Share Your Story

My brother, David Tallant, is my hero

My brother joined the Marines right out of high school and soon after landed in Viet Nam. I was just a little girl and didn't really understand war....I just knew one of my big brothers was gone and everything changed. One of the happiest days of my life was when I got called to the principals office and David was standing there to take me home. He never really came home to stay after that and he was mt the same, but he has always had my back.
Life goes on and the years pass, like other Vets I know he doesn't talk about Nam. He has had a serious health issue and has never blamed it on his service, but I do.
I read about so much loss here, I know my story is small compared to those. After all, my hero lived to come home and arrived back here with his body intact. I stand at the Wall and it breaks me with the weight of its sorrow, and my heart cries for every soul who went to Nam. I appreciate the lives lost and forever changed by war.
I hope you can appreciate the love of a little girl who really didn't understand much except that one more home was shadowed by something she didn't understand. And that fell away when my big brother came and got me at school, took my hand in his and walked me home. And like the Marine he is, he has always been honorable and he has always had my back.
So many lives forever changed by every war, so much sadness and loss. So much joy shadowed by grief and guilt that our loved ones came home and others did not. I appreciate the service of every Veteran, and I thank you with all I am.

Margaret Cary
Norfolk, VA

Son's Love of service is shared with his parents

I was in the US Navy for almost 23 years. Some of my best times was when I shared my love of the Navy with my parents. They were from South Dakota when I joined and in 1981 I had them come out to see us in Port Hueneme while I was on the Seabee base. In 1986 they moved to San Diego CA and were frequent visitors to our house in Long Beach. They even surprised me on the Pier after the return of my ship the USS Paul F. Foster from the first Gulf War, this was just 2 weeks after my Mom had open Heart surgery. I dedicate my career to my Mom & Dad and to all parents that support their sons and daughter in the military!!

MSCS(AW) Mick Hersey, US Navy Ret
Bremerton, WA

Surprise to Mom

My son left for Iraq in Nov 2007, a Butter Bar LT, fresh faced and ready. Me, not so much. I tried to hide the tears but I was pretty bad at it. When would I see him again? Would he be ok? I kept asking when was R&R. He kept saying he didnt know. Four months into deployment a soldier in his Squadron was KIA. He was from a small town about 4 hours away so I drove to the funeral to pay my respects on that warm February day. As I headed home, my daugher in love called me to see where I was. I told her I would be home soon and to leave the dog out as he needed his feet cleaned. As I walked into the house the dog, a Boxer/Great Dane appropriatley named Hooah, greeted me. I looked down and said "Hey buddy!" "Did Sister clean your feet?" And a deep voice answered "No, I did." "I wanted to play with my dog!" I looked up and began to scream and scream and scream! My son and his wife decided to surprise me with R&R. They had been plotting for months. Of course, through my tears of joy I felt tears of guilt and sadness. I had just watched a Mother bury her son and came home to find mine in my living room. Eight Months later he was seriously injured in a bombing. He has since been to Afghanistan and is currently a Cpt serving his country the way he always dreamed he would. I am proud to be the Mother of an American Soldier...........HOOAH!!

Anonymous
Kansas City, MO

Going and coming home

When I left for Nam no body came to see us go and when we came back they dumped off on CA. there was no one there for us when we came back a lot of us came back broken but no body cared my body was broken I have PTSD it took 50 years to get help. I fly 2 American flags everyday. When I came back if they found out you had been in Nam they would sorry we just hied someone else. They thought all of us were crazy and they were afraid of us. A lot of us ended up on drugs and drinking to forget living on the Street that even made it worse because people would see them and they would see I told you there are all on drug and there all crazy.Yes a lot of us need help but we were second class junkies. I was one of the lucky ones my father had a small company .and I went to work for him.for a few years and then ran the Company for 27yrs by that time people forgot about us and I worked for several Co. the rest of my life everything from a Service Manager to a large fleet Manager. Didnt know that I didnt have any friends didnt really no why looked at people as people I couldnt trust I stayed away from people. I would get angree very ease.. I was back almost a year and went back to Okanawa married a girl I met there while I was there.we have been married 48yrs I dont know why she stayed with me the way I was no one eles would have.I love her so much. 2yrs. ago I got hurt very badly I had to be operated on they opened up my back the spine was crushed when the opened up my spine they tore all my blood vesals and the broke nerves that control all my body I lost all the blood in my body a 1Hr. wish I could tell you the rest of the story

Anonymous
Middleboro, MA

My Dad is my Hero

My Dad, Robert B. Crawford went into the Army at the age of 19 and landed in Normandy three days after D-Day. He fought with the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, 9th Armored Division through five European Countries and many battles. To this day, he has nightmares about the death and destruction he witnessed and took part in. He was wounded December 23rd, 1944 in the Belgium town of Saint Vith, during the Battle of the Bulge. Though Snow is a rare occurrence here in Texas, when it does snow you can catch him staring out the window for long periods. He is thinking back to that December in 1944 when he witnessed so many of his friends killed or terribly wounded while trying to hold back the German advance in snow and sub freezing weather.
But what makes my Dad a Hero is the fact that he has never forgotten the names of those in his Platoon who paid the ultimate sacrifice. The memory of these names are at times painful to him and he sees their faces in his minds eye. I can remember as a little boy growing up, he would tell me these men's names, rank and where they were from, every time I would ask him about the war. His feelings are that, as long as they are remembered, they live on, even though it's only in a memory. Now he has a Grandson and a Great Grandson who ask him about his experiences in the war and he tells them the Names of these men like he did to me, insuring that these men will be remembered and live on in our memories.

Eddie R. Crawford
Fort Worth, TX

My brother Clarence Lambert

My brother, Clarence Lambert, had 23 years in the U.S. Army and is a Veteran of VietNam, THREE tours...Needless to say, he is not in the best of health and most of his health problems stem from his VN service from Agent Orange. His hands shake so badly that he can hardly drink a cup of coffee without spilling some of it down the front of his shirt. He has had bladder cancer, he has a breaking out on the back of his neck that comes and goes and asthma. He has terrible flashbacks from his service in VN. However, every weekend, Friday through Sunday you will find him outside some business in the Ft Meyer, Fl area collecting money for Veteran's Outreach. He is 77 years old and applied for disability about 6 years ago and received a measly 40%, his congressman at the time, Connie Mack, was contacted by my brother and this congressman did NOTHING. I guess OUR government is waiting for him to die and they will have one less Veteran to deal with.

I have the upmost respect for my brother and for ALL our Veterans. I spent 32 years as a civilian working for the Marines for 10 years and the Army for 22 years. NEVER met a Marine nor Soldier that I did not love and respect.

God Bless all our Military members and all our Veterans.

Phyllis Lambert Cates
Center Cross, VA

A Jew in a German Prison Camp

My father flew with a Jewish Pilot in WWII and they crash landed in Belgium. Stan had changed his dog tags to Protestant but all his crew members and a lot of other crews knew of his heritage. I read a rather long account of how Stan wondered every day if it was the day that someone would let it slip that he was Jewish. That is a stress that I cannot even fathom and in my mind makes him a hero.

Anonymous
Anchorage, AK

Our Unc, Our Hero

I come from a long line of military members. My father retired Army Reserves(SGT), I retired Army Guard(SFC) 13years active duty, My brother a Marine turned Army retired Army (SSG), My sister 4 years Marine, My husband 4 years Marine and My Uncle Ken Holmes (Unc) Marine. My Uncle had served in the Marines and had did a little time in the California Army Guard. All of us spent long weekends with him and my aunt sharing stories and family banter between Army vs. Marine. He was very proud of his service and proud of all of us. Their door was always open.
What I realized after long talks was that he was shorted time and some of his military time had burned in a fire he never retired with 20 years. He was not able to obtain Veteran services which he had service connected disabilities. He is a proud man and never asked for help to get his records corrected.
Realizing that all he needed was his LES statements to prove his time in the California Guard to finish his 20 years and get much needed and very well deserved help I went to work. I was an Administrative Supervisor who worked closely with USPFO tracked down the info needed from his old unit to get his LES' to finish his time. I then got all the paperwork and set him up with the Marine Corp Liason to get his records corrected.
He has since been seen @ the VA and has gotten what any Veteran deserves. Acknoledgment for years of service and a lifetime of gratitude from us younger soldiers he helped mold into the people we are.

Our hearts out to Unc

Alicia McElheney
Bowling Green, OH

Difficult To Pick A Single Hero

As a studious man of history, I have many heroes yet find it difficult to pick a single one to name. While I don't have a story to tell, I will simply share the Silver Star Citation of my Uncle, Major Gomez Cahoon. I believe his actions epitomize the very notion of the word hero.

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Major (Infantry) Gomez B. Cahoon (ASN: 0-398851), United States Army, for gallantry in action while serving with Headquarters, 1st Battalion, 275th Infantry Regiment, 70th Infantry Division, on 21 February 1945, in the vicinity of Stiftswald, France. His battalion repeatedly subjected to severe enemy counterattacks, and despite the imminent peril of bursting artillery and mortar fire, Major Cahoon, Battalion Commander, was tireless through the critical night. He skillfully directed the battalion's defenses, insured measures of security, determined that the men were properly dug in and that their fields of fire were most effectively grouped. Attacked by hostile tanks, he personally directed the battalion's fire, knocking out one, forcing others to withdraw. Still vigorously in action at daylight, he was killed while probing enemy positions. His vital, valorous and inspirational leadership were the decisive elements which held the troops in a seemingly untenable position, were the backbone of the battalion's resistance, and exemplify the highest qualities of the Armed Forces of the United States.
General Orders: Headquarters, 70th Infantry Division, General Orders No. 22 (March 23, 1945)

M. Dean
Woodstock, GA

my father-MSGT ROBERT KENDRICK

My father quit college to sign up for the Marines in 1950. He thought it was his duty to join. He went to boot camp and then off to Korea for 14months and then back in 1953. He stayed in and then went to Vietnam in 1962, then back in 1965 and again in 1968! They were going to send him back in 1972 to teach the South Vietnamese how to fight. That's when he said"they have had 5times to shoot me,that's enough!!!" He retired in 1972 after 22 years in the service. Even though he retired, he's still a MARINE!!!! You can't say enough about my Father,he's a gentle giant ,as long as your on his good side!! Now at 82,he's gone through pancreatic cancer and two weeks ago a pace maker. When he should have pasted!! Once a MARINE always a MARINE!!!! TOUGH AS THEY COME!!!! Thanks dad ,for all you have done for us and your Country!!!!LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PATRICK KENDRICK
ROY, UT