken Founder of President Reagan’s Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program

Rick was one of one of “Corson’s Boys”

By Stephen Markley

There are many people who have Bill Corson stories to tell. They are former Generals and they are former Privates. They are usually Naval, C.I. A., or Marine Corps personnel. Bill’s stories were told after that second or third martini had loosened him up. Lunch with Bill at the Hay-Adams was an event we all looked forward too. Bill’s exploits are legendary and in a different time were the stuff motion pictures were made of.

I served under Lt. Co. William R. Corson for a very short time at 2nd Combined Action Group. I saw him in and around the old French Fortress Compound that was home for 2nd CAG Headquarters. In the middle of a war, Lance Corporals i training and Lt. Col.’s in command don’t have occasion to sit down and visit. Bill went back to Headquarters Marine Corps and I went out to CAP Delta 4.

Years later I found myself farming in Minnesota. I was trying to put my Vietnam experience in perspective by reading about the war, but farming consumed a great deal of my time. One day I was browsing the shelves of the Northfield library and found a copy of Bill’s book “The Betrayal’.

I sat down that Saturday night and started reading. I didn’t stop until had finished the book. It was like a catharsis, everything we had tried and failed at in Vietnam was in that book.

The CAP units and the villages I had served in were mentioned extensively in the book. I had to talk to Col. Corson. It was Sunday afternoon and I started calling information in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. After placing only a few calls, I managed to find Col. Corson at home.

We talked for about an hour. He told me if I ever got out to Washington to give him a call and we’d have lunch together.

Over the next year, I talked to Bill a few times on the telephone. Then I made a trip to Washington lobbying for higher farm prices and grain trade with China. I had just returned from an agricultural tour of the People’s Republic of China and I was trying to promote grain trade with that government.

I called Col. Corson and we set an appointment to meet for lunch at the Hay-Adams. This was the first of many lunches we were to have there.

The Hay-Adams is an elegant place and the restaurant with its paneled wall is not the usual fare for a farmer from Minnesota. The lunch was quite good and after about the second, if you knew Bill probably the third, martini he started talking about ‘his kids’ who had served in CAP units.

Bill told one story about a kid who had started a hog farming operation with the local Vietnamese farmers in the village of Yen Bac. I had been on patrols through Yen Bac while serving with the 1st Anti-Tank Battalion on Hill 34 just Southwest of Danang. I knew the area and I knew of some of the CAP activities that had gone on in that area.

Bill’s eyes started to water and he told how that Marine had been killed.

It was getting uncomfortable at that point. Here was former Lance Corporal trying to console his former Commanding Officer. It was my first glance into the human side of Bill Corson but it wouldn’t be my last.

Over the next year, my best friend, and I really mean my best friend, Rick Eilert went to work on a book about our experiences while we were patients at Great Lakes Naval Hospital. I would get phone call from Rick late at night or in the middle of the day asking questions like, “what was the kid’s name that got run over by a tank?” or “who was the sergeant that was in traction next to Greg Martin?” Finally, in I believe 1981, Rick flew to Minnesota with this manuscript in hand.

I picked Rick up at the airport in Minneapolis and we headed for my farm near Dennison, Minnesota. Like all young farmers, I was extremely busy. I found myself reading Rick’s manuscript in my dairy barn while I was changing automatic milkers from cow to cow, leaving a few manure smudges of course.

When I finished the manuscript, Rick and I started racking our brains as to how we were going to get his book published. Rick had no agent and we didn’t even know any published authors, except one, I knew William R. Corson. We got on the phone and called Bill. He suggested we send the galley out to him and he’d take a look at it and critique it for us. We said that would be great but we were planning on going out to Washington, and we would bring the galley by his office.

A few days later, Rick and I flew out to Washington and met Bill in his office. I introduced Bill to Rick and we visited for a long time about the war and our various experiences. As we were leaving, Bill said he would take a look at the manuscript, manure smudges and all as soon as he could. We assumed that would be some time in the next few months.

For the rest of that day and part of the next day, we played tourist and visited some historical sites in Washington, including the Iwo Jima Memorial. We were both really moved by the Iwo Jima Memorial and it was noticed by our Vietnamese cab driver who refused to accept any money from us. He had been a Staff Sergeant with the ARVN.

The next day, we boarded a flight to Chicago. When we got back to Rick’s house, his wife Cheryl said some guy named Bill Corson had called and it was very important that Rick call him back. Rick looked a me and shrugged, then went to the telephone and called Bill.

When Rick got him on the phone, Bill proceeded to tell Rick he had sat down, picked up the manuscript and had not put it down until he had finished it. Bill also said he would not go to his grave before Rick’s book was published. He said he had some leverage with William Morrow & Company and that he was going to use it to get Rick’s book published, and HE DID JUST THAT!

There are several other stories of how Bill helped Rick and me. He helped us secure employment in Veterans’ Affairs. He helped us cut through Washington’s ‘red tape’ if we asked for help and it was humanly possible Bill was there for us. We are not an isolated example of this side of Bill Corson. It was a part of who he was and how he felt about “HIS KIDS!”

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US Naval Institute Press

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9 responses to “LCpl Rick Eilert USMC (ret) Journey’s End”

  1. Norm Hapke says:

    I read about Corson when I was at Long Beach NH recovering from a GSW in Viet Nam. I had heard him lots at Annapolis and was ready for his message. Read the Betrayal and even though I am director of an important foundation doing community development work in San Diego and an international NGO, all the important stuff I learned about development is informed by that important book. I also learned that if you want to complain about something you’d better think about a solution.

  2. David DeChant says:

    U.S. MARINE

    It can not be inhereted, nor can it ever be purchased.

    You and no one alive can never buy it for any price.

    It is impossible to rent and can not be lent.

    You alone and your own have earned it with your sweat, blood and lives.

    You own it forever. The title ~

    U.S. MARINE

    Semper Fidelis

  3. Mark Asid says:

    Rick is the best human being I have ever known.
    I am privlged to call him friend.
    So long Buddy.

  4. Richard Scott Eilert says:

    Thank you Mr. Timperlake for this and thank you uncle Steve for showing how my fathers book went into motion. I not only lost my father but also my best friend. I don’t know when the tears will pass but I know he guided me in the right direction after I got out of the corps after three trips to Iraq as an 0311. Semper Fidelis and stay frosty Marines.

  5. Ed says:

    Rick and Uncle Steve—and the Marine/Navy Medical team continues on and on because of individuals such as Rick his son Scott and Steve-all knowing dedicated Navy Doctors will be with them in combat and even some helping them their entire life–

    Dr. Boone Brackett was the dedicated surgeon who provided care for Rick Eilert and so many other wounded Marines, Corpsmen and Soldiers on Ward 3 South at Great Lakes Naval Hospital during the Vietnam war. Rick spent 7 months at Great Lakes in 1967 undergoing excruciating procedures and operations to save his torn leg.

    Dr. Brackett continued to care for Rick, performing countless surgeries over so many years to save the wounded leg. Finally in March 2010 Dr. Brackett had no choice but to amputate Rick’s leg.

    Dr. Boone Brackett served with the 1st Med Unit, Danang, 1969. He remains in private orthopaedic practice in Oak Park, Illinois.

  6. Ellen Lally says:

    I was asked to be on the board of IVVLP in Il for several years. I was an Army Nurse in Vietnam 1969 to 1970. While serving on the board, I got to know Rick Eilert. I can say he was my friend and we had the up most respect for each other. I knew actually what he had gone through in Nam and he knew what I had experienced as a young nurse in Nam. I was shocked to learn of his passing from the VFW Magazine. He was a kindred spirit and I will always miss him

  7. Ellen Lally says:

    I was on the ILVVLP for several years. Rick was a dear friend to me. I served in Vietnam as an Army Nurse. Rick and I were kindre spirits. I will alays miss him

  8. Bill Scholl says:

    I was a classmate and football teammate of Ricks at Palatine High – class of 65. Heard of his death prior to our 50th reunion and his book. I served in 70 USARV – 1Lt MPC all in rear. His story moved me beyond tears. I regret not talking to him before his death. He epitomized the courage of so many grunts. A great story by a great guy.

  9. Lisa says:

    I just read Mr. Eilert’s book, and was tremendously moved by the immense bravery, suffering and humor that he and his cohort demonstrated throughout their ordeal. With this book he did us all a great honor.

    I am sorry to hear of his passing. R.I.P., Rick.

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