Found out something new about my uncle

[melody1181]

It seems that he was with an armor unit(tanks?) for a year before going to the 129th AHC. I had no clue to this but a guy from the 129th told me this from some of his records and said a picture of him shows an armor patch.

I had no clue at all, goes to show you he didn't talk about it ever.

[DMZ-LT]

My daughters are 29 and 26 , I never talked to them about Viet Nam. Now they both read here and we can share some of those times. A Dad wants to protect his children and not bring up frightful times.Peace

[Andy]

Isn?t it sad that you had to find out all of this by doing research. I will never forget all those times that my grandfather (WWI) and my Dad and his brothers (WWII) talked about their service in the military. Never heard a story that started with, ?I was so heroic??, it just wasn?t like that. Some of those stories sounded like a bad car accident, no doubt that?s what it was like. Some of those stories sounded like, ?the time I almost got arrested??, those were interesting. Some were tales of humor and anyone who tells you that nothing in the military was funny, isn?t telling the truth. To complete a veterans story, there are memories of love, ok, lust. Having only two son?s I?ve never felt a need to avoid telling them stories of that ilk, felt they needed to know I wasn?t made of marble, as it they didn?t already know that.

I?ve written about 20 stories that were told to me by relatives who served in war. Plan on someday passing them on to my grandchildren. To do less seems it would be cheating my family of an important aspect of their personal history. We are the sum of our total experiences. Those experiences include how our parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles dealt with us. If they were impacted by war that impacts who we ourselves are.

The idea that your uncle was in armor, probably tanks or APC?s and transferred to aviation is not unusual. To a grunt who might sleep in the dirt with all sorts of nasty critters, drinking very warm dirty water or beer or soda, eat cold meals, dealing with all the mosquitoes, and living in a house with several others that is little larger than an SUV isn?t everyone?s dream job. Flying in a chopper, being at base camp at night, having many creature comforts was a great vocational option for many a tanker or Mech Infantryman. Your uncle sounds, well he sounds Normal.

Hey Lt., we both know that leading a squad or platoon in combat can take it out of you. Someone gets hurt or dies and you blame yourself, even when you know there is nothing you could have done to prevent it. But that must not be your only memories. You have to tell your girls some of what you did. Bearing in mind, that unlike some of us you never went to a cat house, there must be lots of things you could tell them. How did you feel the first time your platoon went out on a mission? Yes, saying something about fear and lack of self-confidence is fine. It puts YOU and who You are into perspective. No, I?m not telling you what to do, it?s just a suggestion. Look at how very interested Melody is.

Stay healthy,
Andy

[melody1181]

I understand that it was hard for my uncle and I don't blame him at all for not talking about it...what little he did talk about was very hard for him. However I wish that he had written down some of the stuff for at least his sons to know. One of them has hardly any clue as to what his dad did or went through.....thats my main reason for wanting to know more.

[DMZ-LT]

Hey Andy. We do talk now but it took this site to be able to talk to them. They even smiled when they learned of the whore in a mail bag story - so did their Mom. I would like to read your stories if your sharing outside the family. Peace

[Boats]

DMZ - I can appreciate what you've said I too waiting sometime until my daugher's could better understand some of the issues that their Dad had undertaken in his life.

No matter what we think our kids are real smart and they are often times wiser than you and I give them credit for. My youngest is 26 an she wants all my prior military records and medals to keep. My oldest just loves me for who I am.

They have surprised me for how quick they are to know when and when not to ask questions about certain things. Yet as old as I'm getting they still count on me for support of which I'm grateful.

My littlest sweetheart my Grand-Daugher is now 5 soon to be 6 and she's growing so fast that I'm afraid she will grow up sooner than I'd like. My kids grew up so fast that I can hardly remember them as kids anymore. I look at pictures of then and now and I'm amazed how much time has gone by.

My wife and I are at the age now where we are trying to figure out what we want to do (with our current health issues) with the rest of our lives.

My kids hate when I talk like this but I'm just trying to prepare them for the day we all have to finally take part in. I tell them we don't live forever and doubt anyone really would want to - but we are here today and we must make the best of it while we can.

My Mother and I had a falling out and regrettably I never did patch up those issues before she died. Mom's have a tendency to rub you raw sometimes in hopes that they can shock you back into some reality world that they live in. I regret those issues and by the time I got it together she had passed on.

My Dad and I fought like dogs when I was young tried to shoot him once with a 45 for bad mouthing my younger brother. My step Dad took the gun from me before I could do the deed.

I grew up quickly but not without issues. Father married 5x and Mother x3. Sister and Brother and I were in orphanages and foster homes. We got split up and things went nuts after that. Now the brother's gone - the twin sister to Larry is a special kid if you know what I mean and things move on.

I've carried a lot of baggage around with me for years. My wife - God Bless Her - has kept me stable and on track. My kids know my background they know me better now than I think I know them. They are wise these kids and I'm grateful for God giving me such children.

I should delete this but I felt some urge to put this on paper its been an inner battle of sorrow and grief that I took along with me to VN and to this very day. VN gave me focus and direction and the military gave me a family with structure. Many like me were in the service who had problems at home and needed to find something worth meaning.

[DMZ-LT]

Hey Boats . Got two pictures on my desk. One is a picture of my daughters last Christmas and the other is a picture of them when they were 3 and 5 sitting in my lap. Feels like about 3 days between then and now. Sounds like you been a great Dad , well done sir.

[Beau]

Originally posted by Boats ...
My Dad and I fought like dogs when I was young tried to shoot him once with a 45 for bad mouthing my younger brother. My step Dad took the gun from me before I could do the deed.....

I should delete this but I felt some urge to put this on paper its been an inner battle of sorrow and grief that I took along with me to VN and to this very day. VN gave me focus and direction and the military gave me a family with structure. Many like me were in the service who had problems at home and needed to find something worth meaning.

Boats: Leave it ... on the General Discussion board .... "Mexicans to US .. etc." (about page 3 now) ... I alluded to some of the same things and I kept it up there. It was only that kind of thing that happens too often, but nobody wants to discuss it.

And I really do believe in the great Quantum Hologram, or"Christ is all, Christ is in all, and Reincarnation what goes out comes back, and a few here going to Reincarnate as Wetbacks ..." at the risk of sounding too New Age-ish .... I think you took on some family Karma and paid it off, to wit ... good wife and kids. My belief is that our children come into this "earthly plane" with a fairly good review of who the parents are, what they have been through, and what the exchange with them will be .... so, I personnally do not talk about my past too much with my girl .... I have sensed and old and compassionate soul in her from way back.

[I saw alot of blood growing up ... I tried to act like my more violent, and controlling and "macho" half bros .... but I never felt it. I picked on my younger half bro ... more out of acting like a clone of the older ones ... one day I picked on my half bro and he went crying to his dad .... I was waiting for him with a bow and arrow on my lap ... strung but did not use it .... Andy came up to me and hit me in the head, and I did nothing .... another incident happened, and Andy hit me in the head again .... and I was about 14 or more .... I knocked him down with one punch .... pow ! .... there was another incident, and my "mother" intervened .... she got in between us and grabbed a mostly empty gallon jug of wine and crashed it over his head .... blood and that stunned look on Andy's face .... and my mother turned and bawled her face into my chest, in the way women do ...."

I got much more .... but I won't do dat, you got a "full plate" .... a few years ago when we learnt Andy was dying .... we visited him (my little family) at the hospital .... he lay there old and shruken .... our eyes made contact and shook souls from the past .... I kissed his forehead .... but it does not mean that now and then I can't flash into anger, you do not tell young 8 year olds "I dee god damn son of a bit .... no good lousy ___ " etc...

I repeat: I do believe my girl was shown all this and there is no reason to tell her all .... she wears it.


Oh .... my unca Gene ("Duster" with Quad 50s ... attached to the 24th Div ... Korean War) .... his father was a Mexican by the way .... he did not know I was in Vietnam until someone mentioned at my aunts funeral about 4 years ago .... and I did not know he was on a Duster .... I will treasure a note that he sent me, about 2 years ago .... re: my service in the Army and Bitnam "..... I want you to know that I am really proud of you."

I do, and don't ... feel like an American: Beau

[Boats]

Beau,

I'm sorry and you are right.

[Keith_Hixson]

MY mother died two days after I was born, child birth complications. My Father had some friends who owned a dairy farm and they took my twin and I in until he could find a family member to help raise his twins. Well, I lived with the Stovall family until I was 18 and went to California and college. The Stovall's had an adopted son who was in the Navy (Seabees) during WW II in the Pacific and when Korea started he joined the Army and served in Korea. He came home after Korea on leave and fell off a haystack and broke his back and was paralyzed from the waist down.
He told me a lot of stories about both WW II in the pacific and Korea. He had been a firefighter for the city of Walla Walla before WW II. So, he had this "hero'' image about him.
My Father and my older brother always visited us at the Farm on a regular basis. My Biological father always was the one who took me hunting and fishing.
I always thought under the circumstances I was fortunate because I loved by two families. I was treated like a family member by my Foster Mothers family, and then I had my biological family. So in many ways I was lucky to have two families. My foster brother died in 1968 of complications from his broken back. My foster parents died in the late seventies and early eighties, my dad died in 1994 and my twin died in 1996. But when I think back about it I sure was fortunate to be loved by two families. I learned about Patriotism from all sides of the family but I learned more about the importance of the military from my disabled foster brother.

Keith