Guy Dalton, Vietnam vet, musician, dies
Guy Dalton fought in the Vietnam War, but helped out the cause in a unusual way. The lead singer in a rock band, he and his group spent some of their time there entertaining the troops by putting on raucous shows. Dalton, of Stony Brook, died this week after a series of health problems.
It seemed like a surreal scene out of "Apocalypse Now." Five U.S. Marines who made up a rock and roll band took to the stage in Vietnam, where the lead singer ripped off his shirt to expose a peace symbol shaved in the hair on his chest.
Another member threw a smoke grenade into the audience as the band broke into Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze." The crowd of soldiers went wild.
It was 1969, and Smithtown native Guy F. Dalton Jr. was leading his band -- The Green Machine -- in a raucous tour of Vietnam to boost morale among U.S. troops. The band is a little-known chapter of the Vietnam War that included an appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and hair-raising concerts at which the musicians hit the deck as 1,000-pound bombs rattled the earth.
"I feel I was able to put some small smile on the guys' faces to take the horror away for a while," Dalton told Newsday in an interview in 2006.
Dalton, 65, who was living in East Setauket, died Friday after a long battle with a neuromuscular disease his family thinks was caused by exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam.
After he was drafted in 1966 and arrived at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for boot camp, Dalton formed The Green Machine with other Marines to make extra money playing local gigs on weekends. Eventually they cut a record in Detroit, and brought back 1,000 copies of "Stand Up and Be Counted." It became a big hit on stations near the camp.
The demo found its way to the Marines' department of public affairs, which booked the band on "The Ed Sullivan Show." They appeared on Jan. 26, 1969, along with Joe Namath, and Tommy James and the Shondells.
After Dalton's band finished playing, Sullivan told him on live TV: "So, I hear you're going to Vietnam." That was news that the Marines had not yet told Dalton.
From April to December 1969, the band played 66 gigs in Vietnam. They performed wearing their combat fatigues, leaning their weapons against the amplifiers.
Once, when U.S. airplanes dropped huge bombs nearby because of reports of enemy troops, the band dove for cover in mid-concert. "There were times I thought I was going to die," Dalton recalled.
They played songs by The Animals, The Rolling Stones, James Brown and the Beach Boys. Soldiers got up on stage and sang with them, or shook their beer bottles and sprayed the stage. "It was pandemonium," Dalton recalled, still smiling at the memories.
But the gigs were also unforgettable. "I would have paid them to do it," he said.
After he returned to Long Island in 1969, he led a 15-piece big band, the Guy Dalton Orchestra, that played at Manhattan's Plaza Hotel and Waldorf-Astoria. He also ran a motorcycle dealership.
Dalton is survived by his wife, Lorraine, his children, Scott Dalton of Port Jefferson and Aimee Roderick of St. James, and four granddaughters.
A memorial service will be held Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the Port Jefferson Village Center. In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be made to "A Midwinter Night's Dream," 155 Main St., Northport, NY 11768.
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