Thurman and friends in Vietnam Thurman Woodfork was a US Air Force Ground Controlled Intercept (GCI) radar repairman. He served his tour on Trai Trang-Sup in Tay Ninh, Vietnam attached to Detachment 7, 619th Tactical Control Squadron from ’66 to ’67. Trang-Sup was an Army Special Forces CIDG (Civilian Irregular Defense Group) training […]
Category: Poetry
Military justice is to justice, what military music is to music. ~ Groucho Marx Introduction Long Binh Jail Vietnam was hell on earth Military life was at times terrorizing, and other times numbingly boring. Some GI’s got into trouble during those times, as a way to escape the terror…or […]
My nine year old Granddaughter, Lucy Campolo, is my latest guest writer. Lucy has written a poem about her lifelong companion, a stuffed lamb named Bun Bun. Lucy recently recited her poem at a school presentation and did a fantastic job. Yes, Grandpa is very proud of his grandchildren, and super proud […]
Jimmy Fox, a U.S. Army Vietnam War Veteran and I became acquainted at a Veteran’s event some years ago, and I am proud to count him among my friends. Jimmy has penned several writings on the war. He appeared earlier as a guest writer on my blog, featuring his excellent essay No Peace. How […]
To that bright spring day, fresh and full of color, Please pass slowly… To that warm summer day, a gentle breeze whispering by, Please stay with us… Of that crisp autumn day, splashed in auburn and orange, Do remain… And oh dark winter day, so cold, full […]
~In a faraway land, we stood fearful and alone, No way out it seemed, ten thousand miles from home. ~The rockets they came and the mortars did to, We sent them back double, the hell with you! ~When our time finally came, to get the hell […]
Kind of threw this one together for Veteran’s Day, 2019. I call it The Veteran’s Road. We sleep in bits and pieces, and dream of days gone by. Our dreams are of our days at war, which always seem close by. Our soul won’t let them go it seems, the dreams we […]
An Angel in Blue This week’s guest writer is Penni Evans. Penni began writing poetry and short essays at the age of fifteen. Encouraged by her grandmother, Amah, herself a writer, Penni dreamed of far-away places and world travel. After she earned […]
I flew to desolate fire bases filled with the tools of war and the men who used them. It was my job to perform the miracle of making the war disappear (however briefly) for boys who had been trained to kill. It was my mission to raise the morale of children who had grown old […]
Major Michael O’Donnell Major Michael O’Donnell was a helicopter pilot killed in action near Dak To, Vietnam in March of 1970. Although I did not know Major O’Donnell we were in Vietnam at the same time, and in some of the same places. This is a poem he penned three months before his […]