“The Last Best Time They Ever Had”: Witness To The Collapse Of Cambodia

Alan Armstrong was appropriately born at West Point in 1938. The direct descendant of six West Pointers dating back to the Class of 1812, including a Superintendent and two First Captains, one could chart West Point history through Alan’s family tree. He and his older brother lived around the world, including a stint in Japan when his father, COL “Army” Armstrong, USMA ’29, was MacArthur’s plans officer. During a year at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, he met his future wife, Lynne, although it took them about three decades to reconnect. It was only natural that Alan sought an appointment to West Point after completing two years at the Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts and a year at Brown University, where he played football and lacrosse. Having always held Cadets in extremely high esteem, once he reported for R-Day, he realized that they were all just “regular guys.” He felt that throughout his time at the Academy the training was very good. In fact, when he reported to Ft. Benning for the infantry basic course, he felt that he was repeating training he had received at Buckner. He really enjoyed his childhood experience in Japan and loved the Japanese, but training in Germany during his First Class year, he felt tension between the American Soldiers and the German civilians. He did well academically (upper center of the class), physically, and militarily, settling into the middle of his class. He played lacrosse at the Academy for legendary coaches Morris Touchstone and Ace Adams. Where Touchstone achieved wins through brute force, Adams combined brute force with finesse. In the spring of his Firstie year, while warming up at Gillis Field House, a player who was using a new stick lost control of the ball and nailed Alan in the left eye, breaking his nose in the process. The injury left him blind in that eye, a defect he effectively concealed for twenty-three years until, as a Colonel, a doctor noticed the blindness and initiated procedures to medically retire him. Even though he is over 6 feet tall, he was assigned to Company I-1 (typically a runt company), and he noted that the shorter Cadets in his company were “mean little bastards.” He commissioned into the Infantry and reported to Ft. Benning, where he completed Airborne and Ranger School, having to recycle through the ranger course. He describes the intensity with which he endeavored to earn his tab that resulted in him striking several cadre members during training. His first assignment was with the 34th Infantry in Germany, part of the 24th Infantry Division, where he served as both a Platoon Leader and Company Commander, and he highlights leadership lessons he learned. He remembers that although his African American Soldiers were well integrated, the Hispanic Soldiers struggled. An event that had a profound impact on him was when his Platoon Sergeant was berating one of his Hispanic Soldiers and the Soldier exclaimed, “I’m as good an American as anyone else!” When another company commander was relieved, Alan took command, and he remembers moving his company to Berlin in a show of force designed to keep the road to Berlin open. Reflecting on his time as a Platoon Leader, he states, “It’s your platoon. Run it.” His next assignment was as a Company Commander in 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, in the 1st Infantry Division. He was considering applying for Special Forces when orders to deploy to Vietnam arrived, and he was given the opportunity to remain in company command. His unit deployed to Vietnam aboard the USS Buckner, landing in Cam Ranh Bay. He decided that his company should hand carry their crew-served weapons versus packing them in containers, a decision that allowed them to be more combat effective immediately after arriving in Vietnam. He notes that they had been trained for a war in Europe, not for fighting in south-east Asia. He describes several operations and engagements, including having his company XO die in his arms. He recalls Westmoreland visiting his company, fighting in rubber plantations, and meeting French Soldier/Journalist Bernard Fall (Fall autographed Alan’s copy of “Street Without Joy”). When he returned home, he still felt that the Soldiers were loved and treated well by their fellow citizens. In 1967, he was selected to teach French at West Point and was sent to Paris for an abbreviated language immersion, finishing his master’s degree at Middlebury College in 1970. He describes wearing his white uniform to his graduation ceremony, earning applause from the audience. He recalls his enjoyment teaching Cadets and having to write a French textbook for the Academy with a civilian professor who had been one of his instructors as a Cadet. He remembers saving time at the end of his class sessions to discuss the ethics of combat leadership with his Cadets. His next assignment was as the Assistant Army Attache in Cambodia, starting in 1971. He served in Cambodia twice, 1971 to 1972 and 1974 to 1975, in assignments that profoundly impacted him, where he got to see the destruction of a country that the United States would not help. He recalls that the Cambodians looked at Prince Sihanouk as “king-father,” noting that the United States should have exploited that, but failed to do so. He discusses fighting the Cambodian Communists, North Vietnamese, and Viet Cong, although with one exception, he always felt safe around his Cambodians. He recalls taking part in Operation Chenla I and Chenla II, and describes in detail the personalities of several Cambodians he worked with. During the two years he was back in the United States, part of his assignment was escorting Lon Non, Lon Nol’s brother, around the United States, with the mission of keeping him out of Cambodia as long as possible. He reflects on different ethnic groups within Cambodia and how the Cambodians and Vietnamese hated each other. Years later, he wrote a fictionalized account of his experiences in Cambodia titled “Wolf By The Ears.” As the situation in the country deteriorated, he felt the pain of knowing “that we are going to abandon the Cambodians,” and when the time came to flee the country, he wept as he flew away with the Ambassador and other members of the diplomatic staff on the last helicopter out of the country. Returning to the United States, he served as the Race Relations EO Officer at Ft. Ord, California, where he also commanded a battalion. He helped run a multi-service exercise at Ft. Irwin, California, and earned a master’s degree in 1978 from the Naval Post Graduate School. He then served in the Office of Defense Cooperation for Belgium and Luxembourg until 1980, when he was assigned to command the VII Corps Special Troops Battalion until 1982. He then returned to California, serving in Readiness Region 9 and working with the California National Guard until he was medically retired in 1984. In 1988, he earned an MBA from Golden Gate University and began a career in finance. At the end of the interview, he reflects on what his service and West Point mean to him.