On this day, you’re apt to thank a veteran for his or her service to the USA. They, in turn, are likely looking back toRead More
Category: FredinVietnam
The spring 1971 air-mobile assault along the Laotian border was the last major offensive of the Vietnam War for US and South Vietnamese troops. Thanks toRead More
Ft. Bragg teemed with so many Vietnam war returnees that the nearby town, Fayetteville, was known as Fayette-Nam. Some of these soldiers brought home lawlessness,Read More
A handful of distinct reasons made our ad-hoc Hog Farm bar in Chu Lai unique. No one ever drank alone or paid for a drink.Read More
Fifty years ago today, on May 4, 1970, the heartlessness of the Vietnam War came home to America: four dead, eight wounded on the OhioRead More
As a boy growing up in Brooklyn, holidays like Easter were paens of cultural traditions: momentous gatherings of an extended Italian American family, from grandparentsRead More
Worry, doubt, confusion, isolation. Fear of an invisible foe. The sad reality of these Covid-19 times? No. A night of guard duty during the VietnamRead More
Returning from Vietnam in 1971, the best thing that ever happened to me was the fulfillment of my relationship with Natalie—which has endured to thisRead More
The onion-skin transcript of my Army court martial is barely twelve pages long. Granted, in the annals of military justice my alleged infraction was notRead More
If not the last of my concerns, the specter of the Vietnam War was hardly top of mind on the morning I was inducted intoRead More