Roderick Wetherill
In June 1953, then-Lieutenant Colonel Wetherill took part in a "retrograde movement" at Pukhan River as commander of the 176th Field Artillery Battalion, towards the end of the Korean War.
[6] He was "division artillery advisor" at the battle of Pukhan River, and witnessed first-hand the horrible casualties; he said, "I could see by the gun flashes the arms legs and faces hanging all over the wire.
[2][10] He was appointed the Senior Advisor, IV Corps, Delta Military Assistance Command on June 1, 1969,[2] and served until February 1970.
[11] He advised General Creighton Abrams in June 1969 to transfer certain units of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam out of Saigon to the Mekong delta area to allow them to gain combat experience, but Wetherill's advice was ignored.
[13][14] Specifically, he noted that this was not merely the Viet Cong being involved, but regular enemy troops being engaged for the first time in the area.
[20] The Tenth Circuit decided Polski on jurisdictional grounds, without getting into the merits of the case, while sitting en banc.
[22] Polsky v. Wetherill was cited was precedent ("mandatory authority") in Miller v. United States Army, 458 F.2d 388 (10th Cir.
1971), he ordered an enlisted man who was charged with possession of marijuana to face a general, rather than special, court martial.
[11] His written report to General Frederick C. Weyand on August 31, 1970, about the "Command of I Field Force in Vietnam" was used as a "case study" in "the development of close air support.
So many of Wetherill's relatives attended West Point—his father, a grandfather, and two uncles among them[29]—that it was said his blood was "grey", which is the color of the uniforms at the military academy.
[4] He served with Army Support Group in Panmunjom, South Korea, (1973–1974) the 1st Cavalry Division and as executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry at Fort Hood (1975–1977), CGSC (1977–1979), Individual Training Division at the Pentagon (1979–1982), and Office of the Secretary of Defense (1982–1987),[4] during the Cold War build-up.
