Vietnam – October 2019

OCTOBER 2019 41

lowed. But the particularly strict restric-

tions put on Cornett embarrassed him

and put a strain on his marriage, especial-

ly after his wife had a miscarriage.

Matters came to a head about 3:45

p.m. on Nov. 30, 1972, when Bongers en-

tered one of the team’s communication

bunkers—a large metal shipping contain-

er converted into a “commo” center—

where Cornett was on radio watch. After

seeing Cornett open a can of beer, Bongers

relieved him for drinking on duty, told

him to leave the bunker and then took

over the radio duties

Cornett went back to his hooch and began drinking more heavily.

In a sworn statement given to the CID later that day, Cornett stated

that he “drank a half a case of Budweiser beer, 12 cans, and also had

about a pint of rum.” About an hour later, Cornett took an M26 frag-

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Cornett explained to the CID agent: “I kept looking at it and wonder-

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pulled the safety pin, walked over to the commo bunker, stood there

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scare into him. I decided not to kill him, but

to scare him. I threw the grenade down the

steps of the bunker ... I stayed there until the

smoke cleared.”

Bongers was a lucky man that day. He saw

the grenade roll into the commo bunker and

toward his chair. He “got up and ran up the

stairs and as he reached the second step the

grenade exploded,” according to the court-

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the blast.

Cornett initially feigned ignorance about

the identity of the grenade thrower, but when

he learned from another soldier that Bongers

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announced: “If that is what Colonel Bongers

thinks, then I’ll kill him for sure.” Cornett

was quickly disarmed and taken into custody.

On Dec. 4, 1972, Cornett was sent to the

Saigon military police station and placed in a

detention cell until he could be moved to the

nearby stockade at Long Binh, commonly

known as Long Binh Jail, or “LBJ.” A routine

strip search by the MPs reportedly “uncov-

ered 9 packets containing .16 grams of heroin.” The packets had been

sewn into the hems around each of Cornett’s upper shirt pockets.

Cornett had two attorneys working on his defense, Army Capt.

William H. Cunningham and a civilian lawyer he had hired, Richard

E. Muri, who was licensed in Washington state and, like other

American lawyers during the Vietnam War, moved to Saigon, where

he made money defending troops at courts-martial.

Almost certainly on the advice of his defense counsels, Cornett

entered into a plea agreement. In exchange for pleading guilty to

periods in 1966 and 1970. On the last rota-

tion home, Cornett completed Army Ranger

training.

During his multiple tours in Southeast

Asia, Cornett worked as a Special Forces re-

connaissance medic, trained Vietnamese

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and served as an intelligence analyst in the

Phoenix Program, created to hunt down Viet

Cong leadership. He also was a platoon medic

in the 101st Airborne Division.

Cornett was wounded in action and

awarded two Bronze Star medals with a “V”

device for valor. He also had been recom-

mended for the Silver Star to honor his gal-

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Trong in the Central Highlands. The pro-

posed citation states that Cornett charged

“against the determined enemy,” and his

“dedicated and courageous example” broke a

communist counterattack. Cornett was also

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In November 1972 Cornett was a member

of U.S. Advisory Team 40, which provided

support to South Vietnamese troops at Duc

My, a camp in the central coastlands. By

then, he had married a Vietnamese woman,

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child and living near Duc My. For several

months, Cornett believed he was being ha-

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cer, because of the lieutenant colonel’s dis-

tain for Vietnamese women.

Cornett had married Francoise in a Viet-

namese ceremony but not yet tried to get

U.S. military recognition for the marriage,

which was needed for the family to get mili-

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not available), did not like “mixed marriag-

es” and would not approve a soldier’s re-

quest to marry a Vietnamese citizen. “There

is no such thing as Vietnamese wives,” Gilli-

gan told Cornett and others around him.

“Only Vietnamese whores.” Worse, Bongers

told all who would listen that it was “morally

wrong” for Americans to associate with Viet-

namese women. He also publicly called Cor-

nett’s wife a “whore.”

Gilligan and Bongers told Cornett that he

could not bring his wife onto the Team 40

compound. It was common policy to restrict

Vietnamese civilians’ access to U.S. installa-

tions for security reasons. Civilians had to

be signed in and out by an American service

HIST member, and overnight stays were not al-

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“I ... stood

there for

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minutes

deciding if I

should kill

him or just

throw a scare

into him.”

The M26 grenade,

used in Cornett’s

attack on Donald F.

Bongers, fragments

into hundreds of pieces

when it explodes. Its

official designation

as “Grenade,

Fragmentation,” led to

the term “fragging.”