Recently Gary Miloglav contacted me about the late Steve Johnston, our fellow classmate and his friend.

Steve and Gary joined the US Marine Corps together in 1965 and together but separately fought in that conflict in the south eastern jungles.

Beth Ertz saw the thread and thought it might be a good idea to have a thread about this experience we all shared.

So here it is...the thread.

The rest is up to you.

Click on Reply to tell your story

Hi Larry,

Thanks for posting a Vietnam thread.  I was wondering if our website would be as active as VHS seems to be.  Since I am blessed with being married to Ty Juana, a ’64 graduate of VHS, she shares posts that often reference VHS graduates’ time in Vietnam.

In looking at our student body, and theirs, it certainly shows that many of us went to Vietnam, and some of us didn’t come back.  Looking at it from my perspective now, I see things more clearly.  Recently, PBS of all left leaning liberal places, put a 10 CD – 15 hour video on their broadcast channel.   It is rather accurate, and when one watches the program, I certainly see where we were expendable due to the politics of the time. Not much has changed up through the musloid in the WH.  I don’t care for any of the wars we are in, but it appears that President Trump at least is untying the hands of the military so that they can wage war and minimize losses.  We will just have to see how that goes.

I spent 13 months in Vietnam, ’66-‘67.  It was mostly in a place called Chu Lai.  I was lucky; I fixed things that broke, like tanks, trucks, generators and such.  I was not one of many thousands that slogged thru the jungles looking for trouble.  Our spot was relatively safe; we were only mortared once and endured one nighttime rocket attack.  Distance was our enemy, when we left the base to fix something then it became interesting.   A 25 mile jeep ride down Hwy 1 to repair a generator was stupid, and putting a 6X6 truck crane in an LCU to go up the Chu Lai River to retrieve a downed helicopter was insane.   But, we survived and learned don’t do that.

One of my great friends at HHS, David Smith, was a medic in Nam.   He came home about the same time as I did, ’68.  We shared an apartment while I was re-attending UNM.   He committed suicide about four years after returning home, even after marrying a wonderful girl and having a daughter.  I didn’t understand at the time how that could happen.  Nowadays we see the terrible toll these wars take on our military and there is great effort to reach out, find, and help these good people, but the loss of Vets due to suicide is just terrible..

I found while attending UNM that I was judged differently because I was a Vietnam Vet.  The professors graded me on that fact, rather than the work I could do.  Needless to say the time I spent there was for naught and I bailed out of the school and went to work.  

2017 was a 50 year anniversary of leaving Nam, and March of this year will be a 50 year anniversary of getting out of active duty.

I hope others add posts to your thread, after all…..it’s ok to talk about where we were, heck it was 50 years ago.  Although some memories are just like yesterday!

Thank you both for posting these thoughts.  I was hoping when Larry posted originally that more vets would join the conversation.  Each person has a different perspective and stories to tell.  Others, who do not understand, could learn a lot from your experiences.

Thanks for this forum 

I served in Vietnam after completing Hospital Corps School as a reservest. I then served on two ships, a landing ship dock (USS Thomaston LSD-28) 1965-1967, and an oiler (USS Cacapon AO-52)1971-1973. While on the Thomaston we participated in multiple landings for combat operations in Vietnam, as well as a stint as boat haven at Chu Lai providing services to combat and transport craft plying the swamps and rivers of Vietnam in support of combat operations. I returned to reserve status in late 1967 to attend school at McCook College in Nebraska, went broke and returned to Albuquerque and after some delay returned to school in the College of Nursing at UNM completing my sophomore year before going broke again. I too, remember that as a veteran some times I felt unwelcome. I didn't know many other vets eventhough I utilized the GI Bill.  I kept a low profile during this time. I decided to return to active duty in December 1970 before planning to return to finish my education. The USS Cacapon was an old oiler that provided refueling services to naval warships in the South China Sea in support of combat operations. As a result of my service on this ship I applied for and was accepted for the Navy Enlisted Nursing Education Program (NENEP), a program to educate and provide Nurse Corps Officers to the Navy. The program paid for my educational and living expenses while going to school and prepared me for a commission in the Navy upon my completion in 1975. I wore a uniform to class at least once a week and never felt discriminated against, it deed it was a leg up because I already had medical experience and some leadership skills that I could use as a student. - I went on to serve at Naval Hospitals at Camp Pendleton, Yokosuka Japan, and Long Beach California, ending my career in 1983. I practiced Nursing in hospitals, and home care (including hospice care), and public schools in New Mexico after I left the Navy. - The basis of my whole professional life was my highschool experience, the education provided, the opportunities to participate in team sports, and to participate in the Navy Reserve program while going to school. There was no question about what I would be doing after I graduated. In the end my success was built on my time at Highland.