A Soldier's Return--1970

My senior year of high school was 1969-1970. I turned 17 in December of 1969 and began the most eventful year of my life up to that point and maybe since!

Ken had gone to Viet Nam in June of 1969, so there was always the concern for his safety. We wrote nearly every day. In the fall of that year, Nora Colby and Naomi Nichlson had Gospel Meetings in Johnsonburg in the old post office building. Ruby Westbrook and Bessie Black came to those meetings and made a start. My dad's old friend Claude Zimmerman came to lots of them, too, but he was in a drunken stupor a good bit of the time.

Then in January, we experienced my father's sudden death and all the aftermath of that. It was a cold, dark winter. My mother, in the interest of saving money, even cancelled our outside dusk to dawn light, which made the winter evenings at home even more gloomy. (We got the light going again after a few months when she felt more assured of her finances). It seemed like the sun never shone.

Sometime in March, I was hired to work at a bank in St. Marys. I was to begin after I graduated from high school in June.

The grandest thing to look forward to, though, was Ken's expected return from Viet Nam in June. He would be discharged from his two years of army obligation when he returned. President Richard Nixon had begun pulling out troops a few months prior. Unbeknownst to us back home, Ken was to be a part of that early withdrawal, and was discharged about a month early!

Ken kept writing letters to all of us and never breathed a word of his earlier return. He arrived in the country a day or two before he arrived at home on April 30, 1970. He processed out in California, and arrived at the DuBois Airport (about 2 miles from where we live now!) in the afternoon sometime. He called his brother Don and asked him to come pick him up without telling anybody. They walked in the door at their parent's house, completely surprising them! I don't know any details of that situation, but I remember my own reaction a few hours later!

We so much looked forward to the time when Ken would be back from VN and we could be together again! We had secret plans to work and save money for a year and then get married in the spring of 1971.

April 30 fell on a Thursday that year, same as this year of 2009. There was a concert at the school on Wednesday (I wasn't in it) and we had decided to have our Bible study that week on Thursday night instead of Wednesday. I went to the concert with my cousin Gertie. I remember a girl singing a solo of "I'll Never Find Another You" and that song was to become the theme song of the next few years in our courtship and marriage.

To get ready for his return, I had sewn some new clothes. I decided I would wear them once, wash them, and then keep them in readiness for our first few dates after his return. On that Thursday, April 30th, I had worn one of my dresses to school and since we were planning to have Bible study that night, I just left it on. I was in the kitchen when Ken came. I think we must have been around the table, eating supper, when he knocked on the door. I turned around to see who was there and nearly fainted with surprise! Talk about a wonderful hug and kiss! I didn't even care that my mother was watching!!!!

Ken did not know that we were to have Bible study that night up at my Aunt Bertha's. I said to my mom, "Ah, Mom, do I have to go to meeting?" And she said, no, she guessed it would be all right if I didn't! I think that may be the only time in my life that I have deliberately skipped meeting. Ken and I went out for a ride in his navy blue Mustang (he was glad to be reunited with it, too!). I think we went up to Elk State Park, and place where there was a nice lake that we had been to before and taken pictures. Then we came back to the house for a while. Oh, the joy of being together and having him safely home from the war!

Nowadays, I say that I really don't like surprises. Somehow I have managed to find out about some surprises and wondered what was going on, and why I wasn't in on it, etc., etc. But that surprise of Ken coming home like that was probably the grandest surprise of my life!! I have been glad for the years that we have had together and the life that we enjoy.

Maybe I can remember some of that song that I mentioned:

There's a new world somewhere
They call the promised land.
And I'll be there someday
If you will hold my hand.
I still need you here beside me
No matter what I do
For I know I'll never find
Another you.

There is always someone
For each of us, they say,
And you'll be my someone
Forever and a day.
I could search the whole world over
Until my life is through
And I know I'll never find
Another you.

Chorus:

It's a long, long journey
So stay by my side
When I walk through the storm
You'll be my guide.
They could give me a fortune
My pleasure would be small
I could lose it all tomorrow
And never mind at all.
But if I should lose your love, dear,
I don't know what I'd do.
For I know I'd never find
Another you.

So, now if I have managed to make all the romantics who read this tear up a bit, I will have achieved my goal of sharing the feeling of one of the grandest days of our courtship!

Viet Nam Veteran's Ceremony

These pictures are actually in the wrong order, and try as I might, I don't know how to change them! The lower one was taken prior to the ceremony, the second one is Ken getting his award, and the upper one is him outside afterwards showing his awards.

Saturday, April 18, Ken and about 175 other Viet Nam veterans from our Jefferson county were honored at a ceremony arranged by our local state representative, Sam Smith. Ken and I have seen the Viet Nam wall in Washington, DC, another one in Altoona, PA, and numerous times we have gone to see a moving wall that travels around the country, but this was the first time in 39 years that we have been to an honors ceremony.

Some things I learned: The Viet Nam war was called the "living room war" because it was the first war to come into the living room of US on television. While we did not have television, I could read the daily reports of the war in the newspaper. One day I actually read about a helicopter accident in the paper that Ken witnessed. Fortunately he was not a part of it! He rode in lots of helicopters over there.

Another interesting point that a speaker brought out: He talked about soldiers being drafted, and receiving a notice that "you will report to such-and-such a place on such-and-such a date." And the speaker said there was no "please" on the notice, but he and others were at the ceremony to say "Thank you". A speaker also re-echoed something I had heard Ken say often about his military service--"I was just doing my duty."

The veterans sat in the center of the auditorium in alphabetical order, and they filled about the front 2/3 of that section. Family had to sit elsewhere. I was kinda disappointed to not be sitting with my dear husband, but after all, that aisle between us was not nearly as big as the Pacific Ocean when we were boyfriend and girlfriend!

I expected to see some gray-haired pony-tails on the men, since that seems to be a common thing amongst VN vets that we have seen at the walls. But there were only one of two! The rest of the guys just looked like 60-year old guys! Lots of them had a bubble in their middle!!

Ken spent June 1968 to April 1970 in the US army. He was in Texas for 5 months, then at Fort Campbell, KY another 5 months, and then about 11 months in Viet Nam, with leaves at home in between. He was trained as a medic, and often did the work of a doctor in treating people both in the military hospital in Kentucky and Viet Nam. In Viet Nam he worked in a forward aid station, which was where they brought wounded for first aid, and Ken and others would patch them up and send them on to a hospital. Most of it was by helicopter.

Back in those days, the 60's, every young man had a military obligation because of the draft. That's just the way it was, and boys grew up with that as being a part of their future. At times they increased the draft, and that was true at the time of the VN war. Many young men joined the other armed forces because they figured they would be drafted into the army if they did not. Joining up gave them greater options. Ken was a C.O. and he was drafted into the army. The other armed forces were not an option for him.

One thing that they did not talk much about in the ceremony, and it's okay that they didn't, was the people who waited back home. Unless you have been through it, you cannot understand the feeling of having someone you love "in harm's way" a term our former President Bush has used in regard to the Irag war. I was a senior in high school when Ken was over there, and we wrote nearly daily. On his envelopes he wrote the word FREE in the place where a stamp goes, since he did not have to pay for postal service. I think the letters came in about 5 or 6 days. Somedays I would get two! There were no phone calls, and of course, no email or webcams! Such a highlight to my day to come home from school and read letters from my beloved! We had already talked about marriage, so I guess I could say that we were secretly engaged at that time (we married in 1971, a year after his safe return).

The then-president Richard Nixon had begun to pull out troops from Viet Nam in the beginning of 1970 (thanks, Richard Nixon!) and Ken was part of an early withdrawal. They began sending guys home early, and he got to come home a month earlier than his ETS of early June. He didn't tell any of us, but kept writing letters just as if he were staying the whole time. It was the grandest surprise of my life, and probably his parents and family to have him show up on our doorsteps! Next week, on April 30, I will try to write the story of the day he came back.

I don't feel that Ken has any negative aspects in his personality because of being in the war. He was not injured in any way, although he got rather thin. As a medic, he was there to help people, and worked to save lives. He remembers the good times--going to convention there in February, 1970, and spending weekends with Fred Allen in Saigon in Fred's bach, and being with other professing service guys.

To be continued--

I have been tagged!

Well, this was a rather fun exercise. My instructions were to go to where I keep my picture files on my computer, find the fourth folder, find the fourth picture, and put it on my blog and explain it!

Since I have a new computer (December 08), I do not as yet have a lot of pictures on it, so my picture is a recent one. It was a rather pleasant day a couple of weeks ago and I enjoyed hanging a load of wash, including sheets, on the line for the first time. I decided to take a picture of it and a few other things around the homeplace in celebration of the hope of spring!

To the left in the picture you can see the edge of my garden which Ken had plowed a couple days before. Garden pictures just get better and better until September. But the plowing is the necessary beginning. Next I need to get out the Troy-Bilt rototiller and go over it all about three times before I dare plant anything in the ground. Both the clothesline and the garden are what I see when I look out my kitchen window over the sink. I certainly do love watching my garden grow!

In the right foreground is our dog, Shelby, aged 1 1/2. He has lots of love to give, and enjoys showing me by jumping all over me, licking my hand, and being a nuisance some of the time! We got him last May. He did a great job last summer of preventing the deer from coming in to eat the fresh young greenery in my garden. It was a major problem the previous year and we ended up putting a barbed wire fence around the garden. I HATED that view from my kitchen window, but I hated the deer damamge worse.

In the distant background you can see part of our neighbor's house and their trees. They have been very good neighbors to us for all the 38 years we have lived here. They are about 20 years older than us and spend part of the winter in Florida now. The two houses (theirs and ours) were once part of a dairy farm, and Smiths lived in both houses and ran the farm together. We share the same well and gas meter. Our house is 150 some years old, and is said to be the oldest occupied house in this country community. Our neighbors house is newer, probably about 120 years old or so, and they are relatives of the original Smiths who built these house.

So, that's my picture! I don't know if it is worth 1000 words, but that's what this lady gave it!

April's Musings

I decided it's time to write a little bit about life, even though I really don't have a theme for this posting So it will just be chit-chat, this-n-that.

First news is my job at H&R Block. When I was hired, I was supposed to work full-time from Jan. 20 something to Feb. 20. Since then I have worked part-time, 2 or 3 days a week. Today I was scheduled to work, and when I got there, the boss figured they needed me at the front desk tomorrow and part of Wednesday, which is the famous April 15th around the tax office! I am happy that they have kept me on the payroll for a few days a week because I enjoy the job. Full-time was a bit much, but I am proud of myself for having done it for a few weeks. Son Ross is still working there as a tax preparer, too.

I have been looking for another job, but nothing has shown up for me yet. With spring coming on I am less eager to be working because there will be interesting things to do around here.

We had a nice weekend over Easter. Delmar S. came on Friday in time for supper. Roy and DeAnn came that evening. Saturday for noon we had eight workers with us for lunch and we had a very nice time around the table with them. Then we went to Franklin Sunday for the special meetings there. Here is the picture I took of the workers:

Well, I thought I was putting the picture in, but I seem to be having a hard time getting it to upload.

Ken has plowed my garden for me, and I am getting anxious for nicer weather! I have some seeds started in my kitchen, although I will be buying some plants, too. I used to raise lots of plants, but now I try not to get that involved!

A few weeks ago I finally sold the two looms that I wanted rid of, so officially now I am no longer in the weaving business. I enjoyed weaving and selling the rugs, but in the last several years, my sales had dropped a lot in this rural community. No doubt I could have sold if I had gone to the cities, but I wasn't too much interested in higher priced shows and motel rooms. It took me a few years to be willing to part with the looms. I am keeping two, my Gilmore rug loom and my Harrisville placemat loom. The couple who bought my looms even took a truckload of fabric from our barn loft! Yay! I was afraid we would have to dumpster it!

Now that the looms are sold we are moving ahead with our plans to put our bedroom in the studio. We have picked out the furniture from Lindberg Furniture and hope to order it in the next few days. Then we are also going to change around the furniture in three of our upstairs rooms. Our largest bedroom will become a combination sewing/loom room, and the other two will be bedrooms. Ross will be going to State College in August, and will leave most of his furniture behind in the bedroom he occupies, so it will stay the same. The other two rooms will have furniture switched around. Ken and I drew the rooms and furniture on graph paper, and moved it around there till we got what we wanted!

Another change in our life was that in February we were combined with the little meeting in Luthersburg at Dorothy Jane Thomas' house. It was so nice to meet with a few more people, even though it was a lonely feeling not to have the Sunday morning meeting here. It had been here for 27 1/2 years, nearly half my life! However, the change was short-lived because Dorothy Jane was hospitalized almost two weeks ago with strokes, and she has been nearly unresponsive since. Now she is in a nursing home. She is able to breathe on her own, and doesn't even need oxygen, but her condition otherwise is unchanged. We had Union meeting one Sunday, and Franklin special meetings the next, and now this Sunday coming up the meeting will be coming back here, and we will welcome it! It was a grand privilege to be with Dorothy Jane for those few weeks.

Ken has started to sing with a barbershop chorus, and practices on Monday nights. That is where he is tonight, so I decided to give an update on our lives. I really would like to have put pictures on, but it was taken too long to upload them. I will need to get some suggestions from somebody....