Vets reflect on Vietnam experience 50 years later

Locals receive hero’s welcome home

By John Faucher

Despite slippery roads and a winter storm last month, a crowd of more than 3,000 people awaited the return of 53 central Wisconsin Vietnam veterans at Menasha High School.

The large crowd in attendance March 9 was there to give Vietnam veterans the hero’s welcome home they never saw years ago.

Thousands of Vietnam Veterans returned home from the war to find protesters rather than well-wishers.

One veteran told Old Glory Honor Flight Board member Diane MacDonald, “To protest while guys were over there dying, to me that was wrong.”

MacDonald said the return and appreciation event gave folks an opportunity to right the wrongs experienced by so many years ago.

Prior to the return, MacDonald said, “We want to see that field house packed to the rafters to show these vets how much we appreciate what they did.”

She got her wish.

Most of the 53 veterans who participated in the one-of-a-kind Return to Nam Honor Flight were rendered speechless when they entered the field house.

Nick Patoka of New London, who served as a U.S. Army Cavalry Scout in the First Squadron First Cavalry Regiment from 1970-71, had tears welled up in his eyes.

“Wow,” was all he could muster to say.

“I couldn’t hold back the tears,” he later added.

Patoka said he was glad he went on the trip despite having some initial reservations.

“I wasn’t sure because there’s good stuff and there’s bad stuff, you know?” Patoka said.

Eventually he thought about it some more and signed up for a chance to go.

“I thought that if I go, maybe I can leave the bad stuff over there,” said Patoka.

The veterans selected to participate in the Return to Nam trip left on Feb. 24 and arrived in Vietnam Feb. 26. For two weeks, they toured the country seeing sites of military significance from Saigon to Hanoi as well as taking in traditional tourist sites.

Most of the veterans were curious to see how the country had changed since their first visit nearly 50 years ago.

Patoka said what he had remembered of the jungle was now mostly buildings.

“The only thing I remember that looked familiar was the ‘Rock Pile,’” said Patoka. “It’s a creepy place. Nothing but bad memories happened there for a lot of guys.”

Patoka said his fellow veterans banded together throughout the trip, offering encouragement to one another during emotional parts.

“It was kind of hard at times, but it was a lot of healing for a lot of guys,” said Richard Furman of New London.

When Furman first flew into Vietnam as a young newlywed draftee in 1971, he remembered a different landscape than what he saw growing up in central Wisconsin.

“All I could see on the ground were bomb craters,” said Furman. “Then I got onto a bus with steel grating on the windows. It makes you think—you’re scared. You’re really scared.”

At first his sergeant was worried about him. But Furman said after he got it into his head that if his “number was up,” it’s up, and there’s nothing he could do about it, he felt more relaxed.

Furman said a soldier’s mentality often correlated to their actions in the field.

He said a majority of those who were killed or wounded were hit during the first or last 60 to 90 days of their tour.

Furman told interviewers working on the Return to Nam documentary project: “I think that’s what happens toward the end. You start getting protective again. You think about it. You’re too conscious of it. That’s when guys get hurt.”

Furman was stationed in the Central Highlands of Vietnam with the U.S. Army 10th Calvary before he was transferred to the 11th Cavalry in the Mekong Delta.

After his return from Vietnam with the Old Glory Honor Flight, Furman said he was surprised to see most of the jungle from 48 years ago was gone. Much of the land had been converted to crop lands or buildings.

The most striking observation he had was with the people of Vietnam.

“There was no animosity by the Vietnamese people towards the Americans at all. In fact they like us, they want us back in there,” Furman said.

Overall, Furman said he was glad he went on the trip, although he still was recovering from the long flight and jet lag.

“It was a long, long ride home,” said Harold Wolfgram of New London. “It was tiring.”

Wolfgram said he was surprised by the return event in Menasha and appreciative of the Old Glory Honor Flight volunteers who made the trip and return event possible.

“I can’t say enough for the people who put this all together for us,” he said.

Wolfgram enjoyed seeing the sights and culture he missed during his first trip to Vietnam in 1970- 71, where he spend most his time “out in the bush.”

He said today, evidence of the war is mostly gone.

“I was kind of surprised at how welcoming the people were to us,” Wolfgram said. “There were lots of shops, commerce, and resourceful, hardworking people.

“The food was good. We ate like five-course dinners just about every meal,” Wolfgram added.

He looks forward to reuniting with the veterans he joined on the trip at a special Old Glory Honor Flight event June 1 at the Oshkosh EAA grounds.