Page 81 - Stand Down Vietnam

Francis was now the Biology and Physics teacher. My
sister was a Junior in high school, Kenneth’s sister
was a Sophomore. I had a great time; I was a young kid
again. Our daughter had started first grade; her
teacher was the same teacher that had taught me in
first grade.

While Kenneth was in Vietnam for that whole year, I did
not receive any letters for six weeks. I usually got a
letter every day; he wrote every night. Deep down, I
knew that if he’d been killed or injured, I would have
been notified. That was hard to take.

When I finally got the mail it was stacked pretty high.
I tried not to say much to the kids; I’d get the mail
before they came home. They were in fourth and second
grade, so we didn’t talk much about Vietnam.

When Kenneth came home from Vietnam in 1968, he was
very ill. He had an ear infection and high
temperature. But he would not go to the doctor. His
momma tried, I tried, the kids tried; he would not go
to see a doctor.

We had orders for Beaufort, South Carolina. We had a
house waiting for us, friends waiting for us; but, just
a few days before leaving we got a registered letter

ordering us to disregard all other orders and to report
to Washington, D.C.

Then we moved to Bolling Air Force Base. The housing
was nice, everything was nice except the schools. We
had a daughter who was going into junior high. She was
bussed to an Embassy school.

While stationed in the area, we became tourists. We
took advantage of living in D.C. Our son, when he was
nine, could have given tours.