CPT Norman Sheldon Saliman, Denver, CO on www.VirtualWall.org The Virtual Wall® Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

Ground Casualty

CPT Norman S. Saliman served with Mobile Advisory Team (MAT) III-2, Advisory Team 91, Headquarters, Military Assist Command, Vietnam (MACV) Advisors. MACV Team 91 was located in Binh Duong Province northwest of Saigon, RVN. When Saliman took over in the fall of 1968, the team consisted of an assistant team leader and three noncommissioned officers. The MAT team advised Regional Force/Popular Force Vietnamese units within the province.

In January 1969, MAT III-2 was sent to Dau Tieng, the headquarters for the Michelin rubber plantation. Several small hamlets housing plantation workers had been relocated to a central area to provide better security. A Vietnamese Regional Force (RF) company was assigned to protect them. MAT III-2's job was to advise the RF's on security and coordinate joint operations with nearby U.S. Army 25th Infantry Division units.

During construction of the relocated village, large piles of bulldozed trees and brush were left behind. The heavy equipment had long left the vicinity, and there was no way to move or clear the piles. Saliman wanted to dispose of the debris by burning it, but the plan was discouraged since the trees and brush had not sufficiently dried out.

On March 3, 1969, the camp was mortared, so the following morning Saliman decided to go ahead with his burn plan. While pouring gasoline from a 5-gallon jerrycan, an explosion occurred sending up a large wall of flames. Saliman was trapped by the fire, and it was several minutes before rescuers could reach him. An aeromedical evacuation was requested as team members provided what aid they could to the critically burned captain. Placed on a stretcher and given a syrette of morphine, Saliman was coherent and speaking while they waited for the medivac. He slowly lost consciousness when placed on the aircraft.

Following hospitalization in Vietnam, he was medically evacuated to the U.S. Army burn center at the 106th General Hospital in Yokohama, Japan, for treatment of 2nd and 3rd degree burns over 75% of his body. There he developed bilateral pneumonia and expired March 12, 1969. Saliman was 33 years old.

Following word of his death, a memorial service was held in his honor at the district headquarters and attended by Team 91 members and advisory staff along with the Vietnamese district chief and his staff. [Information provided by Larry Binford (December 2023 to VVMF)].

- - The Virtual Wall, 31 March 2024