Jerome Koutny: Heading into the tunnels

By Al Rodriguez, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interview Volunteer

Jerome Koutny was sent to Vietnam as an infantryman and then volunteered for one of the more dangerous jobs as a tunnel rat, looking for the enemy by going into their tunnels.  He never thought the biggest threat to his life would come from Mother Nature. 

Jerome was born in Gary, Indiana, but his family lived 40 miles south of there in Sumava Resorts, Indiana. There were eight family members: mom, dad and six siblings. His Dad was a WWII Army veteran who served in Germany. The family had a small farm and his dad, who was also a carpenter, owned a custom cabinet business, as well. Jerome helped with both but he especially loved woodworking—so much so that he still works on projects in a woodworking shop he built on his land. 

In 1967, since Sumava Resorts was a small community, he graduated from Morocco High School in a bigger community nearby. Jerome learned how to operate heavy equipment on his father’s farm and applied for a job with Operating Engineers Local 150 assigned to work several projects in the area, including working on Interstate I-65. He was drafted January 1969 but was ill so they sent him home to convalesce. They didn’t forget about him and he was inducted into the Army in June 1969. He was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for basic training. His Drill Instructor was a tough no nonsense sergeant who tried to break all the recruits. Jerome said this treatment didn’t faze him because his father was also a stern taskmaster.

One of the first rules in the military is to never volunteer for anything. When the First Sergeant came looking for six volunteers he didn’t volunteer but was selected anyway. As it turns out it was a blessing because they needed ambulance drivers to trail behind the men on long marches. It was easy duty that kept him from marching in the summer heat of Kentucky.

After basic he was sent to Fort Polk, Louisiana, for advanced training as a light arms infantry man. Jerome learned to operate many weapons and to rappel out of helicopters. Once again because of his Army driver’s license he was able to drive ambulances and supply trucks on long marches. He also trained in a simulated Vietnamese village, the Tiger Land Village. He finished advanced training and received orders for Vietnam. He was scheduled to report to Fort Lewis, Washington on November 1969.  Jerome went home and married his high school sweetheart, Barbara, on October 25, 1969.

Jerome reported to Fort Lewis and got on the plane to Vietnam with the plane stopping at Anchorage, Alaska, for a fuel stop. The plane got snowed in and he spent two days on the plane eating crackers that they rationed while waiting to leave. When the snow stopped, they flew to Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, which was the opposite of Anchorage: hot and humid. He was assigned to I Corp, 1st Battalion 501st Regiment, Alpha Company, 3rd squad that was attached to the 101st Airborne Infantry Division. His base camp was Camp Eagle near Hue. The 501st main missions were search and destroy. They were air mobile so they were transported to the landing zones and firebases by helicopters.

He said at first he didn’t want to make friends with anyone there but when you’re out in the bush and you share a fox hole with someone you naturally became buddies. He was paired up with Wilson from Oklahoma who was a Kiowa Indian. Once while installing concertina wire they both cut their hands. With blood dripping, they shook hands. Wilson told him they were now family. Wilson was a good sketch artist who could draw pictures of people and scenery. He told Jerome that this was his stress reliever. Wilson drew a picture of the first sergeant and Jerome showed the first sergeant his picture who was impressed by his likeness. Wilson went back to base camp for a dental appointment and Jerome never saw him again in Vietnam. Jerome was paired up with a second soldier, Mark, until he left the 501st.

Jerome brought a Kodak 110 pocket instamatic camera to Vietnam. It was small, flat and easily portable. He kept it wrapped in plastic and in one of his ammo pouches to keep it dry while in the bush. He took pictures that were converted to slides that he sent home to his wife.

On patrol one day he spotted a dark spot behind the brush on the side of a mountain. He radioed it in and they secured the area around the tunnel. He said no one liked going into tunnels and being a tunnel rat. He didn’t either but as the squad leader he would do it. He felt inside the mouth of the tunnel checking for booby traps. The tunnels were dark but he always had a flashlight and a rope to string behind him as he moved through it. The rope helped him get out and if he got in trouble he would tug on it and they would quickly pull him out. While inside he could see C Ration cans, obviously discarded by American troops, filled with oil and wicks that the VC and NVA used as candles. These were unlit so he had to use his flashlight. He came into a large room he said looked like a log cabin because of all the wood beams that were put along the sides and roof to brace the cave from aerial bombs and artillery. There was a bad smell in this room that looked like a hospital room with makeshift beds, bandages, ointments and other supplies to tend to the wounded. Luckily the room was empty. He took some of the supplies out with him so the people in the rear could determine where the NVA/VC were getting their supplies. He backed out and then threw a grenade to blow the room up. He said that he lost count of the many tunnels he went into, some were occupied.  After finding the C Ration cans being used by the enemy, it was determined that they send the empty cans to the rear or smash them.

3rd squad was assigned a Vietnamese booby trap expert named Phun. This person was an ex-VC soldier that was turned in order to help the U.S. troops identify and eliminate booby traps they encountered. Jerome said he slept with one eye open when Phun was first assigned to them. While on patrol, Phun stopped Jerome and showed him marking on a tree that indicated a booby trap ahead. After that he slept easier.

Jerome was given R&R in Hawaii in June of 1970 with Barbara meeting him. While in Hawaii he was given a task by his first sergeant to deliver paperwork to the family of a soldier that was killed from his company who lived in Hawaii. He said it was tough to meet with the family especially when he could see the grave of the soldier near the parent’s home.

When Jerome returned from R&R they sent him for a 10-day Combat Leadership Training class at Camp Evans near Hue Vietnam. He liked the training but he especially liked sleeping in a dry room on a bed. He said he hadn’t slept in a bed since he left the U.S.

After training, Jerome was pulled from his unit. He was still assigned to the 101st Airborne Infantry, 1st Battalion but now with the 327th Regiment in the A Shau Valley. About a month after he was reassigned, he was on a hill next to the radioman calling in artillery coordinates to Firebase Veghel. He said it was pouring down rain and he heard a loud boom.  When he woke up he said everything was white and he thought he had died and gone to heaven. There was the smell of sulphur and he couldn’t hear anything. When he regained his senses he thought he had been hit by enemy artillery. He was told that lightning hit the tree next to him and blew him down the hill. He had burns that ran down his back and legs. He was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. His radioman Dan suffered burns to his legs. They carried Jerome out of the bush to an LZ and from there he was medevaced to the 95th Evac Hospital.

At the 95th, they treated his burns but couldn’t figure out why he had no feeling in his legs. He still has no feeling in his legs today. They didn’t believe he had been struck by lightning until four Rangers were brought in having been struck by lightning too. He was transported to the Hope Ship who couldn’t help him and then to a hospital in Japan. After a few weeks Jerome was able to walk with crutches and not knowing how else to help him, they cut orders for him to go back to Vietnam. He did something he had never done and told them no. 

When he was struck by lightning he had been in Vietnam for 11 months and 20 days: very close to the end of his tour. He said he didn’t want to go back to Vietnam and argued with the staff. They relented and cut orders for him to Fort Benning, Georgia, to finish his time in the Army.  When he was medevaced out of Vietnam he had left behind his records and possessions. He said he never got any of his stuff back including his camera. Without his records he could not be paid. When he got on the Air Force plane to Traverse Air Force Base in California, the hospital found him a dress uniform to travel in, an overnight bag with hospital toiletries, a pair of underwear and of course his crutches. He got on a military bus to the San Francisco airport. Without any money, the airline agreed to fly him to Chicago. In Chicago he was walking through the airport not sure what to do when an older gentleman recognized his last name on his nametag. They talked and as luck will have it, he knew his father. Jerome explained to him that he was sent home without pay. His wife didn’t know he was coming home and he let Jerome call her from his booth. He bought him a ticket on the Tri-State Bus Company to Hammond, Indiana.  Unbeknownst to Jerome when he got to Highland a taxi provided by this same gentleman was waiting to take him to Howard Johnson South to meet Barbara. From there they drove home to Sumava Resorts.

Jerome and his wife drove to Fort Benning, Georgia, and he reported for duty. Since he was still walking with crutches, they assigned him to mail clerk duties. Jerome was supposed to be discharged in June and his wife was due to give birth soon after. He was worried about being out of the Army and jobless with a wife about to give birth so he was able to extend his service time for two months with the agreement that he would add three years to his inactive service time.  His wife gave birth to Angela in July.  In August 1971 he was discharged from the Army and they drove back to Sumava Resorts. 

Jerome no longer needed crutches to walk but the problems in his legs persisted. Despite this he was able to work with heavy equipment. He rejoined Local 150 and worked for several companies in the area. He quit and started his own home excavation business digging foundations for homes. In 1973 they had another daughter, Julie. Today he has four grandchildren and two great grandchildren.  

Jerome went back to work for Local 150 working in landfills. He trained young workers to use heavy equipment and by the time he retired, he was in charge of 35 workers. He said he had to retire in 2014 because the numbness in his legs affected his ability to work. In 2016 he contacted the VA and they agreed to address his issues. The doctors prescribed cortisone shots in his back and when they no longer worked he was sent to a private doctor for back surgery. Jerome lives 30 miles from a VA hospital so they allowed him to use civilian doctors and hospitals whom the VA reimbursed. The VA is also helping him with other medical problems from his service time in Vietnam. He said he tried to forget about his time in Vietnam. He would not talk about the deaths he experienced with anyone. He was ashamed about being injured by lightning and not by the enemy. His wife told him he should try to forget the things he saw and did. 

In 2001, Jerome got an unexpected call from Wilson’s wife asking him if he was the brother that her husband kept talking about that was with him in Vietnam. When they reunited, Wilson told Jerome that while they were in Vietnam, Military Assistance Command was looking for artists to draw caricatures on military aircraft and the first sergeant recommended him. Wilson thanked Jerome for saving his life. If he wouldn’t have shown the first sergeant that picture, he would never have gotten out of the bush. 

They visited each other and stayed in contact until Wilson’s death in 2020. Jerome has been going to the 501st reunions throughout the country for about 20 years. Only at these reunions does he talk about Vietnam.  Mark, his second foxhole buddy, and Dan, his radioman, see him at the reunions every year. Besides traveling to the reunions, Jerome likes to fish but his favorite hobby is woodworking, displaying many things he’s made in his house and yard.

His family and friends have been encouraging Jerome to go on Honor Flight Chicago. One day Jerome went to a local grocery store in Lowell, Indiana, and saw an Honor Flight Chicago table. The volunteer manning the table convinced him to fill out an application. He was supposed to fly in May but his wife had to have surgery, so he was rescheduled. Jerome has been to D.C. twice, once for the dedication of the Vietnam Wall memorial in 1982 and in 2019 with the 501st reunion.  He is looking forward to going with Honor Flight Chicago to revisit the five names he knows on the Vietnam Wall memorial.