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Happy Story from Vietnam
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Sep 14, 2021 06:41:20   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
In 1969, a patrol was ambushed, and one of the guys was shot in the head. "He's dead. Leave him." His friend picked him up and placed him in a chopper. That was the last he heard of Jim Coffey. Fifty years later, the guys from his unit learned that Jim Coffey had not only survived, but had flourished, and he was about to join them for a reunion.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/09/13/metro/guy-who-everybody-thought-was-dead/

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Sep 14, 2021 07:01:45   #
Country Boy Loc: Beckley, WV
 
What a shock that must have been to discover he survived! Good news always appreciated!

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Sep 14, 2021 07:03:50   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
Country Boy wrote:
What a shock that must have been to discover he survived! Good news always appreciated!


A high school friend was killed there, and another lost a leg. My brother returned home in one piece.

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Sep 14, 2021 07:22:47   #
Plieku69 Loc: The Gopher State, south end
 
That was a nasty time, my unit lost two killed in the fighting. Our sister company was the center of the fight and lost several men.
For the story Google the second battle of ben het.

Ken

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Sep 14, 2021 07:25:41   #
ecobin Loc: Paoli, PA
 
A great story - thanks for sharing!

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Sep 14, 2021 14:41:17   #
tramsey Loc: Texas
 
That whole thing is better forgotten

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Sep 14, 2021 15:01:04   #
pendennis
 
tramsey wrote:
That whole thing is better forgotten


Never forget!

Forgetting is what gets the U.S. in trouble. The adage "Ignore history at your own peril.", certainly applies. We got in the same mess in Afghanistan, because someone forget just how nasty a prolonged war can be.

Watching the news everyday since we invaded Afghanistan, certainly looked like a replay of Viet Nam. Same mistakes, same old tired strategy of "nation building".

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Sep 14, 2021 15:22:17   #
Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV
 
tramsey wrote:
That whole thing is better forgotten


NEVER forget!!!

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Sep 14, 2021 15:39:28   #
Doddy Loc: Barnard Castle-England
 
That reminds me of Guy who lived two doors down from us when I was a young lad, he was a painter and decorator by trade, a very quiet unassuming man, he often did work for my parents. My dad told me he was in the army when it was in retreat from the Germans in 1940. He managed to get to Dunkirk with some other stragglers and was on the beach waiting to be picked up by the Royal Navy, when German fighters strafed the long lines of men. He was that badly wounded his mates thought he was dead and left him on the beach, he was picked up by the Germans, who patched him up and stuck him in a pow camp for the rest of the war, however the jerries didn't inform the red cross. His mother was informed of his 'death' and she received a war pension for 5 years. In 1945 after he was released he returned home and knocked on his door...apparently, his mother fainted on the doorstep!

ps. I often wondered if she had to pay back her 'pension'.

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Sep 14, 2021 21:53:24   #
tramsey Loc: Texas
 
[quote=pendennis]Never forget!

Forgetting is what gets the U.S. in trouble. The adage "Ignore history at your own peril.", certainly applies. We got in the same mess in Afghanistan, because someone forget just how nasty a prolonged war can be.

Watching the news everyday since we invaded Afghanistan, certainly looked like a replay of Viet Nam. Same mistakes, same old tired strategy of "nation building".[/quot

You are right and I am wrong. What I meant is that some of the horror of that conflict are better forgotten. I don't want to remember sitting in a hole with my buddy and we are talking. Then I look at him and he has a bullet hole in his head. His eyes are open in surprise. I look back and see a Cong coming at me with a bayonet on his rifle, screaming his head off. I don't know what I did but he missed me. I shot him with a M-1 carbine until it was empty and I kept pulling the trigger until the Sarg took it away from me. I don't want to remember laughing with my buddies and then an explosion goes off right along side us and all that's left are body parts. I don't want to remember going through the jungles knee deep in water and catching a Cong grenade. Of course it didn't go off. There's a big long list of things I don't want to remember but we do have to remember the conflict itself. What we (the politicians) did wrong, what we (the politicians) did really wrong and trying to spread democracy everywhere. But here we are again. How many times, three or four??

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Sep 14, 2021 23:17:49   #
TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC
 
pendennis wrote:
Never forget!

Forgetting is what gets the U.S. in trouble. The adage "Ignore history at your own peril.", certainly applies. We got in the same mess in Afghanistan, because someone forget just how nasty a prolonged war can be.

Watching the news everyday since we invaded Afghanistan, certainly looked like a replay of Viet Nam. Same mistakes, same old tired strategy of "nation building".


Exactly what I was thinking - right down to the chaotic withdrawal. I sure hope we think twice before we do it again. 55,000 of our brothers died in that God forsaken country, and within a week of our withdrawal, Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) fell. I’m not one of those vets that wants to visit VietNam now - There isn’t enough money.

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Sep 15, 2021 06:07:53   #
Media1
 
That story made my day. Thank you for sharing!

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Sep 15, 2021 06:24:31   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
pendennis wrote:
Never forget!

Forgetting is what gets the U.S. in trouble. The adage "Ignore history at your own peril.", certainly applies. We got in the same mess in Afghanistan, because someone forget just how nasty a prolonged war can be.

Watching the news everyday since we invaded Afghanistan, certainly looked like a replay of Viet Nam. Same mistakes, same old tired strategy of "nation building".


It's not the forgetting that's the problem. It's thinking we are smarter than the people who made the mistakes the first time around.

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Sep 15, 2021 06:36:44   #
waymond Loc: Pflugerville, Texas
 
Agreed.

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Sep 15, 2021 06:43:25   #
rupe806
 
Ask our Pres. how many died there in his place because he received and accepted multiple phony deferments!!
It disgusts me to see him with our military folks!

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