Posted on Dec 15, 2019
Would you return, or have you returned, to Viet Nam?
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I wanted no part of returning to Viet Nam. The last time I got wounded I received 30 major wounds (11 gunshot and 19 shrapnel wounds at least as large as the gunshot wounds) and a couple hundred minor wounds. But that wasn’t the bad part. Before the night ended I would up alone, with my weapon and my radio both KIA. What’s worse is the only people who had any idea where I was were all shooting at me. I’ve had better days.
Every night from 1969 through June 18, 2003 I kept having the same recurring dream -- I was a dud for allowing myself to get in that predicament. Oh yeah, I was down to only two bullets left when my M-16 got killed. The recurring dream always ended with Sir Charles walking up to kill me -- their blast from and AK would awaken me. Then I’d have trouble falling back asleep due to fear.
In 2003 my then 32 year old daughter asked me to take her to Viet Nam. Not only “NO” but “Hell NO!” -- except the word “no” is not in my Daddy dictionary. The plan was for me to take her where I got shot the last time for the 34th anniversary of the event. We shared a hotel room in Saigon the night before -- June 19, 2003. There were no bad dreams that night -- I couldn’t sleep. I was afraid I was going to humiliate myself in front of my daughter by crying or freaking out when we got there to confront the monsters in my closet.
When we got to Bunard, there were children playing, oblivious to the horrors of days gone past. Crops growing and even a few permanent structures. The place was beautiful. I still dream about Viet Nam, but they are all joyful dreams. I have never dreamed about the war since. The monsters in my closet were vanquished and replaced with the easygoing lifestyle of present day Viet Nam.
I like the place so much I returned twice in 2006 on leaflet drops (dollar bills) and in 2014 I took my youngest daughter -- then 10 years old.
I’m looking forward to hopefully returning again someday. I love it there. And the attitude of the average Vietnamese citizen on the street? ‘That was then, this is now.’ They are so welcoming; genuinely happy to see you.
One picture is my then 32 year old daughter and me standing where SFC Charles Hinson found me on the morning of June 20, 1969. The other is of my then 10 year-old daughter (pink top and white pants) with some of the local children at Bunard. It is actually my favorite all-time picture of Viet Nam.
Every night from 1969 through June 18, 2003 I kept having the same recurring dream -- I was a dud for allowing myself to get in that predicament. Oh yeah, I was down to only two bullets left when my M-16 got killed. The recurring dream always ended with Sir Charles walking up to kill me -- their blast from and AK would awaken me. Then I’d have trouble falling back asleep due to fear.
In 2003 my then 32 year old daughter asked me to take her to Viet Nam. Not only “NO” but “Hell NO!” -- except the word “no” is not in my Daddy dictionary. The plan was for me to take her where I got shot the last time for the 34th anniversary of the event. We shared a hotel room in Saigon the night before -- June 19, 2003. There were no bad dreams that night -- I couldn’t sleep. I was afraid I was going to humiliate myself in front of my daughter by crying or freaking out when we got there to confront the monsters in my closet.
When we got to Bunard, there were children playing, oblivious to the horrors of days gone past. Crops growing and even a few permanent structures. The place was beautiful. I still dream about Viet Nam, but they are all joyful dreams. I have never dreamed about the war since. The monsters in my closet were vanquished and replaced with the easygoing lifestyle of present day Viet Nam.
I like the place so much I returned twice in 2006 on leaflet drops (dollar bills) and in 2014 I took my youngest daughter -- then 10 years old.
I’m looking forward to hopefully returning again someday. I love it there. And the attitude of the average Vietnamese citizen on the street? ‘That was then, this is now.’ They are so welcoming; genuinely happy to see you.
One picture is my then 32 year old daughter and me standing where SFC Charles Hinson found me on the morning of June 20, 1969. The other is of my then 10 year-old daughter (pink top and white pants) with some of the local children at Bunard. It is actually my favorite all-time picture of Viet Nam.
Vietnam War
Family
Vietnam
Posted 5 y ago
Responses: 33
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SGT Robert Pryor Congratulations: on your survival and on your recovery from your dream.
Thank you for your service.
I appreciate your story. It makes sense to me!
Thank you for your service.
I appreciate your story. It makes sense to me!
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This is a poignant excerpt from an article in regards to a widow who wanted closure:
After Deane’s death, Hattie said, she “felt so incomplete, so unfinished. Deane and I had been married only a year and a half. We had just begun to lay a foundation for a life together, for a home and a family. And not even the foundation was complete. I wanted more time.”
https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/04/on-50th-anniversary-of-husbands-death-vietnam-war-widow-meets-person-who-killed-him-column.html
Often we look at the metrics of wars but not on how the generations were impacted.
After Deane’s death, Hattie said, she “felt so incomplete, so unfinished. Deane and I had been married only a year and a half. We had just begun to lay a foundation for a life together, for a home and a family. And not even the foundation was complete. I wanted more time.”
https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/04/on-50th-anniversary-of-husbands-death-vietnam-war-widow-meets-person-who-killed-him-column.html
Often we look at the metrics of wars but not on how the generations were impacted.
On 50th anniversary of husband’s death, Vietnam War widow meets person who killed him (column)
On the 50th anniversary of her first husband death, Hattie Ford went to the place in Vietnam where he died -- and met the person responsible.
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SGT Robert Pryor
I actually considered living in Viet Nam when I returned in 2003. It is a very welcoming place. My wife and I feel safer in Viet Nam than we do in most major cities in the USA. When we went to Viet Nam in 2014 we spent a few days in California as a delay en route. My wife felt the most ill at ease taking the shuttle from LAX to the car rental agency in Inglewood to pick the vehicle we used to explore Southern California.
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MAJ Ken Landgren
SGT Robert Pryor - I use to live in the Philippines where the dollar goes a long way. My father thought the influence of Buddhism gave the Vietnamese the capacity to forgive us considering the millions we killed and the 3 million disabled Vietnamese that live today because of Agent Orange.
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SGT Robert Pryor
MAJ Ken Landgren - I've only been to the Philippines four times in my life, but love it there and would like to return. I agree with your assessment of Buddhists and their capacity for forgiveness. That's why I love traveling in Buddhist countries. I find them all to be safer than non Buddhist countries in general. I also felt safe in the PI, but was more concerned about petty crime there than in the rest of Southeast Asia. I always feel safe in Thailand, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Laos, Myanmar and Malaysia -- but Singapore -- wow -- I feel like that's the safest country on Earth. I also felt quite safe in Indonesia, but that's not a Buddhist nation.
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MAJ Ken Landgren
I think you hit all the targets. My dad loved to travel to those countries. SGT Robert Pryor
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I didn’t lose anything in Vietnam that I absolutely need back except my Clemson University class ring. No chance I’ll find it, so no need to go back…
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No. I feel like I left nothing behind there, so why would I want to return? In a one year tour I was stationed in three out of the four corps. I started in II Corps with the 1st Air Cav, An Khe, moved to III Corps with USARV HQ, Long Binh and ended my tour in I Corps with Provisional Corps Vietnam, Hue-Phu Bai. Tet '68 made an impression on me. Upon my return home I had many dreams (nightmares) that I was called back into service to complete my three year enlistment (I had been released from service twenty days early after returning from Nam). In my dream I got assigned to a unit that was sent to Vietnam. I was told I had to finish my 20 days, but then was told I had to stay in Nam until my unit was returned in a year. I would wake up, covered in sweat. No, Vietnam is behind me. I didn't leave anything there, and I have no desire to return. I have met some veterans who have returned, even some who were severely wounded there. Maybe they felt like they had unfinished business there, but for me, not so much.
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SGT Robert Pryor
I always felt the same, but the word "No" isn't in my Daddy dictionary, so when my oldest daughter asked me to take there, we went. I actually left two things behind. I was shot in the base of the neck, so lost my dog tags. Then, while in a coma, some REMF stole my Seiko 5 watch. Because I had been shot in the head four times, costing me about 20% of the brain on my right side, he felt I'd never need it gain. Wrong! I didn't find either on any of my four return trips to Viet Nam, but I sure found peace of mind, which I didn't fully understand that I had left behind until my return.
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I can not speak on Vietnam, but there is no reason I would ever go back to the area I was in Iraq. There was nothing beautiful about the area or the people.
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SGT Robert Pryor
Oddly enough, just yesterday I spoke with one of my nephews, who had also been a foster child of mine, about that very thing. He is an Iraqi war vet also. He was WIA and is even rated by VA as 100% disabled for service Connected conditions as the result of those wounds -- actually he is rated at the next higher level above 100%. He said that he would indeed go back. He said he'd go back now if he could somehow pass for a local. But with that not being an option, he is looking forward to the day when things are far better there, and they are more accepting of Americans, so that he can go back as a tourist. He liked it there and liked most of the people. Maybe it has something to do with where exactly in Iraq you served, and maybe even branch or service, MOS or when.
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