This Memorial Day I again think of Kurt and T.J.
Imagine you knew a man from Cleveland, Ohio.
This man had one sibling, an
older sister.
During Vietnam, he volunteered for dangerous assignments,
operating far behind enemy lines.
After the war, he battled drugs and
alcohol.
Eventually, he sobered up and went to work for a vending
machine company.
For many years, he traveled in a van around Los Angeles fixing coffee and soda machines.
Now imagine you knew
two
men with the exact same history. (But different vending machine companies.)
I was honored to have been friends with a pair of guys whose backgrounds meshed in such odd intimate ways. Once I introduced them at a party, figuring they'd have lots in common,
but after a few polite minutes they separated.
They'd experienced stranger things.
Kurt served in
Marine recon. Based out of Khe Sanh, he operated in Laos along the Ho Chi Minh Trail on operations so secret that the Americans who died there were never officially acknowledged. Kurt had extended his service to go to Vietnam. He was wounded twice, decorated, and returned home only to be attacked in a bus depot by a man angry over the war. (The man didn't fare well against Kurt who beat him into a fine mist.)
T.J. originally fought with the 12th Infantry near Dak To. He loathed the eerie randomness of combat—here one second gone the next and decided his odds would be better in the LRRPs (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol). Instead of waiting to be hit, TJ crept
around North Vietnamese base camps in the Central Highlands making the enemy nervous. He returned to serve out his last few months at Fort Knox, conducting tours of the U.S. Gold Reserve. One night while watching a TV show he started shaking and broke into tears.
Years would pass before he learned about PTSD.
In 2002 I made a
business trip to Vietnam. I brought Kurt back a little Buddha and some red clay from Khe Sanh. TJ collected Buddhas so I picked him out a honey in Saigon: a big, fat happy Buddha, smiling like he'd just won the Power Ball, holding up the Pearl of Knowledge.
In the end, Vietnam finally claimed them both. Health and psychological problems shortened their lives. But they did the best they could with a bad hand and I value the times we had together.
This weekend I remember them and all who gave their lives in service to the country.
(Based on a
post from 2009.)
