Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:03 | Thomas Owens reminisces about life at the forward base in Vietnam, where he operated ground surveillance radar. The memories are pretty grim; rats which begged like dogs, filth, and cold food. Some of the locals who worked there were pacing off distance for attacks, but others were helpful and generous.
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His brothers made fun of him but Thomas Owens felt called to volunteer for duty in Vietnam. He was sent right up to the dangerous area at the DMZ at the same time the ill-fated incursion into Laos was occurring.
The bus full of men deploying to Vietnam broke down in Haight-Ashbury, of all places, and some were tempted. Not Thomas Owens. He stayed on the bus. When he got to the fire base near the DMZ, they put him in front of a typewriter, but soon handed him a rifle and assigned him to a ground surveillance unit. The war was winding down and he was alarmed at the lack of readiness.
Thomas Owens was the real Forrest Gump, and he's still looking for his buddy from Vietnam, Samuel Dozier, with whom he lost touch shortly after the war. They didn't have much recreation where they were. Stand still outside for a minute and you drew a rocket attack. He says we won the war because Vietnam is going capitalist and he admires the success of Vietnamese-Americans.
There were bad days and good days in Vietnam. A bad day for Thomas Owens was loading bodies onto helicopters or dodging rockets. A good day was when the Donut Dollies came to visit. By the time his unit was standing down, he wound up in the hospital, worn down by bad nutrition and infection. He was determined to walk out of Vietnam though.
He was aware of the antiwar movement, but just ignored it. When Thomas Owens returned from Vietnam, all he wanted was a hamburger. He's on speed dial with his fellow vets and he advocates for what he considers right, much to the consternation of his local politicians.
Thomas Owens has no use for bureaucrats, especially the ones who left him with no change of uniform and no decent food. He laments that going to the VA is just like going to Vietnam all over again. You can't get what you need. He does his part for today's returning veterans and he wonders, why do only the negative stories about veterans get all the publicity?
