Clark Wiger, a former Chatfield resident, was recognized for his “heroic achievement in connection with operations against the enemy” while involved in the last battle of Vietnam which took place on Koh Tang Island 50 years ago on May 15, 1975. Now he is busy getting prepared for the 50th reunion of the veterans of Koh Tang.
The Koh Tang Veterans Organization meets in a yearly reunion; this May 12-15, it will be held in Washington, D.C. Knife 31 Helicopter Pilot Corson will be present at the reunion. 2025 is also the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Navy.
Wiger has drawn the artwork for the coin that will be minted for the 50th reunion; the Koh Tang veterans carry these coins in their pockets in memory of Koh Tang. He also has drawn a detailed collage for the reunion which includes sketches of the Knife 13, 31, 21 and 23 helicopters, the Holt, Wilson and Coral Sea ships, Koh Tang Island, the Mayaguez, the POW MIA flag, the Vietnam wall as well as other D.C. buildings. The last 41 names on the wall are each listed on the drawing.
The reunion attendees will be taking a wreath to Arlington to lay at the mass grave of the bodies of Marines who had been left on their helicopter, Knife 31 just off the edge of the water at the end of the battle.
Wiger also attends the reunions of the veterans who served on the USS Wilson. At these, he encourages the attendees to also go to the Koh Tang reunions. He has been told by Marines that had been on helicopters at Koh Tang, that if the Wilson hadn’t shown up, they wouldn’t be alive.
Liz Wiger, Clark’s wife, explained that many of the Koh Tang veterans travel each year to join “the band of brothers” at the reunions. They all have a special connection to each other which was forged at Koh Tang.
What exactly took place at Koh Tang on May 15, 1975? A U.S. flag merchant ship, the SS Mayaguez, had been seized on the high seas by ships from the Cambodian Navy. The Mayaguez was carrying 274 containers, 77 of which held items belonging to the U.S. government — items which had been removed from the U.S. embassy in Saigon nine days before the U.S. backed government fell.
The Khmer Rouge was holding the ship and crew on the Cambodian island of Koh Tang. In a show of power, President Ford ordered a rescue operation of the civilian crew, using the incident to make a statement to the world following the Vietnam War.
Helicopters and several ships were dispatched to the area including the USS Wilson on which Wiger was serving as a Navy hospital corpsman third class, a medic. By the time the USS Henry B.Wilson, a guided missile destroyer arrived, three U.S. helicopters which were assigned to the rescue operation had already been shot down by hostile fire. Wiger and other Wilson crew members saw survivors swimming in the water and rescued 13 Marine survivors from the Knife 31 helicopter.
The copilot Vandegeer was killed when Knife 31 was hit, and Corson the pilot had a huge gash on his back when Wiger helped pull him from the water. The remaining surviving Marines suffered first and second degree wounds. As a medic, Wiger worked to treat the wounded until they could be transferred to the Coral Sea, a Midway class aircraft carrier which had a hospital on board.
During the rescue operation of the Marines on the island, one of the biggest bombs of the Vietnam War was dropped on Koh Tang. The 15,000 pound bomb, BLU-82, often called a Daisy Cutter, had been built to clear jungle areas to prepare an aircraft landing strip. From a ½ mile offshore, the explosion could be felt on the Wilson. From Google Earth, you can still see a difference where the bomb hit.
The USS Wilson had been busy leading up to the incident on Koh Tang; it was heading to the Philippines following its involvement in Operation Eagle Pull, the evacuation of U.S. citizens from Cambodia and Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of U.S. citizens from Vietnam.
The job of the Wilson during Operation Frequent Wind was to draw fire so the ships trying to leave could get out safely. Wiger remembers that while he was in the After Battle Station below the deck, he could hear the shells from enemy fire going off underwater, narrowly missing the ship.
Clark Wiger later received a citation from the U.S. Navy for “outstanding performance of duty” during Operation Eagle Pull, Operation Frequent Wind and the recovery of the Mayaguez. He was awarded a Navy Achievement Medal with combat action for his part in the recovery of the Mayaguez crew. The entire civilian crew of the Mayaguez was saved alive; the mission was declared a victory in the press.
In actuality, the mission led to the deaths of 41 members of the military and 50 wounded. While training for the mission the day before, 23 Marines died in a helicopter crash in Thailand; 18 more died during the battle.
Wiger called the whole operation a mess; it was planned poorly and hurriedly, they had underestimated the enemy forces on the island and had had poor intelligence and communication. Because the helicopters had seen heavy use during the evacuations of Cambodia and Vietnam and had a lot of hours on them, some speculate that they were not in top shape for this battle.
When the Koh Tang reunion visited Fort Walton in Florida, Wiger learned that special operations teams were being trained using the battle at Koh Tang as an example of what NOT to do!
Wiger didn’t find out until 2003 that when they left Koh Tang, they had abandoned three fellow soldiers on the island who were later captured and killed. The U.S. left 18 people behind in total — 13 dead in Knife 31 offshore, one dead on the island as well as the three alive on the island. Wiger actually read about it in the Des Moines Register while eating breakfast with his family.
Hopes that the U.S. had learned from the mistakes were dashed for Wiger when the U.S. did the same in Afghanistan as they had in Vietnam.
When Wiger got out of the service, he was told not to wear his uniform in airports as he traveled home to avoid conflict in the U.S. Most people ignored him when he got back; no one asked him about what he’d been through. If he talked about it, people acted bored. Wiger feels that “nobody ever learns anything anymore — no one’s interested. They’re beyond learning — people don’t really care.”
When Wiger first got out, he had no interest in anything to do with veterans’ organizations. He has since joined the VFW and the Legion, but he still doesn’t go to meetings or to march in parades. He doesn’t want to draw attention.
Going golfing and keeping busy is how Wiger copes with his memories. For Wiger, a big part of keeping busy is drawing. He has drawn several detailed works for past reunions of Koh Tang.
In the Wiger laundry room, Clark has an entire wall covered with a series of framed, detailed drawings of various buildings in nearby cities and towns. Those drawings were his project during the pandemic lockdown.
On Veterans Day, you won’t see Clark Wiger at the ceremonies or breakfasts honoring the veterans. Instead, he apprecaites the reunions of veterans of Koh Tang and the USS Wilson and will share his memories there with others who understand what each other have been through, his “band of brothers.”
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