Thread: Vietnam Vets, sign in please.

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My sister’s husband died the last week in November 09, 62 years old got his first SS check also like my brother and he had a military funeral the first week in Dec. He was a Viet Nam Vet serving in the Air Force. It’s hard for anyone to sit through a Military Funeral but being a Military person from that era seeing the old Solders dressed and paying honor to a fallen comrade is really touching. Watching the Flag being folded with such precision, the tears really fall. When you hear the 21-gun salute it gives a feeling that’s hard to describe. When the hugs and tears stop one is proud to be a part of doing what was asked of him/her during a time of War. My brother also had a Military Funeral being a Viet Nam Vet. He had cancer all through his body and they were testing for Agent Orange but when he died they said the file died with him so it was not confirmed. He was not bitter knowing he had a short time to live and he was still proud that he served his Country. My Mother in-law also had a Military Funeral she was in the Army during WWII.

Richard

I was at Udorn AB Thailand from Sep 69-Sep 70. In the 432nd RTS I processed and shipped film and imagery for the 432nd TRW. I did touch down in country twice coming and going through Saigon. I feel very fortunate to have been in the Air Force and in a safe place. We worked our butts off, 6 day work weeks, but that's nothing compared to what the grunts had to live through. I saw a lot of neat photos and shot up planes coming back.

Pat

hq siagon until tet,then 1st air cav,1st of the 7th.18 months then 7th maintaince batt. the 562nd lmc sattahip,thailand 145th engineers sattahip71-1973

Our family serves, 13 uncles in WWII all returned but 1, 6 uncles in Korea only 2 came home, 7 in vietman of which none came home. I was denied entry to the service because of the losses in our family and I being the only remaining male ere. I was devastated being denied at the time to get revenge for my cousins who some where my very best friends. I have lived my life like I feel they would of wanted to and I would give anything for them to be here. That said, thank you all that have served to allow me to have the life I have, you all are our greatest asset, thank you.

Originally Posted by brickman

Our family serves, 13 uncles in WWII all returned but 1, 6 uncles in Korea only 2 came home, 7 in vietman of which none came home. I was denied entry to the service because of the losses in our family and I being the only remaining male ere. I was devastated being denied at the time to get revenge for my cousins who some where my very best friends. I have lived my life like I feel they would of wanted to and I would give anything for them to be here. That said, thank you all that have served to allow me to have the life I have, you all are our greatest asset, thank you.

brickman,
What a sacrifice your family has made and to think that being one family, how many other families have given their loved ones as well. I’m happy for your family that you were denied so you could raise a family which the other members did not have that chance.

My nephew is going back to Iraq next Month for the third time. A lot of my family has been in Korea, Vet Nam and now Iraq. There were five brothers including myself in my family and we were all in the Military. I wish more people would think of the sacrifice are brothers and sisters are making so we can have our freedom.


Richard

I too have a number of family members who have served in the Army, AF, Marines, Navy...
2 uncles who served 32 and 12 years respectively, I served 6, and i have an elder brother who served 26.US ARMY; I have 2 nephews who served 4 and 6 years respectively, and yet another 2 who have served 4 years and IS servicing in his 2cnd year of his 2cnd 6 year enlistment..US Marines.
I have a female 1st cousin who is an AF Helcopter Pilot and is curreently in the 21st year of her carreer., and a 1st cousin, David, our only NAVY or swabbie candidate who is in the 17th year of his naval career as a propulsion engineer aboard a Naval Fast Attck Sub.....
In all i have family members who have served in some capacity in combat and peacetime since 1949 when my Father's elder brother Joined the US army and became an MP, incidentally, 1949 is my birth year, 09/11/49, so in essence ALL MY life.... even those of my family who never served nor have any intention of ever serving, have always seemed to b beaming proud of ALL our family members, 1st to present who have and do serve.
Not to put a racial tint upon the thread, but a note.... im from a middle class black midwestern family, born in St. Louis, Mo, my Father's only child in. All the stories black baby boomers have generally, in cities like St. Louis,... are of poverty conditions, Slum and or projects hand me down, welfare, rats roaches, gang etc... AND abject, violent, insane racism. I have experience only of the latter. At age 14 in 1963, i watched and listened to the '' I have a dream speech " in the capitol, live and in person, i was in my 5th period 7th grade class later that year when i heard the news of JFK, and i wepted openly on both occassions. Later, a Milwaukee NAACP Commando after the death of Dr. King, i spent a week of the summer of 68 at the 2cnd " Poor Peoples Campaign "... I have spoken with, and or seen live and in person folk such as Dr. King, Stokely Carmichel, H. Rap Brown even a brief distant glimpse of Malcom X before his death...ALL these folk i followed, loved and revered them, agreed with some points they all made and disagreed with others.... BUT...My attitude has always been...whatever else i am, i am 1st AMERICAN, my family on both my mother and fathers side have been in this nation since before it was one in the 1700's... I ain't African American, im AN American of African decent, IM not a Black American, im an AMERICAN Black. ALL 1st cousins, as much as possible, all through my family, as much as possible, have been raised as brothers and sisters, in MY generation thats 43 of us, 29 of whom yet live.
As we were RAISED( children in OUR family were never allowed to GROW UP, our folk insisted that WE BE "RAISED" which isn't nearly the same thing). 1) YOU CAN'T GO WRONG DOING RIGHT..2) YOU CAN"T GET RIGHT DOING WRONG...3) When it is YOUR family, even when they are wrong, they are right before all others while anyone else is against them, after all, there's more folks outside your family than in, Why help THEM?...Like it or not, for better or worse. sink or swim... AMERICA is a FAMILY.
My generation, including myself esperienced the Marches, beatings, lynchings, white/colored drinking fountains, back door service, can't afford to buy from where u work, Still, after all that..on December 4 68 i enlisted in the US Army, spent X-Mas 68 in BOOT CAMP, spent X-Mas of 69 as well as my B-Day sick in Nam.... not because i wasn't scare....not because i didn't have VAST differences with MANY thing that went on in my nation, much of which adversely affected me simply becaue of the color of my skin, including the reasoning i felt we were in NAM For and How we handled it...still, it NEVER made sense to me to put ur life and blood on the line to fight for rights in a nation which ur unwilling to put same on the line to defend to the death against all enemies for whatever reason ur nation might choose.....I was willing to DIE for my rights in AMERICA because i was willing to DIE for AMERICA, not the other way around.......I know some Black Folk, with good reason, had it twisted, including Muhamed Ali whom i worship and revered till this very day since i 1st heard of him... For me, no matter what contention i may ever have with my nation, it ends when someone comes AGAINST her... actually, im somewhat of a seperatist when it comes to America, i don't care if anyone else likes us or what we do or not, ain't any of em even got to come here, and anyone who has THAT much issue with us can kindly LEAVE, even Americans, LIKE McVay, hell, i'll help pay ur way... in SPITE OF ALL, the RED WHITE AND BLUE is STILL what i love....That Represents MY Family

Originally Posted by MrWizard455

I too have a number of family members who have served in the Army, AF, Marines, Navy...
2 uncles who served 32 and 12 years respectively, I served 6, and i have an elder brother who served 26.US ARMY; I have 2 nephews who served 4 and 6 years respectively, and yet another 2 who have served 4 years and IS servicing in his 2cnd year of his 2cnd 6 year enlistment..US Marines.
I have a female 1st cousin who is an AF Helcopter Pilot and is curreently in the 21st year of her carreer., and a 1st cousin, David, our only NAVY or swabbie candidate who is in the 17th year of his naval career as a propulsion engineer aboard a Naval Fast Attck Sub.....
In all i have family members who have served in some capacity in combat and peacetime since 1949 when my Father's elder brother Joined the US army and became an MP, incidentally, 1949 is my birth year, 09/11/49, so in essence ALL MY life.... even those of my family who never served nor have any intention of ever serving, have always seemed to b beaming proud of ALL our family members, 1st to present who have and do serve.
Not to put a racial tint upon the thread, but a note.... im from a middle class black midwestern family, born in St. Louis, Mo, my Father's only child in. All the stories black baby boomers have generally, in cities like St. Louis,... are of poverty conditions, Slum and or projects hand me down, welfare, rats roaches, gang etc... AND abject, violent, insane racism. I have experience only of the latter. At age 14 in 1963, i watched and listened to the '' I have a dream speech " in the capitol, live and in person, i was in my 5th period 7th grade class later that year when i heard the news of JFK, and i wepted openly on both occassions. Later, a Milwaukee NAACP Commando after the death of Dr. King, i spent a week of the summer of 68 at the 2cnd " Poor Peoples Campaign "... I have spoken with, and or seen live and in person folk such as Dr. King, Stokely Carmichel, H. Rap Brown even a brief distant glimpse of Malcom X before his death...ALL these folk i followed, loved and revered them, agreed with some points they all made and disagreed with others.... BUT...My attitude has always been...whatever else i am, i am 1st AMERICAN, my family on both my mother and fathers side have been in this nation since before it was one in the 1700's... I ain't African American, im AN American of African decent, IM not a Black American, im an AMERICAN Black. ALL 1st cousins, as much as possible, all through my family, as much as possible, have been raised as brothers and sisters, in MY generation thats 43 of us, 29 of whom yet live.
As we were RAISED( children in OUR family were never allowed to GROW UP, our folk insisted that WE BE "RAISED" which isn't nearly the same thing). 1) YOU CAN'T GO WRONG DOING RIGHT..2) YOU CAN"T GET RIGHT DOING WRONG...3) When it is YOUR family, even when they are wrong, they are right before all others while anyone else is against them, after all, there's more folks outside your family than in, Why help THEM?...Like it or not, for better or worse. sink or swim... AMERICA is a FAMILY.
My generation, including myself esperienced the Marches, beatings, lynchings, white/colored drinking fountains, back door service, can't afford to buy from where u work, Still, after all that..on December 4 68 i enlisted in the US Army, spent X-Mas 68 in BOOT CAMP, spent X-Mas of 69 as well as my B-Day sick in Nam.... not because i wasn't scare....not because i didn't have VAST differences with MANY thing that went on in my nation, much of which adversely affected me simply becaue of the color of my skin, including the reasoning i felt we were in NAM For and How we handled it...still, it NEVER made sense to me to put ur life and blood on the line to fight for rights in a nation which ur unwilling to put same on the line to defend to the death against all enemies for whatever reason ur nation might choose.....I was willing to DIE for my rights in AMERICA because i was willing to DIE for AMERICA, not the other way around.......I know some Black Folk, with good reason, had it twisted, including Muhamed Ali whom i worship and revered till this very day since i 1st heard of him... For me, no matter what contention i may ever have with my nation, it ends when someone comes AGAINST her... actually, im somewhat of a seperatist when it comes to America, i don't care if anyone else likes us or what we do or not, ain't any of em even got to come here, and anyone who has THAT much issue with us can kindly LEAVE, even Americans, LIKE McVay, hell, i'll help pay ur way... in SPITE OF ALL, the RED WHITE AND BLUE is STILL what i love....That Represents MY Family

I just read your post and I was very impressed, I never judge the person I judge the actions of the person. I went in the Army Jan. 6th 1964 Fort Knox Ky. B-10-3 was my basic unit, Muhammad Ali was supposed to be assigned to that unit by stories floating around. My platoon Sergeant, First Sergeant and Company Commander were all excited anticipating him coming to their Company.

Richard

Thanx Richard...tho the post wasn intended not to impress but to show how diverse can b the reasoning behind a servicemans service in spite of other factors that might seem to rightfully preclude such actions.... For instance, during my tour in Nam i was just the 2cnd black flight engineer in the history of my units tour in country. THAT, as was the case with the original post was to show the danger of assumptions and stereotypes when u would try to determine the reasoning for a soldiers life being on the line. The fact is that FEW BLACK folk Volenteered for service during the Viet-Nam era, and even fewer DID NOT AGREE with Muhamed Ali, especially among those who admired and STILL admire him as I do, tho i didn't a gree with his stance, I DID reconize even then the courage he must have had to TAKE it, and i certainly don't know if I WOULD have made the sacrafice he did for a principle.
Also, tho i diagree vehemontly with those folk who protested returning troops, burned draft cards and such, i have NO JUDGEMENT to pass upon those folk who simply ran away out of fear of serving in combat, since bravery isn't the absence of fear but determined by ones actions in the face of fear and NOT EVERYONE can b expected to b brave.

I just found your post was a testament why all people should reserve judgment. When I finished boot camp I stayed at Fort Knox C-7-2 Admin. I wanted to go over seas but it didn’t happen my class was suppose to go to Germany but they skipped us and I was sent to Battle Creek, MI. I was on orders for Korea but they were denied, I volunteered for Korea and was denied. My brother was in Viet Nam at the time when I only had 13 Months to go so I Volunteered for TDY every chance I got. I went to Fort Dix, New Jersey I work for the Supply Sergeant in the office most of the guys from that AIT unit were going to Viet Nam. My supply Sergeant was Black and the First Sergeant was black I served with a lot of Soldiers of color. When four of us were sent to Battle Creek from Fort Knox 2 white guys me being one, and two black guys we spent almost three years together. One of us four had a car a 63 Pontiac convertible we all rode together, we even stopped in Gary In. to see my older brother for a short visit then onto Battle Creek. I really enjoyed Battle Creek. When people asked me what I did in the service I would say a boxed Kellogg’s Corn Flakes.

I know you were not trying to impress anyone but still it’s nice to know what you and your family did, I’m proud of my Family for serving.


Richard

Thanx Ford2....

First click on a state. When it opens, scroll down to the city and the names will appear. Then click on their names. It should show you a picture of the person, or at least their bio and medals.
This really is an amazing web site. Someone spent a lot of time and effort to create it.

I hope that everyone who receives this appreciates what those who served in Vietnam sacrificed for our country.

The link below is a virtual wall of all those lost during the Vietnam war
with the names, bio's and other information on our lost heroes. Those who remember that timeframe, or perhaps lost friends or family can look them up on this site. Pass the link on to others if you like.

http://www.virtualwall.org/iStates.htm

Thanks for posting the link. My wife could see friends that she graduated with in June of 1966 and a short time later they were gone. I was in from 64 to 67 but stayed State side. My brother survived his time in Vietnam from 66 to 67 but later the Agent Orange was a contributing factor in his death at 62 years old.

Richard

Much like you(ford2custom) I am a Viet Nam era Vet, I was in from 1964-67 spent a year stateside and 2 years in Germany turning wrenches.I also was also at Fort Knox for basic, D-17-4 and got to be in the Goldfinger movie,were you?

I was in B-10-3 for basic Jan. 6, 1964 then C-7-2 for AIT; from there I went to Battle Creek, Michigan. I would volunteer for TDY as much as possible to do a little traveling, our class was supposed to go to Germany but that was changed. I spent 3 Months at Ft. Dix New Jersey just before I got out in Jan. 67. That was an AIT Unit for Supply a lot of those guys were going to Vietnam, scared as you could imagine.

Looking back I had some good times in Battle Creek those were the good years. I'm still into cars just like the 60's.

I really liked the Movie especially PUSSIE GALORE but I couldn't get close enough to even know what was going on. I just new they did do some filming there.


Richard

Qui Nhon..1969 check out this site..
http://www.campgranite.org/Camp_Gran...nite_Home.html