Survivors of the Battle for Cu Chi - Going Home

My husband served for one full year in the extremely hot and humid jungles of Vietnam. He performed his duties, one operation after another with little time for processing anything that had taken place during the extended battles. The days back at base camp were few and the days on the battle field were long and demanding.

He kept a "short-timer's calendar", marking off the days until he could go home and leave the war behind. Most veterans will tell you, however, that you really don't leave the war behind. You take it with you and then spend decades of your lifetime trying to overcome the painful memories of war that push their way back out of your subconscious mind. Some try to dull the painful events with alcohol, drugs, or sex. Coping mechanisms of all kinds and types will be found in most veterans of war. Trauma is trauma, no matter how it comes and human beings simply are not meant to carry the trauma inside. The trauma of war must come out and be dealt with, just as any other trauma that might be suffered.

When the final day on the short-timer calendar was marked off and about a half-dozen men were due to leave Vietnam, they were carried along the narrow highway to Bien Hoa in an open convoy. The men would be spending the night in Bien Hoa before catching a flight back to the United States. However, during the night, the runway at Bien Hoa was heavily mortared, forcing the men to endure another convoy trip to Saigon in order to catch a Braniff International Airlines flight to Oakland, California. The flight itself was more than 20 hours long and the men slept most of the time, just trying to overcome the extreme exhaustion.

Vietnam veterans were not shipped to or from the battlefield as a Unit, but separately. They were transported on passenger jets along with travelers from many other places. Going home in this fashion meant there was no time or place for the men to gather to talk about their experiences or to express the relief they felt in surviving and finally going home.

Arriving in Oakland, California, my husband was whisked away by a cab on the bustling freeways. He was transported to the Processing Center and recalls the culture shock of being in such heavy traffic after living in the fields of Vietnam for a year. With nerves already frayed, he has vivid memories of that cab ride. The time spent in Oakland and the events at the Processing Center are a blur in my husband's mind.

We have all learned much at the expense of the Vietnam veterans. Today, men are shipped to and from war in units and they are transported on military planes, not passenger planes. The men have time to talk and process the events as they are coming home from war. They are welcomed at the military airports by friends and family members. Not so with the Vietnam vets. There was no one at the airport in Oakland, CA to welcome my veteran husband home from war. His welcome would not come for many days as family and friends waited anxiously for his return.

Leaving Oakland, the plane transported my husband first to Chicago and then on to Indianapolis, IN where his mother and step-father lived. He was welcomed home by his parents, spent some time with them and then purchased a new automobile. He drove himself to his beloved, Panama City, Florida. He was welcomed home with a huge banner on his grandmother's house, saying, "Welcome Home". This soldier was finally in a place where his heart could find the much needed relaxation and peace that it needed. He was on leave from the military for about one week before he was due to report to Fort Knox, KY to finish out his remaining six months of service time.

At Fort Knox, as Sgt. Messer, he supervised a housing barracks of basic trainees , performed a variety of other services, including teaching a class on military courtesy, and NCO in charge of corrective custody. He received the Bronze Star Award and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in October, 1967.

Source:

Personal Account