Veteran's View
CRANBERRY TWP — Seneca Valley students got a unique look at the Vietnam War from a veteran who served on an elite reconnaissance team.
Parker Johnston, an Army Ranger veteran, spoke to students Tuesday at the Cranberry Public Library.
Johnston, 77, of Crafton detailed his time in the Army during the Vietnam War, especially his experience on a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol team.
He enlisted in 1964 and served with the U.S. Army Rangers in the 75th Ranger Regiment E Company 20th Infantry Division and joined a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol, or LRRP.
Teams of six would go out on missions for three to five days, getting dropped off and picked up by helicopter. Johnston, trained as a special forces medic, took the rear of the six-man team.
Each soldier carried about 70 pounds of equipment, including their M16 rifle, two grenades, six canteens of water, C-rations and 10-12 magazines of ammunition.
Johnston came out from his first tour mostly unscathed. He return to Vietnam in 1967 when the Army was setting up a new long range reconnaissance unit that was formed to send teams into Cambodia.
These missions were classified since U.S. troops were not supposed to be in Cambodia, Johnston said. They were also more dangerous than before as North Vietnamese military were actively focused on killing LRRP teams, he said.
Johnston, now a team leader, took his crew on missions through January 1968 and into February. They got by unscathed until Feb. 18, 1968.
Johnston's team had down time after more than a month of constant work when his colonel called and wanted Johnston's team to go deep into Cambodia.
They went back in, discovered an enemy base camp and were returning to the landing zone when they came across a cleared trail.
They had to cross the trail to get to the landing zone, so Johnston went first, slipped on the dewy grass and looked up to see 30 or 40 North Vietnamese army troops.
A fire fight ensued, with Johnston getting hit in the chest and the spleen. His lung collapsed.
He was able to get to his hands and knees and began to look for his weapon when he was hit again, twice through his right arm. All told, Johnston was hit six times. Only two men in his team were not stuck by bullets.
The team made it out, although just barely. Johnston spent five months recovering in a hospital.
He went into law enforcement after leaving the army as a staff sergeant in 1971. He first worked as a police officer in Baltimore City, then worked for the U.S. Marshals Service, retiring in 1994.
He works at a gym in Crafton now, teaching fitness classes for all ages.
He also crafts oil paintings of scenes from the war, based on photographs of his fellow soldiers.
“I never thought I'd be doing this sort of thing,” Johnston said.
“When I was looking into the military, I wanted to do something different. I wanted to push myself. So I went into special forces and into the Rangers.
“I didn't have a hero complex. I just wanted to see what I could do.”
