Never again will one generation of Veterans abandon another. ~Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) Introduction by JoAnn Forrester Vietnam! Vietnam, the war of the Baby Boomer generation has left a multitude of raw scars on our national conscience. A war, where 9.2 million American men and women served through-out the world during an […]
Category: War and Military Stories
Young men, hear an old man to whom old men hearkened when he was young. ~ Gaius Octavius Thurinus ( Augustus) My friend Jim Northrup recently passed away. Jim and I became acquainted at a veteran’s event in which he was […]
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 […]
No Peace We came home nearly forty years ago to a place that we didn’t know, and that didn’t know us. We tried our best to fit in, to go back in time, trying to return to who we were and what we had been just a few short years earlier. For most of us […]
We were castoffs and slaves, orphans and unwanteds and used-to-be princesses…and we were mighty. ~Lesley Livingston, The Valiant One of the many unfortunate by-products of war are orphans. The orphanages near our base at Phu Cat, Vietnam were visited by the base chaplains who brought sustenance in the way of food, clothing, and […]
Many people have asked about the characters of my books, The Kansas NCO and Back To The World, particularly during speaking engagements. All of the characters in the books are based upon real people, and exhibit characteristics from those people. Some are based more on fiction than on fact, others more on fact than fiction. […]
Every war, every branch of the service, US and other countries, has probably had its “Kansas NCO”. Not necessarily something to be proud of, but a fact of military life, sometimes serving a useful purpose. Joe Campolo Jr., has turned this into a good read, while aligning it with the Vietnam War. An easy read […]
An extraordinary tale about a group of Air Force soldiers stationed at Phu Cat Air Force base in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Working out of a small warehouse on base, their main job was to provide goods and services to nearby bases, outposts and villager. Sometimes, they were tasked to ride security on convoys […]
I had a great time in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Vietnam Veteran Tribute hosted by “Lest We Forget”. I was honored to be a guest speaker, and also honored that many people picked up a copy of The Kansas NCO. It was a great program. On Friday afternoon a gentleman […]