So I finally asked my Dad about Vietnam, Mom always told me to just let it go and he will tell me when he was ready. Me being the curious person I am this has always been difficult for me, but I have done it. My curiosity takes back burner to my dads feelings and comfort any old day! But tonight I finally asked, I know very little, I know he lied about his age to go, that he enlisted at 17 went to boot camp and was sent for his first tour at 18, thats all I knew. I remember when Amber and I were little and we found his purple heart, but for some reason that never thought about asking how, My grandfather also has one. What I never knew was why he had it, my dad was a gunman on the helicopters that were sent into the thick of things, "search and destroy" is what my father said, well something happened, they got hit and some shrapnel hit my dad in the head, and hit his best friend in the chest. My dad responded to the emergency and tried to save his bestfriend's life, he performed cpr until they landed, cpr on a man or a boy more accurately whose heart was torn from his body. I'm not sure what happened after that, my dad was treated for his wounds and given the purple heart, I guess my Uncle Robert was sent over and so my dad left the area and went to Korea(?) I'm not sure if that is accurate...either way because of what he went through he was asked to do search and rescue...better then search and destroy. His new job was to go out and find shot down pilots and bring them home, dead or alive. On one outing my dad's helicopter was gunned down, my dads helmet was shot off his head, luckily the only wound he received was a gash on his head that left a scar. At that point it sounds like he was sent home, cause he said he served a tour and half of active duty...I know at this point they sent him to a few different locations where he was shell shocked and spent the majority of the time self medicating with booze and locking himself in hotel rooms. . . at 18-19 i don't blame him one freakin bit! In my eyes, my dad is a hero, and a bit of a bad ass :) i have some scanned images of him in vietnam i will try and find the thumbdrive and get them posted.
