In this Special Report, On Your Side's Jeannie Blaylock and Lewis Turner tell the stories of Vietnam veterans paying respects to their service.
'It's important for me to know what happened'Anchors Jeannie Blaylock and Lewis Turner profile men who tell us they, ‘kissed the ground when they got home,’ and yet, in the same breath, describe how they were also spat on and called, ‘baby killers.’ Their stories will captivate you. What some veterans endured as ‘Tunnel Rats’ will grip you. The POW’s tell about torture, and, yet, pride in serving their country. to hear from local Vietnam vets on Good Morning Jacksonville at 6 a.m.
And the dangerous part for our soldiers? The tunnels were filled with booby traps. Nelson says there were"bamboo sticks filled with human waste."Tunnel rats had to crawl on their bellies, quietly, often with just a knife and a handgun to try and snuff out the enemy.Nelson survived, though. But he had physical trauma."I almost lost my feet. Every time I pulled off my sock, flesh came off."Despite his bravery and despite his wounds, Nelson came home to a shameful reception.
The tunnels"were places where residents could use to escape the massive technological advantage the United States had," he says. Dr. Michael Butler, historian and professor at Flagler College, says one cause was the My Lai massacre in 1968. More than 500 unarmed Vietnamese villagers slaughtered including girls, old men and pregnant women. A platoon of soldiers from Charlie Company were sent in to an area considered a communist center for activity. Eventually, gruesome photos of the massacre hit the American press."Once you see it, you can't unsee," Dr. Butler says.
"You can't breath because your chest is compressed during the process," Captain Peter Schoeffel explains. He's talking about being tortured by the communist North Vietnamese, who were trying to force captured American military personnel to talk. Schoeffel, a retired navy pilot living in Jacksonville, tells about his experience as a POW in Vietnam.
He says, over the years, a bright spot was having Senator McCain as the best man in his wedding. Another bright spot, his wife, Jane, and his dog, Bonnie. Chapter President Ed Shook said a"bunch of us old guys" do walk-a-thons to raise money to give back to the community. He remembers the night in 1967 when terrible weather took their helicopter down in Quang Ngai province in Vietnam. "I ran my tongue over my teeth. I remember vividly...I was missing a bunch of teeth. I lost seven teeth," he says.Fifty years ago, after the Paris Peace Accords, hundreds of American POWs were released. And you may wonder what the prisoners - finally free - talked about when they were flying home to their families."They gave each man a folder," he explains.
"I held their heads in my hands as they passed to the other side," he says. As a medical doctor in Vietnam, he knew he could have helped them, but their captors did not allow necessary medicines or nutrition.He returned home to practice as a surgeon in the field of ophthalmology. Her father is honored at the USS Yorktown because his S2 flew off that aircraft carrier. Hubbs went to visit the memorial. She crawled inside to sit in the cockpit, and she realized something else.
She knows from radar and radio transmissions the exact spot in the Gulf of Tonkin her dad's plane was last heard from when he disappeared. Yet he had gone to great lengths to serve in the U.S. military. And now, 50 years later, he is still proud of his service. Then in just a few hours, a sniper shot him in the head."His brains and everything rolled out of his head," he recalls, as he points to his own shoulder.
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