I lost several HS classmates to Vietnam. I missed going due to Nixon's first draft lottery where I drew 324. My best friend at the time drew 24. He stayed in ROTC and let the Army send him to medical school, I dropped out of ROTC and stopped cutting my hair and shaving.
On Fri, Dec 18, 2020 at 4:45 PM Dan Penoff via Mercedes < mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > Agreed. As I mentioned, I had some school buddies who’s older brothers > were over there, and when they came back some of them were pretty messed > up. I worked for one of them when I pumped gas a few months in high school, > and this guy was a real hum dinger. He couldn’t handle stress at all. We > weren’t allowed to have more than a certain amount of cash on us at any > time, so if you collected a number of sales and were over the limit you > were supposed to make a drop in the safe. During rush hour he would get so > worked up about having to make drops after nearly every sale that he would > end up going into the office and locking himself in there so he could calm > down. We would be pumping gas and not able to make change in some instances > because we would need to get change from him. > > One of my best friends is a Vietnam vet. He was a photographer for the > Army, and while he saw some action he wasn’t in the really nasty stuff > according to him. Good guy, pretty stable from what I’ve seen over 20 some > years, but he’s got some personality traits that I suspect are either a > result of his service or that he’s a hard core New Yorker - tough to make > the distinction. > > -D > > > On Dec 18, 2020, at 5:27 PM, Buggered Benzmail via Mercedes < > mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > > > I watched it when it was on PBS, it was pretty good but made me angry > and frustrated. Such a waste. > > > > I worked summers after HS and in college at the airport at a FBO. We had > one pilot who flew charters, he was a few years older than me and had been > there. We would hang out in the evenings when things were slow. One night > we were talking and he had this flashback episode like he was back there > and reliving this incident. It was scary, he didn’t get violent or > anything, but it was incredibly emotional and very difficult for him. Bad > sh*t happened there. I felt really bad for him. Nobody had the term PTSD > back then but that was clearly what was going on for him. > > > > On another interesting note — Uncle Ho supposedly worked in a Chinese > restaurant in FWA for awhile before he went back and became a > revolutionary. Several people told me this. > > > > --FT > > Sent from iPhone > > > >> On Dec 18, 2020, at 3:55 PM, Dan Penoff via Mercedes < > mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > >> > >> As I was alive at the time and recall a lot of the evening news > aspects, I was too young to fully grasp what was going on. I had friends in > school who’s older brothers were over there and came back pretty messed up > in the head. > >> > >> I’m interested mainly in the stuff leading up to the war and what was > up with the French bailing out. The rest should be good, too, I was just > wondering. > >> > >> Thanks! > >> > >> -D > >> > >>> On Dec 18, 2020, at 3:45 PM, Peter Frederick via Mercedes < > mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > >>> > >>> It's very good. I "watched" most of the first part from the kitchen > while Mom had it on the TV, I don't have good memories from those days. > >>> > >>> Well worth the time, Burns is a good historian and very neutral. I > felt a great deal of stress relief after watching it, believe it or not. > >>> _______________________________________ > >>> http://www.okiebenz.com > >>> > >>> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > >>> > >>> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > >>> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > >>> > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________ > >> http://www.okiebenz.com > >> > >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > >> > >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > >> > > > > _______________________________________ > > http://www.okiebenz.com > > > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > -- OK Don "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." Mark Twain “Basic research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I am doing.” Wernher Von Braun 2013 F150, 18 mpg 2017 Subaru Legacy, 30 mpg 1957 C182A, 12 mpg - but at 150 mph! _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
