My Vietnam Story

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Vietnam was constantly in the news, but I never thought it would affect me personally. I did date a girl in high school whose father was killed in Vietnam. I remember talking about it with her and her mother. Their house always seemed to have a constant air of sadness about it.

I was 20 years old when I volunteered. I joined the Army primarily because I wanted to qualify for the GI Bill in order to continue my education. During Signal Corp training at Ft. Monmouth, NJ, I became friends with Frank, Richard, and Barry. We use to joke about our first assignments, but no one thought we would be sent to the Vietnam conflict as troops were being withdrawn and the war was winding down.

Barry received his orders for Germany. Frank, Richard, and I were to report to a unit located at Phu Lam in the Mekong Delta. While none of us were happy, Richard was the most upset and swore he would not go. Before I reported, I took about a week’s leave back home in Texas. I remember how my assignment was upsetting to my parents, particularly my mother who cried as I was leaving. And then there was my younger sister who was constantly involved in Vietnam anti-war protests but was very supportive of me despite her feelings about the war. It seemed so strange that such a faraway place could cause such divisions in the nation and in families.

Frank and I arrived at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon and were put on a jeep for transport to our processing-in facility. I remember an Army sergeant in the jeep with us asked me if this was my first time in Vietnam. After I answered in the affirmative he said he was on his third tour: the first in 1964, the second in 1968, and now a third in 1972. He joked that he got sent to Vietnam “every time there was an (expletive) presidential election.”

Frank and I arrived at Phu Lam and were put to supervising the Vietnamese nationals who worked on the base during the day. These were mostly women and I remember one 16-year-old girl telling me that her husband was in the Vietnamese Army fighting at An Lac. I was stunned because at the time An Lac was the location of some fierce fighting.

In the morning, I would wade out in the swamp surrounding Phu Lam to do maintenance on the large coils of concertina razor wire fence and to check on the M18 Claymore mines that protected the facility.

About every other night I pulled guard duty. I was stationed on a perimeter bunker armed with a radio, an M-16 rifle, and an M-60 machine gun. The Vietnamese government had a curfew beginning at 10 p.m. Each night I remember how eerie it was to watch the busy street in front of the base go completely silent. At night between radio checks, all I could still hear was the distant thunder of weapons being discharged. While on guard duty I watched in darkness except when the night sky would light up as aerial fares were dropped from passing aircraft.

We were told that Phu Lam had experienced occasional sniper fire but nothing major until one night the intel officer called us all in to reveal a disturbing report. He said Intel had been received that the Viet Cong was planning a major attack on either a “major communications center or an ammunition supply depot in Mekong Delta.” Since Phu Lam was the only major communications center he suggested we could be the target. He was then asked what combat support we could expect because most of our on-site combat support troops had left as part of the drawdown. The officer replied that our combat support was actually a Military Police Battalion located some 20 minutes away by helicopter.

There was complete silence in the room as everyone realized the implication of what it would be like to be overrun by the enemy. The silence was broken and the room burst out in laughter when one of the guys asked “Sir, then what can we expect in way of medical support?”

The attack on Phu Lam never happened and a couple of months later I was glad to receive orders that my tour was being cut short and I was being reassigned to Okinawa.

Overall, I felt very fortunate to have served. I think the experience gave me a much greater appreciation for the absolute sweetness of everyday living. I do still think about Vietnam, particularly about the men and women who sacrificed more and were placed in much greater jeopardy than I ever was during that conflict.

My personal closure on Vietnam came in the 1980s when I received a letter from Richard who did indeed desert from the Army rather than go to war. He told me he went underground working in California for years until he applied and received amnesty under a Proclamation issued by President Ford. He asked what happen to me and Frank. I wrote back and told him about Phu Lam. I said that Frank re-enlisted in the Army and was the best man at my wedding in 1976. As for me, I left active duty in 1974 and accepted a civilian job for the Army. I told Richard I was still with the Department of Defense working as a computer programmer. After that exchange, I never heard from Richard again.