real veteran's stories.

The following are real veteran's stories, which I learned from interviews conducted at a Veteran's Hospital, in July 2007. I just asked veterans to tell me something interesting that happened during their military service.


Albert H.: I was working as a mechanic in the army for 3 years, starting in 1947. I worked on buses and tanks. I went overseas to Japan after World War II.

KOREAN WAR.

Mr. Harrison: I was in the Marine Corps in Korea from 1950 to 1952. I was hurt three times by various caliber guns. I was sent home by plane and ship. I was in the hospital for three years afterwards.

Thomas H.: I was in the Navy starting in 1950-1953. My ship was the Anteon AR13, a repair ship. We patrolled the waters near Virginia, then moved to Korea, during the war. We had to watch for bombers and suicide pilots. We carried wounded men ashore.

Frank O.: I was in the army, and served in Korea from June 1953 to 1954. I was in an engineer pipeline company. We pumped aviation fuel to air bases. Our company number was #383. Our fuel came in carts, and when the creeks would flood, the pipelines would snap and aviation fuel would go everywhere. Sometimes after this happened, some Koreans came smoking every now and then, and when they tossed their cigarettes on the ground, it ignited the aviation fuel, and "Boom!" (I am John O.'s brother. [See below.])

BETWEEN KOREA AND VIETNAM:

Mr. Radan: I served in 1957 and '58, during the Cinderella Liberty. Soldiers had to be back at base by 12 midnight, or they would be considered AWOL. One time me and some friends snuck into the surgeon's barracks and stole some liquor, but we got caughty. He was a nice guy, but we had to buy the liquor back.

Mr. Cyfers: I worked on an aircraft carrier from 1958 to 1962. I manned the catapults to shoot planes. I was involved with several minor skirmishes.

John O.: August 13, 1961. I was a junior cryptographic officer in an engineer company. I oversaw construction and landscaping. A few hours before 12 o'clock, I got a call from headquarters for top secret clearance. I was told to bring my night bag, which we drilled with every month. When we got to the place we were told to be, I got a plane with a Brigadier General. When we arrived where we were going, I watched women laying cinder blocks to stop the enemy from getting into West Berlin. I advised to crumple the wall. I said it was like trying to paint a barn with a small paint brush. That night, 20,000 armed infantry moved into Berlin, and there was a battle but we won.


VIETNAM WAR.

Tony: My job was to go upriver and rescue wounded soldiers such as crashed pilots in the Vietnam War. It was a really dangerous job. I even saw a few tigers every now and then. We would illegally sneak beer and liquor onto the ship, and a few times we were caught. And whenver one person had to get to the other ship, we would get him over using a rope and basket. The only unsafe thing about this was that if the rope snapped, you'd go into the water and likely drown. We would send someone in the water after him, but that person would usually drown, too.

F. Walker: I was in the army during the Vietnam War. I was with engineers building roads. Sometimes explosive mines would go off if we paved the road over one. We started out with 60 men, and by the end there were only 16 left.

John W.: I went to boot camp in Rhode Island, after which I was sent to train with the Marines. I returned to Rhode Island to go to the battalion I had been assigned to. I was assigned another battalion, and I also went back to boot camp. Each place kept saying I was supposed to have gone somewhere else. When I finally got to Vietnam, we had our fair share of skirmishes. One day, I was standing on a tank of mortar and explosives. A sniper in the hills shot the tank, and I was launched 30 feet into the air, where a piece of metal went through my leg. When I fell back down, I was surrounded by molten material. When I got out, luckily for me an ambulance with two doctors was passing. When I got to the hospital, I found out my left foot was completely twisted around, and was only held on by the front and back layers of skin. I stayed in the hospital for one and one half years, with hundreds of stitches and 17 surgeries.

Stevie B.: I was an APC carrier driver in 1975. I trained in the Mojave Desert.


Time of service unknown.

James E.: I have been to Africa, Arabia, Greece, Bahrain, Sicily, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin and Canary Islands, and the Red and Dead Seas, Lebanon, and Babylon. In the Canary Islands, our destroyer, the RH McOur 822, sunk a rival destroyer. Whenever we landed, I usually had shore duty. This was an advantage, because I usually got the first pick at clubs and rum factories. We escorted aircraft carriers, and whenever there was a man overboard, and I or someone else rescued the man, we'd get ice cream. [Editor's note: There was a Destroyer R. H. McCard DD-822. It is unclear if this is the destroyer to which James E. refers. There is no mention in a historical article of DD-822 sinking another destroyer in the Canary Islands.] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Robert_H._McCard_(DD-822)

Leslie C.: I was in the Navy on the USS Sallen CN39 in East Metrocania. It was a flagship. I was a diesel mechanic. [Editor's note: Could this be the USS Salem, CA-139? That ship was also a flagship and served in the Mediterranean.] http://www.uss-salem.org/