Strel Vietnam War veteran U.S. Army Natick Veterans Oral History Project

this is February 27th 2019 we are in bed at the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital and this tape is part of the Moores institute library's continuing veterans oral history project my name is Jim Ramsey and our camera person is Maureen Sullivan we're very privileged to have with us today Kevin Barry Stroh welcome Kevin thank you you're welcome thanks for being with us may I ask when you were born July 4th in 1950 Independence Day 1950 yes great and where were you born New York City did you grow up in New York City pretty much I had a chaotic upbringing so I was in New York City until I joined the army okay okay do you have brothers and sisters I have one brother in three has sisters three have sisters and you grew up in the city kind of in that what was the neighborhood or the area of New York City where you I grew up in Spanish Harlem Spanish Harlem okay yeah until I could say my top seven then I want to live with my grandmother in it when you were seven yeah okay I see and she lived in Spanish Harlem now I'll see lived in the on 30th Street on the east side and but I started having problems in school and everything else so when I was 14 I 15 I take that back 15 years old I ended up in a halfway house for juvenile delinquents you did okay in Hell's Kitchen New York in Hell's Kitchen yeah and that's is that is that a southern Manhattan Earth yeah that's on the lower west side Laura what's up yeah if I may ask how long were you were in the halfway house until I was 17 years old when I joined the army Wow so you went right into the army from the halfway house yeah Wow Wow so what is your marital status now are you married I'm have to be married good for you that's great and do you have children I have two sons that don't know me I've seen but you also you want ice cap Shula but I have five step to five step shoulder yeah who do know you yeah and therefore the oldest one was in or boy but the the poor three three boys and two girls that lives with their mother when I met her they just gravitated toward me and they love me and you said why is that where your wife is that's from that's where she's from and anyway yeah but now she lives around here or close by here in - serious Leominster okay okay okay and do you have any grandchildren I have one grandson right well I think just recently born right yeah probably about six months ago I'm not no not even that long maybe about four months ago and there's the grandchild in Leominster uh he was in Fitchburg good so he comes to see you from time to time no no I think his parents are afraid to bring him to a hospital okay okay sure well one day yeah and where did you live before coming here to the VA hospital I lived at home with my wife and monster Leominster yeah and how long have you lived in Leominster ah basically since I got the army in 1970 so Leominster long time home yeah yeah mass mm-hmm so you grew up in New York and went in the army and then he came back and lived in Massachusetts yeah I wanna the army I just fell in love with the area and you know if you grew up in the asphalt jungle mm-hmm and he come to Wyman sir you know this is the country and people say this is the country but to me compared to New York City just about anything I guess we're the yes yes good good that's great that's great okay well we'll talk a little bit about in fact we'll talk a lot hopefully about your time in the military where and when did you enter the military because I was only 17 I had to have my mother sign for me that was in New York City August 1967 August 1967 yeah and you were then you were just 17 17 years old Wow and did you this was a voluntary voluntary thing yeah hmm it was during the draft but I know I live on tiered white why did you decide to volunteer why if you if I may ask well living in a halfway house and I really didn't see what I was going to do when I turned 18 about where I was gonna go and my family my grandfather Wharton both World War one and World War two in the army my uncle Martin Korea in the Air Force I had another uncle who is retired from the Air Force so so you had a history of military service in your family dude right duty honor country yeah duty honor country and so I decided to join the army good for you good for you so and you joined the army and you why did you choose the army by the way why not the Air Force for instance or the Navy it just seemed natural to me good but that's that's great and where where did you and lift in the exit in the city yeah okay did any family or friends sign up at the time that you know what that was nineteen seventeen nineteen sixty-seven and people weren't enlisting yeah what was it like at that I mean where you were in a special situation and the halfway house I mean people were doing bringing the draft cards and you know going to Canada and everything else so I really didn't none of my friends enlisted look yeah they were there drafted it or somehow got out of it yeah but you you gravitated towards it yeah where were you sent for basic training what Bragg North Carolina or Bragg what was basic training like for you I didn't know what to expect but I embraced it it was the structure I never had any of that growing up you'd be given a task to do and then you know okay this is right this is wrong you know you know this is how you do it and I just embraced it you know even though you really hadn't had any structure yeah exactly it's that's actually interesting because I guess it could have gone either way but you welcome the structure yeah I did which was a good thing otherwise that would have been a tough what about a tougher time yeah that's great was there well what about the physical aspects of basic training it was was that a challenge it was it it was a little bit difficult for me because I was very thin when I enlisted I was like a hundred and ten pounds well but I did all the tests that was required of me you know and you met all the challenges I met all its ounces yeah the obstacle courses and all of that I'm I assume that was part of it yep and I did all that that's great so you basically liked it was there anything about anything that you didn't like basic that is I can't recall anything I didn't like that's great that's great that's great so once so how long was basic training I believe it was eight weeks and the jeweler in 806 I you know we're talking 1967 this is a while ago yeah just uh two years yeah so um in my memory isn't what it used to be it was either six or eight weeks it's fine so did you receive any additional training or specialized training as a result following that yeah after basic I want to Fort Sam Houston in Texas and where I went through medic training medic yeah how did you come to that well when I enlisted I went for a battery a test and I don't whistling yep and that was one of the fields that I was qualified for and that's what I chose so right at the enlistment yeah they you you were kind of singled out as I can be yeah and I chose that and you wanted that yeah have you had any no medical I doesn't sound like you would have grown up no because I dropped out of high school in the tenth grade so no I didn't have anything No and when I was working was in the halfway house like got a job as a mail clerk so no right but it sounded good to you yeah well it's it's great work and I know you'll tell us about it in a couple of minutes so basically for the rest of your military career you were a medic yes I say how long were you don't mind no no no no please help help yourself and how long was that school about the same kind of length or a little walk ya know I'm trying to remember and I really can't I'm sorry about six to eight weeks six day weeks but basically you went in and did you say in August of 67 yeah so basically it was pretty much and I finished AIT in December they are a IT advanced injury advanced individual training with a medic training yeah and the basis way on 60 in December 67 night or the end of November you know I finished it right and then I got lead you know before I shipped out maybe you could tell us a little bit before we get into your duty assignments what does a medic do uh-huh depends on his assignment you can work in the hospital as an aide taking care of patients you could be a field medic and what does it feel better to do huh there's all like a combat medic yeah comic or you could just be stationed with a company assigned as a medic taking care of patients just to get hurt you know members your company if they get hurt or something like that and a medic is different is not a nurse no not a doctor no but actively involved in medical treatment somehow on this spot medical chief on the spot medical treatment okay so after your training which was really towards the end of twenty sixty seven you went to your first duty station yeah I had 30 days leave and then when we finished our training we were standing around and they were calling out orders and where it was the hyda to be at Nam or in 67 we expect being medics who expected most of us Kega or as for Korea I mean for Vietnam to go to Vietnam but about 40% of us got always for Korea hmm and he said well wonder why and then while I was home on leave I picked at the paper one day and I saw that the USS pavel had been captured by the North Koreans and its crew is being held captive said well so when I landed there that's what I was walking into so tensions were very high extremely high when I got there I found out there I've been assassination attempts I'm the president of South Korea they weren't letting anybody who is due to come home they weren't letting them come home they were trying to build up the the troop strength the US troops right yeah and it was I guess determine you view is nowadays available three is coming off the border come across the border and causing problems that the North Koreans yeah we're coming into or making incursions yeah and yeah so I end up being assigned to the second division and then when I got to division of course I ended up being aside to 1st battalion to the 9th infantry regiment 1st battalion 9th and 3 Infantry Regiment 2nd division yep and and again this is a complete change for me from you know basic and AIT and now into this and so it's just a combat situation yeah I end up being a scientist unit and I was assigned to the recon platoon a recon platoon and yeah that we patrolled the DMZ so this platoon had responsibility for patrolling the DMZ yeah and what were you patrolling for or what were you looking for insurgents insurgent from North Korea yeah so here we are this was 16 years after 1968 about January 1968 this is when I got there I was still 17 so the Korean War ended in 1954 but actually I did bet it did because there was no truce signed and in fact they know it still hasn't that's what Trump and Timmer over there saying about well maybe this will be signed now you got he got he had it yeah I believe it when I see it but anyway a truce hadn't been declared and so I mean this was I mean you know it was war but it wasn't really I mean well yeah the person I mean it was war for sure but him that's causing pause there now I was fighting against his father okay awesome and his father was the one that started the Korean War right so there's a legacy there play then right so anyway it was hot as in combat hot so the insurgents would come over well I know it wasn't say it would be high combat hot but uh you go days weeks a month and nothing would happen and then all of a sudden something would happen you know it was crazy like that and typically this what would happen is the insurgents would come over and what what were the insurgents trying to do kind of wreak havoc on the on the Allied forces yeah and what they would do is a little a PCS anti-personnel mines from the Korean War we're still buried along the DMZ and what they would do is they'd come over and they'd dig them up and in the rainy season they throw them in rice paddies and in potholes and this is what the insurgent will do yeah and in my platoon there's three squads and one squad will be on patrol one spotter be on strike force which means is that recarpet I went and talked trouble the strike force will go after them to help and support them and one squad would have three days off to kind of recuperate Yeah right and it was my turn to have three days off and they were proud of mine we went through Matty school together we got shipped over together and we ended up and it's named for to him together and it was his turn to go out on patrol easily talent step on a landmine deluzy lieutenant he's a lieutenant was that the platoon commander yeah and Lewis foot off and my friend was running to him and the time kept waving him back and my friend kept running to him and knelt down right next to him and knelt on another landmine blew his leg off at the hip this was your friend to this day and I was in the village relaxing and having a good time until his day I felt like it should have been me on patrol instead of him but he was it was just it was the luck of the draw well would would you share his name or do you you know no well I'm sorry that must have been very hard he came home with the Silver Star Purple Heart he came home with a Silver Star and Purple Heart yeah he was the first one to come home with the Silver Star since then the Korean War really because he tried to save his lieutenant well he was a hero wasn't he yeah it was so so the patrol would go out and these mine it had these mines been placed by whom by by us to stop the infiltrators but they were still there I wonder don't know I'm some of them make me still be there I wonder nothing would surprise me alright so you had to beaverton so did you have so you must have had mine detectors or was there any way to detect these signs yeah in the winter with the freeze coming you could hear the mines blowing you're the boy yeah with the lawyer yeah we're Christopher there freeze would contract the earth got it so would squeeze the squeeze mines don't blow up all right right did your platoon ever actually directly encounter the someone trying to infiltrate or well I see when I was there no I want to be honest and frank not sure when I was there no but things were really starting to heat up and we spent so many months on the DMZ and then we go back to our base camp and another outfit would go up yeah a little platoon no another division we've got the segmentation would come back and another division will go up there and it would seem like when that other division would go up there North Koreans would drive them crazy was there any artillery light coming over or no not okay you know we had till they did I think you told me once that your regiment had a special name and then choose the Manchus yeah and that's the night I'm sorry the ninth regiment in 1950 regiment yeah and what's the history what's where does the manchu come from Manchus come from we fought in the boxer dying Batra rowboat oh yeah defending the Emperor China excuse me and when our flag the boy who was CLAT carrying our cover colors he was shot and killed and then tired command it picked him up and he started running with them and coming and just as he was being you as being shot and killed he yelled keep up the fire and that became our man oh my arm keep up the fire keep up the fire and to this day members of the 9th any Manchu we have a special bond we know our history we're one of the founding regiments of the United States Army Indian Wars we're a hundred so just for off two thousand two Indians and the Sioux gave up and I believe your hat has the symbol yes yeah it's a nine with the Dragon wrapped around it the man truth and underneath the nine it says keep up the higher keep up the fire yeah well sounds like a like a proud tradition yeah that's great that's great so when you arrived in Korea and I guess early 1968 yeah what was your rank at the at the time PNC PFC yeah and so basically so you were either at the DMZ or you were well I go back to the base camp and I'd worked in the pharmacy okay and how far from the DMZ what was the base camp quite a distance people that history is the Korean War or the base camp is actually t-bone Hill she bumped t-bone t-bones like the snake yeah I'm rusty on my career what was that that was a famous yeah and it used to be a lot taller than when we up the hill yeah what happened to it we pulled that we blew the hell out of it you know so but during the Korean War okay so but that was our base camp and sometimes during the summer we would have Kurian civilians come to the gate and they would come up we'd have the box ambulance go down and pick a bunch up and bring him up and I would have a translator there and I would work with the translator for hiring about what was wrong and everything else and maybe prescribed medication that was all right for them and treat them and everything else and Polly would see maybe a hundred people hmm day providing medical care to the local people yeah the Koreans mm-hmm and basically you were offering medical services as well to the troops who needed came to City Hall and who had whatever wrong with them and you took care of them yeah were there doctors and nurses there too there was a doctor we didn't have a nurse we had a person where his rank would be equivalent to an LPN licensed practical nurse yeah that's where his job would be equivalent to he wasn't an RN but use he was an officer he was a missing man mm-hmm but that's where the job would be equivalent to an LPN and again you were caring for Werth but basically your responsibility was people in this recon platoon yeah what which is how many how many men approximately on the platoon well there was three mathematics free medics in Apple Jones yeah I had five men in my squad I went five in my squad okay so you so you as a medic were assigned to a squad so there were five soldiers that were your that you cared had to care take care of yeah or if something happened to them you had to help him out yes did anything ever well they did they ever get into trouble I need you know special help from you know god bless no no I was there thankfully dang that's great that's great and so what were the living conditions like for you I mean we living in barracks not on patrol I'm sure but well in or in the rear we had a barrack situation when we were up at DMZ we had was like a tent type of setup mm-hmm and you had to walk to go take a shower and everything else but yeah so it was basically a big tent but what the troops say in your squad would they like go out at night on a patrol of some kind and then come back the next day yeah patrolling basically always on the lookout yeah or sometimes we would do a three-day where you go out and set up ambushes that night the claymore mines oh and where somebody came across you would set up the mines and everything else and then during the day you would do it what they call a Search and Destroy now what exactly what does that mean well you did go searching searching for you know you'd have a map and we have you a grid and it was laid out where he would go and you'd you go searching before North Koreans did yeah was this based on some kind of intelligence as to where you know with somebody feeding information as to where that was above my paygrade go but anyway some kind of instructions came down yeah set the area of the targets the objective mat grades and everything else for us to write oh yeah so and then occasionally it would go by well you would go to base camp but then then you were then then a whole nother division would come in after a couple after I think three months and where'd you go then we we would go back to our base camp back to the base camp okay yeah but you stay there for in two for three months and then we'd go back to the DMZ got it got it got it got it but rather than right so three months on three months off yeah right cuz if here you couldn't you couldn't stand through a year doing the DMZ so you have to have a break yeah and did you have in addition to that did you have R&R or some opportunity to get away from it all yeah one time when I was back at the base camp and I requested five days and I went to Seoul just whole yeah and I visited so what was all like completely a modern city right you know a complete opposite from the rice paddies and the rural farm cities because even the back of my best camp you would see the homes at the South Koreans who are living in and the cows and everything else in the rice paddies there and everything you could see all that from the base camp yeah I mean so it's a very rule this is the word I was looking up for yep yeah no but then to go to Seoul it was a really a shocker I mean it was such a the high-rises and everything else even for an it New York City boy yeah well let me do the research would all the station spacious unit there anything else and you know it's more you know well it's coming from and then going back yeah obviously it was a shock rolling heel-toe but you know I stayed no hotel for 30 days and went to a movie in Korean and you were what were you with some love some friends or yeah I was with the you know a couple of panels you know and and then I went back to base camp a little bit early and I think you told me that it at some point during the time there was some change and status in terms of sort of the combat pay or oh yeah because when I first got there like I said I was 17 you know that's why I didn't go to Vietnam I thought cuz in you're 17 you're not Loren's allowed to be in a combat zone oh you weren't yeah so and we weren't receiving any combat like that but then I see I turned 18 July and in August a 68 Congress made it official combat zone Congress made what Korea yeah kind of all of Korea South Korea yeah a combat zone oh you know the DMZ the DMZ area you know the area where you were patrolling yeah what's the recon platoon was it's not bad job where's the combat zone when we started we Steve has his duty pay Wow yeah Wow because when I got there I thought it was a complete news blackout to black out we do [ __ ] up yeah cuz I was writing my mother about what was going on there she said we had they had no idea of what was going on over there you know nobody knew what was going on over there so nobody back here knew what was going on yeah and I tell people today that and no offense to other veterans I wanted listener they say you hear about the Korean War and you hear about the Vietnam War but the stress not only your time I spent Korea but years afterwards because I want on that website and I saw like I said my buddy came up with the Silver Star but there was like ten other guys that came home with the Bronze Star in the years after I came back and guys are coming home with the combat infantry badge medics are coming home with combat medics badges so things have got a lot worse after I left and it's like it's forgotten sometimes I ask people didn't remember the public getting captured and people don't even remember that you know and it's a shame so it sounds like you you'd like people to know about this it's it's our history oh it is history you're right people should know yeah but I guess people know what they're told to some extent right exactly and I told anything you know I'm not trying to take care of right like it like I personally said that you know things did not happen to me you know I'm not trying to take credit for anything that happened to me that I didn't do I'm not that type Doris yeah I'm talking about my dear friend I know and the guys that came in after me they're history okay well you're helping you're helping to correct this right now history needs to be told I know and your and and you're helping to tell it right now on camera that's a good thing yeah I just feel well sometimes I guess that happens and what is it it's good of you to get it on the record and have a chance to express how you feel about it thank you very much appreciate well and we appreciate your talking about it and certainly we appreciate your service over there very much so so how long were you in Korea one year one year so basically 68 68 and that came back in January 69 so you rotated back and forth every three months so you had a like six months at the DMZ and six months at base camp mmm and over that time did you were you promote it or did you I came home as a specialist fourth class specialist fourth class and so did you learn a lot about I mean you had been trained as a medic hmm at Fort Sam Houston it's been a year being a medic whoa we're thoughts about being a medic I mean were you did you feel like you learned a lot and were you happy to learn what you learn yes I did you know I felt that this is my calling you did yeah sure you so you really put yourself in the right spot yeah well I know there's a long proud tradition of medics in the military or corpsman in the Navy or whatever they are who do wonderful things and that's great that's great so what do you like most about your assignment in Korea and if nothing up or or what did you like least see what I like most was doing the what we called serene sickles Korean Circle look at what the citizens yeah with the villages hmm and where I had a hard time with the most was holidays was holidays yeah well uh like Christmas oh yes so Christmas of 1968 was tough yeah because you were sort of homesick for you know that with my home you know okay all right so I just I just I was on the DNG all like Christmas time so you weren't back in them and you know trying to set a Christmas tree in the tent all right thing else in that Jew it's just so funny for me and I got you know all this make-believe stuff and I just got so irritated so it's hard it was hard to kind of yeah it was hard to be in the spirit yeah it was but I guess you got a try I mean Christmas is Christmas soon that's the 17 year old kid - what how is the 17 year old right - but were you the youngest and you're always the oldest in my family but in in in the ER group and the sir oh yeah I'm still a kid you were the youngest so did they write back the rest of my platoon oral draftees rest of all draftees yeah all draftees no other volunteer nor their voluntary huh so what was that like I mean did that make much difference once you were that to me not to me so this for a seventeen-year-old boy still man it must have been quite a year for you yeah it was especially being out on patrol at night you know not knowing what to expect from one minute to the other and everything else yeah were you happy to finally leave as a speck for leaf Korea that is leave your leave leave the Manchus yeah yeah I was alright with leaving but what surprised me is that when I landed in Seattle now I was switching planes to go to New York Seattle and then to New York yeah I was in my dress greens my medals are Vincent I mean in my chords and everything else oh I got spit on you got spit on yeah which I'm sure a lot of Vietnam vets got spit on too hung up a lot did but I'm sure some did and this was in Seattle see yeah yeah yeah a lot well I probably don't even have to ask you what that felt like but would you care to say something about what so everything I had in my mind and buy and sell just take my handkerchief and wipe it clean and walk away because I knew if I said one thing it would be you would get ugly well there are a number of did you come in on a military flight yeah it's full of military people yeah so what's this says you were getting how it's going I was going through the airport so I was alone you were alone okay okay okay well so this was 68 the absolute height of the political firestorm that was happening in America right yes were you aware of when you were in Korea were you did you have any awareness or what was going on back in the States yeah really yeah really so you were pretty I mean so so this was a surprise shock to you yeah I mean anytime I mean certainly anyone being getting spit on it would be a shock but you really it came out out of nowhere yeah exactly I'm sorry about that not a way to be welcomed home but nevertheless you made it through the airport you made it to your connecting flight to New York City and it was just this this must have been then a civilian flight yeah basically civilian flight and I went to my grandmother's house what did you I forgot to ask when you signed up when you weren't listed what was the what term period did you enlist for 30 years three yeah okay so what was next for takes New Jersey Fort Dix yeah and I drove in mercy ambulance you drove an emergency ambulance support so you just do get the chronology straight you you flew back to New York did you spend and I had 30 days leave well on time I had a month off and I think you showed us a picture with your grandpa what's your grandfather yeah that's that's my mother's father but this grandmother's my father's mother okay so different but the picture of you and your grandfather was what was it at that time or no that grandfather died maybe years but yeah he was still alive when I came home okay okay okay so you spent some time at home and Fort Dix is in New Jersey so you didn't have far to go no I just hop a bus and go home my tell you what was it like in New York City by the way speaking of political situation well you know I never wore my uniform anywhere really was that because you just didn't want to yeah be part of the and a cousin of mine was part of a group that had a service men's club service before yeah well we could go and with other GIS and you know I coffee and so it or they would supply everything and every once in a while they'd have a band come in we'd have dances and everything else they would in order to have ladies you know be there as hostesses to so so that was a good place to go yeah it was and but when I got to New Jersey or Dix I I think singing myself I am NOT an ambulance driver I'm a combat back in combat about it not an analyst drug yeah and I asked to go back to Korea and they said no you can't go back unless you've been home a year OH so you really if they'd said yes you would have gone right back yeah I wouldn't good other than be an ambulance driver in Fort Dix New Jersey because they asked me why I wanted to go back I said I wanted to go back to support my platoon you support my company right and but they say no you have to be home when you're in combat when you come on me at the beach home for a year or you can go back so I was at Dix for about a year and then I got transferred to Fort Devens so what was it like by the way so this was an ambulance driver on the base well there was three ounces one Amin's we just somebody on base got sick or hurt they would go to that person one would transport patients from the hospital to other hospitals off base and the other name was to be held in reserve in case another emergency cropped up all the other limits was and so a lot of times we would just sing around it so that wasn't no rewarding post no for you yeah and you were still aspect you were respect for yeah and so finally you after a year you say yeah you've got a transfer to weapons for death dampens yet Massachusetts yeah and when I first got there had sergeant out of the hospital say he was looking for a volunteer for an assignment he needs somebody to work the few of Pediatrics Ward look the pediatric ward that female female Pediatrics Ward and he said you will not be mopping floors or things like moving beds and because you'll be working basically with the peds with with the children and the babies it's just like newborns or if they maybe or you know a little bit older than that oh we would get two three four five year olds and I raised my hand that's not a good to you yeah and I did and when I got to the ward the head nurse major Costello god bless you she expressed the same feeling she said you're not gonna be here just the mop floors and move heads and things like that or transport people went to the front of the ward where the beauties were captain said these are your kids okay and so I took care of them and everything else so you took care of the young children yeah like giving them medicine or I would give I couldn't give him medicine because I wasn't a nurse a nurse has to give it okay but feeding feeding them eating and changing and washing them you know it's care of them making sure the beds are changed or clean or whatever yeah making sure they were happy happy yeah I enjoy that thoroughly and then I got I took a little bit of leave time about two weeks leave I took personally and then when I came back I was told by the head sergeant of the hospital that I was being transferred that and I always going to run me emergency room 1107 the emergency room eleven to seven eleven at night to 7:00 in the morning so you were running the emergency room yeah so what does that mean basically I was in charge anybody came in I would determine what's wrong you know what they needed things like that making sure they got the proper treatment because we had doctors there but back then a person that was in medical school and they were in there last year residency they could enlist and when they enlisted they became an officer okay so we had to call doctor and but at the ER he'd be in his room at night sleeping and he did not want to be woken less heart attack leading to death something that major catastrophe a life-threatening situation yeah other than that my responsibility so you basically had to have yeah I I had about two people working with me both medics yeah other medics mm-hmm and they worked under me yeah and this was a Devens which at the time was probably a pretty busy place yeah the 82nd airborne was there and you know it was still a busy place yeah so how did you like that assignment I loved it I mean you were in charge and a lot to do yeah I loved it and I did that until I got out big responsibility huge right I loved it I did that until I got out September 1970 so September 7 e so 68 was Korea 69 was or so was Fort Dix and 70 was Fort Devens and September 70 was when to you was discharged Wow well that's you had varied duties and I guess with the exception of the Fort Dix it sounds like you were happy doing what you were doing yeah and you left does respect for ya so you were you were I'd say let me just so you were discharged where actually what that means at Fort Devens yeah and what decorations had you or had you received decorations well there's the National Defense medal that everybody gets when they enlist and then when I was in Korea I was awarded the National Expeditionary medal the expeditionary yeah and the Korean Defense service well Korean Defense Service Medal okay and I believe we have a display of your medals which will be incorporated in this interview so well congratulations on those thank you what we are feeling so you were discharged at Devens now did you go to Leominster from there yeah I stayed Minister yeah I lived in let me sorry boy right now mister how did you happen to pick the Leominster I mean it's close by yeah I'm a woman and Ciena being my life okay and that brought your dilemma stress yeah and so what were your feelings when you walked out the door so to speak from your cert from your service you were you glad to be done or were you a little did did you have good feelings about your service time yeah and I oh is that don't worry is all nyjah's I was done it was time to go yeah yeah well that's that's good what was the political climate like at the time when you left in September of 70 things had calmed down I would guess some or a lot on XDA a little bit not much I could get who was president at that time I have been with a Johnson Nixon Nixon I'm sorry next time so but Johnson was gone thank God because he was the one really building up Vietnam so but in terms of the scene like in Leominster I mean was there much worse by then most us well US troops were being pulled out of Vietnam yeah so maybe things were a little less hot yeah and lemma sir there was no real let it go uproar and what if there was you it was real more like I would call the country town people who people who Leominster probably wouldn't call that you know they still call it a city a big for New York I call it a country town okay so things were pretty sounds like a comfortable place for you to be yeah and obviously it is it has been because you've lived there ever since until you came here yeah so when you came home did you discuss much about your service time with your spouse or friends or family or really anybody no not really because I remember when I got home from Korea I was at my mother's apartment and I was laying on the couch couch now sleeping and she came over to me and shook me to wake me up oh and I don't know what I did but when I opened my eyes she was standing about four feet away from me with eyes like silver dollars this was your mother my mother your mother yeah and after that she would stand at the door I was sleeping she was staying at the door and call yell at me she would never come near me again if I was sleeping because of shaking you know I don't know what I did that must have been something Tuesday I don't like to be touched when I'm sleeping well I jump yeah well Tuesday so you came to did you join the reserves or any yes how do you a few years later I joined the reserves as a medic I did a year a year yeah in the reserve yeah as a medic and did you consider being in the reserved longer or yeah but it just got to be between that my job and everything else who had just got to be too complicated and what were you doing at the time what was your job I was working with the firm that manufactures computer disks computer disks yeah and we built the the machines that manufactured the gist awesome yeah so did didn't I inspect those machines the machines yeah I inspected them I had you know lasers optics the whole nine yards computer programming and this was early days of computing all right yeah did you have any did you continue in any way your medical work oh my god the army I tried going to my local hospital but I can get a job as an orderly normally yeah and I would start my shift through 11 I would get my patient list in my patient care and I would do them but then after I've done my basic care and the other female aides did their patient care they would go in the break room and break out their knitting and I would go to nurse station and I would have a list of surgical preps to for the next day huh traction setups to do for the next day a inhalation therapy they just have to do and I was getting paid the same Monday that the he was doing all the work visually and after about a year do I said I'm not this you know so that's just that one as I tried swishing hospitals and everything else and went to work in the hospital [ __ ] work which is like City right next door and walking through 11 and was another me laid there and we did the same thing catheterizations surgical preps and everything else I was making a little bit more but uh I guess the passion went out of me yeah so I just stopped and back then I was drinking way way way way way too much I started drinking before I went in the army and I drank all the time I was in the army and drinking was a big part of most of my life is that right yeah so you had a drinking problem yeah drinking and some drugs mixed in drinking up some drugs yeah you know at least now this coming watch third god willing i thirty-four years is right Wow congratulations for that that's a tremendous accomplishment could've done it without God as lord knows I didn't want to do it you know but you decided to do it and you stuck with it yeah one day at a time ah and I tell people that I try now sometimes that sometimes that's too much I gotta do it moment by moment even a day is too much yes yes because I gotta go to the morning then through the afternoon and through the evening and everything else you know I gotta get through this moment here and now so you you said the objective is as realistically is as realistically as I can yeah you've done but I know you have to keep doing it yeah it doesn't stop that's why you know I tell people I'm an alcoholic they all have 34 years is the right they say well you're not an alcoholic anymore you're sober I said no they say you're recovered I said no no all it takes is one drink I'm not only back where I was I'm like I never stopped 34 years ago because I got sober after two suicide attempts after what two suicide attempts okay and so when I went to treatment they add me see a psychiatrist and he told me that it's not gonna be easy if I pick up a drink again it's gonna get worse and it's gonna get worse in a hurry and I remember that saying right to this day you're very courageous I do the best I can with what I got that's all any of us can do day by day good for you thank you good for you did you join any veterans organization or the American Legion that that kind of thing I did I am it it did become a lifetime member davy1873 or anything else from that well good for you you're entitled you ever have you ever been in contact with any of the folks that you served with yeah what's the man shoes but I know you told me you occasionally we'll run into ya a Manchu ready to have you knighted in that I run into a couple that work here work here yeah and they noticed my hat hmm and they while one calls me mr. manciu and I know that or cheering you looked at it he smiled he told me he was with the knife and we people in the night we have a a bond when he joined the ninth it's not like joining another regiment huh like we're saying it's the one of the oldest regiments in the I say sorry it's one of the most decorated regiments and United States Army when I got there I kinda would the only originally I say it sorry that we are allowed to wear a special belt buckle it was this crest on the belt buckle on the buckle instead of a plain best brand a part of the uniform it's part of our uniform to wear daily and and when you would be walking and you would meet an officer and saluting them and giving them the greeting of the day like good morning sir good afternoon sir believe me sir you would always say keep up the salute and say keep up the fire that's our mile that's your motto and that's we're just up and we say keep up the fire keep those desire and you kept up the fire I do my best I love your hat just out of curiosity do you remember your service number my service number is our a 1 1 a 2 5 6 to 8 I guess you do remember your service number good for you whoo-hoo I remember mine I it's hard to forget isn't it Oh with that drill sergeant beating down your neck you don't forget that they switched from service numbers to salsa security knowledge when I was in about six months and they went to just the social security numbers it's still uh huh you don't forget your service number well it sounds like it's pretty well imprinted on your bro yeah good well now it's recorded forever and if my drill sergeant is watching by some imagination it's real hard to what was his name sergeant heart heart yeah H AI T sounds like he made an impression on you god Bless You sergeant you did a wonderful job so now for a few reflections on your part how important to you was your service your three years of service as you look back on it part of my life part of your life it formed you at a very early age doesn't it yeah it's you know I tell people I don't get one single day in my life the good the bad or the ugly you take any of it out and I'm not who I am my three years in the army make up part of who I am right mmm I embrace it some of its hard for me but still it makes it who I am well you went in at the age of 17 and came out at the age of 20 so those are pretty special years she had been still playing stickball in streets in New York City you could have been but you chose another path do you feel that your service that your time in the service affected the rest of your life or affected your life in some ways yeah mmm in some ways yes I was had to make a plane to beginning my sobriety and I was diagnosed with PTSD I promise my mind's like a video camera it records everything and I can't lock it out there's no way for me that the erase button so it it it plays whether you want it to or not yeah well we found a way to deal with that I guess looking back on a roll you can you think of a particularly memorable experience or memorable character or something humorous anything that just you know kind of comes to mind something that happened to you or or a person you met against your drill sergeant but my drill sergeant and also when I went to Fort Devens my one-on-one on the female pediatric ward made two Costello the nurse the charge nurse the charge nurse yeah she had big impression on me you know she was fantastic made sure that I had all I need that nobody tried to make me do this or that or that she treated me with respect and yeah they say I can see it today nevermind yeah I can see that ward like I said we were lines like a video camera right there apply you can see the ward when you want on the ward the beauties were her office was here and the P DS were there and then in wounds and then the one we're in line and ward in the back major Costello yes well one of the reasons you remember her it was because you were special to her she saw something in you and you delivered for her I'm sure I tried to do my best I know you did is there anything anything else any thought anything I haven't asked you that you'd like to share with the camera well one thing I just in closing what I'd like to say is if any members of the naive image you measurement are watching just in closing I'd like to say keep up the fire keep up the fire thank you and on that note I say thank you Kevin berries drill for this great interview it's been a real pleasure and honor to talk to you thank you and thank you for your service thank you for asking you

Channel: natvets1

Views: 2,503

Rating: 4.7241378 out of 5

Keywords: Vietnam War, Korea, DMZ, 9th Infantry Regiment

Id: 85Yu-Ym7ov0

Length: 84min 15sec (5055 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 11 2019