Let’s help veterans tell their stories. Maybe they worked in the mess halls serving chow, or helped load ordnance onto jets waiting their turn to launch on combat missions, or maybe they had to watch their friends get hit in an ambush or a firefight in a rice paddy in Vietnam. It’s time we hear what they have to say!
If you are a veteran, or you know a veteran you’d like to have considered, send an email to VoicesToVeterans@gmail.com with the name of the veteran, a short summary of his or her story, and a picture of the veteran in uniform if you have it. I’ll then select veterans from the nominations I receive and write-up their stories for the Voices to Veterans Spotlight. Every veteran whose story I feature will receive a free signed copy of my latest Steve Stilwell legal thriller, Sapphire Pavilion, which is dedicated to “Wounded Warriors and Vietnam War veterans, especially those heroes still waiting to come home.”
I am often amazed at how humble veterans are when they describe their experiences heading off to war. I cannot imagine the emotions, the patriotism, the fear, and the camaraderie that must have pulsed through their veins as they left everything familiar behind to board a ship or plane bound for the ultimate unknown. That […]
Like many veterans, Technical Sergeant Susan “Susie” Goebel, U.S. Air Force (Retired), hesitated to talk to me about herself. She views her 15 years of service as nothing special or heroic. In fact, she’ll tell you she was just doing her job. To Susie, the family separations, the inspections in the middle of the night, […]
Private First Class (PFC) Rick Adler, U.S. Army, grew up two streets over from me on Elizabeth Lane in Olmsted Falls, Ohio. I didn’t know him then—he is ten years older than me. I should have known him—I learned to swim at the pool his family owned at the corner of Fitch and Cook Roads. […]
Have you ever heard the Navy’s old recruiting slogan, “Join the Navy and see the world?” That slogan certainly rang true for Petty Officer Third Class Jim McCune, U.S. Navy. But life had much more in store for Jim than the excitement of a world cruise on a powerful U.S. aircraft carrier—he and his young […]
When most of us are 16, our biggest worries are getting our drivers license or figuring out our date to the prom. When Staff Sergeant Jerry Ingram was 16, he was a combat tank commander with Company C of the 4th Tank Battalion, 4th Marines, preparing to fight his way to victory across the Pacific […]
Think of your most stressful day on the job—looming deadlines, unhappy bosses, sales quotas, late nights, and people who can’t get along. Then consider what Specialist 4 Tom Garvey went through every day during his tour in Vietnam from 1967-1968—fire missions with high explosives, incoming mortar fire, rocket and artillery attacks, and the constant possibility […]
To read Part 1: Drafted and Fighting in Vietnam, click here. After about six months at Dong Ha, George Williams transferred to Battery A of the 3rd Battalion, 6th Field Artillery Regiment, in the general vicinity of the town of Pleiku in South Vietnam’s Central Highlands. Battery A spent a lot of time out in […]
We’ve had an all-volunteer military since the draft ended in 1973, so it’s hard for us today to understand the life-changing impact of receiving a draft notice in the mail. George Williams knows that impact all too well. Drafted in 1965, he left small-town America to fight in the jungles of Vietnam during the height […]
Some people are called to serve our country in extraordinary ways, putting their life on the line for mission and comrade during time of war. Such is the case for First Sergeant Mike Allen, who served in the Army for 23 years, including during the Vietnam War. This is his story. Mike was born in […]
Natural leaders rise to the top, no matter where they start out. That’s why when the Marines recruited Richard “Dick” Sowinski, they knew they had a winner. They could not have been more right. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Dick graduated from West Tech High School in 1953. That fall he attended Kent State […]