LI museum honors Vietnam vets, recalls Tet

Joe Pellegriti finds it difficult to talk about the Vietnam War in general, and the Tet Offensive in particular - the mortars blasting and guns firing and men falling, seemingly without end.

He talked about it Sunday, his voice catching sometimes, as fellow veterans gathered around a new exhibit at the American Airpower Museum in Farmingdale.

Standing next to a mannequin dressed as an American soldier, he explained the soldier's weapons, his supplies, the sweat streaming down his young face.

"Some guys were as young as 17," Pellegriti said, his eyes filling with tears. "I turned 21 over there. I was like an old man to some of these kids."

The exhibit's unveiling coincided with the 43rd anniversary of the Viet Cong's surprise Tet Offensive, which escalated the war's intensity and helped fuel anti-war sentiment at home.

Pellegriti described arriving in Vietnam a week before the 1968 offensive began. "It was like insanity broke loose," said Pellegriti, then an Army infantryman charged with defending a U.S. Marine base in Chu Lai.

Today, Pellegriti, 63, of West Islip, is a part-time carpenter who volunteers at the museum. He created the exhibit with fellow Vietnam vet Len Partiss, 67, of Bohemia, an artist who also volunteers there. Their goal, Pellegriti said, was to honor those who served in Vietnam, both those who returned and those who did not.

The display includes a diorama of an American firebase in the Vietnamese jungle: American soldiers loading mortars into mortar tubes and ducking for cover in bunkers as enemy soldiers, carrying AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades, approach the base's concertina-wire perimeter.

Dozens of Vietnam veterans and their families commemorated the new exhibit Sunday. As the ceremony began, a color guard in Vietnam-era fatigues marched in. Sal Martella, 63, of Elmont, carried the black and white flag honoring prisoners of war and service members missing in action.

He, too, fought off the Tet Offensive. "There were waves and waves of guys coming at you, nonstop," said Martella, then an Army sergeant. "The only thing you thought about was the next few minutes of survival. It stays with you for life. You take it to the grave."

The veterans Sunday shook hands, snapped pictures and shared memories of fallen comrades.

Pellegriti, who spent more than a year in a hospital after his right leg was shattered by artillery fire, spoke of Leonard Dutcher, of Melrose, Wis. He was 21 and Pellegriti's squad leader.

Inside the mannequin's chest pocket, over the GI's heart, Pellegriti had tucked Dutcher's photograph.

TET OFFENSIVE

The Tet Offensive was a military campaign launched by the Viet Cong against South Vietnamese and United States forces during the Lunar New Year celebration in late January 1968, a period for which North Vietnam had declared a truce.

The attacks, at targets throughout South Vietnam, sparked battles that lasted a month or more. In the first two weeks, 1,000 Americans, 2,000 South Vietnamese and 32,000 Communists were killed.

Though American and South Vietnamese forces successfully fought off the offensive, it eroded the morale of American troops and helped fuel anti-war sentiment in the United States. On Feb. 27, 1968, CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite concluded that "we are mired in stalemate." President Lyndon B. Johnson was quoted as saying: "That's it. If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."

- JENNIFER MALONEY