David E. Weischadle

David E. Weischadle was born in Edison Township, New Jersey, in October of 1941. His brothers, both his elder, had each served in the Army, the oldest in World War II and the other during the early Cold War. Beginning in 1959, Weischadle attended Rutgers University, pursuing an undergraduate degree in Education. Following in the footsteps of his brothers, he enrolled in the Rutgers ROTC program in preparation to become a commissioned officer. The first phase of the program was basic training at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, which Weischadle attended in the summer of 1962. At that time, he was already aware of the nascent US involvement in the Vietnam War, and the slowly escalating tensions that would eventually lead the US to more direct involvement in the war. 

Upon his graduation from Rutgers in 1963, Weischadle was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant and scheduled to enter Active Duty later that year. The call to service was, however, delayed to June of 1965, so that he could complete his Master’s Degree in Education. An early graduation allowed him to also teach a complete year of public school before being called to active service, something which Weischadle recalled provided a sense of stability and continuity to his time in the war and his life afterwards. 

Weischadle was initially stationed in Fort Gordon, Georgia with the US Army Signal Corps. While originally slated for an assignment in Korea, his orders changed because of his experience and teaching credentials. He instead remained at Fort Gordon, assigned as an instructor to the Officer Training School. As an instructor, Weischadle taught military justice, logistics, and rules and regulations to current and aspiring officers alike. He also worked to write teaching material and to organize the curriculums which would be utilized by the school. 

During his tenure as instructor, Weischadle contributed to the formation of the Signal Corps’ southeastern Officer Candidate Program. In the time that he participated in the Program, between December of 1965 and his departure from the base in 1966, the Signal Corps Officer Candidate Program commissioned approximately 90 new officers every three weeks, recruiting both current NCOs and promising enlisted men into the Signal School. 

As the war in Vietnam progressed, soldiers at Fort Gordon selected for deployment to the country began to go absent without leave (AWOL) with increasing frequency. This situation necessitated the establishment of special courts martial, to process the increasing number of cases occurring at the Fort. Weischadle was selected to serve as both defense and trial counsel on many of these cases. Despite sometimes filling the role of prosecutor, he remained empathetic to the reasoning of the defendants, and believed that most of those who went AWOL did not forget their duty. They simply wished to return home to see their loved ones before going to war.

Weischadle was assigned to the 228th Signal Company stationed in the South Vietnamese city of Nha Trang, before moving with the unit to the island of Hon Tre, just off the coast from Nha Trang. After establishing a permanent base on Hon Tre, the 228th Signal Company served as a communications hub, providing combat support to American Special Forces and allied Korean forces in Nha Trang, relaying radio signals from the Vietnamese mainland out-of-country, and coordinating calls for artillery support. While the island provided a degree of isolation from the dangers of the wider war, it also served as a stop-over site for Viet Cong and NVA fighters moving southward, and thus was a hotbed of enemy activity. 

Weischadle recalled the psychological and physical toll which constant hostile activity surrounding the base caused among the men of the 228th. The 228th was continuously observed during the night by unseen watchers, whose only trace were tracks discovered by morning. They contended with the ever-present threat of mines, explosive traps, and theft of equipment and vehicles. By night, Viet Cong fighters dropped tape-wrapped hand grenades into the fuel tanks of trucks and jeeps, creating unpredictable explosives that would destroy the vehicles, as well as kill or wound their passengers. Weischadle recalled that this tactic became so prevalent, the 228th was forced to adopt locking caps for their fuel tanks, in order to prevent sabotage. Such conditions fostered a sense of being besieged, resulting in growing tension within the unit itself. 

Despite these psychological pressures, Weischadle recalled morale, discipline, and organization as being generally good during his time in-country. During this period, there existed a good relationship between commissioned officers, non-commissioned officers, and enlisted men, fostering a general respect for the chain of command, and allowing the 228th Signal Company to meld together as a well-ordered and effective force. Weischadle contrasted this with the tales of insubordination and fragging which became increasingly common following the Tet Offensive. He further characterized the Tet Offensive as being a critical blow to morale, resulting in a general desire to withdraw from the war. The 228th worked to take care of their own men, posting pairs of night guards in order to ensure that those men entrusted with standing watch would not fall asleep in the night and jeopardize the safety of the camp, as well expose themselves to potential disciplinary action.

Materiel support for the base, according to Weischadle, was sometimes inconsistent. For the 120 men of the 228th, the base was issued four field jackets with which to stand guard at night. Despite being bound to an island with only two miles of traversable road, the base was grossly oversupplied with 35 trucks. During his time in-country, the 228th was never issued M16s to replace their comparatively obsolete M14 rifles. The radio equipment, as well as the power infrastructure for the base were overhauled in preparation for a major increase in communications traffic; however, no such increase ever occurred. The element with which the base was well provisioned was the chemical defoliant, Agent Orange. 

On reflecting upon the use of the substance, Weischadle lamented the ignorance of himself and the men around him to the long-term ill effects of exposure, and he wished that they had been more careful in their handling of it. However, he also praised its effectiveness as a defoliant, and its near necessity as a component of operating in the hostile jungle with some semblance of safety. Weischadle questioned whether he would still have used it, even if he had known of its harmful properties. 

In June of 1967, Weischadle was promoted to captain due to the policy of accelerating promotions as the war continued to escalate. Due to shortages of junior officers, he feared he would remain in Vietnam beyond his normal tour of duty. Fortunately for him, these fears would prove unfounded, and Weischadle returned to the US in August of 1968. He recounted that a month after he returned stateside, the 228th Signal Company base on Hon Tre was overrun by a Vietnamese attack!

Upon returning to the US, Weischadle was struck by the extreme domestic turmoil he saw, a condition which he believed was increasingly mirrored within the ranks of the military itself. This shock did not prevent him from continuing with his civilian life, resuming his career in teaching, as well as his education, eventually earning his doctorate in Education. He was instrumental in the founding of the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Holmdel, NJ, which was dedicated and opened to the public on May 7, 1995. Weischadle wrote and published a historical fiction novel partially based on his own experiences during the war, 228, a process he considered cathartic for his wartime experiences. He received a rating of 70% disability from the VA for his Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam. 

Among Dr. Weischadle’s service medals are the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Commendation Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the NJ Distinguished Service Medal, and the NJ Vietnam Service Medal.

Additional Resources:

• 228 the Novel Photo Gallery
• Audio Recording: Vietnam & Beyond w/ Author David E. Weischadle