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I am a Viet Nam Veteran. I was there from Jan. 12, 1969 at 1 a.m. (local time) until Dec. 31, 1969 at 2:15 p.m. I wasn’t supposed to come home until Jan 12, 1970, but thanks to then President Nixon, in order for him to keep an election promise, all members who arrived between Jan. 1 through Jan. 15, 1969 were to be returned by Dec. 31, 1969. Thank you, Mr. President! As stated above, our plane left Da Nang Air Base at 2:15 p.m. local time and we arrived in California at 7:05 p.m. local time. And no, it did not take just under five hours, it took around 30 hours. We crossed the International Date Line somewhere between Guam and Hawaii. I didn’t actually arrive back in Tennessee until Jan. 4, 1970.

My homecoming consisted of my parents, my sister, her husband, and their four daughters. We were all extremely happy to see each other again. After a few days I made contact with a few of my friends and they asked “How are you?” or “Are you OK?” or simply “Glad you’re back”. Of course they had no earthly idea what I had experienced the last year, and either did not want to know or just did not care. And so it went on with the people I met over the next several years. After I retired in 1987 from the Air Force, I rarely spoke about my time over there. In fact I was proud of my service but still on the other hand, ashamed of my time over there. About the only time I spoke about that time was when I recognized another Viet Nam Vet, mainly from the hats they wore declaring “Viet Nam Veteran”. It was only in the early 2000’s that I decided it was time for me to show my pride in my service so I got a “Viet Nam Veteran” hat.

Just a short time after I got my hat, I had to go to the V.A. in Murfreesboro for an appointment and I wore my hat. Sitting in the waiting room, I noticed another “hat” and the guy made eye contact with me, smiled, and nodded in recognition of me. I smiled and nodded back. I finally felt proud to be a Viet Nam Vet. Since that time, whenever I recognize anyone who was a Vet, I will go up to them and hold my hand out to shake theirs and tell them “Welcome Home, Brother” and they usually reply with their own “Welcome Home, Brother” to me.

This past September, I had an opportunity to take an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. with a group of Viet Nam and Korean War Veterans. This experience changed my thinking about being ashamed of being over there forever.

There were twenty five or twenty six of us Viet Nam and Korean Vets and about thirty or so men and women on that bus from the Tullahoma, Winchester, and Manchester area. There was one doctor, three nurses, and several people who called themselves “Guardians” that accompanied each Vet. Many were in wheelchairs pushed by their Guardian. We left Tullahoma around 3:30 a.m. with a stop in Manchester. We had an escort of about twenty five motorcycles, a Tullahoma and Manchester police car, and a Coffee County Sheriff’s who took us to the Rutherford County line on I-24. From there all the way to BNA at Nashville we still  had nine or ten bikers leading the way.

As we arrived at our gate a little after 5 a.m., we unloaded and went through the terminal gates and I was stunned to see about twenty young men and women, probably college students, waiting for us with signs that read “Thank You’ and “Welcome Home” and a couple that said “Heroes”. They were all smiling and some girls were blowing kisses. I was speechless. As we made our way to a waiting area, people would see us coming and would applaud us and say “Thank you”. Some would want to shake our hands. The airport managers escorted us to a reception room where we were welcomed by Nashville TV news stations channels 2 and 4. (I don’t know what happened to 5 and 17. Oh, well.) we were given a light breakfast and some were interviewed by reporters. After that we were taken to our departure gate that probably had ninety to one hundred folks waiting for their airplane. As we went by, some recognized us and stood and applauded and soon all of them were on their feet applauding. What a wonderful feeling that was.

After boarding and taking our seats, the remaining passengers were boarded. As the plane was taxiing to the runway the pilot announced that they were on an Honor Flight and we got another round of applause. As we flew, I tried to take in the fact that there were so many people that felt good about us. I had no idea what awaited us in D.C.

We arrived around 8:30 a.m. and landed at Reagan International Airport. As we got off the plane (we were last because of all the wheelchairs) and entered the terminal, there were many, many people there waiting for us. We were cheered and waved at and saw many signs as in Nashville, but even more. Again, I was amazed. As we made our way through the terminal we had the same greetings; applause and welcoming people.

We finally got our light luggage and boarded our touring bus. We made the rounds of military sights. The Korean War Memorial, World War II Memorial, Washington Monument (I never knew how huge it was), Arlington Cemetery, and Several other monuments that I can not recall now. Most important for me was the Viet Nam Wall. I held back tears as I went by the length of it, looking at it but I did not try to read any names on it for fear of seeing a name I knew but never knew they were over there. It was very emotional.

As we went around the area some people would stop different ones of us and want to shake our hands and tell us thank you .At one point I was stopped by an Asian woman who asked if she could shake my hand. (I have been diagnosed with mild PTSD as I get nervous around Asian people.)  I held out my hand to her and she took it with both her hands, gently, and said “Thank you very much for being there.” I could not speak. If I would have opened my mouth I would have broken out crying. I just tried to smile and shook my head yes. I had never received so much gratitude for anything I had ever done in my life.

The Honor Flight Program healed a lot of old mental bad feelings that I harbored for years. I would highly recommend any Viet Nam or Korean War Veteran take this trip. I think it will help. It sure did help me.