Soldiers Once: My Brother and the Lost Dreams of America’s Veterans
My brother, Jim, a Vietnam veteran whose life unraveled in the decades following the war, was buried on the eve of 9/11. He was a soldier once, proud and courageous, but in the end he lived in poverty and isolation, with little more than a drawer full of medals to show for twenty years of service. Thinking of my brother as I watched new wars being engaged in Afghanistan and Iraq, I wondered how we could keep the promise to support the troops, not just in the urgency of the battle, but in the long aftermath when they return home. Told in Soldiers Once, my brother’s story is the centerpiece of a larger story about our nation’s moral duty to heal our wounded warriors.
My brother, Jim, a Vietnam veteran whose life unraveled in the decades following the war, was buried on the eve of 9/11. He was a soldier once, proud and courageous, but in the end he lived in poverty and isolation, with little more than a drawer full of medals to show for twenty years of service. Thinking of my brother as I watched new wars being engaged in Afghanistan and Iraq, I wondered how we could keep the promise to support the troops, not just in the urgency of the battle, but in the long aftermath when they return home. Told in Soldiers Once, my brother’s story is the centerpiece of a larger story about our nation’s moral duty to heal our wounded warriors.
Jim was with the lst Engineer Battalion 1st Inf. Div.
He was a Engineer that was in the
JUNCTION CITY Op. I and II achieved very significant results. The
tabulated materiel results are attached as the last page of this narra-
tiave. Not all of the units participating in Operation JUNCTION CITY
had a chance to participate in one of these pitched battles. Those who
did made the VC pay dearly for the mistaken idea that they could overrun
a BIG RED ONE position. Other units contributed in other important ways.
The lst Engineer Battalion, for instance, constructed two new airfields
in War Zone C and erected a new bridge capable of carrying tanks across
the SAIGON River into the zone. Highway 13 was held open for military
traffic almost continuously for three months from SAIGON to QUAN LOI.
see story athttp://www.quarterhorsecav.org/pg44e1.htm
He was a Engineer that was in the
JUNCTION CITY Op. I and II achieved very significant results. The
tabulated materiel results are attached as the last page of this narra-
tiave. Not all of the units participating in Operation JUNCTION CITY
had a chance to participate in one of these pitched battles. Those who
did made the VC pay dearly for the mistaken idea that they could overrun
a BIG RED ONE position. Other units contributed in other important ways.
The lst Engineer Battalion, for instance, constructed two new airfields
in War Zone C and erected a new bridge capable of carrying tanks across
the SAIGON River into the zone. Highway 13 was held open for military
traffic almost continuously for three months from SAIGON to QUAN LOI.
see story athttp://www.quarterhorsecav.org/pg44e1.htm
Jim was with the lst Engineer Battalion 1st Inf. Div.
He was a Engineer that was in the
JUNCTION CITY Op. I and II achieved very significant results. The
tabulated materiel results are attached as the last page of this narra-
tiave. Not all of the units participating in Operation JUNCTION CITY
had a chance to participate in one of these pitched battles. Those who
did made the VC pay dearly for the mistaken idea that they could overrun
a BIG RED ONE position. Other units contributed in other important ways.
The lst Engineer Battalion, for instance, constructed two new airfields
in War Zone C and erected a new bridge capable of carrying tanks across
the SAIGON River into the zone. Highway 13 was held open for military
traffic almost continuously for three months from SAIGON to QUAN LOI.
see story athttp://www.quarterhorsecav.org/pg44e1.htm
He was a Engineer that was in the
JUNCTION CITY Op. I and II achieved very significant results. The
tabulated materiel results are attached as the last page of this narra-
tiave. Not all of the units participating in Operation JUNCTION CITY
had a chance to participate in one of these pitched battles. Those who
did made the VC pay dearly for the mistaken idea that they could overrun
a BIG RED ONE position. Other units contributed in other important ways.
The lst Engineer Battalion, for instance, constructed two new airfields
in War Zone C and erected a new bridge capable of carrying tanks across
the SAIGON River into the zone. Highway 13 was held open for military
traffic almost continuously for three months from SAIGON to QUAN LOI.
see story athttp://www.quarterhorsecav.org/pg44e1.htm
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