Page 94 - Stand Down Vietnam

I am told that PTSD affects my train of thought for one
thing and depression. I see doctors at the VA for my
PTSD, and I think they do a pretty good job.

Some of the Vietnamese people were okay. I just had a
feeling about most; I didn’t care for them. I didn’t
trust them, I felt many of them were Viet Cong
sympathizers.

Bien Hoa was a major airbase. New troops were arriving
daily, and troops were leaving. The caskets of those
that didn’t make it were taken aboard cargo planes, I
never saw a casket loaded on a freedom flight.

William Calley; a man that did his job. He was told to
do that, and he did. He was responsible for all the
killing of those people. Someone higher up from him
hung him out to dry. I think he should have gotten an
award for that mission. It’s bull that his superiors
do not know; it just doesn’t wash.

Before going into the service I listened to Country and
Western and Rock and Roll music. When I hear certain
songs, I know where I was at the time. I could
instantly know who an artist was when a song came on
the radio. I could identify them, like Marty Robbins.
There was one song that played while I was in Vietnam,
it was Give Me A Ticket for a Plane. I kinda liked the

song Green Beret, but I haven’t heard that in a long
time. That song had a lot of meaning for me at the
time.

When I saw images of the evacuation of Saigon, it
brought tears, because of so many guys that didn’t go
home. It kinda hurts. Oh, we lost, we lost; over
58,000 didn’t come back home. I’d say we lost.

On my return from Vietnam, I came through San
Francisco, and I was one of the lucky ones to get spit