53 years ago today...

[kentuck]

I had just turned 19.

I was working in a meat-packing plant in Detroit. It was hard work but I made good money.

One morning I got a letter from Uncle Sam and it began with "Greetings".

I went back to the hollow in Kentucky to visit my Mom and family.

On October 4th, 1966, it was still dark when I walked out of the hollow. I had a paper bag with one changing of clothes.

That morning, on the square in Pineville, a bunch of us boys from the mountains, got on the bus to Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Eleven months later, I was in Vietnam. As were most of the other boys on that bus.

[Aristus]

1. I'm glad you made it back.

[MuseRider]

2. So glad you made it back. n/t

[Fla Dem]

3. Thank you for your service. My brother as well.

[TEB]

4. Love you friend

[Docreed2003]

5. Welcome home brother!

[In_The_Wind]

6. Welcome home. Thanks for serving.

Oh, and Happy Birthday.

[Wounded Bear]

7. Welcome home!

[flotsam]

8. Both unique and universal

And a great opening for a novel...

[ancianita]

9. So glad you made it back. This memory is so touching, thank you. I bet there's a lot more where

that came from.

[Botany]

10. So how far out of Pineville did you live? And where was the hollow?

Thanx for posting. And can I see the square in this pix? Glad you made it back.
My friend's older brother didn't.

[kentuck]

19. Over the mountain...

Last edited Fri Oct 4, 2019, 12:55 PM - Edit history (1)

...at the top left of the photo.

It was a couple of miles to town.

(The square is hidden by the front mountain. The photo probably taken from the Chained Rock. Population about 2500)

[Botany]

29. So were you in Ivy Grove on 4 mile creek?

Not to be rude did you have running water and a sewage system? 'lectricity?,
Copperheads and timber rattlesnakes? And from November to spring could you
smell the coal smoke?

I had a neighbor who is now a computer engineer of some type but he grew up in
the coal fields of KY and I first met him he was cutting down the plants along his
garage and the ally because he was worried about snakes and i told him we don't
have any poisonous snakes in Columbus, OH but I totally understood his thinking
from where he came from. BTW he got his masters in computers from Ohio State.

[kentuck]

30. Four Mile Hollow was over the next mountain north...

There was a huge mine explosion there on Christmas Eve, 1945. The NYTimes and other big papers were there to report on it. There were 23 fatalities after 6 miners were rescued miraculously.

http://www.gendisasters.com/kentucky/5631/four-mile-ky-straight-creek-mine-explosion-dec-1945

[SunSeeker]

11. Glad you made it back. Happy Birthday!

[Collimator]

12. Yes, thank you for your service.

I am sorry for what you and so many others had to go through. War is awful enough, but the political problems behind the scenes and lack of clear purpose for the sacrifices that you were asked to make must have certainly added to the burden.

[pangaia]

13. Jeeze, I knew somebody from Pineville, back in about 1973-74..

But she was a young girl then, maybe 13-14? I forget. I had just bought a house from some relatives of hers in upstate NY.

[PatrickforO]

14. It was a bad time. A whole generation of our kids were hung out to dry

by the MIC. Little boys in general's uniforms playing with deadly toys.

Glad you made it back!

[volstork]

15. Glad you made it back.

If nixon had not committed treason to get elected, you never would have gone in the first place.

[DFW]

49. From his timeline, Lyndon Johnson was still in office when he went. n/t

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

16. Glad you're here...

Followed you 4 years later. Bad time. Many friends lost.

Thank you for serving.

[HubertHeaver]

17. Your story makes me think of

the song "Last Train to Clarksville".

[kentuck]

21. That song was big on the radio at that very time.

Of course, Clarksville is just outside the gate of Fort Campbell. Most of the base is actually located in TN. But the PO part is in Kentucky.

[HubertHeaver]

31. Listening to lyrics closely, I find the song very depressing.

When you consider the Clarksville was indeed Clarksville, Tn/Ft Campbell, Ky, home of the 101st Airborne, and the time was 1965-1966 it takes on a whole dark theme.

[kentuck]

32. I always thought it had some sort of eerie significance...

..but I could not figure out what it was?

[HubertHeaver]

41. While on a road trip a few years ago listening to the oldies station on Sirius

the DJ was explaining the backstory to several 60's era records. This story is told from the point of view of a young man, probably all of eighteen-and-a-half, stationed at Ft. Campbell and deploying in the morning to Viet Nam. The refrain "I don't know if I'm ever coming home" repeated three times and is definitely the way you feel when you are on your way to the war zone.

[Freddie]

56. Read Bobby Hart's autobiography

He intended it as a subtle anti-war song that went right over the heads of the Monkees’ mostly preteen audience.
Jimmy Webb originally wrote “Galveston” with the same kind of message, but the Republican Glen Campbell changed the words slightly and turned it into a straight love song about a soldier missing his girlfriend.

[ewagner]

38. Clarksville...

Home of 101st Airborne?

[kentuck]

42. Just outside the gate, on the TN side of the base.

Clarksville, TN.

Home of the Screaming Eagles.

[sinkingfeeling]

18. Yes, that's the way it was when half my graduating class received

those letters. The Nam era vets are the ones who deserve our support, just like the WWII draftees.

[ewagner]

20. Similar story

..but I joined the Air Force before my formal draft notice....

but I do remember leaving for the induction center before dawn on a bus for the 125 mile ride north...then airlifted to Atlanta, waiting until the wee hours of the morning while other guys from all over the east coast straggled in from other flights, and finally boarding a chartered plane for San Antonio Texas.

I was lucky. I never ended up in "Nam"....

I'm glad you made it back Kentuck....

btw...we're the same age.

[kentuck]

22. We were luckier than some.

I guess we are the pig in the python?

[HubertHeaver]

35. Air Force, also.

I got a train to Chicago--the good ol' Northwestern. After the induction center we caught a bus to O'Hare and a Braniff to Houston Intercontinental and then on to San Antonio.

My group was already in the "pipeline" for SEA. Six months after the train ride, I was a Phan Rang AB, RVN.

[ewagner]

37. Eventually...Guam...

to HubertHeaver:

[HubertHeaver]

45. We stopped off on Guam on the way to Cam Ranh

Just long enough to refuel.

[DFW]

50. An older friend of mine did the same thing

He flunked out of college, and knew he was going to get drafted, so he enlisted in the Air force and told them he spoke German and Russian (he did, sorta). They sent him to spook school in Syracuse, NY, and he spent his whole time listening in on the Soviet air force from West Berlin.

He was indirectly responsible for me meeting my wife. Always very musical, when he came back to Philadelphia (where he was from, and where I was in college), and told me about the great folk music scene in the cabarets of West Berlin. I went to check it out in 1973 for a week and had a great time. I went back after graduating in 1974, and stayed for much of the summer. On July 25th, I was introduced to an impossibly attractive, unbelievably pleasant woman whose only really failing was the lapse in judgment that induced her to spend the rest of her life with me.

[ewagner]

52. To you DFW...

-
and on finding a life-time mate:

[DFW]

54. An unusual story

First of all, I was used to being ignored by women of her caliber, being neither rich, famous, nor pretty myself. Guys like me just got ignored by women like her where I went to college. So when we were introduced, I just figured same old, same old, I'd never have a chance with someone like her.

But then it dawned on me that I had just been too conditioned, and if I kept that attitude up, I never WOULD have a chance with a woman like her. Maybe the fact that I never tried to come on to her, having no expectations at all, did the trick. Also, she was from the flat farm country of northwestern Germany, and had never met an American guy who spoke German before, so I was somewhat exotic to her. Anyway, she figured that one week in Berlin in 1974 was just a nice summer fling, and she would never see me again, America being so far away and all. I, on the other hand, told myself not to let her slip away. And so I didn't. That was 45 years ago, and we were both 22.

[kentuck]

57. kudos!

[DFW]

59. Dumb luck really

She could have had any guy in the world she wanted. Our paths happened to cross at just the right time, and I was just exotic enough (to her) to arouse some curiosity--that and the fact that she is somewhat nearsighted.

[Glorfindel]

23. Same thing happened to me, kentuck, only in May 66 instead of October

And I was in Vietnam by December. Thanks for sharing your story.

[kentuck]

24. I spent about 6 months in Fort Sill, OK...

They wanted to groom me to be a Forward Observer in Vietnam.

Long story short, I chose to go as an enlisted man.

[Pepsidog]

25. After having served in Vietnam it must be especially agonizing to see where we are as a country

today. Unless the 2020 election puts down the Republican Party for good, our country will be exposed as largely a fraud.

[kentuck]

26. Watergate was bad enough..

But their capacity to deceive was nowhere near this bunch. Don't like the narrative? Just change it!

I think it is tough for a lot of Vietnam veterans.

[nevergiveup]

27. Thank you for your story.

For a plethora of reasons it brought tears to my eyes.

[Beringia]

28. I have always been drawn to stories about Vietnam

Maybe because I heard about it so much in high school. My older brothers were too young to be inducted. My father was a submariner when he was just 16 in WW2. His mother had to sign permission for him to enter. I knew a Vietnam Vet where I worked at a dental school once. He was a dentist and teacher. I think I helped him a little by being a friendly person. He had a kind of unusual face because he was in a car accident and he had something wrong with his feet too I think. He had a lot of PTSD I think. Some of the other veteran dentists and the director that I worked for, looked out for him. He had a poetic soul and played banjo. He also became a Buddhist and married an either Chinese or Vietnamese dentist and had a couple of children.

Anyway, thanks for your service.

[Crabby Appleton]

33. Welcome home, bro

[kentuck]

34. same-same...

Choi-oi...

[Hulk]

36. Similar story...February 1969.

Watched the boys lining up at the mess hall in their greens with shaved heads. Looked like they had been in the Army for months. Next morning, that was me staring at some fresh city slickers in civies.

Five months later I was 11Bravo with an M16 in my hand on my way to Vietnam. I lasted about three months. We were just shoving our youth off to a senseless occupation on the other side of the world that politicians were responsible for .

So futile. Fifty years ago today.... I was walking toward a booby trap that would change my life forever....for what!

[ewagner]

39. To you...

and thousands of others...my heart goes out to you...

[kentuck]

43. I think every Vietnam veteran was changed in one way or another.

Thanks for your comments and your service, Hulk!

[peacebuzzard]

40. In early 70s I went to Murray State,

Not too far from your home. Many of my friends from Murray were drafted. Thank you for your service, friend.
My dad was from Canton close to Grand Rivers and Land between the Lakes.

He was a WWII vet.

[A HERETIC I AM]

44. I was in Athens, Greece on that day

and I was all of 7 years old. My dad was CIA and we were about to experience a Coup de' Etat with tanks in the streets and the whole 9 yards.

I won't say "Thank you for your service" because you should never have gotten that draft notice in the first place.

But I'm glad you made it home in one piece.

It's remarkable that my generation and yours have STILL not learned to stop sending young men to their deaths for no real good reason.

The reason, with very few exceptions, is and always has been, profit.

Profit trumps the public good.

Glad you are safe.

I'm sorry those of us that followed you didn't do what we should have done.

[erlewyne]

46. I can share your experience.

I was drafted in 67. Served 67,68, 69.

Hero I am not. After I got in I realized what a dumb-ass I was. Not you
Kentuck, me. I volunteered for everything. I became an F.O. (forward observer).
I volunteered for Viet Nam and qualified for O.C.S. (officer candidate school) My first day at Fort Knox I
realized I fucked up. I hated the Army. They sent me to Ft.Dix for A.I.T. (Advanced
Infantry). Old fort ding-a-ling.
I hated it! I was to spend an additional ten months for more special training when
I caught a great break. The O.C.S. was broke. They cut me back to 2 years and sent
me to Berlin Germany.

I hated it. Everybody in my MOS was in Viet Nam and so all I did was march in parades
(no fun day in and day out) and stand guard duty and kitchen police. Alerts, no time off.
I worked over 100 days in a row at least once. Always broke. My fellow soldiers were
in the same boat. We did concur that we were fortunate as we get letters from home
of our classmates had died in Nam (or wounded).

Two miserable years and when I got home I discovered that Viet Nam veterans were
not appreciated and the draft-dodgers got all the breaks (better jobs and seniority).
I went down to the Legion to sign up but was not allowed to because I would not sign
an application that says "I believe in God". (not on religious principles but on freedom
principles).

But Kentuck, I am with you and do honor your service in Viet Nam.

Thanks,
Erlewyne

[GeoWilliam750]

47. Very glad you made it back and are with us still

[retread]

48. My Fort Campbell "adventure" started in August of that same year. They needed so many bodies

they cleaned up old barracks from ww2 and shoved the sons of the working class into them.

One of the only positive experiences I took from that 2 year nightmare was meeting and getting to know some of the finest young men I have ever met. To turn them into cannon fodder was criminal!

[Ohiogal]

51. I got a lump in my throat reading your post.

I’m so glad you made it back.

[DFW]

53. I knew several people who went, all slightly older than I was

One friend of mine, from Pennsylvania, where I went to college, though from the other end from Philly, wrote about his experiences as a radio announcer in Vietnam and even got a film made about himself. The film then went on to portray him as someone he totally wasn't (what else is new?).

He did a lot of different things after he came home, went to law school at age 50 (!!), but his last real job, which he was still doing past age 70, was working on locating long-term MIAs in Vietnam and Cambodia, trying to find their remains, and bring closure to their families. Just a wonderful, wonderful guy, whose only flaw was that he remained a Republican to the end of his days. In that, he was highly unusual for an intellectual of his caliber, and I doubt he would have still been one today--he was just too good a human for that.

[secondwind]

55. We were a young newly we couple, married only a few months, when my John was shipped out.

Little did we know that we were about to have a baby. It was an awful time for all. I managed to see him in Hawaii for R and R. But he wasn’t the same anymore.

He came home to us, a different person, to meet his little daughter. A stranger, who still had a year of duty left in Ft Dix. Came home on weekends to get up early at 4 am to deliver The NY Times. It was a crazy time.

We divorced early and remained lifelong friends. He passed away last year. Our daughter still mourns him.

[kentuck]

58. It changed everyone, in my opinion.

It is good that you were able to remain friends.

[weareacouple]

60. interesting story