Deucemoi
Member
I am the oldest of three boys. My kid brother was 2yrs and 4 mo behind me. He and I were in Vietnam at the same time in 1971. He was a yeoman and traveled from various bases updating records. I was a radioman on a cargo ship traveling the Mekong Delta. He was at a base called Song Ong Doc which is up a river from the Gulf of Thailand.
One afternoon while we were loading ammunition to take to various bases including the one he was at, I was on duty in the 'shack' when a teletype message came that stated his base had just been overrun by enemy forces.
We made a change in our normal travels to get down there to resupply with ammo.
I saw him the next day. He had been exiting the base for the boats to leave the area when a mortar exploded behind him and he was hit by shrapnel, not seriously.
After we had all returned to the states he was married and had one son. Since it is the policy of the Navy that all sons except one may be sent to war he never had another child.
He had gotten into the booze and drugs while in Vietnam and it continued into his civilian life. In 2005 I was in Florida when his son called me to tell me my brother had shot himself at home and was dead.
I think between the booze, drugs, military ptsd and life finally caught up with him and he could not handle it.
One afternoon while we were loading ammunition to take to various bases including the one he was at, I was on duty in the 'shack' when a teletype message came that stated his base had just been overrun by enemy forces.
We made a change in our normal travels to get down there to resupply with ammo.
I saw him the next day. He had been exiting the base for the boats to leave the area when a mortar exploded behind him and he was hit by shrapnel, not seriously.
After we had all returned to the states he was married and had one son. Since it is the policy of the Navy that all sons except one may be sent to war he never had another child.
He had gotten into the booze and drugs while in Vietnam and it continued into his civilian life. In 2005 I was in Florida when his son called me to tell me my brother had shot himself at home and was dead.
I think between the booze, drugs, military ptsd and life finally caught up with him and he could not handle it.