Wilbert O. Davis, Sr.

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Soldier Wilbert O. Davis, Sr. (1933-2010) was a friend and mentor to Ranger while he was an ROTC student as Bowling Green State University.

Memories are are of a quiet, reflective, quick-to-smile and tough-minded NCO. Davis was a Civil War history buff, and so was Ranger.

Master Sergeant Davis was a primary instructor for Military Science I and II, and both classes were a pleasure to attend. He led us on patrols and taught us Close Quarters Combat (CQC) and rifle drill. He showed no mercy in these classes and always smiled when he put us into stress positions.

In 1966, Davis returned to the active Regular Army and pinned on his Captain's bars, going to Vietnam with the 25th Division.

The Army has an odd dual-track system whereby Davis was a Regular Army Senior NCO, but also held the Reserve rank of "Captain". The Army was in need, so Davis was called up as a Reservist.

Davis was in the last all-black Airborne unit in the Army. Since he enlisted in 1952, this was probably the 505th Airborne, which devolved from the renowned 555th Airborne Battalion (the "Triple Nickles").

In Korea, the 505th was integrated into the 187th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR). This was the first all-black Parachute Infantry Battalion integrated in to a United States combat division. If memory serves, Davis wore a 187the PIR combat patch.

[As a point of interest, the all-black 2nd Ranger Company was attached to the 187th PIR, and it is likely that Davis was in this unit. The 2nd Rangers have the distinction of being the first Ranger unit to make a combat jump (Korea).]

Davis's awards included the Silver Star, Bronze Star (for both meritorious service and combat valor), Air Medal, Army Commendation, Master Parachute Badge and 2nd award of the Combat Infantry Badge.

After retirement, Davis served as a Department of the Army civilian. He also lost his eyesight. The last time we met was in 1969 at Ft. Benning (GA), when he smiled and congratulated me on my successful completion of all the normal Benning School for Boys finishing courses.

This is an homage to one of the excellent men who helped to train up a young cadet.

A Soldier's Heart

Top row (L to R):
James M. Hruska, INF, DMG; Douglas C. Mabee, Armor;
James A. Merhar, Artillery;
Fred Schwann, Artillery; Stuart A. Warner, Transportation

Bottom Row (L to R):
Peter J. Conomea, Finance, DMG; Gerald B. Blouch, Finance,DMG;
Steven W. Bowman, Finance, DMG; Ronald W. Fowkes, Armor;
Steven W. Chapin, Military Police, DMG

We don't receive wisdom;
we must discover it for ourselves
after a journey that no one can take for us
or spare us
--Marcel Proust

April is the cruelest month,
breeding Lilacs out of the dead land mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain
--The Wasteland, T. S. Eliot

I've lost the use of my heart
But I'm still alive
Still looking for the life
The endless pool on the other side
--Soldier of Love, Sade
________________________

This entry is in remembrance of Douglas Craiglow Mabee, Killed in Action (KIA) 10 Apr 1970, two days before Ranger entered country.

Both Mabee and Ranger were ROTC cadets at Bowling Green State University (BGSU), Ohio, from 1964-68. During that period the cadets that we knew served from 1965 to 1972 in the Vietnam War -- a critical time for a soldier to be in the Republic of Vietnam.

I do not know Mabee's reasons for serving, but he did so, and in a period when many men were willing to sidestep the issue. My memory of Mabee is that he was quiet, focused and understated. He was an average cadet commissioned in the summer of '68.

Mabee was branch assigned to Armor, a classic combat arms assignment. He was an officer of the 17th Cavalry, F Troop, 196th Infantry Brigade assigned in III Corps near Plantation, which was only 20 miles from what was soon to be my duty assignment. He was 23 years old when KIA.

If Mabee had survived it is possible we would have bumped into one another at a PX or local bar. It was not to happen, however, as I arrived in country two days after Mabee was killed. His picture surfaced among my Army items in my mother's possession which I collected after her death.

There is scant internet presence for Mabee -- one friend, Bill Weis, remembers a man of peace:

I spent my evenings drinking and chatting with Doug during our days at Bowling Green -- listening to progressive jazz. Doug always hosted our late night happy hours at his apartment. A generous, gentle, peace-loving man -- who needed the help of ROTC to finance his education. He would never have fought another person.

In fact, Douglas Mabee was killed by a planted roadside device -- what we would call an improvised explosive device (IED) today. An unidentified commenter @ the VirtualWall.org wrote on 25 Nov 2005,

Lt Mabee was a very likable person, I wish I could have gotten to know him better. What I remember of him on his last day was he was very full of energy and had a strong will about him. He and I were face to face looking at each other, the last thing we saw before Charlie set off the road-side mine. I survived that day, with guilt all these years. I think of him and that day a lot.

It is a comment oft-made of many others. Since there are no pictures of Mabee in the ROTC Department at BGSU or on the internet Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall sites, it seemed incumbent upon me to publish his photo from 44 years ago -- a lifetime and a day. Some sundry statistics to put Lt. Mabee's death in a century filled with soldier's deaths into perspective:

• 25,358 Army personnel were KIA
• 3,566 Army personnel died of wounds
• 1,473 1st Lieutenant Army types were KIA
• 1,945 Ohioans were Army KIA's

Ranger has expressed ambivalence over the Vietnam War Memorial: There is no doubt that it elicits a powerful response, and the names are overwhelming both in their number and the implication of their equality. But of course, each was a singular death of not only the person but the potentiality which his life would have represented in the world. That loss cannot be rendered as it is unknown.

So Ranger writes that Mabee was an average cadet, but what was or what might have been the entirety of Mabee? His death was, as for most, by luck of the draw (in an unfortunate usage of the term), and not on the basis of any particular shortcoming or need. The "maybes" of Mabee's life will remain forever impossibilities. I remember Mabee as a good man, and so his memory should remain.

Presented for your examination the photo of 1/LT Mabee (then Cadet) on a day when we all still had something to smile about.