The War: A Captain’s Legacy

In October, Captain Ronald F. Rod of New Orleans was ordered to South Viet Nam and one of the loneliest, most hazardous forms of duty a soldier can draw. As head of a six-man U.S. advisory team, he was sent to the northern coastal town of Due Pho, which is surrounded by Viet Cong territory and accessible only by air. There, Captain Rod, 31, shared responsibility for the welfare of some 10,000 civilians, mostly refugees from Communist held villages.

In a letter describing life in his “barbed-wire island,” the officer wrote the Clarion Herald, a New Orleans Catholic newspaper: “There are two serious needs. One is clothing for the children. Many infants are naked. The other is for soap. Bathing is done in the rain, from contaminated wells or stagnant pools. The use of soap could prevent countless boils, infections and abscesses on these unfortunate children.”

The response was instantaneous. A New Orleans meat packer shipped two tons of soap directly to Rod. Children gift wrapped individual bars, rushed them off by airmail. Other contributions inundated the Clarion Herald. A Baton Rouge TV station weighed in with 700 Ibs. of soap, a New Orleans seventh-grade civics class with 700 bars.

New Orleans citizens again responded handsomely last month, after Captain Rod appealed for help in starting an orphanage. More than $500—enough for the building expenses—was sent immediately. When the first nine mailbags of clothing and soap arrived, Rod wrote jubilantly: “It looks as though we will have a wonderful Christmas for these people.”

He will not share it. On the day that his letter was delivered, Captain Rod was going to the relief of a government outpost that was under attack and overrun, when he was killed. Back in New Orleans, he leaves a wife and his own five children, ranging in age from 18 months to eight years. In Due Pho, he also leaves a legacy of love. Six and a half tons of soap and clothes go from New Orleans this week to Rod’s wards. The Clarion Herald plans to continue the fund drive for his orphanage. Said the paper’s executive editor, Father Elmo Romagosa: “Captain Rod has done more than launch a campaign for the Vietnamese children. He has made thousands of persons in communities throughout Louisiana feel that they have a personal stake in Viet Nam.”