Johnny Webb: They Called Him “Doc”

For many, brotherhood is a bond that flows deeper than blood and stands stronger than bone. For Johnny “Doc” Webb, Jim Gridley, and the members of the first American ground unit that crossed into Cambodia at 08:45 on May 1, 1970, that brotherhood would be forged in a white-hot moment under the weight of a merciless war.

“The briefing from the night before was absolutely bloodcurdling,” said Gridley, recalling the night before crossing into Cambodia. “None of us expected to see dark. At morning, every one of those guys… put on their helmet and their flak jacket and climbed into their positions. We were scared to death but glad to be going because we knew we were going to make a positive difference.”

Over 40 years later, that brotherhood created positive difference that resonated once again, this time with Dodge County Pionier newspaper owner, Andrew Johnson. After losing his son David in Afghanistan in 2012, Johnson and his family received such overwhelming support from Vietnam veterans, that when he learned of the Faces Never Forgotten project, a nationwide effort initiated by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund that aims to put a face and a story to each name on the Memorial Wall, he felt more than compelled to help the cause.

“The support that we received, that our family received, from people we didn’t even know, was eye-opening,” Johnson said, addressing a journalism class at UW-Milwaukee. “Especially the Vietnam veterans. They said they knew what it was like to be forgotten, and they didn’t want that to happen to David.”

After a fire in 1973 destroyed 6 million military records, including many of those who belonged to Vietnam veterans, the task of collecting photos was already an unfathomable undertaking. But when Johnson met UW-Milwaukee Senior Lecturer Jessica McBride at the Wisconsin Newspaper Association Convention, she volunteered to enlist her students to help seek out the 64 photos of Milwaukee-area veterans whose photos were still missing for Wisconsin.

One of those photos was of 21-year-old Johnny Lee “Doc” Webb, a dedicated army combat medic from Milwaukee who served with Third Platoon, Charlie Company, 2^nd Battalion, 47^th Infantry Regiment, 9^th Division, the first ground unit to cross into Cambodia. Along with Jim Gridley and the other hundred or so members of their unit, Doc faced 46 days of grueling, near-continuous combat. Despite the overwhelming danger, the brotherhood the men had formed had them watching each others’ backs constantly.

Doc Webb seemed particularly beloved by his comrades. Another veteran who knew him posted on his memorial page, “Johnny Webb was a true friend of mine. We were the two platoon Medics in Charlie Co. 3rd Platoon 2/47 Inf. 9th Inf. Div. If you knew how he loved his family and talked to me about his wife and family you would know this also. I watched him die and this will never leave my mind until I see him again in heaven. For all those you helped thank you Johnny ‘Doc’ Webb, for all those you left behind I know Johnny loved you.”

After volunteering to carry the unit’s heavy radio in order to give his RCO a break, Gridley stepped into a hole while crossing a flooded canal in chest-deep water, completely submerging himself and all but the top of the radio’s antenna. Doc quickly reached forward and pulled Gridley up enough to get his head above water and right himself.

“He wasn’t a real big, rugged guy,” said Gridley. “But… at that point in time he had the strength I needed.”

It was strength that was carried on by all for all, even on June 11, 1970, when an RPG strike took the lives of Thomas Taylor, Johnny “Doc” Webb, and Gridley’s best friend, Gary Utriainen, and wounded 23 others.

As if the pain of losing brothers wasn’t enough, growing hostility toward the war back in the United States meant that returning troops were greeted with animosity and resentment by the media and public alike.

“When we came home we buried things for a long, long time,” Gridley said. “The press didn’t do us any favors. One of my biggest complaints in life has been that there were some very brave, gallant, dedicated, good men who did their jobs, did them well, and then came home to be shunned and maligned and it wasn’t right.”

Despite the sordid history of the media’s reception to and presentation of the Vietnam war, Gridley is hopeful that projects like Faces Never Forgotten will help change the public narrative of so many soldiers who selflessly gave their lives for their country.

“There’s been so much negative stuff out there since 1965… that it’s time that some positive stuff gets out,” said Gridley. “So if someone is doing something positive for any of them, that’s wonderful. For somebody that I knew and loved like Doc, that’s even better.”