Background
Michael Hoyt was born on December 1, 1941 in Washington, Pennsylvania. Michael is youngest in his family with an older brother who also served in the military. Michael served in the military from September 8th 1965- July 1st, 2003. Michael has a wife, Sara, who he has been married to for over 57 years and raised 5 daughters together.
Graduating from Trinity High School in Washington, Pennsylvania, Michael described himself not the college type. After trying college for a summer and maintaining a C average he realized he eventually would get drafted into the military.
“back in 65 [if you] didn’t have like a B or A average. You kind of got drafted out of college. So it was either wait to get drafted or go ahead and enlist.”
-Michael Hoyt
Enlisting into the Marines
Micheal went to the local recruiter’s office and signed to join the marine core. Micheal, being freshly graduated from high school, required his fathers signature because he was only 17 at the time of enlistment. He was sworn in on September 8th, 1965 and on September 22nd he was shipped off to Paris Island South Carolina for Marine basic training. While at boot camp, Micheal received a letter from his then girlfriend Sara saying on January 29th they were getting married. After boot camp and infantry training Michael was assigned to the eighth Engineer Battalion at Camp Lejeune. After this Michael was sent to Camp Garcia in Puerto Rico. There he took part in beach training exercises like Helicopter landings and beach storming. After six months, Michael received word he would be sent home for a short time then be deployed in Vietnam.
“You know, I signed the contract to uphold the Constitution and defend this country against the domestic and foreign. “
-Michael Hoyt
Deployment in Vietnam
Michael Hoyt was deployed to Vietnam in 1967 and lasted too 1969. He landed landed at Da Nang Air Force Base in 1967. He described his initial reaction to Vietnam as any other country, citing that it looked the same as if you landed in a city like Birmingham. His first shock in his deployment came from his first sleeping quarters. Citing that when the big F-4 phantoms would take off he would wake up to a fireball and the sound would send chills down his spine.
Duties in Vietnam
Michael was sent to Marble Mountain to patrol around the base of the mountain and the surrounding area. Marble Mountain is South of Danang near the China Sea.
Michael had a variety of different duties in Vietnam. His initial duty was the communications for his division. While on his patrol, Michael carried a radio on his back to keep constant communication between him, the third Amtrak, and base camp at Marble Mountain. While there he eventually made his way up to squad leader of his patrol. Michael’s patrol objective was to patrol the bottom of the mountain and set up ambushes, go through villages, and look out for Vietcong Soldiers. Michael shared patrol duties with another Marine unit which traded shifts. His patrols regularly lasted twelve hours at a time and his patrol normally went at dusk. The unit was an eight soldier unit with a communications specialist and a german shepherd with them.
Experiences while in Vietnam
Though Michael’s multi year tour, he was equipped with many experiences. His first experience of the war was his choice to not become close with his squad mates. He recalled “you’d don’t really get close to anyone because they can be here one minute and be gone the next.” He also recalled that along with this, you got to the point with your regiment that you knew they had your back, which helped him combat the tense feeling of Vietnam.
In addition to this, Michael recalled an event that happened on Halloween while he was on patrol. His patrol was about halfway through their patrol they were making their way through a village and he saw two women in a hooch trying to cover something. When him and two other men investigated he asked for them to uncover what they had cover up. They bent down to uncover the dirt and a trap door was revealed. Michael bent down to grab the handle and a hand busted out of the hole with a grenade and exploded. Michael was able to jump out of the blast radius and him and his patrol mates escaped with minor injuries. He said he bent back down, ripped the door open, his squad mates through grenades down the hole and shut it down. After the explosion his team pulled four vietcong soldier from the hole. After he made contact with base of the situation he was informed he had to go enter the fox hole, since he was the smallest. Michael was outfitted with C4 and blasting caps and entered the tunnel. He recalled the funny moment of following the tunnel all the way to under the battalion commander’s headquarters.
Booby traps and non combat dangers
In Michael’s tour in Vietnam he recalled many different dangers besides combat in Vietnam. Booby Traps were a common danger to look out for. Michael’s assignment in Vietnam was to patrol the base of Marble mountain which was surrounded by dense jungle. Hidden in these jungles were booby traps of all kinds. The ones Michael mentioned were the bungee pits, bungee sticks, and strip wires. The bungee pits was a pit with sharpened bamboo sticking out with human feces and other fluids smeared onto the sticks. The pit was covered with a tarp to conceal its whereabouts. Bungee sticks and trip wires often came hand in hand in Vietnam. The sticks were triggered by a trip wire which would cause a stick to fly into the victims body. Other times trip wires would be directly linked to a grenade pin which would explode when pulled. Michael spoke about the inability to let your guard down especially once he was promoted to head of his patrol group at 18 years old.
Another danger Michael faced was the wildlife in Vietnam and specifically the Many-Branded Krait or the commonly referred to as the “two step snake.” This snake venom was though to be so potent that Michael recalled it would “bite you and in two steps you would be dead.” Being in the dense jungle, Michael recalls having a specific eye for this snake and not wanting the misfortune of seeing it.
In addition to these, Michael also recalls disease as playing a big factor in Vietnam. Michael contracted Malaria near the end of is tour in Vietnam which sidelined him from Combat for a week. He described Malaria as the biggest disease where his men were. When asked if it was a relief in a sort of way to have malaria he described it as “just wanting to die.”
Life After Vietnam
Michael was asked if he wanted to spent 3 weeks in Okinawa before going home. This meant leaving Vietnam early and going to Okinawa before going home. Michael decline after meeting his brother which both were unaware of their proximity in Vietnam. He also citied that he did not want to return to Okinawa because war time military is very different from peace time military. Michael enjoyed the ability to get things done in war time military rather than peace time having to jump through hoops to accomplish a task. Once he returned to San Francisco in 1969 he was not meant with protest. Michael left the marines once he returned and recalls a story of meeting army reserves at a bar. He asked how he could get the same job and the recruiter offered him another opportunity to take the ASVAB and join the army. He rejoined in 1975 and stayed in the army until he retired in 2003. He was deployed once more to Saudi Arabia in operation desert storm in 1990. Michael retired from the military in 2003 and moved to Calera, Alabama in 1993. He now enjoys a simple life closer to his grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Interview
Sources and additional readings
Kinney, Katherine. Friendly fire: American images of the Vietnam War. Oxford University Press, USA, 2000.
Williamson, Curtis L. “The US Marine Corps Combined Action Program (CAP): A Proposed Alternative Strategy for the Vietnam War.” PhD diss., US Marine Corps Command and Staff College, 2002.
Oberdorfer, Don. Tet!: the turning point in the Vietnam War. JHU Press, 2001.
Vlieg, Heather (2019) “Were They Spat On? Understanding The Homecoming Experience of Vietnam Veterans,” Grand Valley Journal of History: Vol. 7: Iss. 1, Article 3