The Blue Guidon The Newsletter of Andover and the Military
Spring 2018
David Spencer Hackett ’61
They Don’t Come Any Finer Quang Tri, the northernmost province in South Vietnam, was bordered to the north by the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and to the east by the South China Sea. Though the beaches, coastal rice fields, and wooded highlands with peaks surpassing 8,000 feet might depict tranquility, Quang Tri experienced intense conflict during the Vietnam War.
second in command. The unit had recently arrived in Vietnam, and within Hotel Company was a young platoon commander, Elliott, fresh out of Princeton and Quantico, happy to be reunited with his friend.
The battalion was on a Search and Destroy mission in late April 1967. Operating just south of the DMZ and seven kilometers northwest of their Khe Sanh firebase, David Spencer “Moose” Hackett Elliott recalled, “We were the grew up in Ligonier, PA. At first company to move north of Andover, Hackett captained varsity [Hill] 861. The terrain was thick, soccer, competed on the varsity steep, and rugged. We moved swimming and lacrosse teams, slowly and settled on a knoll chaired the Athletic Advisory for the night that was not quite Board, and much more. Following midway between [Hill] 861 and Andover, Hackett attended [Hill] 881 North. My friend Dave, Princeton, where he played soccer now the company executive and lacrosse, and was a member officer, camped with my platoon of the Naval ROTC program. for the night. We had had many discussions in our time together Robert Mueller, Princeton ’66 in Vietnam. Dave was fond of and former director of the FBI, Indian stories and was reading a recalled, “In the spring of 1965, series of novels on the Old West. I was a junior. I played lacrosse The protagonist in this series was with a senior by the name of David Spencer Hackett, 1961 Pot Pourri a half-white, half-Indian named David Hackett. He was also a Big Lou, whom he described superb soccer player; indeed, as strong, wily, tenacious, very courageous, and there is a soccer trophy named for him. He was a without fear. Big Lou always commanded his good lacrosse midfielder; perhaps not the best on respect; Dave had always had mine. the team, but he was a determined, natural leader. He enjoyed nothing more than going headfirst into “Dave would often recount one of Big Lou’s more the mud to pick up a ground ball. David Hackett harrowing feats or escapes. He had just finished graduated that spring and was not far from our the last novel in the series before we left the thoughts as we went on to our senior year.” USS Princeton a week earlier. In the end, the invincible Big Lou is finally killed. There was a quiet Hackett was commissioned a Marine Corps second nostalgia in Dave’s voice as he told me the tale. lieutenant upon graduating from Princeton in 1965. We drank a cup of coffee silently and peered into One of his close friends at Princeton was Ord the darkening hills. He was a very close friend and Elliott, Princeton ’66, who followed Hackett into the companion and a good Marine. He never questioned Marines one year later, as would Mueller and others the war much. He was a professional; like Big Lou, who were inspired by Hackett’s example. he accepted the rules of the game he was in.” By the early months of 1967, First Lieutenant In the early morning hours of April 30, the predawn Hackett had advanced from rifle platoon commander light was shattered by violence. The citation for in Hotel Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Hackett’s Silver Star Medal, earned that morning, Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, to Hotel Company’s reads: “the company came under a sudden and continued on page 2