Steve Plummer

Veteran of the Month, December 2005






I was born in Wisconsin in 1947 and when I was 8 we moved to the St Paul Minnesota area and I've lived here ever since. During high school I started working in a grocery store. I got drafted in 1967 and after the Army, returned to my old job. I was married a few years later and we have one daughter. After 18 years the grocery chain laid me off. By then I had been a Manager for a long time. I started my own business and went into real estate for the next 11 years. After that I started working for the Postal Service in 1993.


I was born Oct 10th 1947 in Ladysmith Wisconsin. [I think that would make me about 38 years old now]


I graduated from White Bear Lake High School in 1965. I did go to a Junior college for 6 weeks but that was just to get an early out from the Army.


I went into the Army August 2 1967 as a private and left as an E-5 twenty two months and 6 days later.


I'm a Letter Carrier in Stillwater Minnesota. I hope to retire in 2 or 3 years.


I've been married to my wife Karen for over 30 years. The army awarded me a good conduct medal this year for my service in 1968. People at work told me that she should have gotten the medal instead of me. I can't figure out what they meant by that.


We have a 27 year old daughter, Kelly who just moved to California.


My best accomplishment in life was not mine but my daughters. It was to see her graduate with a PHD in Chemistry from Harvard University this year.


I really wanted to join the Army but after High School I had a good job, a girl friend, and a new 1966 Chev Impala SS 327 4 speed. Life was great then, I got this letter from the President that said greetings.


I went to Fort Campbell Kentucky for basic training. Ten weeks later on to Fort Hauchuca AZ for a truck driving school. I wanted to be a tank driver but my eye sight was too poor. I guess the Army figured you didn't need to see that well to drive a truck. My best buddy from AIT, Larry, and I sat by each other on the flight to Vietnam and laughed and joked all the way there. We must have thought it was going to be a big adventure. Only, Larry never came back.


I was assigned to the 585th tractor trailer company. We were under the almost famous 8th trans group running convoys from Qui Nhon to Pleiko and An khe on QL-19 . The 8th protected their own convoys by welding armour plating on to many of their vehicles and turning them into gun trucks. I still remember the Sargent Majors speech to us when we joined the 8th. YOU MEN WILL BE SUBJECT TO AMBUSHES, LAND MINES AND SNIPERS. I must have watched too many John Wayne movies because I thought this was going to be exciting. It wasn't, you would be on the road every day 12 to 14 hours with never a day off unless your truck broke down. Our company moved to Da Nang by LST's then on to the Phu Bai area some time around February 1968. We were making convoys with the Marines through Hue and up to Dong Ha. We spent a lot of nights on the perimeter bunkers or on reactionary forces after we got back in from the day time convoys.


I belong to the VFW the Vietnam Veterans of America and Army Transportation Association Vietnam.


Two years ago I started finding people from our company. Most are from the 1968 period but some before that time. There are about 40 of us now and a lot of us keep in touch through email and phones. I met 3 of my best buddies at a reunion last year and it was a high light of my life. Thirty five years had passed but it seemed like we just picked up where we left off. We have a bigger reunion planned for next year. One of our lieutenants took home movies of some of our QL-19 mountain pass convoys and the city of Hue etc. So I have a CD movie of the LST's and places we were at.


I found the Patriot Files 4 or 5 years ago. It was the first time I ever got to hear what other Vietnam Veterans were thinking and talking about. When I got home in 1969 I was proud of what I had done but noticed if I mentioned Vietnam, people would back away. I never talked much about it for 30 years until now.



Steve Plummer "aka" splummer