SGT Ronald Campsey
U.S. Army – Infantry
1st Battalion/18th Infantry/Delta Company
“The Swamp Rats”
Loc Ninh, Ben Cat, Di An, Vietnam
1967 – 1969
U.S. Army – Infantry
1st Battalion/18th Infantry/Delta Company
“The Swamp Rats”
Loc Ninh, Ben Cat, Di An, Vietnam
1967 – 1969
Ronald “Ronnie” Campsey was born June 29th, 1942, in the small Texas town of Devine, just outside San Antonio. He was the oldest of 12 children and recalled Devine as being a wonderful place to grow up. “It was a beautiful place to be raised.” Everyone was poor but everyone got a long and looked out for each other. His mother was a very religious person, and the family said their prayers every evening.
Ronnie’s father enlisted with the Army in WWII leaving behind a wife and three children, including Ronnie, and headed off to help save the world. He was part of the famous
1st Battalion/18th Infantry also known as “The Big Red One.” He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was wounded February 1, 1945 as the Germans overran their position. His father recounted to Ronnie that the Germans were bayonetting the American GIs to make sure they were dead. When they got to his father and another U.S. GI, they in explicably stopped so they could smoke a cigarette. When they finished, they walked away and forgot to bayonet the two men.
Ronnie described his father as “a champion and he raised his children all to be the same.” After WWII he returned to Devine, Texas and worked as a foreman at the Kelly Air Force Base.
In 1952 Ronnie’s house caught on fire and 2/3’s of the house burned to the ground. Ron recalled his father running from a pasture as fast as he could and hurdled a four-foot fence “like a streak of lightening. He wanted to make sure his children were alright.” Ronnie remembers his mother fondness. “She was a champion. She ran thought the fire twice because she thought two of the kids were still in the fire.” His mother was taken to a hospital San Antonio where the doctors were able to help her recover from her injuries.
The day after the fire 100 of the men that worked for Ronnie’s dad at Kelly Air Force Base came to the Campsey house to help clear away the rubble and rebuild a portion of their home. Ronnie recalled the people of Devine being poor, but rich in spirit.
Ronnie graduated from Devine High School in 1961, and he thinks his class may have had a total of 40 people in it. He fell head over heels for a blue-eyed, blonde haired lady from Westbury, NY who was visiting family in Devine. Ronnie followed her back to Long Island in 1962. When Ronnie moved to Westbury, NY the Texas draft board sent his file to Long Island, but it ended up in a pile of “dead” files. A few years later Ronnie was in a fender bender and the lady that hit his car was none too happy. She wrote a letter to the draft board wondering why an able-bodied young man was not serving in Vietnam. The draft board found the file and Ronnie got his draft notice in June of 1966. “I didn’t mind being drafted.”
On January 3, 1967, Ronnie reported to Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, NY for the draft. “I never went home after that.” His first stop was Fort Jackson in South Carolina for basic training. The men received a battery of vaccinations, were fitted for uniforms and received haircuts that met military standards. Ronnie was put in charge of carrying the paperwork for his group of 75 GI’s headed to Fort Polk in Louisiana. The men boarded a train in Georgia headed for Fort Polk. Ronnie recalls this group having some of the biggest and meanest men he had ever been around. Every time the train stopped between Georgia and Louisiana, some of these men simply got off the train. Ronnie was smaller than most of the others, so he didn’t try to stop them. “By the time we got to Fort Polk we only had 12 guys left.” Ronnie report to the Captain and the Captain asked where the rest of the men were. “Somewhere between here and Georgia,” Ronnie replied. They knew they were being drafted and had no fear of punishment.
At Fort Polk the men went through Advanced Infantry Training. Ronnie thought being the oldest of 12 children gave him the training to be a good soldier. He was able to organize people, give directions, get things done and identify what people would be the best qualified to get a job accomplished. Ronnie always took training seriously knowing his life could depend on it. Not everyone saw it that way. On one occasion a soldier punched Ronnie in the chest to try to provoke a fight because Ronnie was working too hard and calling out the guys that weren’t trying. Ronnie told him he didn’t want to fight, and he told them “we’re going to depend on each other”, and they needed to train hard to be prepared. Some months later in Vietnam that same soldier came up to Ronnie and said, “Campsey, thank you, you were right.”
At the conclusion of the training the men were given ten days of leave before they shipped out to Vietnam. During that time, Ronnie got married. The couple went on their honeymoon to San Francisco and then the couple headed to Fort Lewis in the state of Washington. 30 days later on June 29th, Ronnie’s birthday, he was on a ship headed to Vietnam.
The water was very choppy as the ship left Puget Sound. Ronnie, along with many others, started to get seasick. The sea sickness lasted quite some time and each day they would look for men that were not seasick to form details to mop up the vomit. Ronnie hid in the lifeboats to avoid being chosen for the mop up patrol. “Puget Sound is the roughest body of water I have ever been in!”
After refueling in Guam, the ship docked in Vung Tau, Vietnam on July 26, 1967. Ronnie looked over the side and saw several headless bodies floating in the water. “This is a hell of a welcoming!” Ronnie received his units patch, the Big Red One, just as his father had 23 years prior.
One of Ronnie’s earliest memories was when Colonel Cavazos walked into the mess hall to address the newly arrived troops. “He said he would never send us into harm’s way unless he had control of the situation, and he didn’t. The greatest leader….”
Ronnie recalled the first three weeks consisted of training for the new men. After the training was completed, the men flew from Vung Tao to Bien Hoa and then on to Di An.
“Most of the time we were out on ambush or in a listening post.” Ronnie’s first taste of combat came on October 3rd. This would be Ronnie’s first-time walking point. The point man is the first man in the column and is often the first soldier shot at by enemy fire. As they walked through the thick jungle the enemy opened fire. The bullets were coming from overhead. The NVA had tied themselves to the tree branches and were shooting down on the Americans. The main column pulled back and left Ronnie and one other man stranded. When they discovered the men were missing and they sent five men to retrieve them. Everyone returned that night. That was Ronnie’s welcome to Vietnam.
On October 30th, 1967, Ronnie and his platoon were on a search and destroy mission in a Michelin Rubber Plantation as part of Operation Shenandoah II near Loc Ninh. The Americans were spotted by the numerically superior Viet Cong who opened fire with automatic weapons, machine guns and were hurling grenades. An RPG exploded near Ronnie and the concussion threw him into the air. Half his body was protected by a rubber tree in front of him but the right side of his body was covered with small pieces of shrapnel. “I was shaking all over. I got up and started moving forward again. Why, I have no idea.”
The machine gun fire from a Viet Cong bunker was inflicting heavy casualties on the Americans. Ronnie spotted the bunker and ran toward it with his men providing covering fire. He arrived at the bunker and confronted the enemy which was no more than five to 10 feet away from him. “Most people very seldom see the enemy.” He killed the three Viet Cong who were operating the machine gun. Despite continued withering fire from other enemy positions Ronnie continued to move forward firing and inflicting heavy casualties upon the enemy. Ronnie’s courage and complete disregard for his own life enabled the Americans to turn the tide and ultimately prevail in the battle while saving the lives of other American GI’s. His actions that day earned him the Silver Star and a purple heart. Ronnie attributes the success of his actions to the help “of other good soldiers with me”. Ronnie said in the heat of the moment there is not much thinking going on. He likened it to relying on your training and reacting to the circumstances as they unfolded.
On May 1, 1968 Ronnie was the squad leader and he and his company were on a reconnaissance in force mission around 12:30pm near the village of Ben Cat. Their objective was to gather intelligence on enemy positions. The unit was scheduled to be helicoptered back to their base at a predetermine landing zone (LZ), at a predetermine time. The patrol was running behind and the Colonel in the rear was pushing Ronnie’s squad to pick up the pace. “We were moving a little faster than we should have been. They were pushing us. When a colonel is pushing you it’s not a good situation because he is not the one walking in the front. I should have stood my ground and said no. We walked on and opened up some little branches. In front of us was a little base camp” and the machine gun opened fire.
The radio man was wound along with two others and Ronnie took cover behind a giant ant hill that was slowly being disintegrated by machine gun fire. A fire fight ensued, and Ronnie was able to pull back the three wounded GI’s and then called in artillery to suppress the enemy fire. Ronnie and one of his men, “Redman” from Utah, volunteered to lead the troops forward. Ronnie received a call advising him use caution as the enemy had tied artillery rounds in the tree branches overhead as boobytraps.
Ronnie and Redman came upon a small compound. There was hole leading to an underground bunker and Ronnie decided to throw a smoke grenade into the hole. When the grenade went off it sent smoke throughout the underground bunker, and eventually came through all of the other entrances to the underground bunker. Ronnie went inside and found an NVA officer’s uniform, several important documents and a Chinese pistol. The enemy didn’t stick around long enough to pack their belongings. For is heroism this day Ronnie received the Bronze Star with a V for valor.
When the Captain arrived at the enemy bunker and saw Ronnie had recovered a Chinese pistol he said, “Campsey, I’d sure like to have a pistol like that.” Ronnie replied, “Sir, if you’d like to walk up front with me I’m sure we can find you one too”.
Three days later on May 4th Ronnie was once again leading his squad on a reconnaissance in force mission northeast of the village of Di An. Di An was a large enemy military base approximately 1 mile from the Americans. Ronnie’s squad was not expecting to lead the patrol because the previous night there was a meeting where the squad scheduled to take the point was briefed on important intelligence. Although Ronnie did not receive this intelligence he was not too concerned as this mission had been portrayed “as a walk in the park”. Their mission was to gather intelligence on what was going on in the village.
The route took them through a dense jungle and led them into the village. One of his men signaled Ronnie that he had discovered something. What he had discovered was a bowl of warm rice and an NVA hat. Ronnie relayed this information to the captain and told him they should stop the patrol “because they were here”. The captain said no. While Ronnie was asking his Lieutenant if they could stop the patrol, Ronnie noticed approximately 50 NVA soldiers running with their weapons. When the enemy reached other fortifications they had established, approximately 100 NVA soldiers unloaded an endless barrage of small arms and automatic weapons fire along with RPG’s. The Lieutenant was shot in the groin and eventually bleed to death. The radio man was shot through the chest. Ronnie recalled the radio man knelt down and said, ‘oh mother, oh my God” and fell over dead. 15 Americans were wounded, and Ronnie ran through enemy fire to help one of them. He put him on his shoulders and carried him to safety. Ronnie directed his squad to provide suppressive fire as he ran to retrieve another mortally wounded soldier before the enemy could reach him.
When the fighting stopped 5 Americans were dead and 15 were wounded. “That was the longest day of my life”. For his actions that day Ronnie was awarded the Bronze Star with a V for Valor. Back at their base, Ronnie sat on his helmet and felt a very sharp point. What he discovered was a bullet had gone through his helmet and left an entrance and exit hole. It missed Ronnie by a hair.
In April ’68 Ronnie and his squad were in position for an ambush. He had been up for a long time without sleep. “When you’re up a lot of hours your mind starts tripping on you.” The GI’s could hear the enemy moving because they could hear the wheels of the ox drawn carts they used to transport ammo, weapons and supplies. Ronnie had reached the point of sleep deprivation and thought he saw enemy soldiers dancing in front of him. He took his grenade and pulled the pin. “Now that’s dangerous because I could fall and drop the grenade.” Fortunately, he didn’t throw or drop the grenade. He gently inserted the pin back into the grenade. Crisis averted. “I never let that happen again.”
When Ronnie got down to 30 days remaining on his tour of duty, he became a short timer, and his primary goal was to avoid fire fights and stay alive. On June 3rd Ronnie and a few other men were asked to conduct one more ambush, even though they were short timers. If they did, they would all be brought in from the field to get their blood work done prior to returning to the states. No more patrols. The ambush was uneventful until it came time to head back to base the next morning. A truck was sent to pick up the squad. The truck took off before Ronnie and two other men could jump in. They ran after the truck, but it was too far away to catch up. Suddenly there was a large explosion and as Ronnie described it, “a mushroom cloud”. The truck hit a mine and five short timers on board were killed.
Ronnie left Vietnam on June 29th, 1968, his birthday. He flew to Okinawa, then on to San Francisco and then on to Fort Dix. Ronnie had another six months to serve before his discharge date. During that time, he trained replacement soldier on how to conduct ambushes.
When he returned to Westbury, he and his brother planned to purchase a gas station and body shop. In Vietnam Ronnie had a dream about owning a body shop. A shop came up for sale and he went to look at it. It was a ramshackle building with a collapsed roof and broken windows. Ronnie used all his money to buy the building leaving little cash to pay for the urgently needed repairs. To get the roof and plumbing repaired, a fresh coat of paint and have the windows replaced, Ronnie bartered. The tradesmen did their work and Ronnie worked on their vehicles. Ronnie had a lucky break when a local Avis owner came to his shop looking to have two cars repaired. The next day Ronnie called to say the cars were done. The owner wanted to know if Ronnie could provide turn around like on a consistent basis. Ronnie said yes and Avis sent a steady stream of work. Ronnie was turning into a successful entrepreneur and making more money than he could spend.
In 1977 Ronnie sold the body shop and decided to invest in several small businesses in the town of East Quogue on Long Island. Unfortunately, his marriage broke up, PTS was becoming more difficult to manage and many of these businesses didn’t work out. The most successful business was, and still is, the New Moon Café which he acquired in 1979. The New Moon Café is a welcoming Long Island version of ‘Cheers” from the TV series of the same name, except with a Texas Barbeque theme. Ronnie spoke to a woman who recently came to the restaurant. She told him, “You know, I’ never been here before but we came yesterday and came back today because I enjoyed it so much.”
The New Moon Café has a long history. A local newspaper wrote, “the New Moon Cafe, arguably the single most important gathering spot in East Quogue…” It was originally a post office and later a general store. Ronnie has done all the construction and maintenance through the years. Now his Parkinson’s Disease, which stems from repeated exposure to Agent Orange, has slowed him down.
Since 1979, Ronnie has serve a complete Thanksgiving Day Dinner for the local senior citizens. For the first 10 years the staff cooked the meals and served two drinks per customer. Eventually the crowd became too big for them to handle, and they shifted to delivering the meals. Ronnie has been involved in local politics and other philanthropic activities. When any organization in the town wants to run a charity event, they immediately book it at the New Moon Café where Ronnie gladly gives the space and the food for free. The local newspapers refer to him as a local legend.
Ronnie remarried in 2005 to his longtime girlfriend Shana, a Maine native, who came into his bar 40 years ago. They are now celebrating their 19th wedding anniversary. Between Ronnie and Shana there are eight children, 13 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren with another on the way.
“I don’t regret Vietnam at all. I regret the Parkinson’s. I am who I am today because of the Vietnam experience. Not everyone is meant to be in the service.” When asked the most memorable thing about his time in the military, Ronnie was quick to answer, “The camaraderie you share is the strongest you’ll ever have in life.”
A Texas farm boy came to East Quogue on Long Island via Westbury, NY and met a girl from Maine at a time he needed a steadying influence in his life. Despite PTS, Parkinson’s and some financial difficulties, the Campsey’s give of themselves to others and have a life that most people would be envious of.
Ronnie, thank you for all that you endured and sacrificed in the jungles of Vietnam so the rest of us didn’t have to. You are a shining example of what it means to have fortitude and resilience and to serve others who are less fortunate than you.
No mission too difficult. No sacrifice too great. Duty first. Motto of The Big Red One
Ronnie’s father enlisted with the Army in WWII leaving behind a wife and three children, including Ronnie, and headed off to help save the world. He was part of the famous
1st Battalion/18th Infantry also known as “The Big Red One.” He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was wounded February 1, 1945 as the Germans overran their position. His father recounted to Ronnie that the Germans were bayonetting the American GIs to make sure they were dead. When they got to his father and another U.S. GI, they in explicably stopped so they could smoke a cigarette. When they finished, they walked away and forgot to bayonet the two men.
Ronnie described his father as “a champion and he raised his children all to be the same.” After WWII he returned to Devine, Texas and worked as a foreman at the Kelly Air Force Base.
In 1952 Ronnie’s house caught on fire and 2/3’s of the house burned to the ground. Ron recalled his father running from a pasture as fast as he could and hurdled a four-foot fence “like a streak of lightening. He wanted to make sure his children were alright.” Ronnie remembers his mother fondness. “She was a champion. She ran thought the fire twice because she thought two of the kids were still in the fire.” His mother was taken to a hospital San Antonio where the doctors were able to help her recover from her injuries.
The day after the fire 100 of the men that worked for Ronnie’s dad at Kelly Air Force Base came to the Campsey house to help clear away the rubble and rebuild a portion of their home. Ronnie recalled the people of Devine being poor, but rich in spirit.
Ronnie graduated from Devine High School in 1961, and he thinks his class may have had a total of 40 people in it. He fell head over heels for a blue-eyed, blonde haired lady from Westbury, NY who was visiting family in Devine. Ronnie followed her back to Long Island in 1962. When Ronnie moved to Westbury, NY the Texas draft board sent his file to Long Island, but it ended up in a pile of “dead” files. A few years later Ronnie was in a fender bender and the lady that hit his car was none too happy. She wrote a letter to the draft board wondering why an able-bodied young man was not serving in Vietnam. The draft board found the file and Ronnie got his draft notice in June of 1966. “I didn’t mind being drafted.”
On January 3, 1967, Ronnie reported to Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, NY for the draft. “I never went home after that.” His first stop was Fort Jackson in South Carolina for basic training. The men received a battery of vaccinations, were fitted for uniforms and received haircuts that met military standards. Ronnie was put in charge of carrying the paperwork for his group of 75 GI’s headed to Fort Polk in Louisiana. The men boarded a train in Georgia headed for Fort Polk. Ronnie recalls this group having some of the biggest and meanest men he had ever been around. Every time the train stopped between Georgia and Louisiana, some of these men simply got off the train. Ronnie was smaller than most of the others, so he didn’t try to stop them. “By the time we got to Fort Polk we only had 12 guys left.” Ronnie report to the Captain and the Captain asked where the rest of the men were. “Somewhere between here and Georgia,” Ronnie replied. They knew they were being drafted and had no fear of punishment.
At Fort Polk the men went through Advanced Infantry Training. Ronnie thought being the oldest of 12 children gave him the training to be a good soldier. He was able to organize people, give directions, get things done and identify what people would be the best qualified to get a job accomplished. Ronnie always took training seriously knowing his life could depend on it. Not everyone saw it that way. On one occasion a soldier punched Ronnie in the chest to try to provoke a fight because Ronnie was working too hard and calling out the guys that weren’t trying. Ronnie told him he didn’t want to fight, and he told them “we’re going to depend on each other”, and they needed to train hard to be prepared. Some months later in Vietnam that same soldier came up to Ronnie and said, “Campsey, thank you, you were right.”
At the conclusion of the training the men were given ten days of leave before they shipped out to Vietnam. During that time, Ronnie got married. The couple went on their honeymoon to San Francisco and then the couple headed to Fort Lewis in the state of Washington. 30 days later on June 29th, Ronnie’s birthday, he was on a ship headed to Vietnam.
The water was very choppy as the ship left Puget Sound. Ronnie, along with many others, started to get seasick. The sea sickness lasted quite some time and each day they would look for men that were not seasick to form details to mop up the vomit. Ronnie hid in the lifeboats to avoid being chosen for the mop up patrol. “Puget Sound is the roughest body of water I have ever been in!”
After refueling in Guam, the ship docked in Vung Tau, Vietnam on July 26, 1967. Ronnie looked over the side and saw several headless bodies floating in the water. “This is a hell of a welcoming!” Ronnie received his units patch, the Big Red One, just as his father had 23 years prior.
One of Ronnie’s earliest memories was when Colonel Cavazos walked into the mess hall to address the newly arrived troops. “He said he would never send us into harm’s way unless he had control of the situation, and he didn’t. The greatest leader….”
Ronnie recalled the first three weeks consisted of training for the new men. After the training was completed, the men flew from Vung Tao to Bien Hoa and then on to Di An.
“Most of the time we were out on ambush or in a listening post.” Ronnie’s first taste of combat came on October 3rd. This would be Ronnie’s first-time walking point. The point man is the first man in the column and is often the first soldier shot at by enemy fire. As they walked through the thick jungle the enemy opened fire. The bullets were coming from overhead. The NVA had tied themselves to the tree branches and were shooting down on the Americans. The main column pulled back and left Ronnie and one other man stranded. When they discovered the men were missing and they sent five men to retrieve them. Everyone returned that night. That was Ronnie’s welcome to Vietnam.
On October 30th, 1967, Ronnie and his platoon were on a search and destroy mission in a Michelin Rubber Plantation as part of Operation Shenandoah II near Loc Ninh. The Americans were spotted by the numerically superior Viet Cong who opened fire with automatic weapons, machine guns and were hurling grenades. An RPG exploded near Ronnie and the concussion threw him into the air. Half his body was protected by a rubber tree in front of him but the right side of his body was covered with small pieces of shrapnel. “I was shaking all over. I got up and started moving forward again. Why, I have no idea.”
The machine gun fire from a Viet Cong bunker was inflicting heavy casualties on the Americans. Ronnie spotted the bunker and ran toward it with his men providing covering fire. He arrived at the bunker and confronted the enemy which was no more than five to 10 feet away from him. “Most people very seldom see the enemy.” He killed the three Viet Cong who were operating the machine gun. Despite continued withering fire from other enemy positions Ronnie continued to move forward firing and inflicting heavy casualties upon the enemy. Ronnie’s courage and complete disregard for his own life enabled the Americans to turn the tide and ultimately prevail in the battle while saving the lives of other American GI’s. His actions that day earned him the Silver Star and a purple heart. Ronnie attributes the success of his actions to the help “of other good soldiers with me”. Ronnie said in the heat of the moment there is not much thinking going on. He likened it to relying on your training and reacting to the circumstances as they unfolded.
On May 1, 1968 Ronnie was the squad leader and he and his company were on a reconnaissance in force mission around 12:30pm near the village of Ben Cat. Their objective was to gather intelligence on enemy positions. The unit was scheduled to be helicoptered back to their base at a predetermine landing zone (LZ), at a predetermine time. The patrol was running behind and the Colonel in the rear was pushing Ronnie’s squad to pick up the pace. “We were moving a little faster than we should have been. They were pushing us. When a colonel is pushing you it’s not a good situation because he is not the one walking in the front. I should have stood my ground and said no. We walked on and opened up some little branches. In front of us was a little base camp” and the machine gun opened fire.
The radio man was wound along with two others and Ronnie took cover behind a giant ant hill that was slowly being disintegrated by machine gun fire. A fire fight ensued, and Ronnie was able to pull back the three wounded GI’s and then called in artillery to suppress the enemy fire. Ronnie and one of his men, “Redman” from Utah, volunteered to lead the troops forward. Ronnie received a call advising him use caution as the enemy had tied artillery rounds in the tree branches overhead as boobytraps.
Ronnie and Redman came upon a small compound. There was hole leading to an underground bunker and Ronnie decided to throw a smoke grenade into the hole. When the grenade went off it sent smoke throughout the underground bunker, and eventually came through all of the other entrances to the underground bunker. Ronnie went inside and found an NVA officer’s uniform, several important documents and a Chinese pistol. The enemy didn’t stick around long enough to pack their belongings. For is heroism this day Ronnie received the Bronze Star with a V for valor.
When the Captain arrived at the enemy bunker and saw Ronnie had recovered a Chinese pistol he said, “Campsey, I’d sure like to have a pistol like that.” Ronnie replied, “Sir, if you’d like to walk up front with me I’m sure we can find you one too”.
Three days later on May 4th Ronnie was once again leading his squad on a reconnaissance in force mission northeast of the village of Di An. Di An was a large enemy military base approximately 1 mile from the Americans. Ronnie’s squad was not expecting to lead the patrol because the previous night there was a meeting where the squad scheduled to take the point was briefed on important intelligence. Although Ronnie did not receive this intelligence he was not too concerned as this mission had been portrayed “as a walk in the park”. Their mission was to gather intelligence on what was going on in the village.
The route took them through a dense jungle and led them into the village. One of his men signaled Ronnie that he had discovered something. What he had discovered was a bowl of warm rice and an NVA hat. Ronnie relayed this information to the captain and told him they should stop the patrol “because they were here”. The captain said no. While Ronnie was asking his Lieutenant if they could stop the patrol, Ronnie noticed approximately 50 NVA soldiers running with their weapons. When the enemy reached other fortifications they had established, approximately 100 NVA soldiers unloaded an endless barrage of small arms and automatic weapons fire along with RPG’s. The Lieutenant was shot in the groin and eventually bleed to death. The radio man was shot through the chest. Ronnie recalled the radio man knelt down and said, ‘oh mother, oh my God” and fell over dead. 15 Americans were wounded, and Ronnie ran through enemy fire to help one of them. He put him on his shoulders and carried him to safety. Ronnie directed his squad to provide suppressive fire as he ran to retrieve another mortally wounded soldier before the enemy could reach him.
When the fighting stopped 5 Americans were dead and 15 were wounded. “That was the longest day of my life”. For his actions that day Ronnie was awarded the Bronze Star with a V for Valor. Back at their base, Ronnie sat on his helmet and felt a very sharp point. What he discovered was a bullet had gone through his helmet and left an entrance and exit hole. It missed Ronnie by a hair.
In April ’68 Ronnie and his squad were in position for an ambush. He had been up for a long time without sleep. “When you’re up a lot of hours your mind starts tripping on you.” The GI’s could hear the enemy moving because they could hear the wheels of the ox drawn carts they used to transport ammo, weapons and supplies. Ronnie had reached the point of sleep deprivation and thought he saw enemy soldiers dancing in front of him. He took his grenade and pulled the pin. “Now that’s dangerous because I could fall and drop the grenade.” Fortunately, he didn’t throw or drop the grenade. He gently inserted the pin back into the grenade. Crisis averted. “I never let that happen again.”
When Ronnie got down to 30 days remaining on his tour of duty, he became a short timer, and his primary goal was to avoid fire fights and stay alive. On June 3rd Ronnie and a few other men were asked to conduct one more ambush, even though they were short timers. If they did, they would all be brought in from the field to get their blood work done prior to returning to the states. No more patrols. The ambush was uneventful until it came time to head back to base the next morning. A truck was sent to pick up the squad. The truck took off before Ronnie and two other men could jump in. They ran after the truck, but it was too far away to catch up. Suddenly there was a large explosion and as Ronnie described it, “a mushroom cloud”. The truck hit a mine and five short timers on board were killed.
Ronnie left Vietnam on June 29th, 1968, his birthday. He flew to Okinawa, then on to San Francisco and then on to Fort Dix. Ronnie had another six months to serve before his discharge date. During that time, he trained replacement soldier on how to conduct ambushes.
When he returned to Westbury, he and his brother planned to purchase a gas station and body shop. In Vietnam Ronnie had a dream about owning a body shop. A shop came up for sale and he went to look at it. It was a ramshackle building with a collapsed roof and broken windows. Ronnie used all his money to buy the building leaving little cash to pay for the urgently needed repairs. To get the roof and plumbing repaired, a fresh coat of paint and have the windows replaced, Ronnie bartered. The tradesmen did their work and Ronnie worked on their vehicles. Ronnie had a lucky break when a local Avis owner came to his shop looking to have two cars repaired. The next day Ronnie called to say the cars were done. The owner wanted to know if Ronnie could provide turn around like on a consistent basis. Ronnie said yes and Avis sent a steady stream of work. Ronnie was turning into a successful entrepreneur and making more money than he could spend.
In 1977 Ronnie sold the body shop and decided to invest in several small businesses in the town of East Quogue on Long Island. Unfortunately, his marriage broke up, PTS was becoming more difficult to manage and many of these businesses didn’t work out. The most successful business was, and still is, the New Moon Café which he acquired in 1979. The New Moon Café is a welcoming Long Island version of ‘Cheers” from the TV series of the same name, except with a Texas Barbeque theme. Ronnie spoke to a woman who recently came to the restaurant. She told him, “You know, I’ never been here before but we came yesterday and came back today because I enjoyed it so much.”
The New Moon Café has a long history. A local newspaper wrote, “the New Moon Cafe, arguably the single most important gathering spot in East Quogue…” It was originally a post office and later a general store. Ronnie has done all the construction and maintenance through the years. Now his Parkinson’s Disease, which stems from repeated exposure to Agent Orange, has slowed him down.
Since 1979, Ronnie has serve a complete Thanksgiving Day Dinner for the local senior citizens. For the first 10 years the staff cooked the meals and served two drinks per customer. Eventually the crowd became too big for them to handle, and they shifted to delivering the meals. Ronnie has been involved in local politics and other philanthropic activities. When any organization in the town wants to run a charity event, they immediately book it at the New Moon Café where Ronnie gladly gives the space and the food for free. The local newspapers refer to him as a local legend.
Ronnie remarried in 2005 to his longtime girlfriend Shana, a Maine native, who came into his bar 40 years ago. They are now celebrating their 19th wedding anniversary. Between Ronnie and Shana there are eight children, 13 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren with another on the way.
“I don’t regret Vietnam at all. I regret the Parkinson’s. I am who I am today because of the Vietnam experience. Not everyone is meant to be in the service.” When asked the most memorable thing about his time in the military, Ronnie was quick to answer, “The camaraderie you share is the strongest you’ll ever have in life.”
A Texas farm boy came to East Quogue on Long Island via Westbury, NY and met a girl from Maine at a time he needed a steadying influence in his life. Despite PTS, Parkinson’s and some financial difficulties, the Campsey’s give of themselves to others and have a life that most people would be envious of.
Ronnie, thank you for all that you endured and sacrificed in the jungles of Vietnam so the rest of us didn’t have to. You are a shining example of what it means to have fortitude and resilience and to serve others who are less fortunate than you.
No mission too difficult. No sacrifice too great. Duty first. Motto of The Big Red One