Home From Nam

By Dr. Reinaldo Irizarry Sr. PhD

This book is a small tribute to the bond esteemed veterans formed during their time together in Vietnam. It is a testament to their shared experiences, the struggles we faced, and the lessons we learned.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oxford Book Writers
• Release date: Feb 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088027776

Book preview

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Reinaldo_-_ebookPaul HendricksHashir202018-03-29T10:19:00Z2023-02-20T22:11:00Z2023-02-20T22:11:00Z911280773000Aspose6081718563616.000027a35869adfb37f3bb1b6c9433046b4f0f6f7efcb71714d65e4d78fecb0f9365

Home from Nam

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Reinaldo Irizarry, Sr., PhD

Republic of South Vietnam

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1966 – 1967

Copyright © 2023

All Rights Reserved

SHOULDELL CREST

AIR BORN WINGS

The American Flag                   The Republic                       Peace sign of the

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USA                            of South Vietnam                Flower People

Flag

Dedication

To all my fellow men and women who served alongside me in Vietnam, this book is dedicated to you. I am forever grateful for your courage and sacrifice in the face of unimaginable challenges. Some of you made it back home, while others did not. To those who did not return, I offer my deepest condolences, and I pray that your souls rest in peace.

This book is a small tribute to the bond we formed during our time together in Vietnam. It is a testament to our shared experiences, the struggles we faced, and the lessons we learned.

To all my brothers and sisters in arms, thank you for your service, your bravery, and your unwavering dedication. This book is dedicated to you, and it is my honor to tell our story.

Reinaldo_-_ebookPaul HendricksHashir202018-03-29T10:19:00Z2023-02-20T22:11:00Z2023-02-20T22:11:00Z911280773000Aspose6081718563616.000027a35869adfb37f3bb1b6c9433046b4f0f6f7efcb71714d65e4d78fecb0f9365

The sixties were an era of high stress and confusion. Sad events were taking place during a time it was supposed to be the age of innocence. There was an unpopular War waging across a large ocean in a Country few people knew little about.

A country that had been at War with France for generations, a country that the United States was trying to help and bring democracy, became our worst nightmare by getting entangled with its internal affairs and having an unpleasant outcome.

It was a time when there were demonstrations across our Nation, dividing our people. However, it was an era filled with hope, rich with charm and grace, a time of innocence when hippies, known as the flower people, held hands while protesting the War.

It was an era of forgiving, an era of caring, an era for showing love for one another. The hippie’s philosophy was to love your neighbor without conditions and not meddle into their affairs, especially other Countries.

A time when there was a War, causing the U.S. thousands, of lives, with nothing to show for it but a black marble wall monument in Washington DC. A wall filled with fifty-eight thousand names of our finest young man and women on it.

Men and women who served and gave their lives to protect the way of life of people who did not appreciate what it has been done for them. While in many instances, some of our young men, rather than helping our soldiers fighting overseas, were carrying signs protesting the War, instead running across the Northern Border into Canada to avoid the draft. A time when family members gathered on weekends to enjoy BBQ parties and discuss the War that was unpopular, causing great despairs among our people while also dividing our country.

We had the youngest president elected, a man with a beautiful family whose dreams for our country we will never know, and his name was John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Shot and killed on a Friday afternoon after 12:30 p.m., on November 22, 1963, by a lunatics bullet whose ideology and twisted mind we will never know.

On that Friday, my unit was placed on the highest alert our country has ever been. We were all shocked and surprised on how anyone could be as evil and full of hate to take the life of our president. We were on a tarmac on an airfield in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, waiting to board C-130s, which were to take us to Texas, but the orders never came.

This was supposed to have been the new age of Camelot for America. It was a time in our nation's history when it was going through a transition period when everyone was full of doubts of the events taking place in their lives while at the same time filled with hopes.

A time when democracy was at its highest and people’s rights have been tested. The War was having a gravely negative impact on our economy, causing great uncertainty with Wall Street and having our stock market decline while at the same time creating high disparity among our younger generation.

It was the time when the Motown Record Company in the City of Detroit had music groups like the Supremes, Otis Redding’s, the Impressions, Mamas and the Papas, and many other fine groups, keeping our young people full of hope, and,