My Uncle had a busy day, 5 Jan 1964, Tan An, Viet.

[lw55566]

I don't post to often. Typically just answering the occasional question in the Class III forum.

My uncle was wounded in Vietnam 49 years ago today. I just wanted to take a moment to remember him and his service.

Background:

My Uncle Bill, my mom's older brother, has been gone since 2003. He was a super type A individual, a successful Anesthesiologist who was married but never had any kids. He could be tough to get along with. My aunt and uncle lived on the other side of the country and in the summers we would take road trips to visit. My Dad was into guns, but Uncle Bill was serious. I spent most of those visits running his progressive reloading press or his belt filling machine day in and day out in his basement. I was to young to appreciate it but his idea of a reward was taking out a 1919, throwing the book at me and yelling at me to have it all taken apart and cleaned before dinner. At 8 or 9 this resulted in me hiding from him, but as I got older it was the one way for us to relate and spend our visits.

Even as an adult he was a tough guy to talk to, but at least we could talk guns.

Anyway, I always knew he went to Vietnam after med school and internship but before his anesthesiology residency and was somehow wounded, but he never really offered any more then that.

I found this helping my mom clean out his house after he died. He didn't live to meet/hassle my kids but I make sure they know all about their Uncle Bill. They better since they will be shooting and cleaning his guns.

A picture of Bill in Vietnam

His hobby

 

[#1bambam]

Thank you uncle Bill.

 

[smith625]

DITTO!

Thank you uncle Bill.

 

[jussaddwata]

Thanks uncle Bill. Rest in peace....

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Xparent Blue Tapatalk 2

 

[tim9lives]

Yep...the real "hero" never brags....they don't think of themselves as heros because they remember so many others who died while being heros. Maybe that's why I am turned off by braggers.
Anyway....Awesome picture of the belt fed. That's just too cool.

 

[BOSS351]

Thanks for sharing....its real easy to forget about the sacrifices made by others for our freedoms..RIP Uncle Bill and thanks..

 

[MyTFAL]

Thanks Uncle Bill, bet cleaning out his house was much more interesting than the usual relative......

 

[mini14]

Thanks Uncle Bill!

 

[doc ace]

Thanks for your service brother. See you on the high road.

 

[JRhino]

Thanks for your service Uncle Bill and to all the Vets who served in every War where the U.S. has been engaged.
My boss is a Vietnam Vet and a great person whom I have grown to honor and respect immensely. He was a "Cannon Cocker" during the War. Being completely ignorant, I thought that he was an artillery person. When in fact, he was a fantastic math student and math teacher. His mission (or job as he refers to it) was to go out with 1-3 other soldiers into enemy territory to scout VC positions and calculate coordinates for the artillery and air strikes. He doesn't speak much about the war, but has been a great role model on many levels.