Fort George G. Meade: The First 100 Years

Peace, Love and the 6 th ACR
THE SIXTIES AND VIETNAM
199
I was commissioned a second lieutenant. in 1966 after
completing the Reserve Officers' Training Corps Program
at The College of William and Mary. My two-year entry
on active duty was delayed until May 13, 1967, while I
attended graduate school.
My Army service branch was Armor and my first unit
assignment was as an Armored Cavalry Officer assigned
to the 6th Armored Cavalry Regiment stationed at Fort
George G. Meade, Maryland. I joined the Regiment
directly after completing the Armor Officer Basic Course
at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and arrived late in the summer
of 1967. I was assigned to 1st Platoon, C Troop, 1 st
Squadron, 6 th ACR.
The 6 th ACR was reactivated just prior to my assignment
for the purpose of relieving the 11 th Armored Cavalry
Regiment that was then serving in the Republic of
Vietnam. Before we could relieve them, we needed to
train at the troop, squadron and regimental levels but the
regiment was under staffed and short of equipment.
While the 2 nd and 3 rd Squadrons were sent to Camp
Drum, New York, for their training, 1st Squadron went to
Camp Pickett, Virginia, a Virginia National Guard training
base near Blackstone. It was a convenient location since
we borrowed much of our equipment, such as the M48
tanks, M55 howitzers, Armored Personnel Carriers and
jeeps from the Guard.
By 1967, the U.S. had been in Vietnam for a couple of
years and there were growing anti-war protests occurring
throughout the country. Because of that, the Army began
to include Civil Defense and Riot Control training as a
regular part of the overall training program. As it turned
out, it was training we would soon need.
While we were in the field, we received an alert to
return to Fort Meade and ready ourselves for a mission
to provide security to the Pentagon in preparation for a
planned march. The march on Oct. 21, 1967, was led by
Dr. Benjamin Spock, an outspoken critic of the war also
known for his books on child rearing. They expected a
large turnout.
The 1st Squadron withdrew from the field and motor
marched from Camp Pickett to Fort Meade only to be
By Col. Robert J. Kennedy, III, (Ret.)
told upon arrival that the uniform our troops would
wear for the mission would be Class A dress and not the
fatigues we were currently wearing. Commercial busses
were chartered and the entire 1st Squadron was sent back
to Camp Pickett to obtain the proper uniform.
Once back to Fort Meade, preparations were made and
the Squadron moved to the underground parking garage
at the Pentagon. Included in our convoy were APCs with
mounted .50 caliber machine guns.
Troops were staged in hallways in the basement of
the Pentagon. Shortly after arriving at the Pentagon I
was approached by Capt. Phillip Entrekin, my troop
commander. He was escorting Maj. Gen. Carl C. Turner
the Provost Marshall General. Capt. Entrekin motioned
me to come over and explained that I was to assemble my
platoon and accompany Maj. Gen. Turner.
Maj. Gen. Turner took me to the Mall entrance of
the Pentagon where there was an uncommitted Military
Police Company. He detached a platoon of MP soldiers
and placed them under my command. I now commanded
twice the size of a normal platoon. Maj. Gen. Turner then
took me out of the building onto the landing and briefed
me on what he wanted me to do. While he was explaining
the mission, a second floor window opened and, a white
haired officer stuck his head out and said, “Carl, I’m on
the phone with the old man and he is coming over and so
we need to seal off that road.”
The white haired officer was Gen. Harold K. Johnson,
the army chief of staff, and the “old man” he was referring
to was President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
For a Second lieutenant this was an unusually short chain
of command: President to Chief of Staff of the Army to
Provost Marshall General to me, 2nd Lt. Kennedy!
Turner made sealing off the road my mission. I pointed
out that the road had nothing that I could use to prevent
demonstrators from going around my flanks. Use of
concertina wire was not authorized. Never the less, my
mission remained unchanged, so I assembled my soldiers
and proceeded to the roadway.
On the roadway, we established a line formation on the
road facing a massive crowd and as expected, the crowd